Storing and sharing content securely with Safe Share for Windows is performed directly through the Safe Share folder, which can be accessed conveniently from Windows Explorer (within your Windows home folder).
Accessing the 'Safe Share' folder
To access the Safe Share folder:
Ensure that Safe Share for Windows has been started and that you are signed in.
Click its
taskbar notification area icon.
Alternatively, right-click this icon and choose Open Safe Share Folder from the pop-up menu:
Windows Explorer opens at the Safe Share folder located in your Windows home folder, showing its two subfolders:
My Secured Files - contains all items that you own. (Note that this folder does not appear if your account does not have the Originator role.)
Shared With Me - contains all items that other people have shared with you as a collaborator.
Notes:
After successfully signing in, Safe Share for Windows begins synchronizing any files and folders that:
Have recently been modified in remote storage through your Covata user account (using the Safe Share web application or through Safe Share for iOS), with those inside your local My Secured Files folder.
Other Covata users have recently shared with you, with those inside your local Shared With Me folder.
If any third-party applications operate on your computer which are configured to make a copy of encrypted content within the Safe Share folder for storage elsewhere (e.g. backup applications), then this may result in decrypted copies of this content being stored by such applications in their target locations. Bear in mind that Safe Share for Windows automatically synchronizes and stores its encrypted content (within the Safe Share folder) in remote storage. Therefore, if you do not wish other copies of this content (in decrypted form) to be generated by any third-party applications, ensure that these applications have been configured to avoid copying/backing up content from the Safe Share folders.
Select one or more file(s) and/or folder(s) on your computer and copy or move them into the My Secured Files subfolder (as you would usually do so with Windows Explorer), or any other folder within My Secured Files. For example, drag your item(s) directly into the My Secured Files subfolder:
Your items are encrypted locally within the My Secured Files folder by Safe Share for Windows and the secured items are then uploaded to remote storage managed by the Covata Platform. Regardless of whether you copied or moved items, your original source content may remain in its original location. See Notes below for more information about this behavior. Tip: You can also store content securely by selecting one or more file(s) and/or folder(s) on your computer and:
Moving them directly into the Safe Share folder. Doing this is the same as either copying or moving these items directly into the My Secured Files folder. Be aware that copying items directly into the Safe Share folder is not supported.
Copying or moving them into the My Secured Files shortcut on your desktop (if available).
Notes:
The maximum file size supported depends on a property configured on the Covata Platform. This property's value can be provided by your Covata Platform administrator. Safe Share for Windows defines a default maximum file size of 20 GB. However, this default value can overridden (for uploads only) by a Windows registry setting.
If copying (not moving) a large file (typically of several hundred MB in size), Safe Share for Windows may report 'Cannot encrypt - Windows prevented access to the item.' in a balloon notification. However, Safe Share for Windows will automatically begin encrypting this content after the copying process is completed. Therefore in these scenarios, this notification can be ignored.
Safe Share for Windows does not support the copying of files between any folders within the Safe Share folder - even between folders within My Secured Files. Any copied files are automatically deleted following the next synchronization event (with remote storage managed by the Covata Platform).
If you are curious to know how your source content is handled by Safe Share for Windows, then the following table explains how the application processes your items when they are either copied or moved into the My Secured Files subfolder:
Action
Source content is from a local drive (e.g. C:)
Source content is from a network drive
Moving
Cutting and pasting selected items into My Secured Files, using
the relevant right-click context menu items, or
'Ctrl-X/Ctrl-V' keyboard shortcuts.
This action can also be performed by simply dragging and dropping selected items into My Secured Files.
How your items are processed:
Any folders and folder structures amongst your selected items are recreated within the My Secured Files folder.
All files amongst your selected items are encrypted to separate Covata-secured files with .cov extensions and saved to My Secured Files (within the same folder structures that match those of your selected items). These .cov files may be converted to .covl files depending on the cache policy settings applied to their folder. Note: The source content remains in its original location. In some instances, you may need to refresh Windows Explorer to see the source content reappear.
This action can also be performed by holding the 'Shift' key whilst dragging and dropping selected items into My Secured Files.
