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Privacy and sharing of documents

Understand who can see your documents and how to share them with companies in your network.

Every document has a privacy status that controls who can see it. You can see it in the Privacy Status column of Vendor Compliance → Documents.

The privacy statuses

Private

This is the default for new documents. Companies in your network can see that you have a document of this type, for example a Code of Conduct, but they can’t open it. They can request access, which shows as a pending tag next to the status, for example Private · 1 pending.

Shared

The document is still private, but the companies you’ve selected can open it. Once you’ve shared a document with a company, you can’t undo it.

Public

All companies in your network can open the document. Making a document public can’t be undone: a public document can’t be made private again.

Uploaded to / Shared by

This is a document that one company uploaded for another, for example a risk assessment you received from one of your suppliers and uploaded to their profile. The company it was uploaded for owns the document:

  • The uploading company sees it as Uploaded to <company> and can still view it on that company’s profile.

  • The owner sees it as Shared by <company> in their document list.

  • Only the owner can change its privacy status or archive it. It isn’t visible to other companies in either network.

The two actions

For documents your company owns, the Actions column shows up to two icons:

  • Share icon: Share the document with selected companies, or respond to access requests. The document stays private for everyone else.

  • Make public icon: Only shown for private documents. Makes the document visible to your whole network. This can’t be undone.

If you only want certain customers to see a document, share it instead of making it public.

How to share a document

  1. Go to Vendor Compliance → Documents, or to the Documents tab of your company profile.

  2. In the Actions column of your document, click the share icon.

  3. The Share document dialog opens. On the Share with companies tab, tick the companies you want to share it with and click Share.

The Shared with tab of the same dialog lists everyone who already has access.

Respond to access requests

When a company asks to see one of your private documents, you’re notified in three ways:

  • By email: You receive an email with the subject You’re requested to share a document with <company>. It tells you who asked for which document, and includes a link to your company documents.

  • On your dashboard: The request appears under Your active tasks, with a Respond button.

  • In your document list: The Privacy Status column shows how many requests are waiting, for example Private · 1 pending.

To respond:

  1. Click Respond next to the task on your dashboard, or click the share icon of the document in your document list.

  2. In the Share document dialog, open the Requests tab. The number in brackets shows how many requests are waiting, for example Requests (1).

  3. Tick the companies you want to give access to, or use Select all, and click Approve. If you don’t want to approve a request yet, click Close.

The approved companies can then open the document. Remember that sharing can’t be undone.

How to make a document public

  1. In the Actions column of a private document, click the make public icon.

  2. A dialog asks you to confirm. Click Make public to make the document visible to everyone, or Cancel to keep it private.

    ⚠️ Once you click Make public, you can’t make the document private again.

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