FAQ

About Content

Q.
How do I save Summitas content to my Office?
Click on the blue "My Offices" button located in the top left corner any page. Select the Family Office in which you want to save the content. Now click the "Return to Public Area" button located on the left margin. From here, just click the "Save" button located at the bottom of any piece of content you want to save in your Office.
Q.
What are the differences among private, public, and family forums?
Summitas provides tools to create three types of forums: private, public, and family.

A private forum is an invitation-only group discussion that is controlled by the person who created the forum. A public forum is a group discussion that is open and visible to all Summitas members. A family forum is a group discussion that exists entirely within a member's Office and is restricted to office members.

Q.
How do I make suggestions to Summitas?
Simply click the "Have a Suggestion" link on the left-hand side of the page, fill out the form, and click the "Send" button.
Q.
How do I post comments on Summitas content?
To publicly share your thoughts, click the "Post a Comment" link at the bottom of the relevant piece of content.
Q.
How do I report inappropriate comments or forum postings?
To notify Summitas of an inappropriate comment, click the "Report this Page" icon at the bottom of the comment in question.

About the Virtual Family Office

Q.
How do I get to my Office?
Click on the blue "My Offices" button in the top left corner of any page. All of the Virtual Offices in which you’re a member will be displayed. Select the Office you want to visit.
Q.
What's the difference between a Private Access and a Private Office subscription?
Both the Private Access and Private Office subscriptions provide you with Virtual Offices, a Digital Vault, and access to all Summitas content. The Private Access subscription lets you have up to 3 members in your Family Office, while the Private Office subscription lets you have up to 10 members.  Please refer to Plans & Pricing page for further differences.
Q.
Who can see the activities in my Family Offices?
Your Offices are private, password-protected, and accessible only by you and the people you personally invite to become members. No one but you and the people you give permission to can see the activities in your Family Offices.
Q.
Who can see the activities in my Personal Office?
Your Office is private, password-protected, and accessible only by you. No one but you can see the activities in your Personal Office.
Q.
How do I add members to my Office?
From the blue "My Offices" button, select the Family Office you want. From that office, select the "Invite" tab. Enter the email address of the person you want to add, fill in the required fields, and click the "Invite" button.
Q.
How do I send private messages to other Summitas members?
Click the icon located at the top of any page. Then click the "Compose Message" button. Enter the person's Summitas Display Name (not their email address), fill in the required fields, and click the "Send" button.

About the Digital Vault

Q.
Is my Digital Vault private and secure?
Absolutely. Every document you place in your Digital Vault is protected by the encryption standard adopted by the U.S. Government. All documents are sent over the Internet using Secure Sockets (HTTPS, 256-bit encryption for modern browsers and 128-bit encryption for older browsers).

For added security, you have the ability to assign separate passphrases to each document in your Digital Vault. Members of your Family Office can also be given selective access to the documents in your Vault, ensuring that they see only what you want.

Q.
What web browsers does Summitas support?
Updated: 1/19/2016

Summitas Digital Vault supports the following browsers:

On Mac

  • Safari 9.0 or greater
  • Firefox 38.0 or greater

On PC

  • Internet Explorer 9.0* or greater (Version 11 preferred)
  • Firefox 38.0 or greater

* Microsoft announced that as of January 12th, 2016 it is no longer supporting and providing updates for their Internet Explorer web browser versions 8, 9, and 10. This means that if there are any new security vulnerabilities or bugs discovered, Microsoft will not be creating fixes for them. We thus recommend you upgrade to Internet Explorer version 11. For more on this announcement, please follow this link:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/WindowsForBusiness/End-of-IE-support

Even though Summitas currently supports Internet Explorer 9 or greater, we believe you should upgrade to the latest version to insure an optimal user experience.

PLEASE NOTE: Other browsers such as Microsoft Edge (Windows 10 only) and Google Chrome can be used to browse our site but you will not be able Upload or Download content within the Digital Vault as Java is not supported in these browsers.  We are working hard to add these browsers to our supported list in the near future.

Q.
How do I strengthen my passphrase?
You must type a passphrase that will result in encryption strength of at least 40 percent. Passphrase strength is displayed while you upload a document. The following are examples of passphrases from Average to Strong.

Average: Combining two words or a passphrase of approximately 8 to 10 characters, such as "sevensummitas?" or "himalaya".

Good: Combining special characters and numbers, such as "$makalu44?" or "!Anna$Purna".

