TotalApp Docs

Data Room

Secure virtual data room for investor due diligence — folder/document management, magic-link investor access, dynamic watermarking, and audit logging.

Overview

Data Room is TotalApp's secure document-sharing hub for fundraising due diligence. It lets you organize financial statements, cap table records, and legal documents into folders, then grant potential investors scoped, time-limited access via a single emailed link — no TotalApp account required on their side. Every investor view and download is watermarked with their identity and logged with a timestamp and duration, all under the Strategy & Fundraising mode.

Folder & Document Management

Organize documents into folders (Financial Statements, Cap Table, Legal Documents, or any custom folder you create). Upload PDF, Office, and image files with per-document metadata: uploader, upload date, and size.

Magic-Link Investor Access

Enter an investor's email, choose which folders they can see, set a default permission (view-only or downloadable), and an expiry date. TotalApp emails them a unique link — they open it with no sign-up, no password.

Dynamic Watermarking

Every document an investor previews (PDF or image) shows a tiled, semi-transparent watermark with their email and the current date, rendered live in the browser — never baked into the underlying file.

Per-Document Permissions

Override the share's default permission on any individual document. Grant one file as downloadable while keeping the rest of the folder view-only — useful for a signed term sheet the investor needs to keep.

Audit Trail

Every investor view and download is logged with the document name, action, start time, and duration in seconds — so you know exactly which documents an investor spent the most time reviewing.

Instant Revocation

Revoke any investor's access at any time from the Investor Access tab. The link stops working immediately — even if the signed link itself has not technically expired yet.

Quick Start

1. Open Data Room 2. Create Folders 3. Upload Documents 4. Share with Investor 5. Review Audit Trail
  1. Switch to Strategy & Fundraising mode using the mode switcher in the top bar.
  2. Click Data Room in the sidebar.
  3. On the Documents tab, click the folder-plus icon to create a folder (e.g. "Financial Statements"), or use the three folders that come pre-seeded.
  4. Select a folder, then click Upload Document and choose a PDF, image, or Office file from your computer.
  5. Optionally set a per-document permission override using the dropdown in the document row (Inherit from share, View only, or Downloadable).
  6. Click Share with Investor in the top-right toolbar.
  7. Enter the investor's email, choose the access scope (entire Data Room or selected folders), set the default permission and an expiry date, then click Create Share Link.
  8. Copy the generated link, or rely on the automatic invitation email sent to the investor.
  9. Visit the Audit Trail tab at any time to see which documents the investor has viewed or downloaded, and for how long.

The Three Tabs

The screen is organized into three tabs. Each tab focuses on one stage of the due-diligence workflow.

Documents Investor Access Audit Trail

Documents Tab

A two-column layout: a folder list on the left (with an "All Documents" view at the top), and a dense document table on the right scoped to the selected folder.

Column Description
NameThe document's display name, with a "DL" badge next to any file type that has no in-browser preview (Office documents)
SizeFile size, formatted as B / KB / MB
Uploaded ByThe tenant user who uploaded the document
UploadedUpload date
PermissionPer-document override dropdown: Inherit from share, View only, or Downloadable
ActionsDelete (trash icon with inline confirmation)

Supported File Types

PDF, PNG, JPG, DOCX, XLSX, and PPTX are accepted, up to 25 MB per file. Only PDF and image files (PNG/JPG) get a watermarked in-browser preview for investors — Office files are always download-only, with no watermark, since they cannot be rendered natively in the browser.

Investor Access Tab

A table of every share link created for this Data Room, showing the investor's email, access scope, default permission, expiry date, and current status (Active, Revoked, or Expired).

Click Share with Investor to open the share creation modal:

FieldDescription
Investor EmailThe recipient's email address — becomes their identity for watermarking and audit logging
Access ScopeEntire Data Room, or a hand-picked list of folders
Default PermissionView only or Downloadable — applies to every document in scope unless a document has its own permission override
Expires OnThe hard cutoff date after which the link stops working, regardless of the signed token's own expiry

Active shares can be revoked immediately from this tab — revocation is checked against the live share record on every investor request, so it takes effect instantly even mid-session.

Audit Trail Tab

A chronological log of every investor view and download, filterable by investor email. Each row shows the investor, the document name, the action (Viewed or Downloaded), the start time, and the duration.

  • A view entry is created automatically the moment an investor opens a previewable document.
  • The entry's duration is filled in when the investor closes the document, switches to another one, or closes the browser tab — a pulsing clock icon shows while a session is still open.
  • A download entry is created separately, right before the file download begins, so downloads are never confused with previews in the log.

How Investor Sharing Works

Data Room investors are never TotalApp users. When you create a share, the system:

  1. Generates a unique, cryptographically signed link tied to the investor's email, the chosen scope, and the expiry date you set.
  2. Emails the investor a "You have been invited to a secure Data Room" message containing the link.
  3. The investor opens the link and lands directly on a minimal viewer — no sign-up screen, no password, and no TotalApp sidebar or navigation chrome.
  4. Every request the investor's browser makes (resolving the share, streaming a document, logging a view) is re-checked against the live share record on your server — so a revoked or expired share is rejected immediately, even if the underlying link has not technically expired yet.

Downloaded Files Are Not Watermarked

The watermark is a live overlay rendered in the investor's browser during preview — it is not burned into the file itself. If a document's permission allows download, the file the investor receives is the original, unwatermarked file. This is an intentional trade-off: keep highly sensitive documents view-only if you want the watermark deterrent to remain visible for every access.

App Mode & Navigation

Data Room lives in the Strategy & Fundraising app mode. To reach it:

  • Click the mode switcher in the header and select Strategy
  • Click Data Room in the sidebar

The screen is not visible when you are in other app modes (Finance, HR, etc.) unless you switch to Strategy mode or enable Data Room in Settings → App Modes → Manage Screens.

Data Storage

Folders, documents, and share records are saved to your tenant's server-side JSON store. Uploaded files are stored separately on disk under your tenant's own storage area. Every view and download event is appended to a separate, append-only audit log, capped at the most recent 5,000 entries.

Each save action (create folder, upload document, create share, revoke share) triggers an immediate write to the server. There is no "autosave" timer — the write happens on every explicit user action.

Multi-Tenant Isolation

If you are a TenantAdmin who has invited team members, every member of your workspace sees the same Data Room folders and documents. Data Room is workspace-scoped, not user-scoped. Only your workspace's TenantAdmins and invited members can manage it — other workspaces cannot see your documents, shares, or audit logs.

AI Assistant

Click the AI Assistant tab anchored to the right edge of the screen to open a chat panel with full context on your folder structure, uploaded documents, active investor shares, and the audit trail. It can flag missing standard due-diligence documents, summarize investor engagement, identify which documents get the most attention, and flag access-hygiene issues like expired shares that haven't been revoked.

Example Prompts

  • "What standard due-diligence documents are we missing?"
  • "Which investors are actively reviewing our data room?"
  • "Which documents get the most investor attention?"
  • "Are there any expired shares we should revoke?"

Saving a Response as a Report

After the assistant replies, a Save as Report button appears at the bottom of the panel. Click it to save the response instantly to My Reports — no dialog or title entry required. The title is generated automatically from your prompt and the current month.

Check the Investor Access and Audit Trail Tabs First

The assistant's engagement and access-hygiene answers are only as complete as the shares and audit entries it has loaded. Open the Investor Access and Audit Trail tabs at least once during your session before asking engagement-related questions, so that data is available as context.

FAQ

Does the investor need a TotalApp account to view the Data Room?
No. The investor opens the emailed link directly — there is no sign-up, login, or password. Their email address (captured when you create the share) becomes their identity for the watermark and the audit log.
What happens if I revoke a share while the investor is actively viewing a document?
Every request the investor's browser makes — including loading the document list and streaming a file — is checked against the live share record, not just the signed link's own expiry. As soon as you click Revoke, their very next request is rejected with an "invalid, expired, or revoked" message.
Can I give an investor access to only one folder instead of the whole Data Room?
Yes. In the Share with Investor modal, choose "Selected Folders" as the Access Scope and check only the folders you want them to see. Documents outside those folders will not appear in their document list at all.
Why can't I preview a Word or Excel file the way I can a PDF?
Office files (DOCX, XLSX, PPTX) cannot be rendered natively in the browser, so Data Room treats them as download-only — no watermark overlay is applied since there is no in-browser preview to watermark. Convert critical Office documents to PDF before uploading if you want the watermarked-preview protection.
Is the watermark embedded in a downloaded file?
No. The watermark only appears as a live overlay while the investor is previewing the document in their browser. If the document's permission allows download, the investor receives the original file with no watermark baked in. Keep sensitive documents view-only if you need the watermark to always be visible.
How do I know how long an investor spent reviewing a specific document?
Open the Audit Trail tab and look at the Duration column for that investor's view entry. Duration is measured from the moment the document opens to the moment the investor closes it, switches documents, or closes the browser tab.
Can I set a different expiry date for different investors?
Yes. Each share link has its own independent expiry date, set when you create it. You can grant one investor 7 days of access and another 90 days, for example, and revoke either one early at any time.