Sharing & Collaboration
Sharing & Collaboration covers the human-facing ways people distribute, collect, publish, and work together on files. These workflows can include visitors who do not have a Files.com login, registered users on your site, or members of an external Partner organization.
In the Files.com web app, Share Links, Inboxes, registration forms, and invitation tools appear under Send & Receive.
For automated system-to-system transfers, start with Integrations or Automation & Flow. To control what logged-in users can access, start with Folder Permissions.
Choose By Outcome
| What you need to do | Start here |
|---|---|
| Give people temporary, browser-based access to files or folders | Share Links |
| Operate a lasting upload point for submissions or emailed attachments | Inboxes |
| Let visitors download files and return completed files through one page | Using Inboxes with Share Links |
| Collect visitor information, capture consent, or reuse invitation lists | Registration & Invitations |
| Place a Share Link or Inbox inside your own website or application | Embedding |
| Let several people edit the same business document | Co-Authoring and Collaboration |
| Build a controlled document workspace for known participants | Virtual Data Room |
| Publish files or static content at stable HTTPS URLs | Public Hosting |
Decide Whether Visitors Need Accounts
Use a Share Link or Inbox when people need a focused browser experience and do not need an ongoing Files.com identity. Share Links fit temporary distribution and exchange. Inboxes fit lasting intake points where visitors submit files without seeing the contents of the destination folder.
Create users when known participants need individual authentication, recurring access, notifications, or access through Files.com apps and protocols. Use Groups and Folder Permissions to manage that access consistently.
Use Partners when an outside organization needs its own users, an isolated folder boundary, and a lifecycle you can manage as one unit. A Partner is a better fit than a collection of unrelated external user accounts when the relationship is ongoing.
Add Identity, Consent, And Presentation
Registration & Invitations add recipient lists, visitor information, custom forms, and click-through agreements to Share Links and Inboxes. Use them when you need evidence of who participated, what information they supplied, or which terms they accepted.
Embedding places the Share Link or Inbox experience inside your own website or application. Files.com continues to handle the transfer and audit trail while your site provides the surrounding context and branding.
Verify And Govern Sharing
Before publishing a sharing workflow, decide who should gain access, what they may do, how long access should last, and which activity your team needs to retain. Share Link security covers passwords, email-based one-time passwords, recipient restrictions, access control, and expiration. Share Link activity and audit covers access logs, notifications, and site-wide reporting.
For inbound collection, Receipts to Uploaders confirm successful submissions to visitors, while Auditing Inbox Uploads explains the folder and inbound-email logs available to administrators.