Sharing a File or Folder

[Kev_D]

Can a document or folder be shared with a non account member. I have shared a folder to test it and I get an email to access it, but the link opens this..

[Kev_D]

With more digging, I have found out that you also need to assign permissions of that folder. Simply sharing a file to someone outside the project (client) in itself will not suffice (from what I can see anyway).

With that in mind, you can only assign permissions to folders and not files within those folders. So, say you want to share a single file within a folder to someone outside the project, then you will have to assign permissions to the whole folder, which to me doesn't make sense. You want to be just able to share a file with someone who gets a link to open and view, and maybe print. This is how it works with all many could based services. 

Also, to assign permissions to someone outside the team so they can view a folder, they will need an Autodesk Account (which is basic to set up in fairness).

Has anyone any thoughts? Am I missing something, or am I on the right track?

[bogdan_ciobanu]

Hi @Kev_D

Thank you for your post. My name is Bogdan and I am with Autodesk Technical Support.

You are absolutely correct, you can share files and folders only with project members that have permissions to view. This is stated in the share file/folder window that is displayed when clicking on Share:

"Enter member names or emails to share this document. Only recipients with permission will be able to view this document"

So, to share a file or a folder the recipient needs to be a project member and have permissions to view those files. 

I hope this was helpful.

Best regards,

Bogdan

[Kev_D]

hi @bogdan_ciobanu

Thank you for confirming this. Another thing. Can a member be added to view files in Docs who is not a paid member of any Autodesk subscription?

Example:

4 Members across two teams (disciplines) have Design Collaboration that comes with Docs. They have paid full subscription and have access to Docs.

Can I invite any individual to view documents that are uploaded to Docs for free? What is the limit on this and what access would they have? if it can be done of course!

[bogdan_ciobanu]

Hi @Kev_D,

No, that would not be possible. 

If you want someone to be able to see your files uploaded to BIM 360 Document Management, you will need to invite them to your project and that would consume a seat from your subscription. 

Hope this was helpful.

Best regards,

Bogdan

PS: Thank you for clicking on Accept Solution for the post that helped you, so that other community members can find it and use it later.

[Kev_D]

Thanks @bogdan_ciobanu

I have looked into this more and found some posts on the ideas page. The sooner the better this ability is included in Docs. It has been before on Teams and similar platforms have this ability. 

It always amazes me how Autodesk can achieve incredible things but fail miserably in such simple things. We, the customers, pay subscriptions for everything (some think too much), so why can't Autodesk just meet us half way and give a single viewer access to a file. It's not as if it is new addition, as it was there before. 

[bogdan_ciobanu]

@Kev_D

You are very welcome. I will make sure to pass your feedback to our product team.

Thank you very much.

Best regards,

Bogdan

[apAspire]

I agree whole heartedly on this matter.

We are only asking asking for members with out an active docs subscription to be able to view, download and upload documents in a shared folder.

I understand that autodesk docs is not a "drive" like one drive or dropbox, but it very well acts as one many times for file sharing. 

This one minor flaw is costing autodesk very much. Other platforms such as box and procore are allowing people this access with the added cost of a seat. Because these companies understand that by getting more and more people able to use and participate on the platform they are creating a network effect.

So in summary allow people to freely access shared folders to upload, view and download for free. the moment edits are required make them pay for it.