Shared vaults
Create a shared vault, add files and notes to it, open it on the desktop or on the web, and bring back an earlier version or a deleted item.
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Documentation sections
A shared vault is a place you share with other people: a client, a colleague, your family. It holds files and notes like a folder, but it has its own encryption key, and Filarr seals that key for each member. Only the members can read what is inside. Filarr stores the vault encrypted and never keeps its key in readable form.
This article follows Alex, a freelance designer, who creates a vault called "Lumen project" to work with Jordan, a client. Invite people and manage members tells the rest of the story.
What you need
- A cloud account. Shared vaults don't exist for a local profile.
- To create a vault: a paid plan. On the Free plan, New shared vault usually doesn't appear. If it does, because someone already invited you, Filarr answers that shared vaults need a paid plan.
- To join a vault: any account, including a free one.
The people you share vaults with form your shared space. Its size depends on your plan: up to 3 people on Solo and 6 on Pro, you included. Invitations still waiting for an answer take a place too. Teams and Enterprise vaults belong to an organization: see Create or join an organization.
The files in a vault use the storage of its owner's plan. The gauge at the top of a vault shows how much is used, for example "66.7 KB / 150 GB". See Plans and limits.
Create a shared vault
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On Home, in the All folders block, click New.
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Choose New shared vault.
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Type a name in Vault name, for example "Lumen project".
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If your account has several profiles on this computer, a Profile menu also appears. Choose the profile where the vault should show up.
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Click Create vault.
The vault opens and Filarr confirms Vault created. Its name is encrypted like its content: the server never sees it.
The bar at the top of the vault holds its main actions:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Upload Files | Adds files from your computer. |
| New Folder | Creates a folder inside the vault. |
| New document | Creates a document with one of the editors installed in Filarr. |
| Share | Opens Manage access, to invite people. See Invite people and manage members. |
| Manage | Opens the vault's management page. See Manage a vault. |
| Activity | Shows what happened in the vault recently. |
| Trash | Shows the items deleted from the vault. |
A member with the Viewer role sees Read-only instead of the first three buttons.
Add files
- Click Upload Files, or drag files from your computer onto the vault.
- To bring in a file or a folder that is already in Filarr, right-click it and choose Add to shared vault…. Choose the Destination vault, then the Action:
- Copy (keep the original): your file stays where it is, and the vault gets its own copy;
- Move (remove from here): the file goes into the vault. For a single file, Leave a shortcut in its place is ticked: your folder keeps a shortcut that opens the file in the vault. If you untick it, or move a folder, your original goes to the trash.
A file in a vault can weigh up to 500 MB.
Add a note
A note in a vault belongs to all its members, who can write in it together. Here is how Alex copies the note "Lisbon workshop agenda" into the vault:
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Open the note.
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In the editor toolbar, click the share button, an arrow coming out of a box. Its tooltip reads Share to a vault.
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Check the Destination vault, then choose the Action: Copy (keep the original) or Move (remove from here).
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Click Copy, or Move.
The note appears in the vault, with a pencil and a Note badge. Double-click it to open it.
In the notes list, you can also right-click a note and choose Add to shared vault…, or type "Share this note to a vault" in the command palette.
The vault keeps its own copy of the note, images included. From then on, the two notes live apart: what you change in your personal note doesn't reach the vault, and the other way round. Work in the vault's copy.
Open a shared vault
Your vaults appear on Home, among your folders. In Notes, a Shared vaults section also lists the notes of each vault. Click a vault to open it.
A vault shows Locked while its key isn't loaded on this device. To load it, Filarr asks for your account password in Unlock shared vaults:
- in the desktop app, once. If the system keychain allows it, the computer keeps the key until you sign out;
- in the web app, once per session, even if you have just unlocked Filarr.
Show a vault in another profile
If your account has several profiles on this computer, for example "Work" and "Personal", each vault shows up in the profiles it is attached to.
- To attach or detach a vault, right-click its card on Home and choose Attach to this profile or Remove from this profile.
- The vaults attached to other profiles are folded at the bottom of All folders, under Other vaults of this account. Click Attach to this profile next to one to bring it here.
Removing a vault from a profile only hides it in that profile. You stay a member.
Bring back an earlier version
Filarr keeps earlier versions of each file and note in a vault.
- In the vault, right-click the item and choose View version history. You can also click the item once, then History in the bar that appears.
- The Version history window lists the earlier versions, grouped by editing session, with the names of the people who took part.
- Click Restore next to a version, then confirm. Download saves that version to your computer instead.
Restoring writes a new version: nothing is erased, and the current content becomes a version of its own. By default, Filarr keeps the last three versions of each item. An admin can keep from 1 to 10 in the vault's settings. A viewer can look at the history but can't restore.
Deleted items and the vault trash
When someone deletes an item, it goes to the vault's trash, for every member. Click Trash in the vault bar to see it, then:
- Restore puts the item back where it was. The person who added it and the admins can do this;
- Delete permanently destroys it with all its versions. Only the owner of the vault can do this.
Deleted items stay recoverable for 30 days by default, then Filarr destroys them for good. An admin can choose 7, 14, 30 or 90 days.
By default, the person who added an item can move it to the trash, and so can admins. An admin can reserve deleting to admins. See Manage a vault.