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Files guide

Letting a colleague see a folder

Inside the company you don’t “share”: you grant access. They are two different things and the buttons are different — sharing with a link is for people outside (see the page on sharing outside the company).

To let a colleague see a folder:

  1. Go into the folder.
  2. Click the little group of faces in the bar above the list, on the left (the «Who has access» chip): a window opens in the middle of the screen.
  3. Press the blue «Grant access» button at the top of that window.
  4. Look the person or group up in the «Search person or group…» box.
  5. Choose the access level and confirm.

The same window also opens from the right-click on the folder → «Access and sharing» → «Manage access».

Which level to choose

Your organisation defines the levels, but the logic is always the same: from merely viewing up to those who can manage — that is, change other people’s access. When in doubt start from the smallest: widening later takes a second, and in the meantime you have not given anyone more than they needed.

In the same window you can set an expiry date: after that day the access closes by itself, with nobody having to remember.

Worth knowing beforehand

  • Access flows down. Whoever gets into a folder gets into its subfolders too. Grant on the right branch, not at the root, unless you mean to open everything.
  • Better a group than ten people. If the same folder serves a department, grant it to the group: when someone new arrives they come in on their own, with nobody having to remember to add them.
  • There is the opposite too. On a single person you can use «Hide this folder from the user», even when the access would come from above.

My colleague still can’t see it

Have them reload the page: access is read when the page opens.

Then open the access window again and check they really appear under «Direct access» — and look whether they are in «Hidden», because in that case someone hid it from them on purpose.

Questions this guide answers

  • how do I give a colleague access
  • how do I let someone in the company see a folder
  • how do I share with my team
  • giving permissions on a folder
  • a colleague can't see the folder
  • grant access
  • add a person to a folder
  • which access level should I choose
  • give access to a group
  • access with an expiry date
  • give access only until a certain date
  • let someone into a folder for a while