Share files securely with Data Rooms

Share retained files in a private room, with folders, previews and controlled access for people, local groups and live Collection cohorts. Open Data Rooms in your Library’s product navigation. A room needs no service design, submission or configured User portal.

Create and prepare a room

1. Select QA, Staging or Production. Rooms and files are separate in each environment.
2. Select Create data room, enter its name and optional description, and choose an available file destination. Govform storage is the default.
3. Upload files or create folders before adding participants. Creating a room and saving access send no email.
4. Use People and Groups to grant access. Preview recipients before explicitly sending invitations.

Room changes take effect immediately in the selected environment. Library authentication, appearance and destination configuration retain their normal save, apply and deploy steps. Existing files remain in their original destination when the room’s default changes.

Choose who can do what

A Reader can view, preview, download and print. A Contributor can also add and organise permitted files. A Manager needs current Library casework rights and assignment to the room; Library administrators retain oversight. Participants cannot create rooms.

Use direct membership, local groups or a linked live Collection cohort. Cohorts include currently authorised organisation contacts, independently of programme notification selections and submission deadlines. Removing or deauthorising a source contact changes their next authorised room request; other grants may still apply. An unavailable source grants no access and is flagged to managers.

Items inherit content permissions from their parent unless you select an explicit allow-list. That list replaces inherited content rules; the strongest matching Reader or Contributor grant wins. Every parent folder must permit traversal. Adding a person to an item rule does not give them room membership. Use Access overview to explain a person’s access. Review the warning before saving a restrictive folder rule.

Upload, preview and download

Choose several files or drop them into the upload area. Each file has its own progress and result. Files become Ready after security checks. If an upload fails, managers and the uploader can see its failure details under their current room and folder access. Cleanup removes the stored file and releases its capacity, while a small failed record remains for seven days after successful cleanup. Other participants cannot see failures. The item details show the expiry time after cleanup; select the file again to retry. Supported types are PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, text, CSV, PNG and JPEG. PDF has page and zoom controls with a separate print/download fallback; images have a safe preview. Other supported types remain downloadable with a clear preview-unavailable message.

Files are limited to 100 MB or the destination’s lower limit; Govform storage allows up to 10 MB per file. A ZIP or copy can contain up to 100 items including folder descendants and 250 MB. Lists show 50 rows by default, up to 100. Follow Next page or Continue searching even when a filtered page has no visible matches.

Current permissions apply to listings, direct links, previews, downloads, copies and exports. Links require Library sign-in and access; copying a link does not create a public share. CSV exports cover the visible page or the selected access explanation and protect against spreadsheet formulas.

Conditions, invitations and change emails

Optional conditions require a participant to acknowledge the current version before listing or opening content. Changing the conditions requires a fresh acknowledgement. This is an acknowledgement record, not a document-signing request.

Saving people, groups or cohort links never emails them. Invitation preview checks the Library’s allowed-email/domain policy. Select up to 100 recipients to queue invitations. Accepted for sending does not mean delivered; failures are recorded and retried. Adding new cohort contacts does not automatically invite them.

When enabled for the room, people can follow room/item changes and stop change emails. Notices are coalesced over five minutes, deduplicated and checked against current access. They contain no queued filenames. Failed sends are retried up to three attempts and recorded in Activity.

Deactivate, delete and retain

Deactivation blocks participants and preserves files; managers can reactivate. Deletion requires confirmation, ends access immediately and queues removal of the exact stored files. Retained capacity is released after physical deletion or confirmed absence. A destination’s retention policy or temporary failure can keep cleanup pending; queued deletion is not confirmation of erasure.

Technical limits are 100 retained rooms per Library/environment, 10,000 items per room, 100,000 items per Library, 10 folder levels, 100 groups including 20 live cohort links, and 1,000 direct/local participants. Hosted files consume the account’s existing storage allowance, and file processing uses its existing allowance. There is no additional free room-storage allowance or automatic room expiry. Activity retention defaults to 365 days and is configurable from 30 to 3,650 days for new events. File delivery history records delivery starting, not whether someone read a document.

Darcy, MCP and the API

Darcy can inspect rooms and prepare changes through its existing confirmation flow. MCP has dedicated room tools and consent, separate from form-design and Collection access. Binary transfers remain authenticated browser or REST operations. See the Data Rooms API.