Monitor file access

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Monitor who has accessed or can access the files available through your Aspera on Cloud organization. You can filter for file access events by file name or by user name.

Note: On November 15, 2024, the File Access Page in the Activity App will be deprecated. The page will no longer be available, and any APIs associated with that specific feature will be disabled. This means that permission events from transfer nodes will not be collected for processing in the Activity app anymore. This will not affect file sharing nor setting permissions. Permissions settings for files or folders will continue to be retained.

Search file access by file name

Search by file name to get data on all users who have permission on that item.
  1. In the File access by text box, start typing the file name; a menu of possible matches appears. Click the desired file name.
  2. Click Go. A table with your search results appears.
    Column Label Description
    Name Username and email address (if applicable) of the user or group with permissions for the file or folder
    Permission Permission that user or group has for the file
    Permission granted on Date and time that the permission was assigned
    File timestamp File creation timestamp

    Note that the term Trusted source in a column refers to a transfer client or some other source that is not a human user.

    The term Public link in a column means that the file access occurred through a public link sent to the user. Since the link is public, the user identity can't be determined.

  3. To refine your results, select an option in the permissions field.

    The Permission column displays the highest-level of permission on the file, which may contain a combination of other permissions.

    For example, if you filter your results by the Read permission, the actual permission that displays in the Permission column will be "Edit" (not "Read"); however, if you hover over "Edit" you will see a list of all available permissions, which will include "Read".

    For details, see "Content Permissions" in this article.

    Permission Type Privilege
    Edit Perform all actions (list, read, write, delete, make directory, rename, and preview a file)
    Upload Write a file and create a directory (mkdir)
    Download List, read, and preview a file
    Preview List and preview
    List Access a file listing
    Custom Perform a customized combination of actions as granted by the admin in Aspera on Cloud on a file or a user (such as list and delete)
    Read Read the contents of the file (including the preview) and upload it
    Write Create a file and download it
    Delete Delete a file
    Create directory Create a directory/folder
    Rename Rename a file
    All permissions The user has all permissions described in this table

Search file access by username

Search by user name to displays all files accessible to a given user.
  1. In the File access by text box, start typing the username; a menu of possible matches appears. Click the desired username.
    Category Description
    Name File name
    Type Type of file (file or folder)
    Location Directory location of file
    Permission User permission on the file
    Permission granted on Date the permission was assigned
    File timestamp Timestamp for creation of the file
  2. To refine your results, select an option in the Permissions field.

    The Permission column displays the highest permission on the file; the permission lists may contain a combination of other permissions.

    For example, if you filter your results by the Read permission, the actual permission that displays in the Permission column will be "Edit" (not "Read"); however, if you hover over "Edit" you will see a list of all available permissions, which includes "Read."

    For details, see "Content Permissions" in this article.

    Permission Type Description (The user can...)
    Edit Edit the contents of a file
    Upload Upload a file but not read it
    Download Download a file but not create it
    Preview Read a file preview
    List Access a file listing
    Read Read the contents of the file (including the preview) and upload it
    Write Create a file and download it
    Delete Delete a file
    Create directory Create a directory
    Rename Rename a file
    All permissions The user has all permissions described in this table