How to allow edit permission on a document deep down in my folder structure?

[Filefoal]

I have a collaboration workflow where I am trying to use dropbox but struggling: How do I selectively give someone else edit permissions on a file deep within my Dropbox directory structure without sharing the parent folder?

Context: I have a complex dir structure all residing within my Dropbox folder. Now I have an assistant who (say) needs to edit certain parts of a pdf document (locally on her laptop using some locally installed programs e.g. Pdf Architect). That doc naturally resides within a directory deep down in my directory structure with lots of other files in the same folder. 

So I want to only allow my assistant to edit this particular file but not other files in that same folder. How do I do this with dropbox?

A related question is can I allow only upload permissions on a dir? e.g. Say I have a dir with many files which I don't want to share but I share one file (say FileFoo.pdf) as "view only" (which current Dropbox already allows) and then when my assistant finishes editing locally I would have her upload a modified file FileFoo_modified.pdf into the same directory. 

How do I achieve these sort of workflows with Dropbox? 

[Daphne]

Hey there @Filefoal, I hope you're well today!

Just to have a bit of a better understanding of your setup, is the parent folder that this file is within already shared?

Also, is the parent folder just a normal folder in your account, or a team folder (if you're using a Business account)?

If you were to use the shared link to allow them to view and download the file, you can also use a file request link for them to upload back into the same folder.

If you're not familiar with file requests, you can check out this article.

Looking forward to hearing back from you!

[Filefoal]

@Daphne

THanks! No, the parent folder is NOT already shared. 

It is just a normal folder and a personal account (not Business). I've a free account so far but if the solution needs a feature that I get by upgrading to Plus or Pro I am willing to do that. 

[Daphne]

Thanks for getting back to me here @Filefoal!

Since the parent folder isn't currently shared, you can share a subfolder like you would normally share a folder.

If the parent folder was already shared with others, to be able to have different sharing permissions on the subfolders, you would need a team folder which is only available on Business plans.

In this case, you could either share the subfolder that the file resides within, to allow them edit rights within the folder so they can edit the file directly within the folder.

This will allow them edit rights for the other files in the folder too though, so please just bear that in mind if you don't want to move the file to it's own subfolder.

Otherwise, you can use the shared link and file request link workaround instead.

I hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions!