Two layers, and confusing them is the usual reason somebody cannot see something.
The two layers
| Layer | Decides |
|---|---|
| Module permission | Whether somebody can use Documents at all, and what kinds of thing they may do. |
| Sharing | Which folders and files they can see. |
Both must allow it. Somebody with full document permissions still sees nothing until a folder is shared with them — and somebody a folder is shared with still cannot open it if the module is switched off for their role.
When somebody says “I cannot see the finance folder”, check the share first. It is the answer nine times out of ten, and it is the one you can fix without touching roles.
Public links are their own permission
Creating a link that anybody on the internet can open is a different act from reading a file, so it is a different permission.
Give it to fewer people than you give ordinary access. The question is not whether somebody is trusted with a document — it is whether they should be able to put it outside the business on their own.
Administrators see everything
An administrator reaches every folder and every file, without a share and without appearing in the share list. That is what the role is, and it is worth saying plainly so nobody assumes a folder is private from the people who run the business.
Nothing here is private from an administrator. Personal files do not belong in a company document store — not because anybody will read them, but because nobody should be under the impression that they cannot.
A layout that works
| Role | Module | Public links | Typical sharing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Everyone | View | No | The company folder |
| Team lead | View, create, edit | No | Their team’s folders, edit |
| Accounts | View, create, edit | Yes | Finance, edit |
| Administrator | Everything | Yes | Everything, always |
Check it rather than reason about it
Make a user on the role, sign in as them, and look at what they can actually see. Two layers interacting is exactly the situation where being nearly right is the same as being wrong.
Where to go next
Something missing or wrong here? Tell us. A question that needed asking usually means a page that needed writing.