Secure File Sharing Overview

This article applies to: All Firm Users subscribed to Secure File Sharing.

Secure File Sharing is a fully integrated add-on that allows firm users to securely send or receive files from their portal or using the Outlook add-on.

1. Overview
2. Permissions
3. The Interface
4. Creating Folders and Folder Management
5. Uploading Files
6. Moving Files
7. Preview in Office 365 + Copilot
8. Add File(s) to an Engagement
9. Retention
10. Notifications
11. Client Users

1. Overview

With Secure File Sharing, users with sufficient permission can:

1. Create, name, organize and delete private folders and subfolders.
2. Drag and drop to upload file(s), download file(s), create signature requests, and move files into an engagement, as required.
3. Enable, disable, or regenerate a private upload link to receive files in a folder that anyone you share the link with can use to upload.
4. Enable, disable, or regenerate a temporary private download link to send file(s) to anyone you share the link with.
5. Subscribe to be notified when file(s) are uploaded and/or downloaded
6. Connect your inbox directly to your AuditDashboard Secure File Sharing library to send and receive files without ever leaving Outlook — no copy-pasting links, no manual sharing setup, no email attachments.

2. Secure File Sharing Permissions

Administrators can set one of the following permissions for Firm Users in User Administration:

My Files - can access/manage their personal file cabinet; or

File Manager - can access/manage their personal file cabinet and all client folders across the entire firm; or

File Admin - can access/manage their personal file cabinet, all personal file cabinets and all client folders across the entire firm.

 

Administrators can set the following permissions for Client Users in User Administration:

File Access - this allows the Client user to access their Company Cabinet to download and upload files.

3. The Interface

To get to Secure File Sharing, click Files on the left-hand navigation menu.

If you don't see Files as an option, it may be because you don’t have access yet. To get access, contact your firm's AuditDashboard administrator.

Firm professionals who have been using AuditDashboard for some time will find the interface familiar.

1.  Along the left side is a list of all your folders. Create, rename, organize, and delete folders and subfolders here. You can also search within the folders for files using the Search field. 
    
2. The files in a folder are listed in the main section and can be sorted by Name, Type, Size, and so on by clicking the column headers.
    
3. Selecting an item opens the details pane on the right-hand side. The details pane contains information for the selected folder or file and provides options to enable sharing and set an expiry date for the shared link.
    
4. The Users with Access section, at the bottom of the right-hand flyout, shows which Client and Firm Users have access to the Company Cabinet and its folders (e.g. their role = File Access). Users notification preferences are also visible, so you'll know who'll be notified when you upload a file.
    

4. Creating Folders and Folder Management

By default, your account likely has one File Cabinet, called "My Files", with two folders preloaded. The first is “Upload,” and the second is “Download”.

You may also have additional Cabinets, such as Firm Cabinets and Company Cabinets. 

Firm Cabinets are the "My Files" for all of the users at the firm. Access to the Firm Cabinets is restricted to File Administrators. 

Company Cabinets are cabinets created for specific client companies to share files with your team.

To create a new folder, click the icon in the left pane.  To edit a folder name, use the pencil icon.

At any time, you can drag and move folders to rearrange the order and drop a folder onto another to create a nested subfolder. This makes it easy to keep files organized.

Select the folder and click the trash icon to move a folder and all of its contents to the trash.

5. Uploading Files

There are two ways that you can upload files into your folders:

1. Click the Upload icon and browse for the file(s) on your local system
2. Drag and drop file(s) onto the file list

6. Moving Files

Files can be moved between folders and cabinets in two ways:

1. Select the file(s) and click the Move button in the toolbar. In the pane that opens on the right, select the destination cabinet/folder.
2. Drag and drop the selected file(s) onto a cabinet or folder in the left-hand pane. 

7. Preview in Office 365 + Copilot

If your firm has the Office 365 integration enabled, you can preview Microsoft Office files directly in the browser without downloading. Select the file and click the Preview (eye) icon in the top right:

For more details on this integration, see Open in Office 365.

7. Add File(s) to an Engagement

Select the file(s) you would like to add to an existing engagement and click Send to Engagement. You will be prompted to select the Engagement and the specific Request you would like to add these files to.

This will copy the file(s) to the engagement, and a duplicate will remain in My Files.

8. Retention

Please take a look at this article about Data Retention.

9. Notifications

Please refer to this article about Notification Settings for Firm Users.

10. Client User Overview

Click here to view the article that applies to: Client Users assigned the File Access role and invited to the Secure File Sharing Portal by their professional services firm.