Understanding how file downloading settings operate across different levels—company-wide, within workspaces, and in Portals—is important for file control and management.

This article delves into each level, detailing the options available, default settings, and how administrators can navigate and customize download permissions to suit their needs. 

Company-level file downloading

Downloading can be controlled at the company level, which overrides all download controls at the workspace, portal, and individual user levels. Company administrators set this in the Security settings.

As a company Admin, you can access the Security page from any page by clicking the profile icon in the bottom left corner and selecting Settings & Admin.

In the admin settings page, select the Security tab.

The company-wide Downloading controls are found under the Download & Export Restrictions section of the Security settings.

There are 3 options available to restrict downloading:

• No company-wide download restrictions
• Downloading disabled for restricted workspaces
• Downloading disabled company-wide

The first (No company-wide download restrictions) is selected by default. CoLab provides controls specific to restricted workspaces as well, separate from all other workspaces.

Workspace-level file downloading 

When you create a new workspace, downloading is disabled by default. However, both workspace owners and company admins have the authority to enable downloading for all members of the workspace. Once activated, any user within the workspace can download any file. It's important to note that downloading cannot be enabled on a per-file or per-user basis.

To enable downloading within a workspace, start by accessing your Workspace Settings page by navigating to your Workspace and selecting the cog button in the left sidebar.

With the workspace settings opened, select or deselect the Allow file downloading and feedback exporting option.

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Portal-level file downloading

By default, downloading is disabled in a Portal. However, it can only be enabled if downloading is also enabled for the corresponding Workspace, a setting controlled by either a Workspace or Company Admin. If downloading is enabled for the Workspace, a Portal Admin can enable downloading within the Portal from the Portal Settings page.

To enable downloading in a Portal, first navigate to the Portal Settings page by accessing the Portal and either clicking on the Settings cog in the left sidebar, or on the word Settings in the Portal default view.

Under the General tab on the Portals settings page, you can select the Enable file downloading and feedback exporting option, and then Save changes.