File Management

Portablemind includes a full-featured file management system that works like Google Drive. You can upload documents, images, spreadsheets, and other files, organize them into folders, and control exactly who can see each file — all from the same interface you use for chat and projects. You'll find it in the Files area of the app.

If you've used Google Drive, Dropbox, or SharePoint, you'll feel right at home. The key concepts are the same: folders, sharing, and privacy controls.

Supported file types

• Documents — PDF, Word (.docx), Markdown, plain text
• Spreadsheets — Excel (.xlsx, .xls), CSV, OpenDocument (.ods)
• Presentations — PowerPoint (.pptx, .ppt)
• Images — PNG, JPG, GIF, and other image formats
• Audio & video — MP3, WAV, MP4, and more

Viewing files in the app

Most files preview directly inside Portablemind — no download needed:

• PDFs, images, and CSV files open in the built-in viewer.
• Office documents — Word, Excel, and PowerPoint (including .pptx decks) — render inline: the platform converts them to PDF on its own servers for viewing, so your files are never sent to a third-party viewer. If a particular file can't be converted, you're offered a download instead.
• Video files play in a built-in player that streams and seeks without downloading the whole file.
• Markdown and text files render as formatted documents.

Folders

Files are organized into folders (directories), just like on your computer or in Google Drive. Folders can be nested to any depth, and empty folders are allowed — you don't have to put a file in them straight away.

Files upload into the folder you're currently viewing — navigate to the right place first, or move files later. You can create folders with the New Folder action, and if you drag & drop an entire folder from your computer, its structure (including subfolders) is recreated automatically.

Tip: Use a logical folder structure that matches your projects or teams. For example: /Marketing/2026/Q2 or /Client Documents/Acme Corp.

File privacy

Every file has a privacy setting that controls who can see it. This works just like the "Restricted" vs "Anyone with the link" setting in Google Docs:

Setting	Who can see the file	Google Drive equivalent
Public	Everyone in your organization	"Anyone in [Your Company]"
Private	Only you, people you share with, and people in conversations where the file was shared	"Restricted"

Setting privacy at upload

When you upload a file, the upload dialog includes a Private toggle. The default depends on your organization's settings (set by your admin):

• If your org uses "All Tenant Members" access, files default to Public.
• If your org uses "Specific People/Teams" access, files default to Private.

You can always override the default by flipping the toggle before uploading.

Warning: Only the file owner (the person who uploaded it) can change a file's privacy setting after upload. Even organization admins cannot change another person's privacy setting.

Sharing files and folders

Sharing a folder

When you share a folder with someone (or a team), they can see all the files inside that folder and its subfolders — including files uploaded in the future. This is the same as sharing a Google Drive folder: share once, and everything inside is accessible. The access level you pick for the folder (Can view, Can edit, Full access) applies to every file in it too, including files added later, and stops applying the moment you unshare the folder. Sharing one of those files on its own can give someone more access to it than the folder does, never less. Sharing a folder at Can view with someone who could already edit limits them to viewing inside it, as a per-file Can view share does. Changing the folder's level later changes it for those files too, up or down — lower a folder from Can edit to Can view and its files go to Can view — while a file shared with someone on its own keeps that share.

Sharing a single file is different: the person can open that file (and see the folder it sits in, so they can find it), but not the other files next to it.

What you can do with something shared with you

The actions on a file or folder row follow the access you hold on it, and actions you can't take aren't shown:

• Can view: open, preview, download, and see who has access.
• Can edit: everything Can view allows, plus edit it, and move it within your own workspace. Files shared with you from another workspace stay where their owners filed them.
• Full access: everything Can edit allows, plus delete it and change who it's shared with.

The share icon is on every row and opens the Access dialog. With Full access you can add people and change their access there; without it, the dialog shows who can open the item but doesn't let you change that. With Full access you can also lower your own level (to Can edit, say) or remove yourself, but not raise it; if a change is refused, nothing changes and you keep the access you had.

Private files in shared folders

Here's where it gets interesting. If you mark a file as Private and place it in a shared folder, the file stays hidden from everyone the folder is shared with. Privacy always wins over folder sharing.

This is the same pattern as Google Drive: you can have a restricted document inside a shared folder, and people with folder access still can't see that specific file.

