Permissions

Amazon WorkDocs uses permissions to control access to folders and files. Permissions are applied based on user roles.

User roles

User roles control folder and file permissions. You can apply the following user roles at the folder level:

• Folder owner – The owner of a folder or file.

• Folder co-owner – A user or group that the owner designates as the co-owner of a folder or file.

• Folder contributor – Someone with unlimited access to a folder.

• Folder viewer – Someone with limited access (read-only permissions) to a folder.

You can apply the following user roles at the individual file level:

• Owner – The owner of a file.

• Co-owner – A user or group that the owner designates as the co-owner of the file.

• Contributor* – Someone allowed to give feedback on file.

• Viewer – Someone with limited access (read-only permissions) to the file.

• Anonymous viewer – A non-registered user outside of the organization who can view a file that has been shared using an external viewing link. Unless otherwise indicated, an anonymous viewer has the same permissions as a viewer.

* Contributors can't rename existing file versions. However, they can upload a new version of a file with a different name.

Permissions for shared folders

The following permissions apply to user roles for shared folders:

Note

Permissions applied for a folder also apply to the sub-folders and files in that folder.

• View – View the contents of a shared folder.

• View sub-folders – View a sub-folder.

• View shares – View the other users a folder is shared with.

• Download folder – Download a folder.

• Add sub-folder – Add a sub-folder.

• Share – Share the top-level folder with other users.

• Revoke share – Revoke the sharing of the top-level folder.

• Delete sub-folder – Delete a sub-folder.

• Delete top-level folder – Delete the top-level shared folder.

	View	View sub-folders	View shares	Download folder	Add sub-folder	Share	Revoke share	Delete sub-folder	Delete top-level folder
Folder owner	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Folder co-owner	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Folder contributor	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Folder viewer	✓	✓	✓	✓

Permissions for files in shared folders

The following permissions apply to user roles for files in a shared folder:

• Annotate – Add feedback to a file.

• Delete – Delete a file in a shared folder.

• Rename – Rename files.

• Upload – Upload new versions of a file.

• Download – Download a file. This is the default permission. You can use file properties to allow or deny the ability to download shared files.

• Prevent download – Prevent a file from being downloaded.

  Note

  • When you select this option, users with View permissions can still download files. To prevent that, open the shared folder and clear the Allow Downloads setting for each of the files that you don't want those users to download.

  • When the owner or co-owner of an MP4 file disallows downloads for that file, contributors and viewers cannot play it in the Amazon WorkDocs web client.

• Share – Share a file with other users.

• Revoke sharing – Revoke the sharing of a file.

• View – View a file in a shared folder.

• View shares – View the other users that a file is shared with.

• View annotations – View feedback from other users.

• View activity – View the activity history of a file.

• View versions – View previous versions of a file.

• Delete versions – Delete one or more versions of a file.

• Recover versions – Recover one or more deleted versions of a file.

• View all private comments – Owner/co-owner can see all private comments for a document, even if they are not replies to their comment.

	Annotate	Delete	Rename	Upload	Download	Prevent download	Share	Revoke share	View	View shares	View annotations	View activity	View versions	Delete versions	Recover versions	View all private comments**
File owner*	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Folder owner*	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Folder co-owner**	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Folder contributor***	✓			✓	✓				✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Folder viewer					✓				✓	✓
Anonymous viewer									✓	✓

* In this case, the file owner is the person who uploaded the original version of a file to a shared folder. The permissions for this role apply only to the owned file, not to all the files in the shared folder.

** Owners and co-owners can see all private comments. Contributors can only see private comments that are replies to their comments.

*** Contributors can't rename existing file versions. However, they can upload a new version of a file with a different name.

Permissions for files not in shared folders

The following permissions apply to user roles for files that do not reside in a shared folder:

• Annotate – Add feedback to a file.

• Delete – Delete a file.

• Rename – Rename files.

• Upload – Upload new versions of a file.

• Download – Download a file. This is the default permission. You can use file properties to allow or deny the ability to download shared files.

• Prevent download – Prevent a file from being downloaded.

  Note

  When the owner or co-owner of an MP4 file disallows downloads for that file, contributors and viewers cannot play it in the Amazon WorkDocs web client.

• Share – Share a file with other users.

• Revoke share – Revoke the sharing of a file.

• View – View a file.

• View shares – View the other users that a file is shared with.

• View annotations – View feedback from other users.

• View activity – View the activity history of a file.

• View versions – View previous versions of a file.

• Delete versions – Delete one or more versions of a file.

• Recover versions – Recover one or more deleted versions of a file.

	Annotate	Delete	Rename	Upload	Download	Prevent download	Share	Revoke share	View	View shares	View annotations	View activity	View versions	Delete versions	Recover versions
Owner*	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Co-owner*	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Contributor**	✓			✓	✓				✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Viewer					✓				✓	✓
Anonymous viewer									✓	✓

* File owners and co-owners can see all private comments. Contributors can only see private comments that are replies to their comments.

** Contributors can't rename existing file versions. However, they can upload a new version of a file with a different name.