External Contributor Access
Control exactly what external contributors see in Document Ocean 360 — release and recall issued documents, and optionally show workflow status without exposing content.
External contributors (ECs) — client representatives, subcontractors, or third-party reviewers — work with a deliberately restricted view of your projects. Document Ocean 360 gives document controllers precise control over what that view contains: which issued documents are visible, and whether ECs can see a document’s workflow status.
Officially Issued Versions Only
External contributors only ever see officially issued versions of documents. Intermediate uploads, working revisions, and in-review content are never exposed, and this is enforced on the server — not just hidden in the interface. Downloads are likewise restricted to the released files.
Releasing and Recalling Documents
Document controllers can toggle the visibility of a released document at any time:
Release
When a document is released to external contributors, they can see and download the officially issued version from their workspace.
Recall
Recalling a document immediately hides it from external contributors — for example when an issue is discovered after release, or a newer revision is about to supersede it.
Re-release
Releasing again restores visibility. The full release/recall history stays in the audit trail.
Recall is about visibility, not retraction
Recalling hides the document from external contributors going forward. If a contractor has already downloaded a copy, follow your contractual document-retraction procedure as well — a recall in the system does not delete files from their machines.
Workflow Status Visibility
By default, external contributors see no workflow information at all. Organizations that want more transparency can enable the workflow status badge so ECs can see where a document stands — for example In review or Returned for revision — without ever seeing the document content, reviewer comments, or workflow steps.
- Organization-level setting — administrators set the default for all projects.
- Project-level setting — projects can override the organization default in either direction.
- When enabled, ECs see only a status badge. The underlying workflow, its participants, and its history remain invisible to them.
Why show status to externals?
Showing a simple status badge cuts down “where is my document?” emails from clients and subcontractors, while keeping the review process itself fully internal.