Create a LAN-Based Network Folder

To configure Network Folders, prohibit their creation on certain paths, then add the folder paths as Network Folders and give users and groups permission to access them.

Block locations from mounting as share paths

By default, the xampp path in Windows and the /var/www/html path in Linux are not permitted to be mounted as Network Folders. You may add any other paths that you do not want mounted as Network Folders.

1. Open cloudconfig.php.
   • Windows Location : C:\xampp\htdocs\config\cloudconfig.php
   • Linux Location : /var/www/html/config/cloudconfig.php

2. Find the command for blocking locations, or If it does not exist, create it.
   In Windows it should appear as:

   define("TONIDOCLOUD_NETWORK_FOLDER_MOUNT_PATH_BLOCK_LIST", 'C:/xampp|c$/xampp');

   In Linux it should appear as:

   define("TONIDOCLOUD_NETWORK_FOLDER_MOUNT_PATH_BLOCK_LIST", '/var/www/html');

3. Add any locations that you do not want to be shared, for example:

   define("TONIDOCLOUD_NETWORK_FOLDER_MOUNT_PATH_BLOCK_LIST", 'C:/xampp|c$/xampp,C:/PatientRecords');

Create a Network Folder

To create a Network Folder:

1. Login to the FileCloud Admin Portal.
2. Navigate to Network Folders in left navigation panel.
3. Click Add to launch the New Network Folder dialog box.
4. Select Local Area Network from the dropdown.
   
    
    
5. Enter the name of the network share. This will be the name shown to the user to access this network share resource. For example, "Training Docs". This can have only alpha numeric characters.
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Select whether you want to use Normal mount paths or Smart mount paths. Read more about Smart mounts.
   
   
   
   

7. For Normal mount paths: select the remote folder to use as the network share
   
   

Note: When using UNC paths (Paths like \\computername\sharename) set FileCloud to run as service and set the log-on account for the service to the admin user that has access to that UNC share path.
Otherwise the network share cannot be added.

1. Assigned Permissions specifies that FileCloud's permissions are applied to restrict user access.
   "NTFS" permissions specifies that the existing NTFS permissions are used to restrict user access. See more information about setting Network Folders with NTFS Permissions.
   
   
   
   
2. Once the Network Folder is created, you can assign users and groups to this folder. 
   Click Add User Access to include users; click Add Group Access to add groups.
   
   
   
   
3. Click Finish to create the folder.

Granting access to Network Folder

After the network share is created, you may add and remove user access to it.
The network share access can be granted to Full users, Guest users or User Groups. 

FileCloud licensing doesn't allow adding External users to network shares. To add External users to a network share, the folder has to be shared by another user directly to the External user and not by the admin.

To grant access to a share,  the following steps should be performed

1. Click Network Folders in the left navigation menu to display the list of available network shares
2. Click the Edit button for a network share entry to add user or group access
3. Click Manage Users or Manage Groups at the bottom of the Network Folder Details panel.
   
4. Set the appropriate Access level
   The access level for a user or group can be

Notifications for Network Folders

By default, notifications are enabled for network folders. This means that all users who have access to a network folder and have notifications enabled receive notifications about all actions on the folder. 

However, since multiple users may have access to the same network folder, users may receive notifications about actions that don't interest or don't apply to them.

There are various ways you can limit their access to these notifications. First disable notifications for the folder, and then override the setting only for notifications that you want to permit.

1. Disable notifications for the folder:
   
   1. Click Network Folders in the left navigation menu to display the list of network folders
   2. Click the Edit button for the network folder. 
      The Network Folder Details dialog box opens.
   3. Check the Disable Notifications box.
      
2. Click Update.
3. Do one of the following:
   
   
   • Leave all notifications about actions in the folder disabled. 
     By default, admins and users can override this setting. An admin can enable notifications about the folder for specific users, or users can enable their own notifications for the folder. 
     If you do not want users to be able to override this setting, you must disable file change notifications in Settings > Misc > Notifications. See Notifications for File Changes for help.
     
     
   • Enable notifications about the folder for specific users. 
     This is useful if you want to limit the users who receive notifications about a network folder to those you have shared it with.
     See the various options for setting users' notifications in the section Managing User-Defined Notifications.  
     
     

   • Allow users to enable their own notifications about the folder.
     See the options users have for setting their own notifications in the section Notifications.

Configuring Network Folders Behavior

You can configure some of the behaviors of Network Folders by using the settings below found in Settings->Storage tab.

Offline Access to Network Folders

FileCloud Sync app can provide offline access to Network Folders by allowing users to download files from Network Folders automatically similar to how synced folders work.
To enable Offline Access, you need to enable the Sync Network Folder option in Settings->Storage->Network Storage Settings.

See how to configure Offline Access to Network Shares in the FileCloud Sync app.
You can disable offline sync of certain Network Folders. Edit a network folder and enable the checkbox to Disable Offline sync.

Sharing Restrictions on Network Folders

To restrict sharing on network folder, following steps should be performed.

1. Navigate to Network Folders in the Administration panel and Click on the Edit button for the respective Network Folder.
2. In the Network Folder Details dialog box, set Sharing to Shares not allowed.

3. Click Update, now the Network Folder is restricted to be shared.

The following are the option available to set Sharing for Network Folder:

Disabling Network Folders

To disable Network Folders:

1. Open cloudconfig.php.
   • Windows Location : C:\xampp\htdocs\config\cloudconfig.php
   • Linux Location : /var/www/html/config/cloudconfig.php

2. Find the following command, or if it does not exist, create it:
   

   define("TONIDOCLOUD_ENABLE_NETWORK_SHARE_MOUNTS", true);

    

3. Change the value true to false.
4. To re-enable Network Folders, change the setting back to true.

Miscellaneous: ._cloud Folder

Network folders at times will create a ._cloud sub folders for various reasons that include:-

• Store previous versions of Files
• Store the deleted files under that Network Folder
• Storing the image thumbnails.

There is no option to automatically delete the ._cloud folder. However, the previous versions of the files can be deleted by the user and the stored deleted files can be emptied by the admin by using the Clear All Deleted Files in the screenshot above.Even if thumbnails are deleted, they will be recreated once the image file is accessed again through FileCloud interface.