View Protect and Control reports in Dash

Protect and Control reports in Dash give admins a clear view of how files, folders, and shared drives are owned and shared across connected apps. These reports make it easier to surface items with broad access, uncover stale or abandoned content, and identify where action may be needed. They’re especially helpful for leaders who want a quick, high-level look at how information is shared across the organization, and where potential risks may exist.

With these reports, admins can:

• Spot files with overly broad access
• Detect aging or unused content
• Understand sharing trends across apps
• Review past actions and confirm whether issues have already been addressed
• Prioritize folders or drives for review
• Support audits and compliance efforts

Learn how to connect apps to Dropbox Dash.

Understanding Protect and Control reports

Protect and Control includes several reports that help you understand the current state of your content and what actions have already been taken to manage it.

• The Overview report gives you a snapshot of how items are shared and accessed, helping you quickly spot potential risks.
• The Stale access report highlights items that haven’t been modified in a long time and may need cleanup.

Together, these reports give you a complete picture of your environment that shows what requires attention, what’s outdated, and what’s already been addressed.

Overview report

The Overview report gives you a high-level summary of internally owned items and how they are shared. This helps you understand where access might be too broad.

The Overview report includes the following metrics:

• Total items: Number of files, folders, and shared drives owned by or shared with internal accounts.
• Internally owned: Number of files, folders, and shared drives owned by internal accounts.
• Personal access: Number of internally owned items that are shared with personal accounts (such as Gmail, Yahoo, or .edu domains).
• Outside access: Number of internally owned items that are shared with accounts on outside domains (such as partners or vendors).
• Company-wide access: Number of internally owned items with company links that can be accessed by anyone in your company with the link.
• Public links: Number of internally owned items with public links that can be accessed by anyone on the internet with the link.
• Modified 1+ years ago: Number of internally owned items that have not been modified in 1 year or more.
• Modified 2+ years ago: Number of internally owned items that have not been modified in 2 years or more.
  Modified 3+ years ago: Number of internally owned items that have not been modified in 3 years or more.
  

You can also use the App dropdown on this page to see these metrics for a specific connector, such as only Google Drive or only Dropbox. By default, all apps are selected.

Stale access report

The Stale access report shows items that have not been edited or shared for a certain period of  time. This helps you find content that may be outdated but still widely shared.

The Stale access report is split into two sections:

• Owned internally: Items owned by accounts in your organization.
• Owned externally: Items owned by accounts outside your organization but shared with your team. Only content created by Google Drive will show in the external report.
  

Each section includes these metrics:

• Modified 1+ years ago: Number of items that have not been modified in 1 year or more.
• Modified 2+ years ago: Number of items that have not been modified in 2 years or more.
• Modified 3+ years ago: Number of items that have not been modified in 3 years or more.
• Modified 5+ years ago: Number of items that have not been modified in 5 years or more.
  

You can use these metrics to identify old content that still has:

• Company-wide links
• Public links
• Access for outside or personal accounts

Viewing the Action history

The Action history shows a record of cleanup and access-related changes made by admins or automation. It works alongside the Overview and Stale access reports to give you a complete view of your environment, what needs attention, what’s outdated, and what’s already been resolved.

Learn more about the Action history.