Users

User management is a key part of building a secure and scalable Files.com environment. User accounts control who can access your site, how they sign in, and what they are allowed to do.

When user accounts are organized clearly and combined with a well structured folder layout and group or partner based permissions, your site remains secure, auditable, and easy to scale as your organization grows.

Users and Permission Assignment

User access in Files.com is controlled through permissions applied directly to users or through Groups or Partners. Groups provide a consistent and scalable way to manage access by assigning permissions once and applying them to many users.

To enforce consistency, Site Administrators manage permissions through structured models rather than assigning access directly to individual users. For Site and Child Site users, this is done through Groups, which apply permissions in a consistent, repeatable way. For Partner users, permissions are defined at the Partner level and shared by all users within that Partner.

Using Groups and Partners as the primary permission boundaries reduces ad hoc access changes, minimizes configuration drift, and supports clearer audits.

Username Rules and Identity Scope

Files.com is a multi tenant platform. By default, all usernames must be globally unique across all Files.com sites. If a username already exists on another Files.com site, it cannot be reused on your site.

Custom Username Namespace

For organizations that require site scoped usernames, this behavior can be changed by configuring a custom domain and setting the Custom username namespace option to Usernames must be unique only within this site. This allows the same username to exist on different Files.com sites.

When this option is enabled, all users must connect using an address that resolves to the site’s dedicated IP addresses. If a custom SSL certificate is configured, users must authenticate through the custom domain or the dedicated IP addresses.

Switching Back to Globally Unique Usernames

If a site is configured for site scoped usernames and uses single sign on, the SSO integration must be disabled before switching back to globally unique usernames. All usernames associated with the SSO provider must first be updated to use a different authentication method before the setting can be changed.

Reserved Usernames

Certain usernames commonly associated with brute force attacks are reserved by the system and cannot be used. Attempts to create a user with a reserved username result in a Username is reserved error. When this occurs, a different username must be selected.

Listing Users

User accounts are displayed in a table that supports flexible filtering and column selection. You can filter users by attributes like username, full name, email address, company, role, partner association, and account status to narrow the view to specific users or roles. The table also allows you to choose which columns are visible, making it easier to review the exact user details that matter for administration, auditing, or cleanup tasks.

User Activity

The user list includes date and time information about user activity and user logins which can be used to audit or track users last activity on the Files.com platform.

When using the web portal, the user list includes the following columns:

Session logins include cases where user credentials are managed by an external identity provider, including Active Directory or LDAP systems.

Use of an API Key will only update the Last Active At and Last API Usage At fields. Use of an SSH/SFTP Key is identical to a session login and will update the Last Login At, Last Active At, and Last SFTP Login At fields.

Reports

Files.com provides built-in reporting for user access and activity. Just as with other data tables in the web interface, the Users table supports exporting. You can download a CSV report of all users for review, auditing, or record keeping.

In addition to user list exports, Files.com offers reports that capture user permissions and login history, supporting compliance reviews and ongoing validation of access across the site.