Permissions in detail

Permissions in detail

Permissions are a key element of every data room, controlling all possible interactions of user groups with documents, index points, and the data room. They are always managed on the group level, but if single users must have particular permissions, a group can be created for each of them. Only administrators can set permissions.

Following you will find described in detail, which permissions in particular can be granted or denied, and the resulting implications.

There are four primary permissions available in the permissions control panel in the index section for each folder and index point, for each user group:

View permission:
  1. If not granted, folders and all their sub-items, or index points and possibly attached documents are invisible, and not accessible in any way for any action.
  2. If granted, the members of a user group will see the folder, or the index point in the index and can view a possibly attached document, if it has a native file format, which Drooms converts for online display after upload. Documents with native file formats, which Drooms cannot convert, cannot be viewed online. If user groups should be able to access these documents, save permissions for the native files have to be granted for them.
  3. When granting a view permission, the user group members will be notified about new folders, index points and documents made availabe to them. In their index history reporting the affected index items will appear as newly added.
  4. When revoking a view permission, the user group members will be notified about the folders, index points and possibly attached documents as having been deleted. In their index history reporting the affected index items will appear as deleted.
  5. When revoking the view permission for folders, all their sub-items will become invisible, i.e., all view and all higher permissions will be revoked, too. It is not possible to grant any permissions for a folder's sub-items, without the folder itself being invisible.
Print permission:
  1. If granted for an index point with attached document, the members of a user group can download a watermarked .pdf-version of the document, if it has a native file format, which Drooms converts for online display after upload.
  2. Documents with native file formats, which Drooms cannot convert, cannot be downloaded as print version. If user groups should be able to access these documents, save permissions for the native files have to be granted for them.
  3. If granted for a folder, sub-items will inherit the print permission, when added to it with permissions settings option 'inherit permissions', and all documents contained therein, for which the user group has the print permission, can be batch-printed without having to multi-select them manually.
Save permission:
  1. If granted for an index point with attached document, the members of a user group can download the document as native files without watermark. Only with this permission can user groups get access to documents with native file formats, which Drooms cannot convert, to potentially open them locally with the corresponding third-party software.
  2. The downloaded documents will not be saved under their original file names, but be renamed using the index point descriptions.
  3. If granted for a folder, all documents contained therein, for which the user group has the save permission, can be batch-saved without having to multi-select them manually.
  4. If granted, the save permission includes the print permission.
Edit permission:
  1. If granted for an index point with attached document, the members of a user group can rename the index point, upload or replace a document, and move the index point or just the attachment to the trash bin. They may also copy and move the index point, if their user group has been granted edit permissions for potential target folders.
  2. If granted for a folder, the members of a user group can rename the folder, add new index points, upload documents, and move other index points and folders to it. They may also move the folder to the trash bin, or copy and move it, or renumber the content, but only, if their user group has been granted edit permissions for all the folder's sub-items and potential target folders.
  3. If there is just a single sub-item within the folder, for which the user group has no edit permission, the folder cannot be moved to the trash bin, copied, moved, or renumbered.
  4. If a user group should be able to freely administer certain folders and parts of a data room, like a specific asset, edit permissions must be granted for the respective folders including all their sub-items.
  5. If granted, the edit permission includes the print and save permissions.
Additionally, Drooms offers as part of the separate 'Advanced Permissions' feature module the two lesser edit permission levels 'Create only' and 'Create with approval' in the permissions control panel:

Create only permission:
  1. If granted for an empty index point without attached document, the members of a user group can upload a document to it, but existing documents cannot be replaced or deleted.
  2. If granted for a folder, the members of a user group can add new index points, upload documents, and move other index points and folders to it, for which they have full edit permissions.
  3. In any case the create only permission does not allow to edit existing index points in any other way, or to delete anything.
  4. Index points added this way will inherit permissions from their parent folder by default.
Create with approval permission:
  1. If granted for an index point without attached document, the members of a user group can upload a document to it, and delete it again, as long as the action has not been approved or rejected by an administrator, but existing documents cannot be replaced or deleted.
  2. If granted for a folder, the members of a user group can add new folders and index points, upload documents, and move other index points and folders to it, for which they have full edit permissions, as well as move newly added sub-items to the trash bin again, as long as the action has not been approved or rejected by an administrator.
  3. The create with approval permission allows user groups to create new content in a data room and edit it, but not touch it anymore, once it has been approved by an administrator.
  4. In any case the create with approval permission does not allow to edit existing index points in any other way, or to delete anything.
  5. Index points added with this permission will initially be in 'pending approval' status and will not be visible in the data room for any other user group except administrators and the group, who created them, until approved by an administrator.
  6. If an administrator rejects index points or documents added with this permission, they will be deleted.
  7. If an administrator approves index points or documents added with this permission, they will inherit permissions from their parent folder by default, and then become for the different user groups viewable, printable, saveable, and editable, or not, as eventually intended.
      -> Read more about setting permissions

Furthermore, Drooms offers in the Users section a 'Save with watermark' permission setting for user groups modifying the regular save permission:

Save with watermark permission:
  1. For protecting documents against unintended use, it is recommended to not grant the save permission for the native files, but only the view or maximum the print permission for watermarked versions, except for those documents, which Drooms cannot convert for online display, and which can only be viewed with third-party sotware after downloading them with the save permission. However, granting just view or print permissions for the converted documents, but save permissions for the non-converted ones can be cumbersome. Here Drooms offers a quick solution:
  1. The 'Save with watermark' group setting in the Users section, together with the additional project setting 'Allow downloading Excel and nonconvertible files in original format' to be found in the Project Settings section, allows to grant the save permission throughout the data room for all documents, but ensures that the respecive user groups will only download documents as native files, which Drooms cannot convert, but all other documents as watermarked PDF versions.


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