This article describes how to use shares in the DRACOON Web App.
Shares were called download shares in previous versions of the DRACOON Web App. The word download- has been removed because now the shares web page displays a preview of the shared file for many file types, which makes the download unnecessary in many cases.
Topics of this article
What is a release?
- A share is the public provision of a file, a folder or a whole data room from DRACOON for download (and for preview in case of image, video and PDF files).
- With shares you can make files, folders and data spaces from DRACOON available for persons who do not have a user account in your DRACOON, e.g. for external partners or also the general public - as well as for DRACOON users who do not have access authorization to the data space in which the shared item is located.
- For each release a corresponding release web page is generated by DRACOON. On this the released element can be downloaded from DRACOON. When sharing an image, video or PDF file, this can also be viewed in a large preview..
- The release web page is accessible under a unique address (URL), which DRACOON generates when creating a release. You can send the link for this directly with DRACOON by e-mail to desired recipients or pass on the link manually. The recipients then call up the link in their browser.
The sharing web page is automatically displayed in the language that users have set in their browser (if a browser language is used in which DRACOON is not available, such as Chinese, the web page will be displayed in English). - Shares can be protected by a password, which must then be entered before access. (Shares in encrypted data rooms would always have to be password protected).
- Numerous other setting options are available - for example, the availability can be limited in time by an expiration date.
Settings specified when creating the share can be changed subsequently if necessary.
What happens when I share an entire folder or data room?
- When you share an entire folder or data room, the users of the share receive the contents of the folder or data room as a bundled zip file to download.
- Subfolders in the shared folder or data room are also included, preserving the structure of the subfolders in the zip file.
- Unterdata rooms of a shared data room are not included, because each data room represents an independent element (with its own permissions). If you also want to share subspaces, please create a separate share for each desired subspace.
- The download of a shared folder or data room always contains the current status of the folder or data room at the time of the download. So, for example, if you save 3 new files to a folder that has already been shared, these are also included in the download of the share from now on.
- Folders from encrypted data rooms or entire encrypted data rooms cannot be shared. However, it is possible to share individual files from encrypted data spaces.
Create new share
- Highlight the file, folder, or data space you want to create a share for.
- Click Share on the right side of the row.
If you want to share an entire data room or folder you are currently in, click the three-dot button to the right of the path bar, and then click Share in the menu.
- The Share dialog box is displayed:
In the Share dialog box, you can set an expiration date and a password for sharing, if needed, by selecting the corresponding check box.
Expiration date Specifies that the share is time limited. The date determines the last day on which the release can still be used. After that the share is deleted (the shared element itself remains in DRACOON, of course)..
If you do not set an expiration date, the share will remain active until you manually delete it from the Shares (left sidebar).Your configuration manager may have defined a default expiration period for shares. In this case, when a share is created, a corresponding expiration date is automatically set (e.g. to 30 days after creation). You can change or remove this automatically assigned expiration date for a new share if needed.
Password By default, anyone who knows the link to a share can use it. If you want to restrict a share to a specific group of users, you can protect it with a password. The users of the share must then enter the password before they can download or preview the shared item (for PDF files, images, and videos).
To enable password protection, select the check box Password, and in the field next to it enter any password that complies with the password policy. Alternatively, you can click the button
to automatically create a random secure password, which you can then create with the button
(to the right of it) to the clipboard for sharing.
Special feature for encrypted data rooms: Shares of files from encrypted data rooms always require a password.
Password constraint depending on classification (policy): Possibly the configuration manager has defined a Policy that releases must always be password protected, if the shared item has a certain minimum classification (e.g. confidential). In this case the password option is is automatically enabled, and a password must be set for the share.
Additional setting: Send password via SMS
For security reasons, the password for shares should not be passed on together with the share link, but in a separate way. DRACOON therefore offers the possibility to send the password via SMS. If you wish this, activate the check box Send password by SMS and then enter in the field Mobile phone number the desired phone numbers to which DRACOON should send an SMS with the password. If you want to send the SMS to several phone numbers, enter them one after the other and separated by a semicolon (;).
SMS sending not available? If the Send password by SMS check box is not present, then SMS password dispatch is not enabled for your DRACOON environment. If necessary, contact your configuration manager to enable enable SMS password sending in the settings.
Restriction on SMS sending for encrypted data rooms: Please note that for shares from encrypted data rooms the password cannot be sent via SMS.
