What a Child Site Contains
A Child Site has its own site configuration and resources. Plan entitlement, billing, and Parent Site Administrator access span the Parent Site and its Child Sites.
Hierarchy Restrictions
The Child Site hierarchy is two levels deep:
- A Files.com account has one Parent Site, and every other site is a Child Site of that Parent Site.
- Child Sites cannot have Child Sites of their own.
- Each Child Site belongs to exactly one Parent Site.
The two-level model fits site-level separation, where each Child Site needs its own site-wide configuration. Deeper nesting would not change what separation Child Sites provide.
Full Site Configuration, Independently
A Child Site is a complete Files.com Site. Every site-level configuration that exists on the Parent Site exists independently on each Child Site, including:
| Category | Resources |
|---|---|
| Identity | Subdomain, custom domain, IP addresses, branding, custom SMTP |
| Authentication | SSO providers, 2FA requirements, password policies |
| Security and Protocols | Security settings, protocol configuration (FTP, SFTP, WebDAV), ciphers, host keys, certificates |
| Files | Folders, files, folder settings, and folder permissions |
| Sharing | Share Links, Inboxes, Share Groups, Custom Forms, and Public Hosting |
| User Accounts | Users, Groups, and Partners |
| Encryption | SFTP/SSH keys and GPG keys for the Child Site's users |
| Automations | Automations and Expectations |
| Services | AS2 identities and trading partners |
| Integrations | Remote Servers, remote server mounts, and Syncs |
| Notifications | Email notifications, Webhooks, Amazon SNS, Google Pub/Sub, Slack, and Microsoft Teams Notifications |
| Data Governance | Storage regions, retention policies, file restrictions, and file organization rules |
| Logging | Site-level logs, SIEM integrations, and audit trails |
Each Child Site has its own configuration for every category above. Two Child Sites under the same Parent Site can run different security policies, different SSO providers, different storage regions, and different branding.
What's Shared Across the Hierarchy
A few things span the Parent Site and all of its Child Sites:
- Plan and feature level. Each Child Site offers the same level of features as the Parent Site's plan.
- Usage and billing. Storage, bandwidth, billable users, and API calls are aggregated across the Parent Site and all Child Sites for billing. See Child Sites Usage.
- Parent Site Administrator access. A Parent Site Administrator has full Site Administrator access to every Child Site and can reach Child Site content through the Parent Site's underscore folder.
- Child Site Management Policies. Settings included in a Parent Site's Management Policy are enforced across Child Sites included in that policy, and Child Site Administrators cannot override them.
The Underscore Folder Bridge
The Parent Site's underscore folder exposes each Child Site's ordinary folder tree as a subfolder under _/Sites, excluding the Child's own system-controlled _ folder. Parent Site Administrators can browse, copy, move, and run automations and syncs against this mounted content from within the Parent Site. This bridge for file access runs from the Parent Site to its Child Sites; it does not give Child Sites access to files on the Parent Site or sibling Child Sites.