I have found the answer myself, which is Yes, downloading a document from Google Drive can reveal the document’s owner. If you open the document within the Google Drive environment, and then click on the three buttons, then click on Details, it reveals who the owner is.
You can now see who viewed your Google Drive files. To make collaboration more efficient and effective, Google Drive is adding a new Activity dashboard that lists the view history of a shared file. Intended to improve the follow-up experience, it will begin rolling out this month in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. The feature is called ‘Activity dashboard’ here, and it can be tweaked by G Suite administrators to control what data is shown.
Some believe that For files shared outside your domain, Google Drive unlimited doesn’t give you information about who watched or downloaded a file. Your only info in the auditing will be that “someone” viewed this file info, I think.
You could be wondering “Can I see who viewed or downloaded my document?”
If someone did want to know when you’ve viewed or downloaded their document I’d consider moving your document to Google Drive and using a document tracking plugin like Orangedox | Track your Documents. This will let you track every preview of your document including each unique user who’ve viewed or downloaded it.
Would the owner of a Google Drive shared with me be notified?
No, they will not be notified . They will be able to see the file was copied by selecting the file in Drive and looking at the Activity pane, but the owner will not be compelled to check for that by some notification.
Bottom line: If a shared file appears in your Google Drive, it doesn’t mean the file’s owner knows about your identity. They won’t even know you’ve added the file to your drive. Let’s be clear: Google knows quite a lot about you, even if the owner of the shared Google Docs doesn’t.
Can Google Drive be hacked?
It’s impossible to ignore the worries associated with Google Drive hacks. However, you can take one serious precaution to stop hacking attempts : encrypt your files. Even when you delete a file, it’s still in the cloud especially if you’ve shared the file with other people.
If the owner revokes access, you will not be able to access the file anymore. Bottom line: If a shared file appears in your Google Drive, it doesn’t mean the file’s owner knows about your identity. They won’t even know you’ve added the file to your drive.
Does adding a video to your Google Drive reveal your identity?
Video, audio and other file types that can’t be edited in Google apps don’t track edits and user identities. Does adding publicly shared file to your Google Drive reveal your identity? Shared documents have a “Add to My Drive” feature that lets you create a shortcut to the file in your Google Drive.