What is a download limit?

A download limit is a security control that counts a user's download actions on the platform. It helps administrators identify unusually high download activity and can automatically block an account when its count reaches a configured threshold.

The platform's system administrators choose the warning threshold, the blocking threshold, the counting period and the system roles affected. The feature must be available and enabled on the platform. There is no single download allowance that applies to every platform.

What does the count include?

The count follows download actions for articles and their files. Repeating a download counts again.

The counting period is tracked separately for each user. When a configured period has elapsed, that user's next download starts a new period and resets their count. The duration depends on the platform's settings.

Warnings and account blocking

The two thresholds have separate effects:

Warning threshold: Elium emails the platform's active system administrators. A warning on its own does not disable the account. The user who downloaded the files does not receive this warning unless they are also an active system administrator.
Blocking threshold: Elium disables the affected user's account. When the count reaches this threshold, a separate email goes to both the user and the platform's active system administrators.

Warnings and blocking can be enabled separately. For example, a platform can use warnings without automatic blocking. When a new counting period begins, reaching the warning threshold can trigger another warning.

If your account has been blocked, contact a system administrator to review the activity and restore access.

Review download activity

The download limit settings show active accounts that have reached the warning threshold in the current counting period, with the highest download counts first. Automatically suspended accounts appear in a separate list. The warning list is not a history of every warning sent.

To see which articles a user downloaded documents from:

Open the download limit settings.
Find the user under Accounts over the warning threshold or Automatically suspended accounts.
Open the user's actions menu and choose Export downloads list, when available.

The Excel file (.xlsx) lists recorded download activity, including the date and time, article details and space details. It covers the counting period that triggered the warning or suspension. For a suspended account, the period ends at the suspension. Otherwise, it ends at the current time or the end of that counting period, whichever comes first.

Reset a count or restore access

For an account in the warning list, choose Reset download count in the user's actions menu, then confirm with Reset count. This clears the count without changing the account's status.

For an automatically suspended account, choose Enable again and confirm. This restores access and clears the download count.

Which users are affected?

The settings specify the highest system role affected. The rules also apply to lower system roles. A user's role in an individual space does not determine whether these limits apply.

System administrators are never blocked by this control. Their own downloads can trigger warnings if their system role is included in the settings.

For the difference between system and space roles, see User roles and rights.