This article explains the options to share the folders with people outside of the organization by providing them with folder access permission.

• Cross-organizational folder sharing

• Sharing folders with an external user by setting up them as:

  • a regular paid UNIVERGE BLUE® SHARE user. This can be done only by admin through the Control Panel. The external user will get the full functionality.

  • a free external collaborator. This can be done only by UNIVERGE BLUE® SHARE users via Web Client. The external user will get limited functionality.

See the comparison table for more details on abilities and limitations.

Cross-organization sharing

If a UNIVERGE BLUE® SHARE user shares a folder with another user in a different organization that is also using UNIVERGE BLUE® SHARE, a regular share will be established instead of sending a web link.

When a cross-organizational share is established, an email notification is sent to the Admin of the inviters' organization.

Permission-based folder sharing cannot be established if the folder owner and the invited person belong to organizations that are on different UNIVERGE BLUE® SHARE Point of Delivery (POD) servers. 
Servers can be found in the URL of the UNIVERGE BLUE® SHARE web client upon login:

In the case above, the UNIVERGE BLUE® SHARE App will suggest sharing by sending a weblink with the closest permission:

 Adding users to the account via Control Panel

To set up a collaborative folder share with an external user and provide them with full $fileync functionality, Admin needs to create a new user in Control Panel and assign them (depending on the account setup) the UNIVERGE BLUE® SHARE service or the UNIVERGE BLUE® CONNECT license. 

To create a new user in Control Panel, navigate to Users > Create User > fill out all the fields. Make sure that the user’s email address is entered in the Email Address (login) field to ensure that all email-based notifications generated by UNIVERGE BLUE® SHARE are delivered to the end user. The email address can be hosted by any 3^rd party company.

Once the license is assigned navigate to UNIVERGE BLUE® SHARE > Users > Enable UNIVERGE BLUE® SHARE for the user > Save Changes.

After that, the external collaborator will have full access to all desktop, mobile, and web app features of UNIVERGE BLUE® SHARE. They will use the login and password set during the user creation.

 UNIVERGE BLUE® SHARE users can invite external collaborators

Read the User's Guide on collaborative folder sharing with external users to learn how to invite an external collaborator. Share the Collaborator's Guide article with an external user to help them finish the setup process.

To control external sharing without admin approval for all users on the account, enable or disable the checkbox on the Services > UNIVERGE BLUE® SHARE > Policies > Sharing policy > External Sharing.

If you choose to approve end-users' requests, you will do it the following way:

This is how external collaborators appear in your user list in Control Panel:

Leaving Share

There are 3 ways to stop collaborating on shared files or folders:

1. File or folder Owner selects Stop share or clicks on Cross  next to the collaborator's name. Appropriate events will appear in the event log on the account (unshared).
2. Select Leave share in the desktop client or web interface. This action results in an event written to the UNIVERGE BLUE® SHARE event log on the account (stopped collaborating on).
3. Delete a file or folder you collaborate on from your machine. When deleting, UNIVERGE BLUE® SHARE will ask you to confirm that you are leaving a share. This option silently removes a share without any entries seen in the event log on the account.

Comparing Regular users and External Collaborators

Conversion of external collaborators to regular users

If you have invited an external user to work on a shared folder as an external collaborator, but you want to allow them to use all the features of UNIVERGE BLUE® SHARE as a regular paid user, you will need to convert them. This process will preserve all of their data, including links and shares, and the user will become chargeable. Additionally, the account disk quota will be extended accordingly.