Macs All-in-One for Dummies®, 2nd Edition

Chapter VIII.2. Sharing Files and Resources on a Network

In This Chapter

• Sharing files

• Sharing printers

• Sharing an Internet connection

By sharing over a network, everyone can benefit, and the benefits can range from swapping files quickly and easily to sharing a single printer instead of having to buy a printer for every computer.

Although networks allow others to share your files, nobody on a network can rummage through your Mac without your permission. Ideally, a network allows you to share files and equipment without risking the loss or corruption of crucial files on your own computer.

Sharing Files

Sharing files makes it easy for different people to work on a project. Without a network, you could give someone a copy of a file, but then you might suddenly have three different versions of the same file, and nobody would know which file contains the most accurate information.

When your Mac is connected to a network, you have the option of sharing one or more folders with everyone else on the network. To share folders, you need to define different permission levels that allow or restrict what users can do with a folder and the files inside it:

• Read & Write: Other users have the ability to retrieve, delete, and modify files in the shared folder.

• Read Only: Other users can copy and open files, but they cannot modify or delete them.

• Write Only (Drop Box): Other users can only place files in the folder; they cannot copy, open, or even see any files stored in that folder.

• No Access: Specified users ...