A permissions report shows every participant's access to every folder and document in a data room, at the moment you generate it. It saves you checking access by hand with 'View as' before key moments such as bid submission, signing or closing.
You can use it to answer questions like:
• Who can see this folder right now?
• What can each participant do with each document?
• When did someone's access to a document last change, and who changed it?
Prerequisites: Only Matter Admins can generate a permissions report. The Export button isn't shown to anyone else.
Generating a permissions report
1. Open the data room's permissions page
2. Click Export in the top right
3. Check the export settings: Export as is set to CSV and Destination is set to My computer
4. Click Export
The report is generated in the background. You'll see a notification when it's ready, with a link to download it. For very large data rooms, this may take a little longer to prepare.
Click Download in the notification to save the CSV to your computer. The file is named <Matter name> - <Data room name> (<date and time>).csv.
What's in the report
Each row in the report covers one folder or document and one participant with access to it. Items a participant has no access to are left out.
Column | What it shows |
Data room name | The name of the data room |
Matter number | The matter's reference number |
Matter name | The name of the matter |
Document name | The name of the folder or document |
File type | Whether the item is a Folder or a Document |
Location | The path to the folder the item sits in, for example /Corporate, or / for items at the top of the data room |
User email | The participant's email address |
User name | The participant's name |
User organisations | The organisation or organisations the participant belongs to in the data room. If there's more than one, they're listed together, separated by a vertical bar |
Permissions | The participant's current permissions on the item, as a four letter code (see below) |
Permissions before change | The participant's permissions on the item before the most recent change, in the same four letter code |
Last changed on | The date and time of the most recent change to the participant's permissions on the item |
Changed by | The name of the person who made that change |
The report is sorted by location, then by organisation, then by participant name, so everyone with access to the same folder or document appears together. Scan down a folder's rows to see every person who can see it and what each of them can do.
Reading the permission codes
The Permissions column uses a four letter code. The letters always appear in the same order:
• V for View: the participant can see the item
• D for Download: the participant can download the item
• U for Upload: the participant can upload to the folder
• E for Edit: the participant can rename, move or edit the item
A hyphen in place of a letter means the participant doesn't have that permission. For example:
Code | Meaning |
VDUE | Can view, download, upload and edit |
VD-- | Can view and download only |
V-U- | Can view and upload |
V--- | Can only view |
The report shows the permissions a participant actually has on each item, including permissions they have because the item inherits them from the level above.
The change columns
The last three columns show the most recent change to a participant's permissions on an item: what they had before, when it changed and who changed it.
• If a participant's permissions on an item have never changed since they were first given access, these columns are empty
• Only the most recent change is shown. Earlier changes to the same participant on the same item aren't included
Things to know
A report is always a snapshot
Each report captures the data room as it stands at the moment you click Export. The past reports are not kept, so if you need a record of how a data room looked on a particular day, generate the report on that day and save the file somewhere safe.
Changing permissions while a report is generated
Permission changes you make before clicking Export are included in the report. Changes you make after clicking Export, while the report is still being generated, aren't. To capture them, wait for the current report to finish and then generate a new one.
If a report is cancelled or fails
•Cancelled: a report is cancelled if the data room is deleted, or your Matter Admin access is removed, while it's being generated. The notification explains why and no file is produced.
•Failed: if something goes wrong while the report is being generated, the notification shows a Retry link. Click it to start a new report with the same settings.
Reports are recorded in the audit trail
Requesting and downloading a permissions report are recorded in the matter's audit trail, along with whether the report was ready, failed or was cancelled. See Tracking matter activity with the audit trail.
Tips
• Generate a report just before bid submission, signing or closing, to keep a record of who could see what at that point
• Save the CSV somewhere you'll find it later, as Legatics doesn't keep a copy
• The file opens in Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers. Use the Location column to filter or sort the report to a single folder
• If you're making a lot of permission changes, finish them before you generate the report so you get the cleanest snapshot