Overview

It is very easy to set up sharing in netFiles so you can collaborate with other people at Whitman. For example, you can create a folder for a group you're in and give everyone in the group permission to change files in that folder. This documentation assumes that you want to share an entire folder, but you can share individual files the same way.

Granting Permission

Getting to the Permissions

• To begin, log-in to netFiles Web. 
• Select the folder you want to share.
• Click on Manage > Permissions
  

The permissions setting page shows you a list of people or groups who have access to a particular file or folder and what type of rights, or permissions, they have. By default, you will have read, write, delete, and administer permission on all of your files and folders. There are two other default groups:  Authenticated Users (Whitman people using netFiles) and Public (Everyone in the world). Neither of these two groups has any permission by default.

Adding New Users or Groups

• Click on the button Add User/Group
• Begin typing the group name or person's name. Because netFiles is linked to the Whitman directory, you can type part of the name or username and, given a couple seconds, netFiles will list users or groups that match what you typed.
• When you are finished adding users and groups, click Next to continue.
• By default, users are given Viewer (Read-Only) permissions, but if you are working on something together, Contributor permissions will allow users upload, edit, and delete files. If you want Read and Write permissions, without granting Delete permissions, you can change this in Advanved Permissions (see Changing Permissions below). Administer permissions are not recommended and are rarely useful. 
• Click Finish when you are done.

Note: You can only grant permissions to people with Whitman accounts. If you want to share files with non-Whitman people, try making a ticket.

Now that the new permissions are applied, you will need to provide them with the specific path to your folder. You can find this under Manage > Summary as the Full URL or Intellilink URL. Unless you provided permissions to your home folder (not recommended), people will not be able to browse through netFiles and see your other folders.

Types of Permissions

Read: Allows user to download files or folders

Write: Allows user to upload files or folders

Delete: Allows user to delete files or folders

Administer: Grants user access to "Manage" functions

Inherit Read/Write/Delete/Administer: Copies read, write, delete or administer permissions of higher folders into this (sub-)folder. 

CAUTION!!! It is very easy to get yourself into trouble by granting permissions to other users!

If you want to simply provide the file as is to others, the default setting (only Read access) will be fine. If you want to collaborate with others and allow them to change the file, you will need to grant write access. You may wish to grant Delete access as well, but you should be careful. You will almost never want to grant Administer access. That would be like giving them the master key to your folder.

Granting Delete or Administer access on any folder can be very risky. You could cause a problem for yourself later on if somebody else deletes your files. It may not be possible for WCTS to restore your files.

Under no circumstances should you grant "Delete" or "Administer" access on your home directory!

Changing or Removing Permission

If you want to make the permissions more specific or when your collaborative work is finished, you will want to change your permission settings to be more secure. You can either change the permissions for users and groups, or you can remove permission for them entirely.

Changing Existing Permissions

• Click on Manage > Permissions
• Click on the Advanced Permissions tab.
• Check and uncheck appropriate boxes for various users. See Types of Permissions (above) for descriptions.
• Click Apply when you are satisfied.
• A box will pop-up summarizing the changes you've made. Click OK to confirm.

You should see the main permissions screen with a gray message bar saying, "The permissions for this resource have been changed."

Removing Permissions

When you no longer wish to share files or folders with a particular user or group, you should remove their permission.

• Click on Manage > Permissions
• Check the box next to the user/group you wish to remove.
• Click Remove Access
• A box will pop-up showing users you are remboving.  Click OK to confirm.

You should see the main permissions screen with a gray message bar saying, "The permissions for this resource have been changed."