Every partner exchange needs a place to put files for the partner, a place for the partner to put files for you, and permissions that let the partner do exactly that and nothing more. Building that by hand for every partner would mean creating folders and setting access permissions one at a time and keeping them consistent as partners multiply.

A Partner Channel is that exchange path, defined as a single configuration. It is a structured, two-way exchange path under a Partner's root folder. Files.com creates the To Partner and From Partner folders, applies their permissions automatically, and keeps the structure identical for every partner.

A Partner can have more than one channel.

Partner Channel Folders and Directions

A partner channel has a base folder and two directional folders beneath it. Saving the partner channel creates the base folder and both directional folders automatically. The partner channel's base path must either not exist yet or already exist as an empty folder, which the save converts into the partner channel's base folder.

The two directions are named for the flow of files between your site and the partner:

The To Partner Folder holds files your site delivers for the partner to retrieve. Its default name is outgoing.
The From Partner Folder holds files the partner submits to your site. Its default name is incoming.

A channel's Folder Path is a relative path. It gives the partner channel's location beneath the Partner's root folder, such as EDI, and is the path the partner sees. The Channel Folder Path is the corresponding absolute path on your site, such as partners/Acme Co/EDI, which administrators see in the partner channel's settings. The To Partner and From Partner folders are created inside it.

A Folder Path is not limited to a single level. You can place channels at multi-level paths, such as EDI/X12/Orders and EDI/EDIFACT/Orders.

An Example EDI Exchange

Suppose Acme Co is a Partner whose root folder is partners/Acme Co, and you create a partner channel with the Folder Path EDI. Saving the channel creates partners/Acme Co/EDI with outgoing and incoming folders inside it, and grants Acme's users their access to all three in the same step.

From there the exchange runs itself. You (or an Automation) place files in outgoing, and Acme's users download them. Acme's users upload their files into incoming, and your team or automations pick them up from there. Onboarding the next partner is the same single configuration again, and its channel folders and permissions come out identical to Acme's.

What the Partner Sees

A Partner User who connects through the web interface, SFTP, or any other protocol sees the Partner's root folder as the top level of the site. In the example above, an Acme user logs in and sees EDI at the top, with outgoing and incoming inside it. They can browse and download from outgoing, and upload into incoming. They see nothing of your wider site, other partners, or the partners/Acme Co prefix that administrators see.

Creating a Partner Channel

Site Administrators and Workspace Administrators manage Partner Channels. Workspace Administrators manage only Partners within their own Workspace.

A channel's configuration has three parts, named Channel Details, Files To Partner, and Files From Partner. You set the partner channel's Folder Path, configure the To Partner Folder for files going to the partner, and configure the From Partner Folder for files coming from the partner. Each direction can optionally use a Route Path.

You can name both folders using the To Partner Folder Name and From Partner Folder Name settings. If you leave a name blank, the default name is used.

Partner Channel Permissions

A Partner Channel sets its permissions automatically. Partner Users receive:

Folder	Permission	What the Partner Can Do
Base folder (`EDI` in the example)	List Only, non-recursive	See the To Partner and From Partner folders, and nothing beyond them
To Partner Folder (`outgoing` by default)	Read Only, recursive	Browse and download the files you deliver
From Partner Folder (`incoming` by default)	Write Only and List Only, recursive	Upload files and see what has been submitted, without being able to download anything back out

These permissions are inferred rather than created as editable permissions. Folder Permissions shows the Partner Channel context for these folders and keeps the inferred permissions out of the editable permissions table, so the partner channel's access model stays intact and cannot be partially edited into an inconsistent state.

A Partner Channel's permissions are independent of any other folder permissions the Partner has been granted. The partner channel grants access only to its own folders, and it neither extends nor is changed by other access permissions that the Partner has been granted. A Partner Channel can be set up only within the Partner's own area.

Non-Partner users can be given access to the partner channel's folders through ordinary folder permissions. Those permissions are entirely separate from the partner channel's inferred permissions. Granting a non-Partner user access to a partner channel folder does not change what the partner can do, and the partner channel's permissions do not affect the non-Partner user's access.

Route Paths

Use a Route Path when the partner-facing folder needs to resolve somewhere other than a plain folder under the Partner's root. The target can be a folder on a Remote Server Mount, a folder on a Child Site, a folder in another Workspace, or a local folder owned by an internal workflow. The partner keeps working in the channel path while your operations resolve to the real location.

The To Partner Route Path and From Partner Route Path settings point the partner channel's To Partner or From Partner folder at the target folder, so the two locations show the same files. Anything in the target folder appears in the partner channel folder, and anything placed in the partner channel folder appears in the target. Routing is configured on the partner channel itself, and no separate Automation is required for it.

Linking to a folder in a Workspace is only supported from the default Workspace, which can link into any other Workspace. A partner channel in a non-default Workspace cannot use a Workspace as a Route Path target. Files.com validates that the target exists and is accessible before saving. Linking to a folder on a Remote Server, for example, requires that the Remote Server is online and that the folder exists there.

Partner Channels vs. Manual Folder Setup

Everything a Partner Channel builds could be built by hand, by creating a base folder and two directional folders under each Partner's root and then granting three permissions per exchange. With 50 partners, that's 100 folders and 150 permissions to create, and to keep consistent every time an exchange changes. A Partner Channel creates the same structure in one step, and because its permissions are applied automatically rather than editable, every partner's exchange stays consistent by design.