Abstract: An online service that allows multiple users to share electronic documents over a computer network. Each user may access the online system after specifying the user's credentials, after which the user may view the user interface specific to that user. The user interface may contain multiple panes, such as a navigation pane and a work pane. The navigation pane may list files owned by the user and may also list files shared with the user by other users. A user may select a file in the navigation pane to view the contents of the file in the work pane. A user may also select a file to share with other users, and the shared file will automatically appear in the other users' interfaces. A user may additionally share a file with a user not registered with the system, and the unregistered user may access the file through a generic interface or may register and then view the file.