Sharing files with external parties is an essential aspect of modern collaboration. However, it comes with inherent risks—chief among them is the loss of control over confidential information. Even with good intentions, recipients may inadvertently forward, misuse, or expose sensitive documents, resulting in data breaches or compliance violations.
To combat these challenges, it is essential to adopt a file-sharing solution that does more than just transmit documents. It must enforce security, accountability, and control throughout the lifecycle of a shared file.
How to Protect and Secure Your File Sharing
To address these concerns, elDoc – the Document Excellence Platform – introduces a robust Secure File Management feature. Designed with security-first principles, this feature empowers users with six levels of control, ensuring that documents are shared with confidence and protected from unauthorized access or misuse.
elDoc’s Secure File Management provides granular, flexible security layers that can be applied to individual files, collections of files, or entire folders. Here’s a detailed look at each control:
1. OTP Authentication
When sharing documents via email, elDoc allows users to enable One-Time Password (OTP) authentication, requiring recipients to enter a unique, time-sensitive code sent to their email or mobile device before accessing the file. This adds a strong layer of identity verification, ensuring that only the intended recipient can open the document—even if the link is accidentally forwarded or intercepted. By tying access to a second channel and limiting the OTP’s validity, elDoc significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized access, making file sharing more secure and accountable.
2. Password Protection
Beyond OTP, elDoc allows users to set custom passwords on shared files, adding an additional layer of security by requiring recipients to enter a predetermined password before gaining access. This two-step authentication process ensures that even if a document link is exposed, it remains inaccessible without both the OTP (if enabled) and the password. Password protection is especially effective when sharing sensitive files with trusted contacts, such as clients, legal partners, or internal stakeholders, where the password can be communicated through a separate secure channel. This measure enhances control over access and reinforces confidentiality in every exchange.
3. Expiration Controls
elDoc allows users to assign a specific expiration date to every shared file, ensuring that access is automatically revoked once the set time period ends. This built-in control prevents documents from remaining accessible indefinitely, significantly reducing the risk of unauthorized access over time. It’s particularly valuable for managing temporary projects, short-term collaborations, or sharing time-sensitive materials such as proposals, financial statements, or legal documents. By defining clear access windows, users maintain tighter control over their data and ensure that sensitive information is only available when it’s truly needed.
4. Secure Viewing Mode
One of elDoc’s standout features, Secure Viewing Mode, transforms shared documents into non-editable formats such as PDFs or images, effectively disabling text copying, selection, and search functionality. This ensures that data extraction is virtually impossible, providing a significantly higher level of content protection compared to standard solutions that may allow partial access or easy duplication. By rendering documents into static, view-only formats, elDoc prevents unauthorized reuse or distribution of sensitive information, making it ideal for sharing confidential content that must remain secure and unalterable.
5. Watermarking
To effectively deter screen captures, unauthorized redistribution, and leaks, elDoc incorporates dynamic watermarking as a powerful security measure applied automatically to all externally shared files. These watermarks prominently display identifying information—such as the recipient’s full name or email address—alongside a precise timestamp of when the file was accessed. This personalizes each shared document, making it unmistakably traceable to the specific individual who viewed it. The presence of a visible, non-removable watermark acts as a strong psychological and practical deterrent, discouraging users from taking screenshots or photographs, knowing that any leaked content can be easily traced back to them. Unlike generic watermarking methods, elDoc’s dynamic system generates watermarks in real-time based on access credentials, ensuring that every view is accounted for. This level of traceability not only promotes responsible behavior but also strengthens compliance with data protection standards, making elDoc an ideal solution for securely sharing high-stakes or confidential information.
6. Permissions Management
elDoc provides users with fine-grained control over recipient permissions, allowing them to define exactly what actions can be performed on shared files. These permissions include the ability to enable or restrict downloading, uploading, editing, and resharing—each configurable independently to suit the sensitivity and purpose of the shared content. Reshare restrictions can also be inherited, ensuring that once a file is shared with limited rights, those limitations persist even if the recipient attempts to forward or distribute the document further. For added protection, when download is permitted, elDoc can automatically convert editable files into locked PDF formats, safeguarding content integrity by preventing unauthorized alterations or manipulation. This flexible, layered permissions model ensures that users retain full control over how their documents are accessed and handled, reinforcing both security and compliance across every stage of file sharing.
Take Control of File Sharing with elDoc’s Security-First Platform
With elDoc’s Secure File Management, you no longer have to compromise between seamless collaboration and uncompromising control. Whether you’re sharing a single confidential report or an entire folder of highly sensitive information, elDoc wraps each file in a comprehensive, multi-layered security framework designed to protect your data at every stage.
Through advanced features like OTP authentication, expiration controls, secure viewing mode, dynamic watermarking, password protection, and detailed permission management, elDoc ensures that your documents remain protected—even after they’ve been shared externally. Every file you share is backed by powerful safeguards that prevent unauthorized access, misuse, or leaks.
Take the next step toward secure, responsible file sharing. Contact us today to learn more or to start your free trial of elDoc. Experience firsthand how effortless and secure modern document collaboration can be—with a platform built for trust, compliance, and peace of mind.