OBIEE 11g: Access to User Folders from Answers

OBIEE 11g provides access to a folder for each user (controlled by Privileges) where they can store their private objects (Reports, Dashboard etc.). The objects they do not want to share with other users. These folders are named as the users log-in name.

For eq: if user log-in name is "weblogic", the folder will be:

/Catalog Root/User Folders/weblogic

By default these folders are only accessible by the user and not even Admins can access it (for read or write).

But there are lot of situations where an Admin may need to look at the objects in User Folders. Such as when a user is no longer with the organization.

Here are the steps to get access to an individual user folder from Answers:

1. Log-in to  Answers using Admin account.
2. Go to Catalog.
3. On the top left hand corner switch the view from "User View" to "Admin View".
4. Go to User Folders and select folder you need access to. It should pop up an error message: "access denied for user to path /users/....."
5. From the Tasks pane located at bottom left side, select Permissions. This should pop up same error message. "access denied for user to path /users/....."

Now this is where the below steps are useful where you can access the Permissions option.

1. From the Tasks pane located at bottom left side, select Properties.
2. In the Properties window, Ownership section (at bottom), select "Set Ownership of this item and all subitems". This will make the Admin user owner of the folder. You will again get the same error as above but ignore that and move to the next step.
3. From the Tasks pane located at bottom left side, select Permissions. You should now be able to get to the Permissions window.
4. Add the Admin User or Role with appropriate permissions, check both the boxes as shown below and click OK.                                                                      
5. Try to access the User Folder once again. Hopefully you are in.

If you now want you can make the original user as the owner of the objects. Follow these steps:

1. From the Tasks pane located at bottom left side, select Permissions.
2. For the user Account, select the Owner Radio button, click both check boxes and hit OK.

Thanks,