Sharing a molecular model can solve one problem and create another: collaborators need to access the work, but not everyone should necessarily have the same ability to find, use, or edit it. Before sending a document, decide who needs access and choose a visibility setting that matches that need. In SAMSON, you can publish a document from the application and select its visibility in the publishing dialog.
This is useful when a project moves between stages. You might want a broad audience to use a document, share it only with people who have its link, or limit both use and editing to people with access rights. The visibility options make these distinctions explicit.
Choose visibility based on the audience
- Public: Everyone can use the document, but editing requires access rights. Choose this when broad access to use the document is appropriate.
- Hidden: Anyone with the link can use the document, but editing requires access rights. This is an option when you want to share by link rather than make the document generally discoverable.
- Restricted: Using or editing the document requires access rights. Choose this when access should be limited to authorized users.
These options are not interchangeable: in particular, “hidden” does not mean that access requires rights. Anyone with the link can use a hidden document. If that is not suitable for your project, select restricted visibility instead. In all three cases, editing requires access rights; the difference described here is who can use the document.
Publish from SAMSON
When your document is ready, open Home > Publish in SAMSON. In the dialog, enter the document name and description, then choose its visibility. Treat those fields as part of the handoff: a clear name and description help recipients understand which document they are opening, especially when several related documents are shared.
After selecting the visibility, click Publish document. The document is shared in SAMSON Connect – Documents, and a link to it is provided in the same window. Before distributing that link, check that the visibility setting matches your intended audience. A link is a convenient way to direct people to a document, but the setting—not the wording of your message—determines who can use it.
Retrieve a document someone shared with you
If you need to download a shared document into SAMSON, use Home > Download. This provides a straightforward route from a shared document to working with it in the application. If you are unsure whether you have the right document, check its name and description on the shared listing before proceeding.
Keep track after publishing
Publishing is not the only time to think about access. You can access and manage documents you have shared, as well as documents shared with you, from your SAMSON Connect account. This is useful when a project changes: for example, when you need to review shared documents or manage access rights. For details about managing shared documents and access, see the Collaboration documentation.
A practical sharing check is simple: identify who should use the document, decide whether link-based access is appropriate, select the matching visibility, and provide a clear name and description. That small pause can prevent a common collaboration mismatch: a document being easier—or harder—to access than intended.
For the complete instructions, visit Share documents in the SAMSON documentation.
Note: SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. Get SAMSON.