Groups and granular permissions in data rooms

Groups in Papermark provide a powerful way to manage access to your data room documents. By creating groups and setting granular permissions, you can control exactly who sees what and what actions they can perform. This guide will walk you through managing groups and configuring their permissions.

Understanding groups and permissions

Groups are the foundation of access control in Papermark data rooms. Each group can have:

• Multiple members with shared access rights
• Specific permissions for different documents and folders
• Custom access levels for viewing and downloading content
• Domain-based restrictions for added security

Creating and managing groups

1. Navigate to your data room

2. Click on the "Permissions" menu next to the data room name

3. In the tabs interface, switch to "Groups" (from "Links")

4. To create a new group:
   • Click the "Create group" button on the right
   • Enter a name for your group (minimum 3 characters)
   • Click "Add new group"
   • Papermark opens the group's Members page. The group already has its own link.

5. To manage an existing group, click on it from the groups list. You land on Members.

Setting up group permissions

1. Select a group from your groups list
2. Open the File permissions tab

3. You'll see a hierarchical view of your data room's folders and files
4. For each folder or file, you can set:
   • View permission: Controls who can view the content
   • Download permission: Controls who can download the content

Quick share option

When setting up permissions, you have two options:

1. Share entire data room: Use this toggle to quickly grant access to all content
2. Custom permissions: Configure specific access rights for individual folders and files

Permission hierarchy

Permissions in Papermark follow a hierarchical structure:

Folder-level permissions

• Apply to all contents within the folder
• Automatically cascade to subfolders and files
• Provide efficient management of multiple documents
• Can be overridden at the file level

File-level permissions

• Set specific permissions for individual files
• Override folder-level permissions when needed
• Control view and download rights separately

Sharing access

Creating a group also creates its link. Recipients who open that link inherit the group's file permissions.

1. Open the group from Permissions → Groups. You land on Members.
2. Add people in the add row: type name@company.com or @company.com, then click Add. Check Send invite if you want Papermark to email them. Use Paste a list instead for many addresses.
3. Turn on Anyone with link if you do not want an email list. Anyone who opens the group link can view.
4. Copy the link from the group header, or open Access link to edit settings, preview, or create another group link.

You can also create a group from Participants → Create permissions → Create group.

Best practices for group management

1. Logical grouping: Create groups based on roles or access needs
2. Minimal permissions: Grant only necessary access levels
3. Regular review: Periodically audit group memberships and permissions
4. Use folders: Structure your data room with folders to simplify permission management
5. Test access: Verify permissions work as expected before sharing with users

Advanced features

• Bulk permissions: Update multiple items simultaneously using folder permissions
• Access logs: Track group activity and document access
• Permission inheritance: Understand how permissions flow from folders to files

Visitor groups for managing many visitors at once

When you have many visitors who share the same permissions (for example, all investors in a fundraising round, or all employees of a buyer in M&A), the Groups tab makes it easy to manage them in bulk.

Visitor groups let you:

• Group visitors by deal role: buyers, sellers, advisors, legal counsel
• Group by organization: all visitors from the same company
• Group by access tier: tier 1, tier 2, full access
• Group by custom criteria: whatever fits your workflow

Once visitors are grouped, you can:

• Grant folder access to entire groups at once instead of clicking through visitor by visitor
• Send bulk invitations to every group member with one action
• Track analytics by group to compare engagement between buyer tiers or investor cohorts
• Update permissions for all group members simultaneously when access requirements change
• Apply default permissions strategies through upload visibility and document defaults

Step-by-step: create and use visitor groups

1. Open your data room and click the Permissions menu.
2. Switch to the Groups tab.
3. Click Create group and give it a name (for example, "Lead investors" or "Legal counsel").
4. On Members, add emails or @company.com domains. Check Send invite to email them, or turn on Anyone with link.
5. Open File permissions and grant folder or file access.
6. Copy the group link from the header, or open Access link to edit it.

Every member of the group inherits the group's permissions automatically. When you add a new visitor to the group later, they get the same access without extra configuration.

Conclusion

Groups and granular permissions in Papermark provide a flexible and secure way to manage document access. By carefully structuring your groups and permissions, you can ensure that sensitive information is only accessible to the right people while maintaining efficient collaboration.