---
title: "Access list (ACL)"
url: https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-access-list
category: "Glossary"
tags: ["glossary", "metadata", "external drive"]
summary: "An access list (ACL) is a set of extra permission rules on a file or folder, beyond its basic permissions. Storage Studio keeps them only where the drive can hold them."
updated: 2026-10-01T05:35:54.000Z
---

# Access list (ACL)

An access list (ACL) is a set of extra permission rules on a file or folder, beyond its basic permissions. Storage Studio keeps them only where the drive can hold them.

An **access list**, or ACL (access control list), is a set of extra permission rules on a file or folder that go beyond its basic permissions — for example, letting one particular person on the Mac read a folder, or stopping anyone from deleting it. Adding people under **Sharing & Permissions** in a folder's Get Info window is one way they're created.

Most files don't have one, but shared folders and some app folders do.

When Storage Studio moves a folder, it keeps access lists if the destination drive can hold them — Mac formats such as [APFS](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-apfs) can. Some drives, such as [exFAT](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-exfat) ones, can't store them at all; there, Storage Studio leaves the access lists out rather than letting the whole move fail. The files and their basic permissions still arrive.

See also: [What a move keeps](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/what-a-move-keeps) · [What to know about exFAT drives](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/exfat-drives)

## What links here

- [What a move keeps](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/what-a-move-keeps)
- [What to know about exFAT drives](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/exfat-drives)
- [exFAT](https://storagestudio.us/wiki/glossary-exfat)