File Tags are a capability in ProVide Server that let you color-code files and folders — and make each tag carry the rules for who can see it, who can change it, and whether it can leave through a share link.
The idea in one line: a label is also a rule. Applying a tag isn’t just decoration or a search aid — it applies policy. And because the rules attach to the tag, they follow the file, not the folder it happens to sit in.
What File Tags do #
A tag does three jobs.
Organize. A tag is a name, a color, and an icon, readable at a glance in the file browser. Apply tags to individual files or to whole folders, and filter or find files by tag.
Govern. Per group, you decide who can see a tag, apply it, or remove it. You can decide whether tagged items may be shared, received into, or collaborated on — and you can hold a tag back from Share links entirely, so tagged files can’t be sent out. You can also restrict visibility, hiding tagged items from anyone who isn’t permitted to see the tag.
Operate at scale. Administrators own the policy-bearing tags while users add their own for everyday organization, tagging is scriptable through an automation interface, and in a ProVide cluster the same tags apply on every server.
The problem it solves #
Isn’t this just folder permissions? No. Folder permissions describe where a file lives; move the file and the rules can change. With tags, the rules attach to the classification itself, so they travel with the file regardless of which folder it ends up in.
That matters most when internal-only material must never leave, when a file could be shared externally in a hurry, when folders have sprawled, or when you’re running more than one ProVide server and need the same rules to apply everywhere.
Admin tags and user tags #
There are two kinds of tags:
- Admin tags carry policy. Administrators define them and own the rules they enforce.
- User tags are for everyday organization. Users can add their own when an administrator enables it — a single setting controls whether user-created tags are allowed at all.
This keeps governance and self-service in one system: administrators set policy, and users still get to organize their own files the way they want.
The same tags on every server #
In a ProVide cluster, tags replicate to every node and reconcile changes on their own — no manual sync. You get one tag vocabulary, identical across every server, kept in step automatically.
Common scenarios #
- Compliance and classification: label items such as Confidential, PII, or a retention class, control who can see them, and keep them out of outbound links. (Tag names like these are examples — you define your own.)
- Safer external sharing: internal-only files stay internal even when someone creates a link in a hurry.
- Project and client organization: color-code by client, project, or status so teams find work quickly.
- Multi-site consistency: one tag vocabulary across every server in the cluster.
- Automation and lifecycle: script tagging into onboarding, retention, or classification workflows.
- Onboarding and handover: find everything tied to a project or an owner by its tag.
Good to know #
- Fast, even on large folder trees. Tags are stored and cached alongside file metadata, so labeling and filtering don’t slow down browsing.
- Scriptable. An automation interface can create, apply, and manage tags programmatically, so tagging plugs into your existing routines.
- Visibility, not just access. A visibility-restricting tag means sensitive items don’t even appear for people who aren’t permitted to see the tag.
- Sharing guardrails live in the label. Gating for Share, Receive, and Collaborate travels with the tag, wherever the file sits.
- What tags are — and aren’t. Tags govern visibility and sharing; they are not encryption or a full data-loss-prevention (DLP) suite. They control who can see, apply, or remove a classification and where tagged files can go.
