Temporary / Guest Google apps account

Question

When we interview people for our company, we let them write a short article. We would like to use Google Docs for this, since it is the tool we work with day-to-day, and its pretty convenient. We prefer not to use desktop software (such as Word), and we don't want users to sign in to their own Google accounts, not to mention some people (few) don't have Google accounts of their own.

Is it possible to create a temporary / guest account in my google apps domain?

• This account should only have access to mail and docs (specifically documents, not other types). Only creation and editing of new documents should be allowed.
• By no circumstance should this account have access to the domain's shared documents.
• Would be nice if the password can be reset every time, to prevent people from accessing this account when they leave the office.

Answer 1

In addition to Chris' method, if all you require is access to a single Google doc, consider creating a new Document which is set to allow anyone with the link to edit (no-sign in required).

Then you just need to give the link to whoever you want to be using the document. It would be impossible to access the page without the link and you dont need them to login to edit the document.

This would also be beneficial because using this method the document remains owned by an employee rather than the guest account.

Answer 2

If you are using the paid for version of Google Apps you would need to purchase an additional license. You can use this as the guest account.

To ensure you have the correct user restrictions, create an organisation (perhaps call it guests) and put the guest account in it.

You can then set what applications that organisation has access to. For Google Docs/Drive then make sure the guest user is not given sharing permissions to folders/documents you do not want them to see.