Sharing & Permissions form the cornerstone basis of all activity within Clockwork Universe. Understanding these principles is the most important lesson to maximize your grasp of all that Clockwork Universe has to offer.

Understanding the Basics: Users & Groups as Sharing Recipients

You can share content in Clockwork Universe with Users and Groups.

A User is any singular individual using Clockwork Universe. Each User has their own unique "@" handle, by which you may share content with them. You can also share content with individuals by adding an email address corresponding with a User's linked email accounts.

A Group is a collection of users using Clockwork Universe for a common purpose. Groups are organized around companies or any investor account's collection of investments (whether to serve a fund, family office, single angel investor, etc.). For a Founder user type, each Group combines all users representing a single company. For Investor account types, each Group combines all users representing a fund, family office, angel investments, or other investment organizations. For Fund Manager account types, each Group is the organization of all users representing:
a) the fund profile, which serves as a vehicle to send and share investor updates to LPs or other stakeholders
b) the investment organization itself, which interacts directly portfolio of companies.

You can find a more comprehensive overview of Users vs.Groups in the Understanding Users & Groups guide.

What Permissions Are for

Permissions help all Users and Groups to control the flow of information throughout the platform. Each User has the power to share content with other Users and Groups in Clockwork Universe.

🚧 Please note: Email recipients of Founder and Fund Manager Users don't need to be Users of Clockwork Universe to receive system-generated Emails. However, if they were to become Users of Clockwork Universe, they would immediately access all information you've shared with their specific email address.

When Permissions Are Used

The purpose of Permissions is to put each User in control of the private sharing of confidential information. The User applies permissions to each of the four primary tools in Clockwork Universe: Notes, Documents, Announcements, and Emails.

Notes, Documents, and Announcements

The Permissions window looks like the following screenshot and you can access it by clicking on the Share Settings button at the top right of the update creating interface.

Emails

The Permissions window is found on the Recipients step of the email editor process and looks like the following:

Emails tool only allows the Select permission level, where you need to choose the User and in-app Group recipients of your email content.

The Select permission level option is explained further in the following section.

Levels of Permissions

Depending on the access level that you give each of the members in the sharing permissions you can choose if you want your update to be visible only by you, visible to all of the Clockwork community (public) or set custom permissions.

Only You

By selecting this share setting, it means that the content you are creating will only be visible to you. This setting allows Clockwork Universe users to upload content for journaling/organization purposes.

Visible to the Clockwork Universe Community

This sharing setting means that the content you create will be visible to all Users and Groups of Clockwork Universe if they can access and visit the location where you've shared the content. For example, if a Founder User uploads a pitch deck to their company profile and turns on visibility for the Clockwork Universe Community, any User that can view the Founder's company profile (i.e., any Investor User or Fund Manager User) can navigate to that Founder's company profile and see the shared content.

Custom Share Settings

The most common option you'll engage with is custom. This means that the content you are creating will be visible only by the Users and Groups of Clockwork Universe that you choose. For example, suppose a Founder User uploads a pitch deck to their company profile and selects the Select option. In that case, only those Users (via @handles or email addresses) and Groups (via @handles) that the Founder has selected will be able to view the content on the Founder's company profile page.

By clicking on the Add lists, groups or users bar, you will be able to select existing lists, users or groups.

Select lists: if you've previously created a list, your available lists to select from will appear in this section. Check the box(es) of the desired list(s) to include on your sharing access for your content. You'll notice a series of name tiles will appear below. You may remove members from your sharing list by clicking the "X" next to the desired name tile(s). You can manage your recipient's lists by clicking on the link provided if you wish to edit, create or delete your lists.
Add groups/users: you may add more Clockwork Universe Users and Groups to access your content. To add individual Users, add either the @handle or the recipient's email address to the entry field and click the "+" button. If you want to share the content with an organization, enter the Clockwork Universe @handle of the organization and click the "+" button. You may remove members from your sharing list by clicking the "X" next to the desired name tile(s).

We recommend always setting your group to the Can Edit setting to ensure cross-team collaboration on posts. This means that once you post this content, anyone else who belongs to your Group can edit the post, adjust permissions, share the post with others, or delete it. If this setting is set to No Access or Can View, you will be the only one to edit the post, adjust permissions, share the post with others, or delete it.

Setting Permissions on the Investor Update Builder

The email builder also has a section to set the permission for the update, the sharing permissions for the Email tool are established during the Recipients stage.

Email permissions can include both existing lists and individual groups and users if available. Singular individuals added though their email will appear in the Email Recipients section, and In-App Groups will appear in the Shared in Clockwork Universe section.

As explored above, the Select lists and Add groups/users options function as follows:

Select lists: they will appear in this section if you've created a list. Check the box(es) of the desired list(s) to include in your email sharing access. You'll notice a series of name tiles appear below. You may remove members from your sharing list by clicking the "X" next to the desired name or group tile(s). You can manage your recipient's lists by clicking on the link provided to edit, create or delete them.
Add groups/users: you can add more Clockwork Universe Users and Groups to your content's access permissions within this entry field. To add individual Users, add either the @handle or the email address to the entry field and click the "+" button. If you want to share the content with an organization, enter the Clockwork Universe @handle of the organization and click the "+" button. You can remove members from your sharing list by clicking the "X" next to the desired name tile(s).

Hopefully, this guide has given you a thorough overview of how permissions and sharing work.

Please refer to our other guide on the difference between Groups and Users, or reach out to one of our team members at Clockwork to get the help you need.