Working with files

What you can do with your files or other people's files depends on the access level that is assigned to those files.

About this task

There are three primary levels of access for any file: private, shared with specific people or communities with either reader or editor access, or public. When a file is given public access, anyone can read and download it, even people who are not logged in. After they log in, people can also share the file, add it to a folder, comment on it, and receive notification when someone edits it or comments on it.

Note: An administrator can configure your account so that everyone must log in, or only a certain group of people can log in. In this case, public files are only available to users who are able to log in.

File owners can choose to allow other people to share files. When someone shares a file with you, they can give you reader or editor access:

Reader access: Readers can read, comment on, download, and recommend a file, be notified of changes to the file, and share the file. They can add a file to one of their folders, or to a folder to which they have Editor access.
Editor access: Editors can read, edit, comment on, download, recommend, upload a new version of, and set file properties. They can be notified of changes to the file, and share it. Editors can also add a file to a folder of theirs, or to a folder to which they have Editor access.

To see what access you and others have for a file, open its file page and click Sharing.

Procedure

Open the file page and perform one or more of the following file actions.

Option	Description
To recommend files	In any list of files, find a file and click the Like option or icon for that file to recommend the file. You can also click the Like option or icon on an individual file page.
To comment on files	Open the file page, click the Comments tab, and then click Add a comment. Type your comment, and then click Save.
To preview a file	Open the file page, and then click Preview. Preview also is available from the Customizable display list.
To download files	To download a file, open the file page and click Download. To download one or more files, open a files or folder view, check the box next to the files you want to download, and click Download. Note: If any of the file names you are downloading to the compressed file contain non-English characters, you can use the Global (default) setting. This setting informs the compression program to use UTF-8 characters so that all file name characters can be properly processed during compression. If the file names inside the compressed file are not displayed correctly after you choose the Global (default) setting, click Global (default), specify a language value when prompted, and reprocess the download. Note: If you perform multiple compressed file downloads of selected files, the first is named files.zip. Subsequent downloads are named the same but with numbers appended, such as files(1).zip, files(2).zip. You can rename the compressed files later.
To edit file properties	Open the file page, and then click More Actions > Edit Properties. Change the file name property, description, or file extension, and then click Save. You must be an owner or have Editor access to edit the properties of someone's file. To edit properties in the My Files list view, click More> More Actions >Edit Properties.
To add files to a folder	Open the file page, and then click Add to Folder. Select a folder, and then click Add to Folder. Alternatively, you can open the folder page, click Add Files, and select previously uploaded files. For personal files, use the Add to Folder option on the file page to add a file to another folder. The file still exists at the original location, but can now be accessed at the new location. Community files can only exist in one folder and can only be moved to Trash.
To move a file	You can move one or more files if you have Owner or Editor access to the file and to the destination location. You can move files in any of the following ways: Drag and drop multiple files from the current location to a location in the navigation tree. Drag and drop multiple files from the current location in the content pane to another location in the content pane. Open the folder that contains the files you want to move, select the files you want to move, and click Move. Select a destination in the Move to... window. Note: Files that are not shared externally cannot be moved to a folder that allows access by external users. Note: Non-public files that you do not own cannot be moved to a public folder. Note: A file cannot be moved to a location that contains a file with the same name. Note: Once a file is in a community, it can only be moved to Trash. Note: If a subset of the selected files to be moved are ineligible, then the move will fail.
To lock or unlock a file	Open the file page, and then click More Actions > Lock File or More Actions > Unlock File. Note: An editor can lock a file but can unlock only a file that they locked.