File Access

File Access

What is File Access Control

File Access Control is a new permission system that stores access control information directly on individual files rather than relying on folder-based permissions. This approach allows to adjust permissions on a fine-granular basis and solves scalability issues with the current folder-based system where search queries become too long when users have access to many folders.

What This Means for You

As a business user, the file access control feature provides:

Improved user experience / control

  • Adjust access permissions on a more fine-granular basis

Improved Performance

  • Faster search results, especially for users with access to many folders

  • No more timeouts when searching across large folder structures

  • More reliable search experience

  • System can handle organizations with thousands of folders

  • No performance degradation as folder structures grow

  • Consistent search performance regardless of folder count

Transparent Operation

  • No changes to your daily workflow

  • File uploads work exactly the same way

  • Search functionality remains unchanged from your perspective

  • All existing permissions and access controls continue to work

How it works

When a file is uploaded to a particular folder, the file inherits the folder access permissions. The user can then further modify the access permissions through file info side panel in the Knowledge Base.

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Implications

Folder and file access permissions are managed separately. A user must have access to a folder and a file in order to access a file. A user who has only access to the folder but none of the files inside the folder, won’t be able see any files. Changing the permissions on a folder level might affect the file permissions.