Nowadays, file sharing is slightly more complex, but the Mac still makes the process a simple one, allowing you to share files between Macs, or, using the SMB protocol, between Macs, PCs, and Linux/UNIX computer systems.
How to Enable File Sharing on Your Mac
To share your Mac’s files, you must specify which folders you want to share, define the access rights for the shared folders, and enable the SMB file sharing protocol that Windows uses.
How to Enable User Account Sharing
With file sharing turned on, you can now decide if you wish to share user account home folders. When you enable this option, a Mac user who has a home folder on your Mac can access it from a PC running Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10, as long as they log in with the same user account information on the PC.
How to Set Up Specific Folders to Share
Each Mac user account has a built-in Public folder the computer shares automatically. You can share other folders, as well as define the access rights for each of them.
How to Define Access Rights
Folders you add to the shared list have a set of defined access rights. By default, the current owner of the folder has read and write access; everyone else is limited to read access. You can change the default access rights by performing the following steps.
Read & Write. The user can read files, copy files, create new files, edit files within the shared folder, and delete files from the shared folder.Read Only. The user may read files, but not create, edit, copy, or delete files.Write Only (Drop Box). The user may copy files to the drop box, but won’t be able to see or access the contents of the drop box folder.No Access. The user will not be able to access any files in the shared folder or any information about the shared folder. This access option is primarily used for the special Everyone user, which is a way to allow or prevent guest access to folders.
