Shared and Private Folders

With Egnyte, files are stored in one of two main directories: your domain's Shared folder or your Private folder.

Shared Folder 

The Shared Folder is the main directory for organization's files. When an Egnyte domain is first created, the Shared Folder will only contain sample folders. Administrators (or a Power User belonging to a role with access to create top-level folders) can create a sub-folder directly beneath the main Shared folder, like Sales, Engineering, Finance, etc. Power or Standard Users with the appropriate permission level can create sub-folders beneath these new folders. 

Limitations

• Files cannot be saved directly to the Shared Folder; the user must save them in a subfolder.
• The Shared folder name, description, and permissions cannot change.
• The Shared folder cannot be deleted.

Private Folder

Administrators and Power Users may each have a Private sub-folder, which is ideal for personal documents like pay statements, performance assessments, and other documents that wouldn't be shared with other employees. Each sub-folder is named after the user to whom it belongs. Within their private sub-folder, each Power User can create as many additional sub-folders as they please.  

In certain situations, Administrators might prefer to disable Private folders to prevent users from saving documents privately. They can navigate to Settings -> Configuration -> General and set the private folders toggle to enabled or disabled.

Administrators can access (and edit data) within all the Private folders in their domain. An Administrator's private folder will appear with their name, while those of the other users in their account will appear in the All Private Folders section. 

The table below covers the difference between Shared and Private folders.

Action/Permission	Shared Folders	Private Folders
Folder Name	The top-level folder name is Shared	The folder name is the username of the folder owner
Draft Mode	Users can create files in draft mode within a shared folder, but the draft is saved in the user's private folder. Once finalized, the file can be moved to the shared folder.	Files can be created in draft mode within the Private folder.
File Creation	Only Admins or Power Users/Standard users with access can create files or subfolders in the top-level folder.	Admins and Owners of the private folders can create files.
Uploading a File	Must be uploaded in a sub-folder.	Can be uploaded in the topmost folder.
Ownership	Typically owned by Admins or groups.	Typically owned by an individual user.
Folder Access Levels	Users can have access levels as Viewer-only, Viewer, Editor, Full, or Owner.	Only the folder owner and admins have complete access.
Visibility	Visible to users or groups with the appropriate permissions.	Visible to the user. Only the admin can view all private folders.
Collaboration	Designed for collaboration among multiple users; changes and updates are visible to all with access.	Limited collaboration; primarily used for individual work.