Understanding SmartVault Drive and SmartVault Portal Folder Display Differences

Understanding and Mapping SmartVault Drives > Understanding SmartVault Drive and SmartVault Portal Folder Display Differences

When you view vaults, folders, and documents using the SmartVault Drive, you or other users may see some differences between the list of folders you see in the SmartVault Drive and the list of folders you see in the SmartVault portal.

In order to see a folder in the SmartVault portal, you need at least Read access to the folder.

However, in order to see a folder displayed in the SmartVault Drive, you must have at least Read access to not only the folder itself, but also at least Read access to every parent folder above the folder all the way up to the top-level vault that contains the folder.

For example, assume that Carol Jones has created the set of folders shown in the following image for her client, Debbie’s Boat Storage.

Carol wants one of her tax preparers, Bob Bailey, to be able to see all of the folders under Debbie’s Boat Storage, but she doesn’t want Bob to be able to see any of the other client folders, such as the client folders for ABC Appliances or Clauson Holdings, in her account.

Carol shares the Debbie’s Boat Storage folder with Bob using a user license. When Bob signs in to the portal, he sees the Debbie’s Boat Storage parent folder, along with all of its subfolders. However, Bob does not see folders for any of Carol’s other clients, such as ABC Appliances and Clauson Holdings.

The following image shows what Bob sees when he signs in to the SmartVault portal.

You can tell that there are additional folders, such as the Clients folder, above the Debbie’s Boat Storage folder that Bob doesn’t have access to because there is a star (*) icon in the SmartVault portal next to the Debbie’s Boat Storage folder.

This star icon indicates that the portal is showing a virtual folder list, or green list. In other words, it is showing some, but not all, of the folders in Carol’s Client vault hierarchy.

The following image shows a close up of the star icon that indicates that Bob has access to some of the folders in the Clients vault, but does not have access to one or more parent folders above the Debbie’s Boat Storage folder in the Clients vault.

However, when Bob maps a SmartVault Drive using his user license and then tries to view the folders for Debbie’s Boat Storage using the SmartVault Drive, he sees only the name of Carol’s account, Carol Jones CPA. Bob does not see the Debbie’s Boat Storage folder or any of the subfolders underneath the Debbie’s Boat Storage folder.

The following image shows what Bob sees when he signs in to the SmartVault Desktop software and opens up his mapped SmartVault Drive.

Bob does not see the Debbie’s Boat Storage folder or any of its subfolders because, in order to see folders in the SmartVault Drive, you must have access to not only the folder itself, but also at least Read access to every parent folder above the folder all the way up to the top-level vault that contains the folder. In this example, since Bob doesn’t have at least Read access to the Clients vault, which is the parent folder for Debbie’s Boat Storage, Bob can’t see the Debbie’s Boat Storage folder or any of its subfolders in the SmartVault Drive.

In order for Bob to see the Debbie’s Boat Storage folder, Carol must give Bob at least Read access to the Clients vault, as well as at least Read access to any additional parent folders between the Clients vault and the Debbie’s Boat Storage folder. In this example, since the Clients vault is the only parent folder above the Debbie’s Boat Storage folder, once Carol gives Bob at least Read access to the Clients vault, Bob can see the Clients vault, as well as the Debbie’s Boat Storage folder and all of its subfolders in the SmartVault Drive.

The following image shows what Bob now sees using the SmartVault Drive after Carol has given him Read access to the Clients vault.

Note that Bob sees the Clients vault and the Debbie’s Boat Storage folder, but Bob still does not see any of the other client folders in the Clients vault. This is because Carol gave Bob access to the Clients vault using the Share & Manage Access option, but she did not give him access to any of the other client folders in the vault, such as the ABC Appliances folder or the Clauson Holdings folder.

If you need to give a user Read access to vaults and parent folders in order for a SmartVault Drive user in your account to see the folders they have access to, you can do this using one of the following sharing options:

Use this option if you want the user to have access to some, but not all of the folders in the vault. You can grant appropriate permissions (Read, Create, Write, and Delete) for the folders the user needs. Then, if the user will also be accessing their folders using the SmartVault Drive, you will also go back and ensure the user has at least Read access to the vault that contains their folders, as well as at least Read access to each parent folder above their set of folders.

For more information about using the Share & Manage Access option for vaults and folders, see the following topics:

Use this option if you want to have at least Read access to every folder in the vault. If you use this option, you are giving users, such as firm users, much broader access permissions and firm users can see a lot more information in the vault. However, you may find this option useful, expecially for your internal firm users, as it can make it easier to ensure users who use the SmartVault Drive, such as your firm users, can always see the folders they need to see in a vault using the SmartVault Drive.

For more information about using the Manage Group Members option, see “Sharing Vaults Using the Manage Group Members Option” .