How your items are processed:
Your selected items are first copied to My Secured Files, including any folders and folder structures.
These copied files (in My Secured Files) are encrypted to separate Covata-secured files with .cov extensions, which are then saved to the same locations (i.e. as the copied files they were created from). These .cov files may be converted to .covl files depending on the cache policy settings applied to their folder.
The copied/unencrypted files in My Secured Files (from step 1 above), are moved to the recycle bin. Note: The source content is deleted from its original location.
Copying
Copying and pasting selected items into My Secured Files, using
the relevant right-click context menu items, or
'Ctrl-C/Ctrl-V' keyboard shortcuts.
This action can also be performed by holding the 'Ctrl' key whilst dragging and dropping selected items into My Secured Files.
This action can also be performed by simply dragging and dropping selected items into My Secured Files.
How your items are processed:
The processing behavior is identical to moving selected items from a network drive (above right). However, the source content remains in its original location.
Sharing secure content
The following procedure explains how to begin sharing personally owned secure content (which you had previously stored) with other people, as well as modify the Covata users who can access this content and/or these users' access permissions.
Notes and tips:
You can only share content that you own with other people.
Although this procedure describes the process of sharing personally owned content, the procedure can also be used for sharing content which someone else had previously stored+uploaded to your folder, where you granted this person either Upload or Manage permissions on this folder. Granting permissions on your folders is described in more detail below.
Within the My Secured Files subfolder, right-click on the file or folder to either share with one or more other people or modify existing collaborators and choose Safe Share from the pop-up menu (to open the Safe Share dialog box):
In the Safe Share dialog box, type the email address of the person (i.e. 'collaborator') you wish to share your item with, into the Share with text box. Notes:
If you only need to modify the permissions of one or more existing collaborators on this item, locate the existing collaborators' email addresses in the collaborator list (on this dialog box) and skip to the following step on selecting permissions for a collaborator.
If you wish to remove collaborators from the item, add multiple collaborators at a time, or even share multiple items at a time, refer to the Tips at the end of the step on adding a collaborator to the list.
Notes:
If the email address appears in a drop-down list for selection before you have completed typing it out, then you have either:
already used that email address when previously sharing an item (and this address has already been added to your list of contacts - see Managing your contacts for more information)
or
you have manually added that email address to your list of contacts.
If you are sharing a folder, then a slightly different dialog box will be shown. (These differences are explained below.)
Select one of the following permissions from the adjacent Permissions drop-down to define the extent of access that this collaborator has to this item:
View - grants permission to view this file (from Safe Share for Windows' read-only content viewer - also known as the Safe Share Content Viewer) or if the item is a folder, permission to view any files contained within this folder. Tips:
Granting the View permission on an item allows the item's content to be viewed in the read-only content viewers of the Safe Share web application and Safe Share for iOS.
Download - grants permission to view, print (also from the Safe Share Content Viewer) and download this file or if the item is a folder, permission to perform these actions on any files contained within this folder. Tip: Granting Download permissions on an item also allows the item's content to be printed from the read-only content viewers of the Safe Share web application and Safe Share for iOS.
Upload ( only available when the item is a folder ) - grants permission to view, print and download existing files, as well as upload new files within this folder.
Manage - grants permission to view, print, download, rename and delete this file. If the item is a folder, permission to perform these actions on any files contained within this folder is also granted, including permission to upload new files, create new subfolders and delete existing subfolders (within this folder). Note: Granting a collaborator Manage permissions on a folder allows that collaborator to delete this folder.
Note: When sharing a folder:
The collaborators and their permissions (to access content within the folder) are implicitly propagated (i.e. applied) to all items contained within the folder.
If collaborators and/or their permissions on a subfolder (within this folder) are modified, then these modifications are explicitly set on this subfolder, which in turn are implicitly propagated down through this subfolder's item hierarchy.
The permissions of a collaborator set explicitly on this subfolder override any permissions which this collaborator (on this subfolder) may have inherited implicitly from an ancestral folder.