In these cases, you must therefore manually communicate the release password to the recipient by other means, e.g. via chat.Why is that? The reason for this restriction is that the release password must be sent in plain text via the SMS gateway. Since the password is also used to decrypt the downloaded files in encrypted data rooms, there would be a security risk here. DRACOON's strict security concept stipulates that decryption passwords must never leave the user's terminal device and are never stored anywhere in clear text. This principle would be violated if decryption passwords were sent in clear text via SMS..
Password forwarding without SMS: If you do not send the password via SMS, please remember to manually communicate it to the intended users of the share, otherwise they will not be able to use the share. For security reasons, it is best not to send the password together with the share link, but in a separate way, e.g. via chat, if you send the link by e-mail.
Release name Name of the share. By default, this is the name of the shared item (file, folder, or data room). However, you can also assign a different name.
The name is displayed in the overview of all shares (click on Shares in the left sidebar) as well as on the public web page of the share.
A name must be assigned for each share - either the default one or a modified one.
Show name of creator publicly Specifies that the name of the DRACOON user who created the share is displayed publicly on the shares web page.
In this way, for example, the contact person for the release can be communicated.
Limit number of downloads Specifies that the file can be downloaded through this share only a limited number of times. You can enter the number of allowed downloads in the field that becomes visible after activating the setting.
The limit refers to the shared downloads of all users of the share. Once the limit is reached, no further download is possible for anyone - unless you subsequently increase or remove it again.
Multiple downloads of the shared item by a particular user, made within a session (i.e. during a particular login) by that user, count only as a single download. This allows a single user to retry a failed download immediately afterwards, if necessary, without affecting the download limit. On the other hand, if the user logs in again to perform the download of the share, this counts as an additional download.
If you limit the number of downloads and share a single image, video, or PDF file, the image, video, or PDF file cannot be previewed on the share page, only downloaded.
Add internal note Gives you the option of storing an internal note for the release. Here you can document, for example, the purpose or intended user group of the release..
The internal note is displayed in the overview of created shares for each share in the right sidebar and can be viewed by all DRACOON users who are allowed to use shares in the data room.
Example:
Add public comment Specifies that an additional sharing annotation is displayed on the sharing public web page. You can enter the text of the annotation in the field next to the setting after activating the setting.
You can use the annotation to provide users with additional information about the release, such as its purpose and content.
If you expect international users of the release, it may be useful to add the annotation also in English below the annotation in German.
- Click the Create Share Link button to create the share with your selected settings.
After creating the share: activate notification, copy share link or send it by e-mail right away
After creating the share, you can enable share notification if needed so that you are automatically notified by email when your share is used.
You can also copy the share link to the clipboard for sharing or email it right away.
If you want to be notified when your share is used (e.g. when someone downloads the shared file), you can enable the share notification. You will then receive a notification email every time the share is used (e.g. every time someone downloads via the share).
- In the dialog box that appears after you create the share, click the button with the bell icon to enable notification for this share:
You can also enable notification at any time later by clicking Shares in the left sidebar, highlighting the desired share, and then clicking Enable notification in the right sidebar.
At the same point, you can also disable the notification again if necessary by clicking Disable notification. This is useful, for example, if the shared file is downloaded very often and as a result you receive a lot of notification emails for this share, which you find annoying.
- In the dialog box that appears after you create the share, click Copy.
- The link to the share web page is copied to the clipboard. You can now forward this to the desired recipients who should be able to access the share.
If you have set a password in the share settings and have not sent it via SMS in the settings, in addition to the link you must also manually pass the password to the recipients so that they can access the share. For increased security, you should send the password in a separate way, e.g. via chat message, if you send the link via email.
You can insert the link for the newly created share manually into an e-mail draft in your mail program and then send it - however, it is more convenient to use the e-mail dispatch of DRACOON right after creating the share:
- In the Recipient field, type the e-mail address of the desired recipient and press ENTER. Repeat this for all other desired recipients.
- A text for the e-mail is suggested in the Message field. Modify the suggested text if necessary or add additions if desired.
If the mail recipients are of a different language, select the desired language in the language selection field. The mail message will then be sent automatically with a subject in the set language and the suggested message text will be in the selected language.
The selected language concerns only the e-mail sent by DRACOON and has no influence on the web page of the release - this is always displayed in the language which the user has set in his browser (if necessary in English, if the browser language is not integrated in DRACOON, such as Chinese).. - Click Send.
- DRACOON sends an e-mail with the specified text and the link for the release web page to the specified recipients.
Who is allowed to create new shares?
Users need the Manage shares permission in the relevant data room to be able to create a share for it or for files and folders in the data room. This permission is included in the Edit permission grouping.
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