Files, Folders, Reports and Other Data

Chapter 12 of Securing Salesforce: Sharing and Visibility, Part 2: The File Cabinets: Sharing Records. New to the course? Start with chapter 1.

Chapters 6 to 11 were about records: who owns them, who sits above the owner, which rules and teams and code open them up. But walk around the office. There’s more in it than record cabinets. There are files in drawers, reports in folders, articles on a shelf, a calendar on the wall, an analytics copy in another room, and a big archive in the basement.

Each of them has its own lock, and most of those locks aren’t the share table. This chapter opens each one.

The ideas in this chapter

Two questions for every cabinet. Who can open the container? And whose access fills what’s inside? They have different answers, and the second one isn’t always the viewer’s.
A file is shared to wherever it goes. Its owner, the records it’s attached to, a library, a group, a public link: every one is a way in.
A Chatter group isn’t a public group. One is a place to work together; the other is a sharing target. Unlisted groups even keep out View All Data.
The folder opens the report; the records fill it. A report shows each viewer their own records. A static dashboard shows everyone its running user’s.
Knowledge has its own model. By default, data categories by role, permission set or profile, with no org-wide defaults or sharing rules. Since Summer ‘20, standard sharing is an option. Either way, the channel decides the audience.
A meeting has two doors. The record it’s related to, and the calendar it sits on. Only the user can open their calendar’s details.
CRM Analytics starts with everything. The Integration User loads datasets with View All Data. Without row-level security, everyone with the app sees every row.
Some objects have no share table. Big objects have object and field permissions only. External objects have restriction rules on some adapters, and the other system’s rules, seen through one login or each user’s own.

The picture

Here’s where the whole chapter starts: two questions.

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And the answers fall into four kinds. Know which kind a cabinet is before you decide who should see it.

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The dangerous kind is the third: one user’s access, shown to everyone. That’s where data gets out without anyone breaking a rule.

The path through this chapter

Eight modules, each standing on its own.

The Other Cabinets: What Isn’t a Record, and Who Decides Who Sees It. The two questions; the four kinds; a map of the cabinets and where each one is covered.
Who Can See a File? Owners, Records, Libraries and Public Links. Private, privately shared, or the company; four ways into a file; owner, collaborator and viewer; libraries; public links and who may make them.
Chatter Groups: Public, Private and Unlisted, and the Files Shared to Them. A Chatter group isn’t a public group; the three kinds; Manage Unlisted Groups; customers in groups; where a group lets a file out.
Report and Dashboard Folders: Who Opens the Folder, and Whose Access Fills the Dashboard. Viewer, editor and manager; the report’s own records; the running user; dynamic dashboards and their limits; the salesperson who exports every customer.
Who Can Read a Knowledge Article? Data Categories, Standard Sharing and Channels. The default model and its rules; standard sharing since Summer ‘20, without manual or Apex sharing; permissions and channels.
Who Can See a Meeting? Calendars, Activities and Private Events. The activity default; the calendar default and its levels; each user’s own calendar sharing; what the Private checkbox doesn’t hide.
CRM Analytics Security: The Dataset Starts with Everything. The Integration User; apps; sharing inheritance and its limits; security predicates and the backup predicate.
Big Objects and External Objects: When There’s No Share Table. Permissions only; restriction rules on three adapters; the identity type and whose access the other system sees.

List views are in chapter 7: Sharing a List View Doesn’t Share the Records.

Then check what stuck with the study guide.

What an architect decides here

For each cabinet, which of the four kinds it is, and the answer to both questions.
For files, who can make public links, who manages each library, and whether sensitive files belong on a record instead.
For groups, who holds Manage Unlisted Groups, and which groups may include customers.
For reports and dashboards, how folders are organized and shared, who holds the folder permissions, and whose access fills each dashboard.
For Knowledge, which model the org uses, and who can publish to the public knowledge base.
For calendars, the activity and calendar defaults, knowing each user can open their own calendar further.
For CRM Analytics, row-level security on every dataset, and the backup predicate.
For big and external objects, the permissions, the restriction rules, and the identity type of every external data source.
Who holds View All Data and Modify All Data, again, because they open almost every cabinet in this chapter.

Beyond the exam: what AI changes. An agent runs as a user, so it opens every cabinet that user can open: files, feeds, folders, articles, calendars and datasets. Some of those show one user’s access to everyone: a static dashboard, a dataset without row-level security, an external object with a named principal. An agent reading them can put that access into an answer for anyone who asks. Before an agent goes live, walk this chapter’s cabinets with its user. Chapter 20 covers agents.

Explore

Each module lists its own sources, each checked 2026-11-07. Two to start with:

Who Can See My File? (opens in a new tab), Salesforce Help (checked 2026-11-07)
Dashboard Data Visibility Considerations (opens in a new tab), Salesforce Help (checked 2026-11-07)

Next: Testing the Security Model