Note: Example — you share the /Team Reports folder with your team, then upload a performance review as Private to that folder. Your team can see all the other files in the folder, but the performance review is invisible to them unless you share it with them directly.

Who can see a private file?

• The file owner — you can always see your own files.
• People you share it with directly — using the sharing feature to grant specific access.
• People in a conversation where the file was shared — if you attach the file to a chat message, everyone in that conversation can access it.

Who cannot see a private file?

• Other people in your organization — even if they have general file access.
• People with folder access — privacy overrides folder sharing.
• Organization admins — admin status does not bypass file privacy.

Sharing folders across organizations

Folders can be shared across organizations. When someone from another organization shares a folder with you, it appears under the Shared Files section of your folder tree (labeled with the owning organization's name), and you can browse and open files inside it just like your own.

This works the same way as Google Drive's "Shared with me" — you see the shared folder and its contents, but the files still belong to (and are stored in) the other organization.

Your AI assistant and connected AI apps (see Connecting AI Apps via MCP) see exactly the same files you do in a shared folder — listing, opening and reading agree.

Private files in a shared folder are still hidden — the privacy rules apply across organizations too. To learn more about collaborating across organizations, see Workspace Sharing.

If a file won't open

If you open a file that isn't shared with you — or that has been deleted — Portablemind says "You don't have access to this file, or it no longer exists. Ask its owner to share it with you." Trying again won't change that; ask the file's owner to share it (or the folder it's in) with you.

What the Access dialog shows

The file's Access dialog shows Only people you add only when the file itself is private. A file that isn't private shows Everyone in workspace — every member of the workspace can open it — marked workspace default when that is also your organization's default for new files. If you can change who the file is shared with and you administer the workspace's access settings, a change default link there opens them; on a dialog you can only view, it isn't shown. The line at the bottom says who can open it: Everyone in workspace (plus the number of people from outside it's shared with) for a file that isn't private, or the number of people — the owner, the people and the members of teams it's shared with, and anyone holding the folder it's in — for a private one.

Everyone who has access to a file through the folder it's in is listed too, marked via folder folder name in the Comes from column, with the level the folder gives them — including someone the folder was shared with before the file was added. Those rows are read-only in the file's dialog: you can't change their level or remove them there. To change or remove that access, open Share on the folder.

AI and your files

Files you upload are automatically processed so that AI assistants can understand their contents. When you attach a file to a chat conversation, the AI can read documents, analyze spreadsheets, and describe images. See AI Assistant for more on working with AI in conversations.

How the AI uses each file type:

• Documents & Markdown — the full text is extracted and included in the conversation.
• Spreadsheets — the data is structured for AI analysis: small files are included directly; large files are queryable.
• Images — sent to vision-capable AI models for description and analysis.

Note: Privacy is respected by AI too. AI assistants and their tools can only access files that the current user has permission to see. A private file you didn't create or weren't shared on is invisible to AI tools as well.

For admins: configuring file access defaults

Organization administrators can control the default file visibility for all users from the Access Defaults page in Administration settings.

Setting	What it means	Upload default
All Tenant Members	Everyone in the organization can browse and see all files by default	Public
Specific People/Teams	Files are only visible to the owner and people explicitly shared with	Private

This setting controls the default only. Individual users can always override it when uploading by toggling the Private switch in the upload dialog.

Tip: If your organization handles sensitive client data, use "Specific People/Teams" so that files are private by default and must be explicitly shared. For open, collaborative teams, "All Tenant Members" gives everyone immediate access and reduces friction.

Quick reference

I want to...	How
Upload a file	Go to Files, drag & drop or click Upload. Set the title and privacy, then upload.
Make a file private	Toggle the Private switch at upload, or click the lock icon on the file's row afterward (owner only).
Share a file with someone	Use the sharing feature to grant specific people or teams access to the file.
Share a whole folder	Share the folder — all current and future files inside it and its subfolders become visible to the recipient (except private files).
Hide a file in a shared folder	Mark it as Private. It will be invisible to everyone the folder is shared with.
Let AI read my file	Attach the file to a chat message. The AI will automatically process and understand its contents.
Change the org-wide default	(Admin only) Go to Administration and update the file visibility setting under Access Defaults.