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TitusVorenus

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 28, 2011
67
7
Ok, really really frustrated with Apple.

2 people use one macbook pro with 2 separate user accounts. I have tried using the "shared" folder in the users folder and also allowing "File Sharing" in system preferences.

Here's the problem. When either of us saves a new document to the shared folder, the other doesn't have permission to edit it. We are working on large amounts of files and both need access to them. Every time I create a new file, I have to go in to that file and give the other person access to it or they have to save a new copy. If I don't change the permissions immediately, or if I create a new folder in our file structure, the other person doesn't have the rights to save something into the folder until I manually change it.

What this turns into is both of us having to remember to change file permissions from the top level shared folder and apply to all enclosed items EVERY TIME we work in the shared folder, and then if someone forgets the items have to be saved in a different location and refiled later. MESSY.

Apple's answer (1 hr call with Tech support) is to just use Icloud, which we're not interested in, which I'm not even sure would work because the program is still saving a file under a specific user. We're working on the same computer in the same wifi network, it seems we should be able to have a common folder that allows us to save documents there that we both have permission to edit and save the same file without having to change the permission every time a file is created.

Anyone have a solution or workaround?
 
The key to this is both the permissions and ownership.
The first step is to setup a user group and add both users to that group. The group needs Read & Write access to the folder (ACL permission).
The owner for the shared folder needs to be root:wheel. The POSIX permissions then need to be 770. This can be done in terminal:
sudo chown -R root:wheel /path/to/folder
sudo chmod -R 770 /path/to/folder

Apple do love to push iCloud but it doesn't have true multi user sharing so is not really an answer. They seem to be pushing everyone to use cloud with no regard for users who not want to store their data under another companies control, or businesses who have legitimate legal/privacy reasons which prevent this.
 
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