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Folder permissions and subfolders

May 13, 2026
Contributed by: 
P

Folder permissions control what each user can do within a folder. Each user on the folder can have their own permission set.

To change folder permissions for an individual folder, navigate to that folder and access the People menu. Select the checkboxes to make the permission changes.

People

Note:

  • Users who own the respective folders manage the folder permissions. It is the intended functionality that admins, members of the Super User Group, and account owners are unable to alter the permissions of folders belonging to users.

  • All subfolders created inherit the parent folder’s permissions. The user creating the subfolder cannot manage users on the newly created subfolder unless they were also granted admin permission on the parent folder.

View permission

Granting a user view permission allows them to view a document without downloading it. A user must be granted View permission if you want them to view the document with a watermark. If you grant a user Download Permissions on the folder, they are automatically granted view permissions.

Note:

Only VDR, Advanced, and Premium accounts can grant View-Only permissions.

Download permission

With download permission, a user can download any document in the folder to their computer or mobile device.

Download alerts

With download alerts, users are notified via email that files have been downloaded from the folder. A user must be granted admin permission on the folder to be granted download alerts. Download alerts allows them to identify other users on the folder when they download documents.

Upload permission

Granting a user upload permission gives the user the ability to upload files or folders to the folder. With this permission, the user is able to create subfolders within this folder.

Upload alerts

With upload alerts, users are notified via email that files have been uploaded to the folder. To be granted this permission, the user must also be granted download permission. Users with download permission can grant themselves this permission through a checkbox on the folder.

Delete permission

The delete permission grants a user the ability to delete files within the folder that they did not upload.

Notes:

  • By default, all users are able to delete files that they uploaded to the folder. This can be turned off for an account by an administrator’s request to ShareFile Support.

  • Subfolders within a folder created using folder templates cannot be deleted.

Admin permission

A user granted admin permission has the ability to manage folder access on this folder and can add or remove users. They will also be able to edit some folder options.

Note:

The user listed as Owner (usually the creator of the folder) cannot be removed by any user.

Apply permissions to subfolders

Selecting the Apply permissions to subfolders checkbox lets you assign permissions to subfolders in bulk. This is useful in the following scenarios:

  • Adding a user to an existing folder: Checking this option ensures that the selected permissions apply to all subfolders.
  • Granting additional permissions: If a user is already added to a folder, you can grant them additional permissions by marking this option before saving.
Folder permissions and subfolders
May 13, 2026
Contributed by: 
P
May 13, 2026
Contributed by: 
P

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