A Partner in Files.com is basically a container for external organizations (like vendors, clients, agencies, and suppliers) that need access to your site.

Partners have a list of associated Partner Users. Partners are assigned a root folder, permissions apply to their Partner Users, and settings that control Partner Admins can configure. Internal Notes help Site Administrators track helpful information about each Partner, and Tags allow granular User Lifecycle Rules to automatically remove inactive accounts.

Partner Identifying Information

Each Partner includes a Name and Internal Notes for identifying and documenting the Partner. Internal notes can only be viewed by Site Administrators.

Partner Root Folder and Permissions

The Root folder restricts all Partner's users to one section of your site, and prevents them from accessing anything outside of the Root folder path. When a Partner User connects, they see the Root folder as the top level of your site. This restriction applies regardless of how the users connect, whether through the web interface, API, SFTP, or another supported protocol.

Site Administrators grant permissions for a Partner instead of adding those permissions to Partner Users. Partner Users only have the permissions granted to their Partner. Permissions for a Partner can only grant access to paths that are contained within the Partner's root folder. Partners cannot be granted admin, sharing or history permissions.

Partner Admin Settings

Partner Admin Settings control what administrative actions Partner Admins can perform for their organization. These options let Site Administrators decide how much self-management to delegate while keeping overall site governance intact. When none of these settings are enabled, Partner Admins are the same as other Partner Users.

Allow user creation gives Partner Admins the ability to add an remove users for their Partner. This helps external teams manage their own accounts without depending on your Site Administrators for every user change.

Allow credential changes enables Partner Admins to reset passwords or manage SSH keys for their Partner Users. Granting this permission allows Partner Admins to handle access updates securely and immediately.

Allow Providing GPG Keys grants Partner Admins access to the GPG Key Manager, so they can provide the keys to be used for automatic encryption, decryption or recryption. This feature supports secure, automated file exchange workflows while maintaining data confidentiality. While Partner Admins can provide their own GPG Keys, a user with folder admin or site admin rights must configure the GPG settings to use the provided keys.

Allowing Partner Users to Bypass 2FA

The Allow bypassing 2FA setting lets Partner Users gain the benefits of two-factor authentication (2FA) for normal logins while still connecting seamlessly through protocols like FTP, SFTP, or WebDAV. When the setting is enabled, Partner Users can configure new 2FA methods to skip authentication prompts during protocol connections. Each user must enable the bypass on each 2FA method they use to ensure complete access without repeated prompts.

Partner Users are subject to the same security restrictions as all other users on your site. This means your site's setting for Bypassing 2FA for FTP/SFTP/WebDAV Users must be enabled for the Partner's Allow bypassing 2FA to take effect.

Partner Tags

You can add a list of tags to your Partners, which can be used by User Lifecycle Rules to target which users the rule affects. These tags can be any combination of letters, digits and hyphens.