How to Set File Permissions and Create Quick Share Links

Spaces Object Storage is an S3-compatible object storage service that lets you store and serve large amounts of data. Each Space is a bucket for you to store and serve files. The built-in Spaces CDN minimizes page load times and improves performance.

There are two options for the visibility permissions of files in a Spaces bucket:

• Public, meaning anyone on the internet can view the contents.
• Private, meaning only owners can view the contents.

File permissions can be set when the files are staged for upload, updated in bulk within a directory using the Actions menu, or changed on a per-file basis. Owners can also create Quick Share links, which provide time-bound permission to view a private file.

By default, file permissions are set to Private. Some third-party tools provide support for changing the default permissions, but there is currently no way to do so in the control panel.

Change File Permissions

On the bucket’s Files page, you can change an individual file’s permission by opening its More menu and selecting Manage Permissions. You can also set metadata for multiple files at once by selecting them, opening the Actions menu, and choosing Manage Permissions.

From there, choose Public or Private and click Update. You should verify the changes after you change the permissions of a file.

Check File Permissions

Click the … icon to the right of the file, then click Manage Permissions. This opens a pop-up window where you can select either Public or Private.

Create Quick Share Links

Owners can give time-bound permission to view a private file by creating a pre-signed URL, also known as a Quick Share link, for an individual item. The sharing duration can last 1 hour, 6 hours, 1 day, 3 days, or 7 days, and anyone with the link will be able to view a private file during the specified time interval.

To create a Quick Share link, from the file’s More menu, select Quick Share. In the window that opens, choose the sharing duration.

The link will appear in the File URL field, and includes a Unix timestamp in the Expires parameter.

This feature is intended to provide time-bound access to a private resource. The Quick Share link for a Public file is the same as the file’s public URL and has no expiration date. If you make the file private, the link would not grant access.