Articles on: Users, teams & access

Preventing file downloads: what the download and preview permissions can and can't do

Some teams want to make sure nobody can take a copy of the files they print - a client's design, a product that isn't public yet, a school's own models. SimplyPrint gives you two permissions to lock files down, and this article explains exactly what they do. It also explains, honestly, why no software can make a printed file impossible to copy, and what we recommend instead.


User group permissions are part of the plans with multiple users: the Print Farm, School and Enterprise plans. See the pricing page for the full comparison.


What you'll find here


The short answer

You can stop your users from downloading files other people uploaded, and you can go further and stop them from previewing or slicing those files at all. Both make copying harder and remove every download option from SimplyPrint for them.


What you can't do - with SimplyPrint or any other printing software - is make a file impossible to copy for someone who can print it. To print, the file has to reach the printer, and from there it can be taken. If you need certainty, the answer is trust and a written agreement, not a setting.


Turn off downloads

The Can download files uploaded by others permission is on for every existing user group and for the default groups new accounts start with. A group you build from scratch starts with it off, like every other permission. Turn it off for a group, and its members can still see, preview, slice and print files other people uploaded, but they can't take a copy of them.


  1. Open Settings → Organization and find the Base roles & workgroups card.
  2. On the Base roles tab, edit the role you want to restrict. These permissions are set on base roles only, so a workgroup can't give them back.
  3. Under Organisation Management → General, turn off Can download files uploaded by others.
  4. Save.


The account owner always has every permission, so these settings never restrict them.


With it off, members of that group can't download someone else's file from:

  • the Files page
  • the print queue, including items waiting for approval
  • print history
  • the cloud slicer - its Download button, Export as STL and Export configuration are hidden as soon as one of the loaded files belongs to someone else


What the slicer makes from someone else's file doesn't count as the user's own either. If they slice a colleague's model and save the result to their files, queue it or print it, they still can't download that result later.


The older Download other users' jobs (print queue) and Download other users' print jobs (print history) permissions still apply on top. They also control who can preview those files, so leave them on if the group should still be able to preview.


The full lockdown: turn off preview and slicing too

Turning off downloads still leaves one way in: to show a 3D preview or a G-code preview, or to open a file in the slicer, the file has to be loaded into the user's browser. Someone who knows how to use the browser's developer tools can save what was loaded.


If that matters to you, turn off Can preview and slice files uploaded by others as well. It appears just below the download permission once downloads are off.


With both off, members of that group:

  • don't see a 3D preview or a G-code preview of files other people uploaded
  • can't open those files in the slicer
  • can still print files that are already sliced (G-code), because the printer gets the file from SimplyPrint without it passing through their browser
  • can't print other people's models (STL, OBJ, 3MF without G-code and so on), because slicing a model means opening it in the slicer, which loads it into their browser


Thumbnails still show, so people can still tell files apart.


The full lockdown fits groups that only start prints someone else has prepared. If a group needs to slice other people's models, it needs preview and slicing - and then the file reaches their browser.


Files a user uploaded themselves

Neither permission affects a user's own files. A user can always download, preview and slice files SimplyPrint knows they uploaded.


To decide what counts as "their own", SimplyPrint records who uploaded each file at the moment it's uploaded. Adding someone else's file to the queue, printing it or slicing it doesn't make it yours. Where SimplyPrint can't confirm who uploaded a file - for example a file sent straight to the print queue before these permissions existed - it treats the file as someone else's.


Why no software can fully prevent copying

These permissions remove every download button and close every download route in SimplyPrint. But if someone can print a file, there are always other ways to get a copy:

  • The browser. Anything shown in a browser - a 3D preview, a G-code preview, a model open in the slicer - has been downloaded into it, and the browser's developer tools can save it. That's why the full lockdown exists.
  • The printer. To print, the G-code has to reach the printer, where it's stored on an SD card, a USB stick or the printer's own storage. Anyone with physical access to the printer can usually copy it from there, and many printers also show their files in their own app or web interface.
  • The network. Depending on the printer, the file can travel across your local network, where someone with the right tools could capture it.
  • The printed part. A part can be measured, 3D scanned, or simply photographed - and today, AI tools can turn a few photos into a printable model.


Until printers commonly support encrypted files that only that one machine can open, nobody can promise that a printable file can't be copied.


What actually protects your files: trust and contracts

If a file must not be copied, the protection that works is agreeing on it and being able to act if it isn't respected:

  • Only give access to people you trust with the file.
  • Put it in writing: a non-disclosure agreement, a contract, or a usage policy your students or staff accept.
  • Use SimplyPrint to make copying harder and visible: turn off downloads (and preview, if you need to), limit which printers each group can use, and, on the School and Enterprise plans, check the audit log under Settings → Data & security. Every download or preview of a file is recorded there as Download file.


The permissions stop the casual copy and make your intention clear. The agreement is what covers the rest.


Updated on: 07/10/2026

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