If the collaborator's email address does not appear in the collaborator list (on this dialog box), click the plus (+) button towards the top right and the collaborator's email address along with their selected permissions are added to the collaborator list:
(Repeat from step 3 above to add more collaborators to this list.) Tips:
You can also specify multiple email addresses/collaborators in the Share with text box to add 'in one go' by doing either of the following:
Typing a comma (,) character after each collaborator's email address, which completes the current email address, allowing you to specify more email addresses in this text box - all these email address are added to the collaborator list when the plus (+) button is clicked.
Copy and paste a comma delimited 'string' of collaborators' email addresses into its text field (without spaces) - Safe Share for Windows automatically identifies each email address (in this text box), all of which are added to the collaborator list when the plus (+) button is clicked.
Be aware that with either method, the currently selected permission in the adjacent Permissions drop-down list is used for all collaborators specified.
To remove a collaborator from the list, click the x button associated with the relevant email address.
To share multiple files with a group of people (either in one action and/or in future), create a folder within the My Secured Files subfolder and share this new folder with one or more collaborators using this procedure. Any items that you (or a collaborator with Manage permissions on this folder) copy or move to this folder (from outside the Safe Share folder area) are immediately shared with the current list of collaborators on the folder. Collaborators with Manage permissions on this folder will see this folder located within their Shared With Me subfolder.
( Optional and only available when sharing a file + if your Covata Platform administrator has configured labels ) Choose a predefined label from the 'Label' drop-down list (where No Label is chosen by default). Labels behave like 'security classifications' and allow you to restrict the ability to share files to a specific group of Covata users. Notes:
If your organization's policy requires you to assign a specific label when sharing a file, then choose the appropriate label for the type of content you are sharing. For example, your Covata Platform administrator may have configured the labels: Confidential, Restricted/Protected and Unclassified (as well as the default No Label option which does not apply any label when sharing the file).
( Optional and also only available when sharing a file ) Define when your file can be accessed, by:
Selecting the Enable access from check box and in the fields to the right, specifying the date and time when your collaborators can begin accessing your file. For immediate availability, leave this check box cleared.
Selecting the Revoke access after check box and in the fields to the right, specifying the date and time when your collaborators' access to your file ceases. For no expiration, leave this check box cleared.
( Optional and only available when adding at least one new collaborator ) Write a custom note to include in the email notification sent to new collaborators inside the Add optional note for new collaborators text box.
Click Save or type 'Enter'/'Return' to complete sharing your item with your collaborators and close the Safe Share dialog box. An email notification is sent to all newly added collaborators that were specified on this dialog box. Notes:
If you receive the following warning messages, which prevents you from sharing your item:
'The whitelist feature is not permitting you to share this item with one or more people. Please contact your administrator.' - Your Covata Platform administrator has enabled the Covata Platform's user whitelist feature, which restricts the people (who have permission to access the Covata Platform) to those whose email addresses (or email address domains) have been added to this whitelist feature. You may need to contact your Covata Platform administrator to clarify which peoples' email addresses and domains have been 'whitelisted' to ensure that when sharing an item (above), any non-whitelisted collaborators have either been removed or have not been added to your list of collaborators.
'The following user/s do/es not have access to LABEL files:' (where 'LABEL' is the name of the label you selected above) - Your Covata Platform administrator has not permitted the users listed in the warning message with access to content shared with the applied LABEL. Either remove these users who are not permitted to access content shared with the applied LABEL, or choose a different label.
In either case, click the message itself to return to the Safe Share dialog box.
You can obtain a URL to access your file or folder directly through the Safe Share web application, which you could then email to collaborators you have shared the item with. To obtain this direct URL:
Open the Safe Share dialog box on this item (described at the start of this procedure above).
On the Safe Share dialog box, click the Get Share Link button to copy this link to the clipboard. This button is only available when at least one collaborator is on the item.
For file formats supported by the content viewer of any Safe Share application, this URL opens the item within the content viewer of the Safe Share web application as opposed to the main Safe Share page that lists the item.
