Hi, our organization has a number of groups that meet regularly (committees, sub-committees, boards, etc) and we’d like a simple way of distributing meeting minutes and other related documents.

With the EE File Manager, can we create user groups for each of our committees that would allow them to access the relative files and documents? and can we limit that access to read only (no editing or deleting privileges)?

Hello Steve,

Welcome to the ExpressionEngine forums!!

Within the file manager you can create upload destinations and only present those to certain groups. So you would have an upload destination for each group. But to have one central upload destination and restrict file by group is not possible.

The file permissions are controlled by the OS. At this point in time there is no way to restrict read, write or execute privileges to a group. If the file is there, then it can be manage by anyone with access to that destination.

I hope this helps!

Cheers,

Thanks for clearing that up Shane. It’s something we are definitely going to need for our site, so perhaps I’ll look through third-party add-ons or build something myself.

Hi Steve,

I am glad I could help.

I doubt there will be an Add-On because of the system permissions that would be required. But please let me know if you find one!

Thanks,

Hey Shane, I think I may have found something along the lines I’d need - http://devot-ee.com/add-ons/vwm-secure-files It lo.oks kinda old though, so may not be supported by the current version of EE.

I figure if we (admins) can assign permissions to files via the file manager, I can build a page that users can access that will have simple download links to their respective files. Building that page for downloading doesn’t sound too complicated, it’s the assigning permissions in file manager that’s tripping me up since I don’t have EE to play around with (the higher ups want to know for sure that it’ll work before they let me purchase).

Looking at some screenshots of the File Manager, there’s an option for Filter by Category. Could I just setup categories for each group (committees, subcommittees, board) then filter by that metadata when loading download links on the front end?

Hey Steve,

That might work, but I am not sure just categories would help. I guess it depends on how bad it would be for other users who should not gain access to gain access.

You might bring this up in the Development and Programming forum.

Cheers,

Hey Steve,

How are things going?

Can I do anything else?

Cheers,