Strong: Combining uppercase and lowercase letters and intermingling special characters, such as "$LhosTe" or ?"@Ka%me#t3".

Q.
How does Summitas backup the contents of my Digital Vault?
Each day, Summitas conducts a complete backup of the Summitas Digital Vault and all other content, and stores the information in multiple, highly secure locations. Summitas disk storage is redundant and recoverable without loss-of-service.
Q.
How do I upload a document to my Digital Vault?
From your Digital Vault, select the folder in which you want to place the document. Click the "Add Document" icon at the top of the page. From there, click the "Browse" button and choose the document you want to add to your Digital Vault. Fill out the required fields and click the "Upload" button.
Q.
How do I upload multiple documents at once to my Digital Vault?
From your Digital Vault, select the folder in which you want to place the documents. Then click the "Add Multiple" icon at the top of the page. From there, click the "Browse" button and choose the folder that contains the documents you want. Click the "Next Step" button. Select the documents you want to upload. Click the "Next Step" button. Fill out the required fields and click the "Upload" button.
Q.
How do I give members of my Office permission to see the documents in my Digital Vault?
From your Digital Vault, click the "Edit" icon at the top of the page. Now you can grant or restrict access to the documents in your Vault.  When giving access to a specific sub-folder, be sure to provide at least the "Visible" flag under Folder Access to all parent folders to insure Folder is visible to the member.

If you would like to grant access on a per document basis, left click on a specific "Document Title" and select "Edit".  Select specific members by clicking on a checkbox to the left of the members name and Adjust permissions accordingly. The specified Permissions will now pertain only to that document.

Q.
How do I upload a new version of a document?
Click on the document title and select "Upload." Now click the "Browse" button, choose the document to upload, fill in the required fields, and click the "Upload" button.
Q.
How do I download the latest version of a document?
Click on the document title and select "Download." Now click the "Browse" button, choose the destination folder, fill in the required fields, and click the "Download" button.
Q.
How do I download an old version of a document?
Click on the document title and select "History" from the pulldown menu. In the Revision History list, check the box with the title of the document version you want to download. Now click the icon, choose the destination folder, fill in the required fields, and click the "Download" button.
Q.
What types of documents can be stored in my Digital Vault?
Any document on your computer can be securely stored in your Digital Vault, including word processing documents, presentations, spreadsheets, and photos.
Q.
Is there a limit to how much content I can store in my Office or Digital Vault?
You can store as much information as you like
Q.
What happens to the documents in my Digital Vault and Office if I Delete my Account?
If you delete your account, all Family Office data and Digital Vault documents will be deleted.
Q.
What happens to the documents in my Digital Vault and Office if I Suspend my Account?
If you suspend your account, all Family Office data and Digital Vault documents will be preserved for 90 days. If you re-subscribe within that time, your data documents will be restored.

About Secure Email

Q.
What's the difference between Private Messages and Secure Email?
  • Private Messages are free with your membership subscription and provide a convenient means of communicating instantly and privately with other Summitas subscribers without using email. All Private Messages are encrypted.
  • Secure Email can be sent to anyone. Including the word "encrypt" anywhere on the subject line of the email message will encrypt email messages and attachments.
Q.
How do I signup for Secure Email?
  1. Go to "My Account" and select the "Subscription" tab.
  2. Under Secure Email, click on the "Activate" radio button, click "Save," and follow the instructions.
  3. Go to your Family Office and click the Secure Email icon to open your Summitas Secure Email account.
Q.
Can I purchase Secure Email accounts for my Family Office members?
Yes. After you have activated your own Secure Email account (see: "How do I signup for Secure Email?")
  1. Go to "My Account" and select the "Subscription" tab.
  2. Under Secure Email, click on the highlighted word "EDIT" (next to "Additional Email Accounts Purchased."
  3. Select the members you wish to gift email accounts to by checking the boxes under "Option" in the table.
  4. After you Save your selections, your members will be notified of your gift. You can  check on the status of their email account by returning to EDIT and reading the Status and Email ID indicators in the table.
Q.
How private is my data?
Neither Summitas nor Google claim ownership of your data. Your data is stored as long as your account is in good standing and will be deleted when you ask. Your data will not be shared except as strictly outlined in our Privacy Policies. For Google's Privacy Policy, see: http://www.google.com/privacypolicy.html. For the Summitas Privacy Policy, go here: https://www.summitas.com/info/privacy.