File sharing

This guide explains how to utilise accsyn as a file sharing service, similar to a standard FTP server, giving user permanent access to files and folders on your BYOS or cloud hosted storage.

Note: File sharing is currently not available in the web browser, this is subbject to be improved in future versions of accsyn.

How does file sharing work with accsyn?

The most basic form of file sharing is making a delivery - collecting the files and/or folders to send to a user, available for a limited time. Learn about file deliveries here.

To understand how accsyn file sharing works we first declare some terms used throughout this guide:

ACL; Access Control List, defines which employees have access to volumes, and which standard users have access to Shared folders.
Share; Is a common abbreviation and the internal accsyn entity for a container that contains files and folders sharable with users, a share could be a volume, shared folder, collection or home share (see below). Shares must be unique within the workspace and cannot have the same name. When using the accsyn API, shares are usually targeted using the common "share=<ident>/.." notation.
Volume; A volume is the root folder exposed to accsyn on a file server. accsyn can't access files outside this root folder, and all file sharing (and delivering, title management and so on) happens within this folder. In a BYOS setup, you can have as many volumes as you need. Administrators have full access to volumes, employees have full access to the volumes they have been granted access to. Standard users does not have direct access to a volume.
Shared folder; A folder beneath a volume, or the volume root folder, intended to be shared with standard users through ACLs.
Collection; Files and folders collected from one or more volumes and put into a virtual folder that can be shared with users the same way a shared folder would.
Home; A special shared folder, named as the user (email), giving users a place to upload and download material outside the default production area. By default, this feature is turned off and can be turned on in Settings.

Users get access to shared files depending on their role:

Administrators; Have full access to all volumes, be careful who you invite to be administrator.
Employees; Are granted access to one or more volumes by administrators, giving them full access to the files and folders - create shares, deliveries, monitor and audit.
Standard users; Except deliveries sent to them, standard users only have access to shared (home) folders beneath a volume or collections.

Can I share Titles and associated media?

Yes, the title library just sits on top of a basic folder structure on your accsyn storage, allowing for sharing folders and create collections just as you would do with any regular content.

A good example is to create a permanent "DCP" collection, with a set of DCP:s to permanently share with one or more users.

Install the accsyn Desktop app

To manage your accsyn Storage, you will need to download and install the accsyn Desktop app, follow the instructions here:

Install the accsyn Desktop App

Storage view

Preparations:

Login with the desktop app as an elevated user - admin with full access or as an employee with access to at least one volume.

File sharing happens within the Storage view:

Example screenshot of the storage view within the the accsyn Desktop app.

Here you can browse your storage and find out who has access, the view is divided into three areas:

Share list

On the left hand side you find the Share view, it displays:

Recent; The five(5) most recent visited shares.
Volumes; Root folders/drives exposed to accsyn, the default cloud hostade volume is named "storage". In a BYOS setup, you are free to create and configure as many volumes as needed.
Shared folders; A folder beneath a volume that can be shared with other users.
Collections; Virtual folders containing files and folders collected from one or more volumes.
Homes; Shared home folders for users.

To modify a share, right click it to bring up a context menu with options.

Click the eye icon to show/hide a share type section, by default user homes are hidden.

File list

The middle area contains the file and folders listing for the selected share on the left hand side. This file browser behaves the same as a normal filebrowser, having context menu options and a toolbar for basic file operations such as directory creation, move, rename and delete.

Access info

On the right hand side, you find the access info panel displaying info about which user(s) have access to the current share and path.

Sharing a volume with employees

Note: to give administrators access to your workspace, invite them using the INVITE USER tool in desktop app or go to https://accsyn.io/users.

Here are the steps to give employees access to a volume:

Select the volume on the left hand side (this cannot be done while browsing a Shared folder/Collection/Home.
In the access panel, click the blue Share button and choose Grant employees access or click the green + button in the "Employees with access to volume" header. This will bring up the accsyn ACL dialog:

3. Enter the user email or click the blue list icon to select and existing employee within your workspace. New employees can be invited here.

4. Choose which permissions they should have - only download files (Read), or also be able to upload and modify files (Write).

5. (Optional) Notify employee; Enter a message to user, de-select this to prevent an email notification from being dispatched.

6. Click the green Grant access button to give access.

An entry will be added to the ACL beneath "Currently shared with:". It lists the ACL bound to the volume, the "ACK" column signals that user has seen and dismissed the notification in the app.

To revoke access for an employee, click the trashcan button on the right hand side of each ACL entry.

