Sharing a Private file with one named person is the most direct way to put it into the Privately Shared state. Here is how to do it from the file detail in Lightning Experience.
- Open the file detail
From the Files tab or a record's Files related list, click the file name to open its detail view. You can also click the down arrow next to the file and choose Share.
- Open the Share dialog
On the file detail, click Share. The Share dialog lists everyone who currently has access and gives you a box to add more people, groups, or records.
- Add a person or group
Type a colleague's name, a public group, or a record into the People box. Salesforce searches as you type and shows matching results to pick from.
- Set the access level
For each person you add, choose Viewer for read-only access or Collaborator if they should be able to reshare and upload new versions. Then click Share and Done.
Read only. The recipient can preview and download the file but cannot reshare it or upload a new version. Stored as ShareType V on the link.
Recipient can view, download, reshare, attach the file elsewhere, and upload new versions, but cannot delete the file or change its owner. Stored as ShareType C.
Adding a public group shares the file with every member at once. The file stays Privately Shared unless the group effectively covers the whole company.
Linking the file to a record gives access to anyone who can see that record. Access then follows the record's sharing, an Inferred (ShareType I) link.
- Sharing to a public group that contains all internal users tips the file into the Your Company state, not Privately Shared.
- Collaborator access lets the recipient reshare the file further, so the audience can grow beyond who you originally intended.
- A file attached to a record inherits that record's audience. Widening record access quietly widens who can open the file.
- Removing a person from the Share dialog deletes their ContentDocumentLink. If that was the last non-owner share, the file reverts to Private.