Share documents safely with family

Put the family's papers in a shared vault only your family can open, check each person's key, and send a single document outside by link.

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Documentation sections

Every family has papers that several people need: passports, the flat's insurance, health cards, the car papers. Sending scans by email leaves copies in every inbox. Sharing one password is worse: nobody knows who changed what, and taking access back means changing it for everyone.

A shared vault solves both. Each person keeps their own account, and only the members can read what is inside: Filarr stores the vault but cannot open it. Alex set one up with her partner Sam and her mother. In this tutorial, you do the same.

Before you start

  • Time: about 20 minutes, plus a short call with each person.
  • A cloud account on a paid plan. Solo lets up to 3 people share your vaults, you included, and Pro up to 6. See Plans and limits.
  • The email address of each person. They need a Filarr account too. The free plan is enough, and they can create it after they receive your invitation.
  • The documents, scanned or photographed.

Step 1: Create the family vault

  1. On Home, in the All folders block, click New, then New shared vault.
  2. Type a name in Vault name, for example "Family papers".
  3. Click Create vault.

The vault opens, empty. Its name is encrypted like its content. See Shared vaults.

Step 2: Put the papers in

  1. Click New Folder to sort the vault the way your family thinks: IDs, Home, Health, Car.
  2. Open a folder and click Upload Files, or drag the files onto it.

For a document already in your Filarr, right-click it and choose Add to shared vault…. Pick "Family papers" as the Destination vault, then Copy (keep the original): you keep your copy, and the vault gets its own.

The vault uses the storage of your plan, and a file in a vault can weigh up to 500 MB.

Step 3: Invite each person

  1. In the vault, click Share. The Manage access window opens.
  2. Type the person's email address.
  3. Choose their role: Member to add and edit documents, Viewer to read and download only.
  4. Click Invite.

Filarr emails the invitation. If it does not arrive, click Copy the link in the same window and send it in the family chat: the link only works for the address you invited. Repeat for each person. See Invite people and manage members.

Step 4: They accept

On their side, each person:

  1. Opens the link in the email. Without a Filarr account, they create a free one first, with the address you invited.
  2. Reads the window that explains what joining means (nothing of theirs is shared back), and clicks Accept invitation.

Their key is created the first time they open Filarr with their account. Until then, Filarr shows that it is waiting for them.

Step 5: Check their key, then give access

This step makes sure the vault key goes to your mother, and to nobody pretending to be her.

  1. In the vault, click Manage, then open the Invitations tab.
  2. Under Access being prepared, click See details on the person's row, then Check their key and give access.
  3. Call the person. Ask them to open Settings → Security and read you their safety number, under Your key fingerprint, block by block.
  4. If every block matches the one on your screen, click The numbers match.

If one digit differs, stop there and do not give access.

Step 6: They open the vault

The vault appears on their Home, among their folders. In the web app, they reload the page if it does not show up yet.

The first time they open it, Filarr asks for their account password in Unlock shared vaults. The desktop app asks once. The web app asks once per session.

From now on, a document one of you adds is there for everyone, and Activity in the vault bar shows who did what.

Step 7: Send one document outside the family

The letting agency asks for a copy of the insurance certificate. It does not belong in your vault, but a link that expires fits.

  1. Right-click the file in your own folders and choose Share…, then Create a public link….
  2. Choose a short expiry, for example 7 days.
  3. Tick Require a password and type one. This option starts with the Solo plan.
  4. Click Create link, then Copy link.

Send the link by email, and the password by phone: whoever has both can open the file. The Shares page in the sidebar lets you revoke the link at any time. See Share a file by link.

Step 8: Keep your own account yours

  • Never share your password. Everyone in the family has their own account now. The vault gives them what they need, and nothing else.
  • Check your devices. In Settings → Account & Sync, click Manage next to Connected devices, and Revoke any device you do not recognize. See Devices and pairing.
  • On a computer the whole family uses, give each person their own profile, and lock your personal folders with a password. That password only applies on this computer. See Profiles and several accounts and Password-protect a file or folder.

Your family now shares its papers in one place, encrypted, with an account each, and you know who can open what.

What next?