Folder Management
Safe4 uses folders as a way of organising and storing information. The folder concept is identical to that used in Windows Explorer: folders may contain files or other folders or both, and there are no restrictions on the number of folders that can be set up, nor of the number of levels of subfolders that can be created.
As with Windows Explorer, it is wise to exercise care in the way that folders are structured. Having too many folders at any given level can make it difficult to find information. Equally, having too many levels of subfolder can also cause problems when retrieving information.
For fast access to individual files, it is often best to use the Safe4 Search facility. This is described in the appropriate section of the Safe4 User Guide.
The folder view in Safe4 is displayed as follows:
Folders are always displayed in ascending alphanumeric sequence. In the example above, the subfolder “Legal” is selected, and any files in that folder are listed in the right-hand pane. For further information on how to work with files within folders, please refer to the appropriate section in the Safe4 User Guide.
This section of the guide will concentrate on the management of folders only, as opposed to their day-to-day use. The functions associated with this aspect of the system are:
- New Folder
- Rename Folder
- Delete Folder
These are represented by the button bar displayed on the client Files and Folders screen:
Adding a New Folder
The first action is to highlight the place where you want the folder to appear. In the example illustrated above, with the “Legal” folder highlighted, a new folder will be created as a child of that parent folder.
Select the New Folder button, represented as a star. The following screen will be displayed:
Enter the name of the folder and click OK, or Cancel to abandon the operation. The OK button will become active when this dialog box opens, so the return key can be used to complete this operation.
Editing a Folder
To change the name of a folder, firstly select that folder in the left-hand pane of Safe4. Then select the Folder Details button. The following screen will be displayed:
The current name of the folder is displayed in the Folder Name field. This can be edited as desired.
It is also possible to change the security groups associated with this folder by selecting the Groups tab, as described below.
When the changes have been completed, click OK to save the changes, or Cancel to abandon the operation. The OK button will become active when this dialog box opens, so the return key can be used to complete this operation.
Allocating Security Groups to Folders
Safe4 controls the ability to access information held within folders through a facility called Security Groups. This entails allocating a group to a folder, thus granting rights to members of that group to access the folder in question. Subsequent actions will be determined by the rights that have been assigned to that group, and the ability to add, rename, delete or move files will be governed by the settings of the group.
For a user to be able to access a folder, the corresponding group must also be allocated to their user account. This can be done by editing the user, as described in the appropriate section of this guide.
It is possible to allocate more than one group to a folder, thus allowing different users to have different access rights for that folder. Hence a folder can be presented as read-only to members of one group, but with full read and write permissions to members of another group.
Groups are selected by clicking the Folder Details icon at the top of the folder list, as shown above. Selecting the Groups tab will display the groups available for selection:
Ticking the “Include all existing Sub-Folders?” box will apply the selected groups to all of the sub-folders underneath the folder or sub-folder in question. It is possible for parent and child folders to have different security group settings, thus allowing specific users to have access to the parent, but not the child folders. For a user to have access to a sub-folder they must also have access to the parent.
Deleting a Folder
To delete a folder, first select the folder to be deleted. Note that folders which contain sub-folders cannot be deleted without first deleting the sub-folders. Then select the Delete Folder button, represented by a dustbin icon. The following screen will be displayed:
Care should be taken when deleting a folder, as any files that were in the folder will also be deleted.
To complete this action, click OK. To cancel the operation, click Cancel. The OK button does not become active when this dialog box opens, so it is necessary click it manually.
Email User
In order to draw attention to files which have already been stored in Safe4, there is a facility called Email User. This appears in the button bar in the vault files and folders page. This is a separate function from the use of email notifications to advise users when new files have been uploaded.
To use this facility, first you should select the appropriate files in the right hand pane of the screen:
Please note that this facility is available as standard to provider users. It can only be used by client vault users if the appropriate setting has been chosen in the provider’s details, as described in the Manage Providers section of this guide.
Then click Email User from the button bar shown above. The following screen will be displayed:
Select the users to be notified by clicking the boxes alongside their names. Multiple files and users can be selected in a single operation, and a message can be entered in the box shown above. This text will form part of the Message which the selected users receive by email. The chosen filenames will appear in the recipient’s email, and the recipient can click on a link to access the Messages page in Safe4. Further detail on accessing files which are the subject of such messages is given in the Safe4 User Guide.
To send the email, click Send. To cancel the operation, click Cancel.
The Root Folder
The first folder displayed in the Files and Folders screen of Safe4 is known as the root folder. This folder is subject to permission management in the same way as other folders (see the section on Permissions in the Safe4 Admin Guide), and can be renamed in the provider details screen. Its default name is My Folder Tree. In this illustration the root folder has been renamed to My Documents.
This folder can be renamed in the Configuration tab within the Safe4 provider details screen. It cannot be renamed in the same way as other folders in the way described above.
Because the behaviour of the Root Folder differs from other folders in Safe4, it is recommended that files are not stored directly there but in a top level folder underneath the root. It is also recommended that security groups should be used carefully at the root folder level, as these can lead to complicated issues relating to user access in folders beneath the root.
Common Folders
The last folder displayed in the Safe4 Files and Folders screen will be Common Folders. This is a facility for making information available globally within a provider account. Files placed into this folder, or its subfolders, will be available to all clients that have access to the provider’s account. In the example above, this folder has been renamed to “Public Information”. This is a useful facility for publishing standard information to all clients, and to users who have access to their vaults.
Please note that any files placed into the Common Folders area will be visible to users of all of the client vaults within the system, in accordance with any permission settings applied. Restrictions can be placed on access to and use of this part of the structure by the use of security groups.
If you do not wish users to have access to Common Folders, this facility can be disabled by unticking the “Show Common Folders” box in the Configuration tab on the Provider Edit Details page.
User Report
The illustrations of folders used in this guide also show a button called User Report on every screen. This provides a rapid way of indicating exactly which users have access to the selected folder. If this button is clicked it will show the list of users as follows:
