The My files tab with secure file sharing contains two extra tabs:
Shared items can also be accessed from clicking on My files on the Dashboard and then using the options on the left:
The Shared items tab permits a user to view the files and folders that they are currently sharing, and to manage those shared items.
Any previously shared items which are no longer being shared will not be listed in the "Shared items" tab. If those items have not been deleted, however, they will be listed in My files and the information about the expired shares can be obtained from the Share info page.
The Shared items tab includes items shared through My files as well as files shared via Quick Share.
Viewing Currently Shared Items
The Shared items tab shows the currently shared items, sorted by the items that were most recently shared, in reverse chronological order:
The list of shared items is straightforward. The items can be re-sorted by their name or date shared.
This page employs infinite scrolling. Only the first 100 items will be shown by default. To see more items, scroll down the page.
This view of shared files and folders is different from the main part of My files or in a site's Files module. Files and folders cannot be managed or updated here. For example, you cannot rename a folder here or add a new version of a file. The content of folders cannot be navigated into. This page is solely informational, except that the sharing associated with a file or folder can be removed, as described below.
If the name of a shared folder is clicked on, the parent folder of that item is dispayed in the main My files page. If the name of a shared file is clicked on, the file's file information page is displayed.
The files and subfolders within a shared folder will NOT be listed on this page, unless they have been shared separately.
Managing Currently Shared Items
In addition to viewing the list of currently shared items from this tab, the Shared items tab provides two other methods for managing currently selected items:
- Removing the share entirely for an item
- Viewing detailed information about the sharing related to an item
Removing all Shares
Click on the red X next to every shared item, to remove ALL of the shares associated with an item. If the same file or folder had been shared multiple times, then all of those shared will be removed.
There is another method of removing a share from an individual recipient, described below.
When that X icon is pressed, a confirmation message will appear:
Click Remove to remove the share. The item will be removed from the Shared items tab.
If a folder has been shared and items inside the folder, like a file or subfolder, have been shared separately, the share for those child items will not be removed when the parent folder's share is removed.
If an item is deleted, all of its existing shares (and the separate shared of any child items) will automatically be revoked, wthout any warning other than the typical warning about deleting an item. If the item is later restored, the shares will still be treated as revoked.
Viewing the Sharing Information
Also next to every shared item is a small i icon which stands for information.
Click on this icon to view information about how the item has been shared:
The Audit History information window contains four tabs:
- Active (which is displayed by default) - this lists all of the unexpired shares for this item
- Expired - this lists all of the shared that have expired for this item
- Audits - this lists all actions taken related to this item, including when it was shared, when it was accessed and whether a share was revoked early
- Version (for files only) - this lists all of the versions of the file (the information accessible from the Version history action)
Active Tab
The Active tab is displayed in the image above.
- Type - This indicates how the item was shared, via email, link, private message or microblog. If shared via message or microblog, the word will be a link to the actual message or microblog.
- Access - what type of access rights were given, either full rights (Download) or view only rights.
- Shared with - who the item was shared with. For links, if there is no value here, the link was shared outside of Collaborate. If via microblog, then the name of the site (or the entire internal organisation) will be listed, with a link to the site. If shared with indivdual users, their names (for Collaborate users) or email addresses (for non-Collaborate users) will be shown.
- Shared on - when the item was shared (using the time zone of the instance of Collaborate)
- Expires - when the share expires (which may be never). For files shared via Quick Share, when the share expires, the file will be automatically deleted.
- Remove share icon - each share can be individually removed by clicking on the red x icon. It is important to understand than when an item is shared at the same time with multiple people (or multiple sites via microblogging), each recipient will be reflected with its own row in this page. That means it is possible to expire a share for one recipient but not the others.
Also, there is no way to alter an existing share's settings, other than to remove the share. It is not possible to extend or otherwise alter the expiration date on a share, add more people to an existing share, or change the access rights associated with a share. To share an item with more people, simply create a new share for it. If other aspects of the share need to be changed, simply remove the old share and create a new share with the correct settings.
Expired Tab
The Expired tab is identical to the Active tab, except there is no remove share icon:
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This tab shows all items that have expired according to their original expiration date. This tab does not list items where the share was revoked prior to the expiration date (if there was an expiration date).
Audits Tab
The Audit tab lists all events related to the item being shared:
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This tab shows who took the action, what action was taken, the date of the action and the IP address where the action took place.
For actions where a file was viewed or downloaded from an anonymous link, no user will be listed.
The types of action include all ways in which the item was originally shared, how the item was accessed, and if the share was individually revoked. The natural expiration of an item's share is not included here.
The information shown in this tab is the same for all files and folders, whether shared directly or not. If a file is part of a folder that has been shared and the folder is downloaded (including that file), then in the "Audit history" for that file, which is accessible from the actions menu for that file in the My files main page, it will list that file as having been downloaded.
