Getting Started with Files.com


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Welcome to Files.com

This is a short tutorial to help you get started.

Typically, the first thing you'll want to do is add user accounts to your files.com site, so that your trading partners, customers, vendors, suppliers, and other types of users, can start transferring files to you.

However, before you add user accounts, you'll need to have a folder structure ready as well as possibly configuring some settings before your users log in.

The steps we're going to perform in this guide will be:

  • First, perform some basic configuration of your Files.com site.
  • Second, create a folder structure for your users, and then
  • Third, add your user accounts.

Basic configuration of your Files.com site

This step is optional. You don't really need to configure anything in your files.com site before moving on to the next step.

However, when your users log in, they'll interact with your site, so you may want to apply some visual branding to it, or apply some limitations and restrictions, so that users don't surprise you by uploading content that you weren't expecting

It's a good idea to apply some branding, such as your logo and corporate color scheme.

To apply branding, navigate to Settings > Site identity where you can:

  • Change the interface colors
  • Upload a custom logo, which will appear in the top left-hand corner, and
  • Upload custom icons for your site.

Restrictions and Limitations

The folders in your site can be configured with restrictions and limitations.

  • Navigate to a folder and select the folder settings button.
  • Select the Limit uploaded files to certain file extensions option.
  • Select the Add button.
  • Enter a file extension.
  • Select the mode.
  • And click the Save button.

Now, files with these extensions will be prohibited from being uploaded to this folder or any of its sub-folders.

You can specify different restrictions for different folders.

Folder Structure

Your users are going to need access to a home folder, so that when they log in they can upload and download files.

Files.com allows you to create any folder structure you like. You can specify any folder or sub-folder to be the home folder for a user account

For easier management, it's generally best to place users into a well-organized folder hierarchy.

There's no one-size-fits-all for a folder hierarchy but a common practice is to have a top-level folder named something like users or home.

Then, within this top level folder, you can create sub-folders for individual users or sub-folders for departments, teams, groups, and build a hierarchy that matches your needs.

For example, if you have a relatively small set of users, where you don't have a need to further segregate them from each other, you could use a simple folder structure, such as placing all the user accounts into the same parent folder.

You could also arrange users based on their department, such as having department-based subfolders and placing each user into their corresponding department folder.

If your organization is global, you may want to arrange users based on geographic regions, such as having folders for each of your regions and then placing each user into their corresponding geographic subfolder.

If your site will be used by both internal employees and external partners, you may wish to arrange users based on that criteria, like this.

Ultimately the best hierarchy will be the one that best fits your business model

To create folders,

  • Navigate to Files and use the New Folder button.

Automated Folder Creation

You can also automate the creation of home folders for users.

  • Navigate to the folder where you want to create the home folders
  • Select Folder Settings and then
  • Select Automatically create new user folders here when users are created

Now we're ready to add user accounts.

Adding Users

To create a user account,

  • Navigate to Settings then Users and
  • Select the New User button.

Fill in the details for the user.

If you manually created their home folder, then make sure to use Add Folder Permission to select their folder and provide them access to it. If you configured a folder to automatically create home folders, then you can leave the add folder permission blank if needed.

You can configure advanced settings for the user by clicking the Expand Advanced Settings option. This will allow you to configure such items as their Time Zone, an IP Whitelist for them, their access level, as well as their access to specific protocols.

Once you've configured the user, click the Create User button to create the user.

Thanks for watching.

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If you have any questions, please feel free to Contact Us or give us a call at 1-800-286-8372.

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