Will Google Workspace move to shortcuts lead to unwanted file edits?

Question

Google Workspace will soon replace duplicate files in Drive with "shortcuts", which to me sound like hard links. (I just received a specific announcement with a date in the near future for a Google-Workspace-linked domain I manage.) While this could be a helpful, space-saving move for Google, I wonder if it could facilitate accidental, undesired editing of original files in Drive, in instances when one wants to edit a copy of a file but not the original. Personally, I often duplicate files in order to start a new project, or to create a new document inspired on an original. The new project or documented should be handled separately from the original, and edits to the new documents should not affect the originals at all. Yet this is what I fear might happen with Google Workspace's upcoming migration to shortcuts. Maybe this won't be a risk to new projects created after Google first deduplicates one's files but it sounds like it could be a risk for active, existing projects after deduplication.I don't know whether I'm correctly understanding what Google will do with shortcuts but I'd appreciate clarification from anyone who has deeper understanding of this upcoming change. My own understanding is based on the following Google documents:https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2021/12/timeline-update-for-migration-of-multi-location-drive-files.htmlhttps://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2020/08/expanding-shortcuts-google-drive.htmlhttps://support.google.com/a/answer/10686746https://support.google.com/drive/answer/10864219

kistaro · Accepted Answer

This isn&rsquo;t converting duplicate files to shortcuts - your workflow won&rsquo;t change.Google Drive allows files/folders to be in multiple locations at once. That&rsquo;s not multiple copies of the file, that&rsquo;s not shortcuts to a file with one real location, that is one file that is contained in two or more potentially-unrelated paths. Think of it as some kind of spatial anomaly.A single file reachable by multiple non-shortcut paths is equally in all of those places. A shortcut to a file has one place for the &ldquo;real&rdquo; file and a bunch of references to that file. This change will pick a single spot for any files or folders you have that can be reached along multiple distinct file system paths, and put a shortcut to the new (single) path in all the places that used to refer to that file, but were not selected as its &ldquo;real path&rdquo;.So, this has nothing to do with duplicates, and is unlikely to affect your use patterns.