Sharing files and documents
Anything in Drive can be shared two ways: with named people, each with their own role, or with a link that anyone can open, including people who have no Qubix account. Both work for a single file, a document, or a whole folder.
Sharing is opened from the right-click menu of a file or folder — the Access entry — and from inside an open document, where it is the Share button. The button in a document appears only if you may share the item; the menu entry in the file manager is always there, but opening it without the right to share ends in a refusal.
Give access to a person
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Open the item's Access dialog.
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In Add people, start typing a name or an @handle and pick the person. They are added as a Viewer.
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Change the role in the list next to their name.
The three roles:
- Viewer — can open and read.
- Commenter — can also leave comments.
- Editor — can also edit.
The list is headed People with access and always starts with the Owner. Everyone you share with finds the item on the Shared with me shelf. Access is taken back in the same list: pick Remove access next to the person — they lose it immediately.
Shared items are marked in the file manager: a small people icon next to the name means Shared with other people, so you can tell at a glance what has left your hands.
Share a folder once and everything you create or upload in it afterwards is shared with the same people — usually far less work than sharing files one by one.
An item moved into a shared folder is the exception: it keeps the access it already had and does not pick up the folder's people. Share it separately, or create it in the folder in the first place.
Hand out a link
Use a link when the person has no Qubix account — a designer, a contractor, an affiliate manager.
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In General access, switch Restricted to Anyone with the link.
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In Link role, choose what the link allows: view, comment or edit.
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Press Copy link and send the link.
A link to a folder lets the guest walk the whole folder and open what's inside; a link to a file or a document opens that one item. If the link grants commenting or editing, the guest also gets the comment panel and sees other people's comments appear live, without a page reload; a view-only link has no comments at all.
The two modes read as their hints say: Only people with access can open versus Anyone on the internet with the link can open. Switching back to Restricted revokes the link — anyone who opens it after that gets "This link is not valid", with the hint that access was turned off. That is how you cut off a link you already sent.
What the guest sees
The link opens a page of its own, without a Qubix login. It shows the item's name and a Shared via link mark, and what happens next depends on what you allowed:
- A folder — a list to walk through; folders open deeper, files download.
- A file — a download card.
- A document — the document itself, editable if the link grants editing.
- Comments — a commenter or editor guest can write in the comment panel and sees other people's comments appear live. Guests are signed as Guest, since they have no account of their own.
Three screens replace the content when something is closed: "This link is password-protected" asks for the password, "This link has expired" appears once the expiry date has passed, and "This link is not valid" comes up for a revoked or wrong link. A wrong password answers Incorrect password and lets the guest try again.
Password on a link
A link on its own is the key: whoever receives it can open the item, and it can be forwarded. A password closes that.
- With the link turned on, fill Set a password and press Save.
- Pass the password to the person separately from the link.
Once set, the dialog shows Protected by a password with two actions: Change and Remove.
The guest is asked for the password once and stays unlocked for a year. Changing it immediately locks out everyone who unlocked the link with the old one, so change it when someone should no longer have access. Removing it leaves the link open again.
Expiry date
Set Link expiry to 1 day, 7 days, 30 days or Custom date and pick the day and time yourself. After that moment the link stops working by itself and the guest sees a plain "the link has expired" screen instead of your files. No expiry keeps it open indefinitely.
Sending a folder to a contractor for a week? Set the expiry to 7 days — the access closes itself, with nothing to remember and nothing to revoke by hand.
Hide one subfolder from a shared folder
Inside a shared folder there may be one subfolder nobody else should see — drafts, internal numbers. Open that subfolder's sharing dialog and turn on Exclude from the parent folder share. It disappears completely: it is not listed and not reachable, both for people you shared with and for link guests.
Downloading, copying and printing
The gear — Settings — opens the settings view. Under People who can download, copy, and print you decide who may take the content out of Drive: separately for Editors and for Commenters and viewers. With it turned off, viewers and commenters no longer see the download button. An editor restricted by the editors' switch loses it inside an open document, while in the file list the button stays visible and the refusal comes when the file is actually fetched.
The same switch applies to link guests, by the role the link grants: a link that only allows viewing will not download a file if you closed downloading for viewers. The guest is told why, in place of the download button: «The owner turned off downloading for this link.»
The switch under Access — Allow editors to change permissions and share — decides whether your editors may pass access on to other people. With it off, sharing stays yours alone.
Handing an item over
Pick Transfer ownership next to a person and confirm: they become the owner, and you stay on the item as an editor. Useful when someone leaves the team or a project moves to another person.