Organisation Administrator's Guide
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Administering files

The Files page of Organisation Administration (below) allows Organisation administrators to search all files (also known as file objects or Secure Objects * ) within their organisation, which have been encrypted using Cocoon Data technologies. Using this page, the following activities can be performed on any of these files:

  • View all recorded activities conducted on it.
  • Disable it - disabling a file prevents access to any aspect of it (including access by its owner) from:
    • A Cocoon Data SafeShare application, or
    • Another client application that uses the Cocoon Data Platform's API.

* A file object / Secure Object is defined by the following:

  • Cocoon Data-encrypted data that has been registered on the Cocoon Data Platform.
    Note: Cocoon Data-encrypted data is data from a file or stream, which has then been encrypted either:
  • The properties associated with this encrypted data. Some of these properties can be determined by the creator/owner of the file.

Files page

Finding files

Of all files that have been created within your organisation (on the Cocoon Data Platform), it is possible to search for specific files by their Name (e.g. file name), the owner's Email address, First Name or Last Name, or by the file object's ID.

To locate specific files within your organisation on the Cocoon Data Platform:

  1. Ensure you are signed in to Organisation Administration.
  2. Click the Files option on the left of the Organisation Administration interface to open the Files page.
  3. Use either of the following features to find a specific file (or subset of files):
    • Filter files - In the Search By box (right of the Files page), begin typing a series of characters contained in any of the files' ID, Name or Owner fields, which also includes the owner's first and last names. This filters the list of files within your organisation on the Cocoon Data Platform to those whose ID, Name, or Owner's Email, First Name or Last Name contains the subset of characters entered into the Search By box.
      By default, the ID, Name or Owner (which includes their Email, First Name or Last Name) fields are used for filtering (i.e. All), although filtering can be restricted to just one of these fields using the adjacent drop-down.
    • Navigate to specific files - If available, use the page navigation buttons (lower-right of the Files page).

Tips:

  • You can also sort files on the Files page by clicking the linked name (in the column header) of the field by which you would like to sort your files:
    • Clicking a linked field name multiple times toggles between sorting the files (according to that field) in ascending and descending order.
    • To revert back to the natural ordering of files in the list, simply refresh the page.
  • The History panel on the right can be collapsed and expanded by clicking the respective > / < icon at the top of this panel.

A file object's fields

Each file object which has been created on the Cocoon Data Platform is associated with its own properties. Some of these properties are exposed through the Files page and can be used for finding a file.

Field Description
Id The unique identifier (ID) generated for each file object created on the Cocoon Data Platform.
Name The name of the file object. If a file object was created through a Cocoon Data SafeShare application (by uploading a file to storage through a SafeShare application), then the name of the file object is the file's name itself.
Owner The email address of the Cocoon Data user who currently owns the file object. If the ownership of this file object has not been transferred to a different Cocoon Data user (only possible when the original owner's user account is being removed from the organisation), then the owner of the file object (and hence this email address) will also be the same as the Cocoon Data user who created this file object. A file object's creator is the Cocoon Data user:
  • Who was signed in to a SafeShare application when they uploaded the file object's file to storage managed by the Cocoon Data Platform's Content Service.
  • Whose account was authenticated to the Cocoon Data Platform when the file object was created through a client application (utilising the Cocoon Data Platform's API).
State The current state of the file object, which could be any of the following values:
  • Created - indicates that the file object was created successfully. This means that the file object's data was successfully encrypted and that the file object itself can be shared with other people, as well as have its access controls, name or location modified.
  • Deleted - indicates that the file object has been deleted either by its owner or by a collaborator with Modify or Manage permissions on the file object. As a result, the file object is no longer accessible to any Cocoon Data user, regardless of whether the file object is being accessed through a Cocoon Data SafeShare application or another client application (utilising the Cocoon Data Platform's API).
    Tip: For more information about collaborator-related permissions, see Sharing secure content in the SafeShare for Web User's Guide and the <access-service>/api/v1/permissions/sets page in the Cocoon Data API documentation.
  • Incomplete - indicates one of two things, depending on the type of client application creating the file object:
    1. A Cocoon Data SafeShare application:
      • Is currently in the process of creating the file object (i.e. encrypting its data) and uploading this data to storage (via the Cocoon Data Platform's Content Service). Once these processes are complete, the file object's state changes to Created.
        or
      • Was in the process of creating the file object or uploading its data to storage via the Content Service, but one of these processes failed. In such a scenario, the file object's state remains Incomplete.
      Regardless of these scenarios, an Incomplete file object created through a Cocoon Data SafeShare application cannot:
      • Be shared with other people.
      • Have its access controls, name or location modified.
    2. A client application (using the Cocoon Data Platform's API) initialized a new file object (creating a file object whose state is Incomplete) but did not update it (i.e. to encrypt its data and 'complete' the file object, which would change the file object's state to Created upon success). In such a scenario, the client application could still perform the following actions on an Incomplete file object:
      • Retrieve the file object (through its ID) from the Cocoon Data Platform,
      • Share the file object with other people, and/or
      • Modify the file object's access controls, name or location.
Created The local date and time of when the file object was created.
Modified The local date and time when the file object was last modified by its owner. A file object's date/time displayed in this field will be updated whenever the owner of this file object modifies:
  • The collaborators with whom the file object is shared.
  • The file object's access controls - changes to when the file object can be accessed, or whether or not the file object's data can be printed/downloaded.
  • The file object's properties (including location) - for example, changes to the file object's name or its parent folder/collection.

Viewing activities on files

To view all activities performed on a file in your organisation:

  1. Ensure you are signed in to Organisation Administration.
  2. Click the Files option on the left of the Organisation Administration interface to open the Files page.
  3. Find the file whose activities you wish to view.
  4. Highlight the item by clicking on it, which reveals (in the History panel on the right) a history of all recorded activities performed on the file in reverse chronological order. The activities recorded include those from:
    • The file's owner,
    • All collaborators on the file and
    • All Organisation administrators of the organisation in which the file was created. (These activities only include disabling and re-enabling files).

Note: For more information about the activities recorded on a file from its owner or collaborators, see Types of activities in the SafeShare for Web User's Guide.

Disabling or (re-)enabling a file

Disabling a file prevents access to any aspect of it (including access by its owner). Once a file is disabled:

  • The file will no longer be visible or accessible to its owner and collaborators (upon them signing in) through any Cocoon Data's SafeShare applications.
  • The file can no longer be retrieved through a client application using the Cocoon Data Platform's API.

Note: Disabling files that have only been initialized through a client application using the Cocoon Data Platform's API (resulting in an 'incomplete' file), prevents this file from being 'completed' through such an application. To allow these types of files to be completed, an Organisation administrator must first re-enable these files (e.g. through Organisation Administration).

To disable, enable or re-enable a file in your organisation:

  1. Ensure you are signed in to Organisation Administration.
  2. Click the Files option on the left of the Organisation Administration interface to open the Files page.
  3. Find the file to be disabled, enabled or re-enabled.
  4. Do one of the following:
    • To disable the file, click the file's green Enabled button (in the Enabled column), until this button changes red and indicates Disabled.
    • To enable or re-enable the file, click the file's red Disabled button (in the Enabled column), until the button changes green and indicates Enabled.