Getting Started with FileCloud Online (part 4): User Policies – General Policies

July 3, 2024

In this installment of our Getting Started series, we discuss user policies. FileCloud associates users and groups with a corresponding user policy. The user policy is where you define the custom settings, such as the maximum storage for their personal space, their sharing options, recycle bin settings, and much more. Where Are the Policy Settings? […]

In this installment of our Getting Started series, we discuss user policies.

FileCloud associates users and groups with a corresponding user policy. The user policy is where you define the custom settings, such as the maximum storage for their personal space, their sharing options, recycle bin settings, and much more.

Where Are the Policy Settings?

You can review the user policies using your FileCloud Admin UI > Settings > Policies.

If you are using a clean new system, you will find two policies: Global Default Policy and TEAM FOLDER POLICY.

What is the Global Default Policy?

FileCloud creates this policy group by default. As you can see in your Policy Settings – Global Default Policy screen, this group shows “Enabled” as the default group.

Policy Settings: Global Default Policy

The default group is the policy to which all new users are assigned when initially created. This applies to all user types.

What is the TEAM FOLDER POLICY?

If you have enabled Team Folders, FileCloud creates the TEAM FOLDER POLICY automatically. This policy group only exists to change the default settings to the Team Folder account.

Policy Settings - Team Folder Policy

What are the Global Policy Settings?

When you “edit” a policy group, there are six policy setting tabs. The General tab contains the configuration to control share settings, storage space, and more.

In this article, we cover the policy settings in the General tab. You can apply these settings to any policy group.

Share Mode

The Share mode drop-down menu sets the share options for the users assigned to this group. Its options are:

Allow All Shares

Allow All Shares

This setting enables users to use the four types of shares:

Allow Private Shares Only

If you select this setting, it means the ability to generate public shares or public links with a password is no longer available. This is the most commonly used option, and it allows the functionality shown below:

Allow Private Shares Only

As you can see, both public sharing options are disabled. When you change this setting, you restrict the users under this policy group to the private share option.

If you need to change the default share type but still allow the users to generate different kinds of shares, please read the last section of this article on changing the default share options.

Shares Not Allowed

As the name implies, the Shares Not Allowed option turns off sharing for users in the relevant policy group.

When you choose this option, the users will see the share option grayed out on the UI:

Disabled Shares

Default Policy Share Settings

With two specific settings, you can change the default behavior of the shares for the users under this policy group:

Default Policy Share Settings

Both of these settings are the default values. By default, users can change this. If you prefer to restrict these settings, rather than allow users to override them, you need to select Yes in the "Disallow Default Share Settings Change" drop-down menu. You can find this in Policy Settings -> User Policy.

Disallow Default Share Settings Change

Setting the User Storage Quota

This is the personal storage size given to each user under the policy group. By default, users get a 2 GB quota for storing personal files.

Setting User Storage Quota

In the UI below, the space available for the “My Files” folder is displayed.

Display User Storage Quota

If you want to give the users under this policy group, for example, 50 GB, you update the value and save it.

Increase User Storage Quota

Once you have assigned this extra storage, you can view it in the UI, as shown:

Display Increased User Storage Quota

Enabling Privacy Settings

If you set the Enable Privacy Settings feature to YES, it prompts users to accept the Terms of Service when they next log in to FileCloud.

Enable Privacy Settings

This shows on the user's next login after you have enabled the setting:

FileCloud Terms of Service

Recycle Bin Settings

You configure the recycle bin feature separately for each policy group. There are three settings you have available to configure:

Recycle Bin Settings

Store Deleted Files

When you configure this setting, any files deleted from the users that belong to this policy group will go into their own recycle bin.

For example, once you have enabled the setting, if the user deletes a file, it shows in the recycle bin as follows:

Store Deleted Files

Users can access the deleted file by selecting "Deleted Files" on the three-dot menu:

Access Deleted Files

When a user is in the Deleted Files section, they can select the file and restore it:

Restore Deleted Files

From here, the user can also perform other actions:

For more details about deleted files, please check out the FileCloud documentation.

Automatically Delete Files from Recycle Bin After Set Number of Days

Once you have enabled the recycle bin feature, it can automatically clean itself according to the value you enter in this field. If set to zero, it will not clean unless the user manually empties it from the UI.

If, for example, you want to configure the recycle bin to be automatically cleaned after 30 days, you use the following configuration:

Recycle Bin Configuration

Do Not Store Deleted Files Greater Than

Once you have configured the recycle bin for a policy group, as admin you can restrict the maximum size. The default value is 100 MB. For example, if the admin wants to allow the users to keep files in the recycle bin not greater than 10 GB:

Recycle Bin Storage Settings

In the next article in our Getting Started with FileCloud series, we will explore the policy settings related to two-factor authentication (2FA).

 

Article written by Daniel Alarcon, Senior Manager, Customer Success and Enablement

Edited by Deirdre Clancy, Technical Content and Communication Manager

 

By Team FileCloud