Skip to main content

Open Tale documents through WebDAV

Generate a device password, connect a WebDAV client and verify file access without confusing project and organization storage.

4 min read

WebDAV lets a compatible file client read and edit Tale’s organization documents as a remote folder. Changes use the same document store as Knowledge > Documents. Project-specific Knowledge files are not included in this mount.

Get the connection details

Open Settings > API > WebDAV. Owners, Admins and Developers can generate their own device credentials. Copy the displayed URL, including the organization slug and /documents/ path; do not construct it from an organization ID or use another organization’s address.

Settings > API > WebDAV — the pre-filled connection details on top, the app-password generator below.

Use your Tale account email as the username and an app-password as the password. Your normal account password does not authenticate WebDAV. On a deployed service, connect over HTTPS; avoid credentials embedded in URLs or saved in command history.

Generate one password per device

  1. Select Generate and enter a Label such as Design laptop.
  2. Generate the password and copy it before closing the result. The full value appears only once.
  3. Store it in the device client’s credential manager, then select I have saved it.

The list keeps the label, prefix and usage dates, not the recoverable password. If you lose it, generate a replacement and revoke the old one once you have updated the client. Separate passwords let you disconnect one device without changing every other connection.

Configure your client

In Finder, press ⌘K to open Connect to Server. Paste Tale’s WebDAV URL and connect with your email and app-password. Open the mounted folder and inspect a known document before copying files into it. Save the credential only on a device you trust.

Verify a small transfer

Open or download a document you can already read in Tale. If your role permits writes, upload a small uniquely named text file in a test folder. Confirm its name and content in Knowledge > Documents, then check its indexing status before expecting it in search.

A WebDAV upload follows document permissions and indexing rules; the source is recorded as webdav. A successful file transfer does not mean indexing has finished. If a project file seems missing from the mount, open that project’s Knowledge tab instead.

Handle locks and deleted files

A compatible editor can lock a file while editing. A conflicting write receives 423 Locked; finish or close the other editing session rather than repeatedly overwriting. Revoking an app-password also releases locks held by that credential.

The .trash/ area lists soft-deleted documents read-only. Download a retained file if you need to inspect it; use Tale’s UI to restore it. You cannot use this area to retrieve a file that has already been permanently removed.

Revoke or repair a connection

Use Revoke on the password’s row and confirm. Subsequent requests with it are rejected, while other app-passwords remain usable. Revocation cannot be undone; update the client with a new password if needed.

Repeated sign-in prompts usually warrant checking the exact URL, organization membership and whether the password was revoked. A permission refusal after authentication is different from a wrong password. Use the WebDAV API reference for status codes and protocol diagnostics, or API keys for software that needs the REST API instead.

© 2026 Tale by Ruler GmbH — ISO 27001 & SOC 2 certified.

Tale is MIT licensed — free to use, modify, and distribute.