If you work in molecular modeling, you’re probably familiar with the challenge of sharing simulation data, structural models, or research documents securely and efficiently—especially when projects involve collaborators across different institutions or disciplines.
SAMSON Connect provides a way to manage shared documents within teams or broader communities, letting you keep control of who can view, edit, or distribute your work at every stage. Whether you’re sharing a molecular dynamics run setup, a custom extension’s user guide, or just coordinating with collaborators, the document-sharing tools in SAMSON Connect offer flexibility for a wide range of use cases.
Why control matters
Unlike mailing files or uploading them to general-purpose cloud drives, SAMSON Connect integrates document sharing directly with your modeling environment. This means you avoid version confusion, enforce visibility settings, and easily update resources in-place – all while maintaining a clear history of what’s shared and who has access.
Sharing your document
From within SAMSON, go to Home > Publish to begin publishing a document to SAMSON Connect. In the dialog box that appears, you’ll provide a document name, a description, and—crucially—choose the visibility settings:
- Public: Anyone can access the document.
- Hidden: Only those with the link can access it.
- Restricted: Explicit access permission required to view or edit.
After publishing, you’ll get a direct link to the document, making distribution easy for collaborators.
Managing access
To view or manage all your documents, go to the Documents section from your user menu in SAMSON Connect. You’ll see all documents you’ve shared or those that have been shared with you.
As a document owner, you can edit the document settings and also control access rights. This includes:
- Switching between Public, Hidden, or Restricted modes
- Adding or removing users or groups with access
Working with groups
SAMSON Connect also allows you to create groups—public or private—with specific access privileges. This can be useful when you have recurring collaborators or wish to organize document access by project team.
Once a document is published, access can be granted not only to individual users, but also to entire groups. This saves time and ensures consistent access rights across a project team.
Best practices
- Use Restricted mode by default and selectively grant access to ensure confidentiality.
- Create dedicated groups for large collaborations to streamline permission management.
- Use the document description field wisely—it helps collaborators understand the content without opening large files unnecessarily.
Document sharing in SAMSON isn’t just about storage—it’s about collaborative control with the needs of molecular designers and researchers in mind. Instead of cobbling together external tools, your work stays on a secure, integrated platform.
To learn more about document sharing and all collaboration features, visit the official collaboration documentation.
SAMSON and all SAMSON Extensions are free for non-commercial use. Get SAMSON at https://www.samson-connect.net.