This article covers running your community's Files: uploading, creating and organizing folders, limiting a folder to certain roles, member group folders, cleaning up older public files, and sharing a folder or file by link with someone outside the community, such as an attorney or a real estate agent. For browsing and downloading, see the article on using Files.
Each action has its own permission. Community Admin and Community Leader have all of these by default except View All Folders. Residents have none of them by default.
Upload File: upload files, outside member groups (a group sets its own upload rule).
Rename File, Move File, Delete File: the same actions on files.
Create Folder, Move Folder, Delete Folder: the same actions on folders.
Manage Folders: rename folders, change which roles can see a folder, and create share links. It also lets a member see every folder, including restricted folders and every member group's folders.
Update File Security: make older public files private, and create share links for single files.
View All Folders: see every folder and file, including every member group's, without being able to change anything. Useful for an auditor or a management company.
Turning the module on requires the Update Community Preferences permission. Member group folders follow their own rules; see Member group folders below. Some options may be unavailable or appear differently depending on your level of account access.
Click Community in the main navigation menu, click the Preferences tab, and turn on the Files toggle. Files then appears in the main navigation menu for everyone.
Click Files in the main navigation menu and open the folder the files belong in.
Click Upload.
Drag files into the box, or click Choose Files.
Optionally click Rename beside a file to change its name before it uploads. The file extension stays as it is.
Click Upload to start.
You can also drag files from your computer straight onto the Files page. The upload box opens with them already added. You can add up to 50 files at a time, each up to 100 MB.
Uploaded files are private to the community: only signed-in members who can see the folder can open them. If the folder is shared by link, a note under the folder path says so, and anything you upload there appears on the link right away.
Open the folder the new one should go in, or stay at Home.
Click New Folder.
Enter a Folder Name (up to 100 characters).
To limit who sees it, tick Restrict to specific roles and choose the roles. Leave it unticked and everyone in the community can see the folder.
Click Create Folder.
In the role list, Community Admin and Community Leader are always ticked and can't be cleared. Any other role holding the Manage Folders permission is locked on too, because that permission already shows it every folder.
Creating a folder inside a restricted folder? The dialog names the restricted folder above and offers only the roles that can already reach it. See below.
Click ⋮ on the folder and choose Change Access.
Tick Restrict to specific roles and choose the roles, or untick it to open the folder to everyone.
Click Save Changes.
Change Access works on any folder outside a member group, at any depth.
Click ⋮ on a file or folder for its actions. What you see depends on your permissions:
Rename: needs Rename File for a file, or Manage Folders for a folder.
Change Access: folders only. See above.
Share…: see Share by link below.
Make Private: only on older public files. See Older public files below.
Delete: needs Delete File or Delete Folder.
To move items, select them (hover and tick the box in the corner, or Ctrl/Cmd-click) and click Move in the bar at the bottom of the page. Browse to the destination and click Move Here. You can also drag items onto a folder, onto a part of the folder path at the top, or, at Home, onto a member group's tile. Moving needs Move File or Move Folder.
The same bottom bar has Download, Post or Message, Make Private, Move, and Delete for everything selected.
A folder must be empty before you can delete it. Delete or move its files and subfolders first.
Deleting can't be undone.
Each member group can keep its own folders. Every active member of the group can open them, and nobody else can, except members with Manage Folders or View All Folders. Group folders can't be limited by role: the group is the audience.
Group folders appear as the group's tile at Home on the Files page, and on the Files tab of the group's own page.
Folders: the group's admins create, rename, move, and delete the group's folders, and so can members with Manage Member Groups or Manage Folders. This doesn't need any of the community-wide folder permissions.
Uploading: the group decides. On the group's Settings tab, under Files Settings, Who can upload files? is Admins Only (the default) or All Members. It applies on both the group's Files tab and the Files page. The group's admins, and members with Manage Member Groups or Manage Folders, can always upload. Upload File plays no part inside a group.
Renaming, moving, and deleting files: on the group's Files tab, the group's admins and members with Manage Member Groups or Manage Folders. On the Files page, the usual file permissions (Rename File, and so on).
Moving a folder into a group puts it, and everything in it, under the group's rules.
Before share links existed, a file could be made public. These files show a globe icon, and anyone with the file's direct link can open them, so links already in emails or on your community website keep working. New files can't be made public; use a share link instead.
To make an older public file private, click ⋮ and choose Make Private. To do several at once, select files or folders and click Make Private in the bottom bar. Selecting a folder includes every file inside it and its subfolders. You'll be asked to confirm, with the number of public files affected. This needs the Update File Security permission.
A share link lets someone outside your community open a folder or a single file without a Communitrak account. Anyone with the link can view and download what it covers, and anyone it's forwarded to can open it too. A folder link covers every file in the folder and in all of its subfolders, including subfolders restricted to specific roles.
Click ⋮ on the folder or file and choose Share….
Under General access, choose Anyone with the link. The link turns on right away. If the folder holds folders restricted to specific roles, you're asked to confirm first, because the link will show their files too.
Optionally add a Password (at least 6 characters) or an Expires date. Send the password separately from the link, for example by text message. An expiring link stops working at the end of that day.
Click Copy link and paste it into an email or message.
With General access left at Community members only (the default), Copy link copies a link that only members who can see the folder or file can open, after signing in.
Choose Share… again at any time to:
Copy the link again.
Add, change, or remove the password. Anyone already using the link then needs the new one.
Change or clear the expiry date. An expired link can be turned back on by changing or clearing the date.
See how many times the link has been opened and when it was last opened.
Reset link: make a new link and stop the old one working, for example if it went to the wrong person.
Turn the link off by setting General access back to Community members only. Anyone using it loses access immediately.
A folder link opens a page with your community's name or logo, the folder's files and subfolders, and a Download all button that downloads the folder being viewed, and everything inside it, as one .zip file. A folder with more than 300 files or 500 MB can't be downloaded at once; visitors can open a subfolder or download files one at a time. A file link opens the file with a preview and a Download button.
Click Shared Links at the top of the Files page to see every folder and file shared by link: where it is, who created the link and when, whether it has a password or has expired, and how many times it's been opened. From there you can copy a link, click Manage to change it, or turn it off. The list shows the links you're allowed to manage.
Folders: members with Manage Folders.
Files: members with Manage Folders or Update File Security.
Anything in a member group: the group's admins, plus members with Manage Member Groups or Manage Folders. You can share from the Files page or from the group's Files tab.
Members who can't share see Copy link in place of Share…, which copies the members-only link.
To put files in front of residents, select them and click Post or Message in the bottom bar to attach them to a Bulletin Board post or a new message. Posting doesn't change who can open a file, so if the files are in a restricted folder or a member group, the dialog warns that some readers won't be able to open them. See the article on sharing files.
Each community has 5 GB of storage. The bar at the bottom right of the Files page shows the percentage used and darkens as it fills; hover over it for the exact amount. Once storage is full, uploads are refused until files are deleted. Reach out to Communitrak Support with questions about your community's storage limit.
If your community's account is read-only because of a billing issue, uploading, creating folders, and changing files are disabled until the account is back in good standing. You can still copy existing share links.
Moving a file out of a shared folder removes it from the link. Moving one in adds it.
A folder's share link covers its restricted subfolders. Share a specific subfolder if the link should cover less.
After 10 incorrect password attempts, a link is locked for 15 minutes. Setting the password again from Share… lifts the lock.
Bulk Make Private can change up to 500 public files at once. If a selection holds more, select fewer folders or files and run it in batches.
If you have questions or need help, chat with Communitrak Support from any page using the messenger icon in the bottom-right corner.
