Share files and folders externally from My Folders

• The external sharing feature can be enabled or disabled at the team level by its super admin or an admin.
  
  
• If external sharing is enabled, any team member can share a file or folder externally from their My Folders.
  
  
• If external sharing is disabled, team members cannot share a file or folder externally from their My Folders.
  

To share a file externally from My Folders:

1. Select a file and click the share icon  in the top action bar. A Share dialog box will appear. Alternatively, you can right-click a file and select Share.

2. Click New external share link. An external share link dialog box will open.

3. Enter a link name for easy reference.

4. Choose the Access Level for the file you want to share externally.

• For Zoho format files, i.e., Writer, Sheet and Show, external users can be given view or edit access.
  
  
• For non-Zoho format files (documents, spreadsheets and presentations), and other file types such as images, videos and pdfs, external users can only be given view access.
  

5. To enable password access to the file, toggle ON Password protect and enter a password.

You can add passwords when you share confidential files using links. Anyone who tries to open the link will have to provide the password you've set for the file.

6. Toggle Set Expiry ON to set an expiration date for the shared file. This makes your share link invalid after the set date.

Consider a scenario where your team makes deals with clients or parties for a fixed period of time. You can set the expiration date for links you share with them to ensure that they won't have access to your files once the contract ends.

7. Toggle Allow downloads ON to let external users download the file. If you wish to restrict users from downloading the file, toggle OFF.

8. Toggle Request user data ON and choose the required user details, such as name, email address and phone number. If this is enabled, a user has to submit their details every time to access the folder. This way, you know who opens your file via the external share link.

9. Click Create. A new dialog box will open.

10. Click Copy Link and share the link to external users via group chat or social networking sites.

 

11. To email the share link, enter email addresses of external users separated by commas, then add a personal message if needed and click SEND EMAIL.

12. Close the dialog box and click the share icon again in the top to see the external share link created at the bottom of the share dialog box.

 

13. Click Actions next to the share link and you will have these options:

 

View Stats - You can view the list of external users who have accessed the file via this external share link, their number of views and downloads, and the date and time they recently accessed.

 

Copy Link - You can copy the share link and share with your external users.

Email share link - You can email the share link with external users.

Change settings - You can change the share link settings (password, expiry date, and download setting) at anytime after creating the share link, or create a new custom share link for the same file.

Delete share link - You can delete the share link if required.

Only external users with edit access can comment on files.

To share a folder externally from My Folders:

1. Select a folder and click the share icon  in the top action bar. Alternatively, you can share a folder by right-clicking it and selecting Share. A Share dialog box will appear.

2. Click New external share link. An external share link dialog box will open.

3. Enter a link name for easy reference.

4. Choose the Access Level for the folder you want to share externally. You can choose either:

View - Allows an external user to ONLY view files inside the Folder.

Upload - Allows an external user to do the following:

• Upload files (Maximum file upload size = 250MB)
  
• Preview and download files
  

Edit - Allows an external user to upload and edit files inside the folder.

Only files in Zoho's native format i.e., Zoho Writer, Zoho Sheet, and Zoho Show can be edited. 

5) To enable password access to the folder, Toggle Password protect ON and enter a password.

You can add passwords when you share a folder with confidential files. Anyone who tries to open the link will have to provide the password you've set for the folder.

6) Toggle Set Expiry ON to set an expiration date for the shared file. This will make your share link invalid after the set date.

Sometimes your team makes deals with clients or parties for a fixed period of time. You can set the expiration date for links you share to ensure that they won't have access to your folder, once the contract ends.

7) Toggle Allow downloads ON to let external users download files in the folder. If you wish to restrict users from downloading the file, toggle OFF.

8) Toggle Request user data ON and choose the required user details, such as name, email address and phone number. If this is enabled, a user has to submit their details every time to access the folder. This way, you know who opens your folder via the external share link.

1. If the name is not requested in a share link, external users will be mentioned or called as Guest# (in sequence as Guest#1, Guest#2, etc.) in WorkDrive.
   
   
2. Also, this setting cannot be enabled or edited once the external share link has been created.
   

9) Click Create. A new dialog box will open.

10. Click Copy Link and share the link to external users via group chat or social networking sites.

 

11. To email the share link, enter email addresses of external users separated by commas, then add a personal message if needed and click SEND EMAIL.

 

12. Close the dialog box and click the share icon again in the top to see the external share link created at the bottom of the share dialog box.

 

13. Click Actions next to the share link and you will have these options:

 

View Stats - You can view the list of external users who have accessed the folder via this external share link, their number of views and downloads, and the date and time they recently accessed.

Copy Link - You can copy the share link and share with your external users.

 

Email share link - You can email the share link with external users

Change settings - You can change the share link settings (password, expiry date, and download setting) at anytime after creating the share link, or create a new custom share link for the same folder.

Delete share link - You can delete the share link if required.

1. You can generate multiple custom external share links for a single file or folder, and share them with the appropriate person or group.
   
   
2. You can find separate access stats for each external share link by clicking its Stats in the share dialog box.
   
   
3. To access an externally shared file or folder, external users have to go to the email or app where they received it. The file or folder will not be listed anywhere in external users' folders even if they have a Zoho account.
   
   
4. Deleting external share links will remove access to files/folders for external users.

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