Files on Your Computer

Shared files are part of how a team works: staff open spreadsheets, update documents, prepare drawings, and save the result for someone else to use. Moving that work to Files.com should give the team a clear place to find and change its files while letting people continue using their desktop applications.

The Files.com Desktop App makes your site's files available in Windows File Explorer or macOS Finder. A person signs in with their own Files.com account, opens a file from that location, and saves changes back through the app. IT controls the folders they can reach and the operations they can perform. This is useful both for a new shared working area and for a team moving away from a file server or manual download-and-upload routine.

A Shared Working Location

Consider a project team preparing documents for clients. If each person downloads a document, edits a local copy, and uploads it later, the team has to keep track of which copy is current. A Files.com folder gives the team an agreed working location. Mounted Drive Mode lets their desktop applications open files from that location and return saved changes to it.

The app downloads file contents when needed and uploads saved changes. Browsing the folder does not require downloading its entire contents to every computer. Downloaded files still use local disk space, and a successful save in an application does not by itself establish that the upload has finished. The shared version is the one available through Files.com after that transfer completes.

Mounted access serves a different purpose from a bulk transfer. When the job is to upload a project archive or download a large collection, Turbo Transfer Mode provides transfer progress, pause and resume, and retries. Both modes are available in the Desktop App; choose according to whether the person is working on files or moving a collection.

Where the Working Files Live

The Desktop App connects to your Files.com site. The folders it presents can contain Files.com's native storage or files held on a connected service or server. Staff use the same app in either case, subject to their access and the remote connection's capabilities.

A Desktop App mount and a Remote Server Mount describe different parts of that arrangement. The Desktop App puts Files.com files into the person's desktop environment. A Remote Server Mount makes storage elsewhere available as a folder on Files.com. An IT team can combine them so staff work on existing storage through the Desktop App, or begin with a folder in native Files.com storage.

For the project team's first working folder, native storage is a straightforward starting point if there is no existing repository to preserve. If another application already depends on the files in a particular storage system, decide whether that location should remain the working source before copying the files elsewhere.

Access for the Team

Give each person their own account. A Group lets you grant shared folder access once and maintain it through membership, while activity remains attributable to individual accounts. Installing the app adds a way to use the account; it does not grant additional folder access.

Match permissions to the work. A reader needs access to download files. A person editing existing documents needs Full folder permission, which includes replacement, renaming, and deletion. Read/Write permission allows new uploads but is not a general editing permission for existing files. Limit Full permission to the working areas where those changes are appropriate. Permission to share files externally is a separate decision.

The administrator also enables Desktop App access for the users. If the site uses several Workspaces, the team needs to know which Workspace contains its working folder so everyone opens the same location.

Establishing the First Working Folder

Use a representative document that the team can safely change. A useful first result is that an ordinary team member can find, edit, and save it, and a colleague can retrieve the updated version.

1. As the administrator, create the team's folder or select the existing folder it will use. Place the sample document there and grant the team's Group the required permissions. Have a team member sign in to the web interface with their own account and confirm access.
2. On that person's computer, install the Desktop App. Windows users need the EXE installer for Mounted Drive Mode. Add a connection using the site's address and sign in through the organization's normal authentication.
3. Under Manage Files.com Connections, enable Mount as Drive on Windows or Show in Finder on macOS. On macOS, approve the Files.com File Provider extension when prompted. Open the connection in File Explorer or Finder and select the appropriate Workspace if needed.
4. Open the sample from the team's Files.com folder in its desktop application. Make a recognizable change, save, and close the document. After the upload finishes, have the colleague open or download that file through their own Files.com account and confirm the change.

This checks the working arrangement the team will depend on: its accounts, access, application, and shared copy. An administrator testing only with their own account would not establish that the team's permissions are correct.

Editing Together and Working Away From the Network

A shared location does not make every desktop application a simultaneous editor. Files.com coordinates locks for supported business documents, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files opened through Mounted Drive Mode. Other editing and transfer tools may not honor those locks. When several people need to edit the same document together, use a supported online co-authoring arrangement.

On macOS, files whose contents are available locally can be used offline. Prepare them and check their download status before disconnecting; a filename in Finder is not proof that the contents are on the computer. Mounted Drive Mode explains availability and the upload of saved changes after reconnection.

Windows Desktop Configuration Profiles let administrators assign consistent folder-to-drive mappings across the team. This matters when existing documents, macros, or scripts depend on particular drive letters. Establish those mappings as part of the working arrangement, then distribute the app through the organization's deployment tools as more staff adopt it.