If you move any items from one subfolder to another within My Secured Files, then these items become accessible to any collaborators with whom the target subfolder has already been explicitly shared. This accessibility also includes the collaborators set explicitly on any ancestral folders (within the My Secured Files folder) who then have implicit access to these moved items (in their new target location). Each of these collaborator's access to these moved items depends on their permissions applied to the relevant ancestral folder of these items. Be aware, however, that collaborators (such as these) do not receive email notifications for any items moved into a folder they can already access.
If you share an item with one or more collaborators and that item is contained within a folder which has not been shared with them, then when these collaborators sign in to:
Safe Share for Windows, they can access the item from the root of your Covata user account's Shared By... subfolder (contained within their Shared With Me subfolder). For more information about Shared By... subfolders, see Decrypting or viewing/printing secure content (shared with you).
The Safe Share web application, they can access the item from the root location of their main Safe Share page.
Storing content securely and sharing it 'in one go'
To securely store and share your content with other people in a single action (from anywhere accessible through Windows Explorer):
Ensure that Safe Share for Windows has been started.
Right-click a file or folder on your desktop or elsewhere within Windows Explorer and choose Safe Share from the pop-up menu:
Safe Share for Windows begins encrypting your item's content:
Notes:
If you are not signed in, Safe Share for Windows prompts you to sign in by opening the 'Sign In' dialog box.
If you are securely storing a large amount of data, the encryption process may take some time. Hence, you can click the Hide button on the encryption message (above) to close this message box and allow the encryption process to continue in the background.
The maximum file size supported depends on a property configured on the Covata Platform. This property's value can be provided by your Covata Platform administrator. Safe Share for Windows defines a default maximum file size of 20 GB. However, this default value can overridden (for uploads only) by a Windows registry setting.
granted you either the Upload or Manage permissions to access this folder,
then you will be able to securely store content to share through this other Covata user's folder (as a collaborator on it). Once this content is encrypted, it is uploaded to remote storage managed by the Covata Platform. Any content you store in this folder becomes available to other Covata users who are collaborators on this folder.
To determine if you have permission to store content in (i.e. upload content to) another user's folder (or manage content within it):
Within a Shared By ... subfolder of the Shared With Me folder, right-click on a subfolder and choose Show permissions from the pop-up menu:
A Permissions message appears from the taskbar notification area (the lower-right of the screen by default) indicating each individual permission you have on this folder. If this message contains the:
Upload File permission, then the folder's owner has granted you Upload permissions on this folder.
Remove, Move, Rename and Upload File permissions, then the folder's owner has granted you Manage permissions on this folder.
To determine who is a collaborator on this other user's folder:
As a collaborator with or Upload or Manage permissions on another user's folder, you may wish to determine which other people are collaborators on this folder before you decide to upload and share content within this folder.
Apart from the folder's owner, it is not possible to determine who else is a collaborator on this folder using Windows Explorer. Therefore, to identify all collaborators on this folder, you can use the Safe Share Web feature.
Within Safe Share Web, locate and select the folder (of another user) that you have Upload or Manage permissions on. See Finding secure content and Uploading content to share through another user's folder in the Safe Share User's Guide for the web application for more information.
Under the Sharing section on the Details tab, all other Covata users who are currently collaborators on the folder (including the owner but excluding yourself) are shown.
To upload content to share through this other user's folder:
Access the Safe Share folder and identify another Covata user's folder which you are a collaborator on and have permission to upload content to (described in the procedure above).
Select one or more file(s) and/or folder(s) on your computer and copy or move them into this folder (as you would usually do so with Windows Explorer).
Your items are encrypted locally within this folder by Safe Share for Windows and the secured items are then uploaded to remote storage managed by the Covata Platform. Note: Be aware that:
The remote storage space allocated to the Covata user whose folder you copied/moved your content to, is used to store this content upon upload.
The owner of this folder becomes the owner of the content you uploaded. Therefore, this content will appear in the owner's My Secured Files folder when they next sign in to Safe Share for Windows, or when they next view the items in that folder.
All collaborators on this folder (as specified by its owner) will gain access to the content you uploaded (based on each collaborator's permissions on this folder).
If you receive the message 'Action could not be performed - The item already exists in the folder or remote storage.', then at least one item with the same name already exists in this user's folder. However, you are not a collaborator on these items for one of the following reasons:
