Granting Viewer access means sharing a Salesforce File with a person or group at the read-only level. You do this from the file's share dialog in Lightning Experience. Remember that individuals default to Collaborator and groups default to Viewer, so when you share with a person you usually need to change the level to Viewer explicitly.
- Open the share dialog
From Files home, a record's Files related list, or the file preview, find the file and click Share. This opens the dialog where current shares are listed under Who Can Access.
- Add the person or group
Type the name of the user or public group you want to grant access to. As you add them, note the access level that appears next to their name.
- Set the level to Viewer
For an individual, change the access dropdown from Collaborator to Viewer. For a group, Viewer is already the default, so confirm it rather than change it.
- Lock down re-sharing if needed
If this is finalized content that should not spread further, select Prevent others from sharing and unsharing before you save.
- Save and confirm
Click Share. The recipient is notified, and the new Viewer share appears under Who Can Access. You can revoke it later with the X next to their name.
Set to Viewer for read-only (view, download, share). Collaborator adds edit and new-version rights; Viewer does not.
Individuals default to Collaborator, groups default to Viewer. Adjust the dropdown to match the access you actually intend.
When on, Viewers and Collaborators cannot pass access along, so the share list stays under your control.
- Sharing with an individual defaults to Collaborator, not Viewer, so you must change it down if you want read-only.
- ShareType V is a hard read-only override and ignores the user's record permissions; use ShareType I if you want file access to follow record access instead.
- A Viewer can still re-share the file unless you select Prevent others from sharing and unsharing.
- A single file allows a maximum of 2,000 total shares across people, groups, and records combined.