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File/Folder Access Control

Tobias Patek
  • Updated

Overview

Control which users, roles or groups can access specific files or folders in Document Management. Define what they can do by giving them viewer, contributor or manager permission.

Access & Permissions

File/folder access control is available for Pro and Enterprise accounts.
Only Pro and Enterprise accounts created after February 2022 are eligible to use the new Document Management feature. If you have an older Pro or Enterprise account you can continue to use Documents by layers or contact us to upgrade your account.

In-house users with the role permission 'Access Control' can manage access in Document Management. Read more in Permissions and in User Types.

  • The role permission 'Document Management: Admin' can be granted to make sure there is always someone who has full access to every file and folder, overruling individual access settings to certain files or folders.
  • Subcontractors can be granted viewing permissions, but they can never modify or create new files or folders.
  • Watchers can view all files and folders while access control is disabled. Once access control is enabled, they can only view the files and folders they were given access to — individually or through a group. Like subcontractors, they can never modify or create files or folders.

How Access Control Works

  • Granting access to a role or group gives every member the selected permission.
  • If a user has access through more than one source — as an individual, through a role, or through a group — the highest permission level applies.
  • When a user's group or role membership changes, their access updates automatically.
  • Folder access settings are inherited by all sub-folders and files. You can change or restore this, see Inherited Access Settings.
  • Subcontractors and watchers are always limited to viewing, even when the group or role they belong to has contributor or manager permission.

Access settings override role permissions.

For example if a user doesn't have the role permission to delete items in Document Management, but has Manager permission for an item, then the user can delete the file.

How to Access Document Management Access Settings

  1. Click Documents
  2. Open the more menu of a file or folder
  3. Click Folder details (or File details)
  4. See Access settings

You need to be online to change access control.

  1. Tap Documents
  2. Open the More menu of a file or folder
  3. Tap Details
  4. See Access settings

Enable Access Control

By default all files and folders are accessible to any In-house user with a role permission to view or edit documents.

To define access permissions for specific files or folders, you first need to enable access control. Go to access settings as described above in How to Access Document Management Access Settings:

  1. Activate Access Control toggle

  1. Activate Access Control toggle

You as the one who activated the toggle will automatically get added as a user with 'Manager' permission. Anyone else will not have access to this file or folder until you add them as described in the next steps.

The only exception are users with the role permission 'Document Management: Admin' which gives them unconditional access to every file and folder as described above in Access & Permissions.

While a file has a pending approval, you can't change its access permissions. Also see Approvals > Document Approvals.

Add a Group, Role or User

When access control is enabled, you can specify who can access the file or folder.

Currently you can add and manage group access only in the Webapp. Access granted to a group still applies to its members on the mobile apps.

To add a group, role or user:

  1. Click + Add groups, roles or users
  2. Optional: Use the search field
  3. Click + next to the group, role or user (repeat if needed)
  4. Click Confirm

To view the first 5 users of a group or role:

  1. Hover over the group or role under Who has access.

To view all users of a group or role:

  1. Hover over the group or role under Who has access.
  2. Click + 3 more (the number varies with how many more members there are).
  3. You see all members
  1. Tap + Add a role or user
  2. Optional: Use the search field
  3. Select the roles and users
  4. Tap Done

Change Permission for a Group, Role or User

The following permissions are available:

  • Viewer = Only view (gets automatically assigned to added groups, roles and users)
  • Contributor = Add, edit and move files and folders
  • Manager = Add, edit, move, delete files and folders, manage access control

To change the permission for a group, role or user:

  1. Open the drop down menu which shows the current permission e.g. Viewer
  2. Select the new permission e.g. Contributor or Manager

  1. Open the More menu of the corresponding role or user
  2. Select the new permission Manager, Contributor or Viewer

Remove Permission for a Group, Role or User

To remove a group, role or user and their permission for the selected file or folder:

  1. Open the drop down menu which shows the current permission e.g. Viewer
  2. Click Remove user

  1. Open the More menu of the corresponding role or user
  2. Tap Delete

Disable Access Control

Disable access control to deactivate all access settings and make the file or folder available for everyone again.

  1. Deactivate Access Control toggle
  2. Click Remove anyway

  1. Deactivate Access Control toggle
  2. Tap Remove anyway

If you activate the toggle again, the previous access settings get restored and activated.

Inherited Access Settings

Folder Access settings are automatically inherited by all sub-folders and files.

When you open the access settings of an item that has inherited access settings, the Access Control toggle is enabled but greyed out because it cannot be disabled.

Change

It is not possible to disable access control for items with inherited access settings, but you can change them as described above in:

Restore

Once you made changes to the permissions, the inheritance gets deactivated for that item.

To delete your changes and activate inheritance again:

  1. Click Restore changes

  1. Tap Restore changes

Move Files/Folders with Access Settings

You can move files and folder as described in Add & Manage Files/Folders > Move Files/Folders.

You get an additional confirmation message in case the moved item has inherited access settings and/or the target folder has (inherited) access settings:

'When moving items, their access settings will change to match the new folder's settings.'

  1. Click Move anyway

  1. Tap Move anyway

In case an item has it's own access settings, it will keep those and not inherit them from the new parent folder.
In case an item has only inherited access settings, it will not keep them and will inherit the settings from the new parent in case there are any.

View Shared Items

To view a list of all files and folders that are shared with you by access settings:

  1. Click Documents
  2. Click Shared items

Also see Mobile App Navigation.

  1. Tap Documents
  2. Open the More menu
  3. Tap Shared items

This view is also accessible for subcontractors or anyone who doesn't have access to 'All files'.

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