The share dialog
| Control / Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Recipient box (“Add people, groups, or external email”) | Type a name, email, or department to search. Matches appear as suggestions; pick one to add it as a chip. |
| Suggestion list | Shows matching people, departments, and the whole organisation. An email that isn’t part of your organisation is offered as an external recipient. |
| Recipient chip | A pill for each person/department/org/external email you’ve added. Click the X on a chip (or press Backspace in an empty box) to remove it. |
| Default role selector (next to the box) | Sets the access level — Viewer or Editor — applied to everyone you’re about to invite in this batch. |
| Audience notice | When you add a department or the whole organisation, a banner tells you how many people will get access. |
| Link expires in (External only) | Picks how long an external link stays valid: 7, 30, or 90 days. |
| External-share warning + acknowledgement checkbox | For external recipients, you must tick “I understand this share leaves my organisation” before sending. |
| Send (count) | Sends all invitations in the batch at once. When you share with an external recipient, the link is automatically copied to your clipboard. |
| People with access — role dropdown | For each existing recipient, switch their level between Viewer and Editor. The original Owner shows a fixed badge. |
| People with access — remove (X) | Hover a person’s row and click the X to revoke their access immediately. |
Viewer vs Editor
- Viewer — read-only. They can open and see the item but cannot change it, and (for chats) cannot edit or copy the original.
- Editor — read plus edit, copy, and the ability to re-share the item at their own level or below.
- Owner — assigned automatically to whoever created the item. It is not a share level; ownership is transferred through a separate action.
Who you can share with
- A specific person — by name or email, if they’re in your organisation.
- A department — everyone in that team gets access, including people added to the team later.
- The whole organisation — everyone in the company.
- An external email — someone outside your organisation, via a private signed link with an expiry you choose. External recipients are view-only and can never re-share. External sharing only works when your organisation’s external-sharing toggle is on.
Cap at own level
You can never grant more access than you have:- A Viewer cannot share at all beyond their read access.
- An Editor can grant Viewer or Editor, but nothing higher.
- Only the Owner (or an Editor acting within these limits) controls the access list.
Reference semantics (live, not copies)
Everything you share is a live reference to the same item:- Edits you make appear for every recipient right away.
- Revoking someone removes their access on the spot.
- Deleting the item removes it for everyone (it goes to Trash first).
Who can share
- Owner — full control of the item’s access list: invite, change levels, revoke, and (where supported) transfer ownership.
- Editor — can re-share at Viewer or Editor level and copy the item.
- Viewer — read-only; cannot share, edit, or copy the original.
- External recipients — view-only and can never re-share, regardless of level.
- External sharing overall depends on the organisation-wide external-sharing toggle, which only org owners and admins can switch on or off.