Sharing a folder with users

Note: accsyn does not support sharing single files as of current version, this might be subject to change in future versions. To share a single file, add it to a collection (see below).

The base is a shared folder, ACLs are then applied to this folder, granting users access to the entire folder (/ path) or a subfolder for either downloading files or/and uploading files.

Create a shared folder

In the Storage view, select the volume and browse to the folder you wish to share.
Click the blue Share button in toolbar and select Create shared folder, or click Create shared folder in the access panel to the right.
Give the share a name,:

4. (Optional) Define the share code - the API identifier share should have when performing API operations.

5. (Optional) Bind a queue to the share - have all file transfers involving share go to a certain queue

When done, click Create to create the shared folder.

The folder is now a Shared folder, but no user yet has access to it yet - no ACLs exist.

Share folder with users

In the Storage view, select the shared folder you created on the left hand side.
Browse to the subfolder you want to share, or stay in the root to share the entire folder.
Click the blue Share button and choose Grant user access, or click the green Grant access button on the share in the access info panel to the right. This will bring up the accsyn ACL dialog:

4. Enter the email address of the new user you want to invite, or select an existing one by clicking the blue list button.

5. Choose wich permissions user should have; Read means they will be able to list files and download, Write means they will be able to upload files, and alter files on storage - create directories, rename, move and delete files and folders.

6. (Optional) Check Notify user to have an email dispatch, notifying user on the new shared folder. You can supply a custom message if you want.

Click Grant access to create the ACL entry, it should appear in the ACL list below "Currently shared with:". The ACL entry will also appear in the access info panel while browsing your storage.

To revoke access for an user, click the trashcan button on the right hand side of each ACL entry.

Modify a shared folder

Right click the share in the share list and choose edit.

Removing a shared folder

Right click the shared folder in share list and choose delete. If you wish to keep the shared folder for audit later, choose inactivate (archive). To bring back inactive collections later, go to share settings page (https://accsyn.io/shares).

Creating a collection

To create a collection, browse and select the file(s) and/or folders(s) to add and either:

Click the blue Share button and choose Create new collection
Right click and do Share>Create new collection.
Click the NEW button in the collections section within the share list.

The Create collection dialog will appear, give the collection a name and then click Create to have it created.

You can proceed adding more files and folders to the collection by selecting them and doing Share>Add to collection>(your collection). Remove files from a collection by either right click and choose Remove or click the trashcan icon on the right hand side of the file entry.

Share a collection with users

Sharing collections, for users to download the files within, is very similar to sharing a folder: Select the collection and then choose Grant access to bring the standard ACL dialog.

Removing a collection

Right click the collection and choose delete. If you wish to keep the collection for audit later, choose inactivate (archive). To bring back inactive collections later, go to share settings page (https://accsyn.io/shares).

Accessing a shared folder

For standard users, there is a separate guide on how to access a shared folder with the accsyn Desktop app here.

For elevated users like administrators and employees, open Download tool from the top menu bar.

The basic download dialog will appear, allowing you to select the file(s) and folder(s) you wish to download and were to download them (Download to). To configure download, click the Settings button. To use the more advanced NC (Norton Command) alike mode, click Switch to advanced download mode.

The same applies to uploads - open Upload tool from the top menu bar.

You can also download/upload from/to shares using the Transfer tool.

Remove access for a folder / collection

To stop a user from access to a folder, follow these steps:

Select the shared folder or collection in the Storage view.
In the access info panel on the right hand side, click the trashcan icon on the folders you want to revoke user access to.
You can also click the Grant access button and revoke access by clicking the trashcan icon on the entry in the ACL list view.

User will not get an notification when access has been revoked.

Note: If a user does not have access to any shared folder or collection anymore, they will not be able to login to the Desktop app and access your workspace anymore.

Create a home

Creating a shared home folder is a convenient way to quickly get users into your workspace and upload files to a place of their own.

To create a home share, click the NEW button beneath the homes section or click the + icon in the home section header:

The create share dialog will appear, prompting for user.
Choose the user from list or invite a new user.
Click next.
(Optional) Give a description of share
When done click Create to have the home created.

The home folder will be created on the default volume and the default home folder as configured in accsyn.

ACLs will be automatically created, giving user read(download) and write(upload, modify files) permission to the home folder on storage, and a notification email will be dispatched.

Modify a share

To modify a share, right click it in the share list and choose Edit.

Note: If you change the share code attribute, update your API workflows accordingly.

Removing a share

To remove a share, right click it in the share list and choose Edit.

Note: files on storage will NOT be affected, and will have to be manually deleted in the file browser.

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