File/Folder Access Control
Overview
Control which users or roles can access specific files or folders in Document Management. Define what they can do by giving them viewer, contributor or manager permission.
Access & Permissions
- The role permission 'Admin' can be granted to make sure there is always someone who has full access to every file and folder overruling individual access settings to certain files or folders.
- Subcontractors can be granted viewing permissions, but they can never modify or create new files or folders.
- Watchers can view all files and folders with access control disabled. They can never view them with access control enabled. Read more about User Types.
How to access Document Management Access Settings
- Click Documents
- Open the more menu of a file or folder
- Click Folder details (or File details)
- See Access settings

- Tap Documents

- Open the More menu of a file or folder

- Tap Details

- See Access settings

Enable Access Control
To define access permissions for specific files or folders, you first need to enable access control. Go to access settings as described above in How to access Document Management Access Settings:
- Activate Access Control toggle

- Activate Access Control toggle

You as the one who activated the toggle will automatically get added as a user with 'Manager' permission. Anyone else will not have access to this file or folder until you add them as describe in the next steps.
The only exception are users with the role permission 'Admin' which gives them unconditional access to every file and folder as described above in Access & Permissions.
Add a Role or User
When access control is enabled, you can specify who can access the file or folder.
To add a role or user:
- Click Add a role or user
- Optional: Use the search field
- Click + next to the role or user (repeat if needed)
- Click Confirm

- Tap + Add a role or user

- Optional: Use the search field
- Select the roles and users
- Tap Done

Change Permission for a Role or User
The following permissions are available:
- Viewer = Only view (gets automatically assigned to added roles and users)
- Contributor = Add, edit and move files and folders
- Manager = Add, edit, move, delete files and folders, manage access control
To change the permission for a role or user:
- Open the drop down menu which shows the current permission e.g. Viewer
- Select the new permission e.g. Contributor or Manager

- Open the More menu of the corresponding role or user

- Select the new permission Manager, Contributor or Viewer

For example if a user doesn't have the role permission to delete items in Document Management, but has Manager permission for an item, then the user can delete the file.

Remove Permission for a Role or User
To remove a role or user and their permission for the selected file or folder:
- Open the drop down menu which shows the current permission e.g. Viewer
- Click Remove user

- Open the More menu of the corresponding role or user

- Tap Delete

Disable Access Control
Disable access control to deactivate all access settings and make the file or folder available for everyone again.
- Deactivate Access Control toggle
- Click Remove anyway

- Deactivate Access Control toggle

- Tap Remove anyway

Inherited Access Settings
Folder Access settings are automatically inherited by all sub-folders and files.
When you open the access settings of an item that has inherited access settings, the Access Control toggle is enabled but greyed out because it cannot be disabled.

Change
It is not possible to disable access control for items with inherited access settings, but you can change them as described above in:
Restore
Once you made changes to the permissions, the inheritance gets deactivated for that item.
To delete your changes and activate inheritance again:
- Click Restore changes

- Tap Restore changes

Move Files/Folders with Access Settings
You can move files and folder as described in Add & Manage Files/Folders > Move Files/Folders.
You get an additional confirmation message in case the moved item has inherited access settings and/or the target folder has (inherited) access settings:
'When moving items, their access settings will change to match the new folder's settings.'
- Click Move anyway

- Tap Move anyway

View Shared Items
To view a list of all files and folders that are shared with you by access settings:
- Click Documents
- Click Shared items

- Tap Documents

- Open the More menu

- Tap Shared items

Updated April 27, 2026
