File sharing - Introduction¶
This page serves as an introduction to the accsyn File Sharing subsystem - the standalone feature available on Cloud or On-prem storage, integrated into the accsyn Media Vault.
Get started¶
We recommend watching this 1:30 minute video, providing an introduction to file sharing:
Tutorial¶
Learn how to setup accsyn File Sharing step by step by following this tutorial:
What is accsyn File Sharing?¶
In principle, it is an FTP replacement combining powerful ACL mechanisms with fast, secure and resumable file transfers / deliveries.
Why File Sharing?¶
With film production, and basically any type of workflow that involves files, large file sets need to be uploaded and further distributed/delivered to remote teams.
accsyn has been streamlined for sharing folders efficiently, giving operators full control of who has access, combined with audit functions so file access can be backtracked.
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). Share API code identifier must be unique within the workspace and cannot have the same code as another share. When using the accsyn API, shares are usually targeted using the common "share=
/.." notation. - Volume; A volume is the root folder exposed to accsyn on a file server. accsyn cannot 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 do 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 an 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 for deliveries sent to them, standard users only have access to shared folders/homes beneath a volume or collections.
Can I share Titles and associated media within the vault?¶
Yes, the title library just sits on top of a basic folder structure on your accsyn storage, allowing for sharing folders and creating collections just as you would do with any regular content.
A good example is to create a permanent "DCP" collection, with a set of DCPs to permanently share with one or more users.
Can I share files on my own local or cloud storage?¶
Yes, accsyn provides a BYOS licensing option allowing you to install on-prem our cloud servers facilitating file sharing and delivery on your storage solutions. For more information see BYOS.
Can my clients share folders on their local machine?¶
Yes. This is called local file sharing: a user maps a shared folder (or volume path) to a folder on their own computer, then grants workspace operators read and/or write access to that mapping.
While the remote user's client is online, elevated users (administrators and employees) can:
- Pull files from the mapped local folder — with read access, operators can upload material from the client's machine onto main storage or a site.
- Push files to the mapped local folder — with write access, operators can download material from main storage or a site onto the client's machine.
Typical use cases are working-from-home setups and vendors who keep a local work area that mirrors the same folder structure as your cloud or on-prem storage.
Local mappings can be configured in the Desktop App. For transfers to work that way, the Desktop App must be running and the user must be logged in.
If you need the machine available around the clock without someone logged into the Desktop App, install a User server (the accsyn daemon/service) on that computer. The User server runs in the background as long as the machine is on, independent of the interactive desktop session, and can expose the same local share mappings for pull and push transfers.
For setup steps — share mappings, permissions, and User server installation — see Hosts.
Can I share files and folders on a remote office or cloud site?¶
Yes. In a BYOS (or Enterprise) workspace you can define sites — remote physical offices or cloud locations — each typically served by one or more site servers. Servers and elevated-user clients can be assigned to a site so accsyn knows where they are located.
Site servers act as transfer endpoints at that location: they can sync material between the main (HQ) site and the remote site, serve shared storage at the office or cloud VPC, and optionally take over download/upload jobs initiated by clients on the same site so those transfers continue even if the initiating Desktop App is closed.
Learn how to add and configure sites, assign servers, and sync between locations in Site administration. The Remote office sync tutorial walks through a practical setup.