Kollaborate Help

Aliases

An alias is a shortcut to a file, just like a file alias on macOS or a shortcut on Windows. This allows you to create what appears to be a separate copy of a file without having to reupload it.

The key advantage of aliases is that their titles, descriptions, comments, metadata and permissions are independent. You can therefore use them to separate comments between departments or link recipients.

Example use case 1

You want to get feedback from your team and the client at once, without your client seeing your team's comments.

1. Upload the file to a department that your team can access but your client cannot. This would be any department on the Team page that your client is not part of (also remember that admins can access all departments).
2. Create an alias to the file and move the alias to the Clients department.
3. The client will not see the comments from the other department when they view the file, nor will they be notified by email.

Example use case 2

You want to get feedback from your team and a link recipient at once, without them seeing your team's comments.

1. Upload the file to a place where your team can access it.
2. Create an alias to the file and share it.
3. The recipient of the shared link will not see the comments from others when they view the file.

Example use case 3

You want to give specific instructions to specific people.

1. Upload the file.
2. Create an alias. Right-click the alias and select Edit Metadata.
3. Customize the title and/or description field.
4. Share the alias and the new title or description will appear for that recipient instead of the original.

Creating aliases

1. Right-click a file and choose Create Alias.
2. You will be prompted to choose either "Link to all past and future versions" or "Only link to this version". If you choose the first option, an alias will be created for all current (and future) versions in the version stack, giving the recipient of the alias access to the file's entire history. Choosing the second option only creates an alias for the currently selected version.
3. Click Create Alias and the alias will be created next to the original file. It can be moved, shared and customized as needed.

Notes

1. Deleting the original file will also delete all aliases of the file.
2. Aliases cannot be moved to other projects.
3. Moving an original file to another project will automatically delete all aliases within the current project.