LiquidFiles provides users a secure transfer system for sending, receiving, and sharing files. The system can be accessed through an online Webmail style interface or a plugin for desktop versions of Microsoft Outlook. Files can be shared with users inside or outside the campus.
Campus Login Screen - [http://filetransfer.3588612.com]
Users will access the application using the 'SSO Login' button shown above and entering their LEA credentials.
This is how the main compose window looks in LiquidFiles:
When sending files, these are the steps and options available:
Permission | Authentication Required? |
Download Receipt | Description |
Recipients Only | Yes | When each recipient downloads each file. | Only the recipients you have specified in the To, CC, and BCC fields will be able to download the file. It won't be possible to forward the email or message URL to anyone. |
Recipients + Locals | Yes | When each recipient downloads each file. | In addition to the specified recipients, any files sent may also be downloaded by any local users on the system by forwarding the email or sending the message URL. |
Recipients + Domains | Yes | When each recipient downloads each file. | In addition to the specified recipients, any files sent may also be downloaded by any recipient domain user. I.E., if you send to boss@company.com then secretary@company.com can also access the message, but not sneaky@competitor.com |
Anyone (Secret Link) | Yes | When each recipient downloads each file. | Anyone may download the files. Use this option to post the Public Message URL in public forums, on web pages or anywhere where you want to make the files available. When the user visits the Public URL, they will be asked to authenticate by providing their email address and a confirmation. |
Anyone (Secret Link) | No | Once per file, when someone has downloaded the file. | Anyone may download the files. Use this option when you don't want your recipients to have to authenticate to download the files. The downside is that since we don't authenticate the recipients, we don't know who downloaded what. |
When large files are sent (with the HTML 5 method), they are split into 100 Mb blocks. All files are also scanned for viruses.
This can take some time on a busy system and the files are placed in a queue for reassembly and AV scan. As per the notice beneath the files, you don't have to wait for this to complete to send the message.
In the unlikely event of an infected file, the file will be automatically deleted before anyone can download the files.
The following browsers are supported for use with LiquidFiles:
The following browsers are NOT supported:
When you have clicked Send, an email will be sent to your recipients. Depending on what system they use to read the email it will look a little bit different, and something like this:
You will see:
A couple of things to note:
A checksum, or hash is a way to verify the integrity of the downloaded files, to verify that the download was successful.
It works by applying a cryptographic calculation on a file of any size and it will output a short checksum, or hash, that represents the message or file.
The trick with checksums or hashes is that every time they calculate the checksum for the same file, they will produce the same checksum. And if the file changes only one single bit, the calculation will produce a different checksum.
When you receive a message from the LiquidFiles system, and it displays a checksum like:
You can use a Checksum Tool (software or Internet site) to calculate the checksum of the file you downloaded. LiquidFiles uses SHA-256 as its checksum function (sometimes referred to as SHA2-256).
If the checksum is the same, the file you have downloaded is identical to the one sent from the LiquidFiles system.
If the checksum is not the same, the file you downloaded is not the same as the one sent from the LiquidFiles system.
So as an example, let’s say that we received a message with the following attachment:
We use a Windows application to calculate the checksum of the file we downloaded, selecting SHA2-256 as the checksum function (or hash type).
As you can see, the checksum in the message is the same as from the downloaded file. The file must be identical to the one on the LiquidFiles system.
File Requests provides an easy way for you to request files from someone. The system will make it very easy so that there's no need to do any further explanation or walk someone through the process over the phone.
You Request the Files by clicking on the File Request button in the main menu bar.
This will open a page with a list of existing File Requests, if you’ve sent any previously. You can send a new File Request by clicking on the New File Request button.
This will open a new page that you can fill in like this:
When you click on the Request File button, an email will be delivered (to meg@external.com in our example) with a unique File Request link. The email will look something like this:
And when the user clicks on the File Request, they will be taken to a page that will look something like this:
Where they can send the Requested Files back to the requester.
A couple of things to note:
A Filedrop is a permanent URL that you can use to receive files. You can for instance:
You can get your Filedrop link by going to the Account Section. It will look something like this:
When someone visits your Filedrop URL (http://liquidfiles.company.com/filedrop/~VZ209z in this example), they will see a page like this:
Anyone who visits this page will be able to send files to you by filling in all the fields, clicking on the "Add Files" button and clicking "Send". Please note that there is no "To" field. Since this is your Filedrop URL, all files sent here will always be delivered to you.
In the Filedrop tab, you will see two links, one random and one with your email address.
The random link is a link which can't be guessed so it is safer to post in places when you're not sure if you want to share your email address. If the link ever falls in the wrong hands, you can always go back to this page and click on the "Reset Filedrop URL" button. This will generate a new random Filedrop URL for you. Please note that this will automatically expire your previous URL so anyone who will try to use the previous URL will get a 404 page not found message.
The link with your email looks nicer and is easier to validate if someone must type it in. But this link will never expire (unless you change email address).
FileLinks are direct links to files. They are a way to easily share files without having to send them to a specific recipient. You can access them by clicking on FileLinks in the main header.
The options available include
When a user is visiting the FileLink, they will see the following page.
When you will visit one of your own FileLink pages, will see the following page.
Using the "Copy FileLink to Clipboard" function, you can now copy the FileLink in a chat message, post on a forum, post in SharePoint or anywhere else where you want to make this file available.
Anyone who access this URL will see this file but only you will have the ability change settings.
If your administrator has installed and enabled the Outlook plugin, when you're composing a message in Outlook, you will see an additional section, like this:
These are the selectable options in the LiquidFiles Secure Attach Dropdown menu:
When you have selected a file to attach and send through LiquidFiles, another pane will open like this:
Here you can see the files during upload, when they have completed uploading and any error messages as well.
In the menu bar of this pane are the buttons from the top ribbon duplicated with a couple of additions:
When you secure attach your first file to LiquidFiles, you will see the login window:
On the area labeled ‘Server’, use the drop box to choose 'http' from the list, type filetransfer.3588612.com in the server URL box, and then press the tab button.
You should be redirected this LEA login page.
Enter your LEA credentials in the Username and Password boxes and click on the OK button when finished. DO NOT JUST PRESS ENTER after typing out your LEA credentials.
A successful login should present you with an ‘Authentication Successful’ message in the configuration box before it then minimizes itself.
NOTE: that you only need to fill this in once and the LiquidFiles Outlook plugin will keep you logged until you’ve logged out of the plugin.
The Settings Window for the plugin looks like this:
And has the following configurable settings, from the top:
Source: LiquidFiles User Guide, http://man.liquidfiles.com/userguide.html, 2023.