Almost every View in Dragon can be Distributed and/or Shared depending mostly on who created it. But let's first explain what Distributed and Shared means.
Distribution in Dragon means the process of setting up a View to be emailed out to certain people on a set date. The email has two components: a link to a PDF for the previous period's data and a link to login directly from the email (the login link can be disabled via Client Settings).
Sharing in Dragon means the ability for a View to be viewable by those within your hierarchy and under your level. This means that a Level 3 Manager can share a View to their Level 2 and Level 1 Managers, but not another Level 3 Manager or their Level 4 Manager. This also means that a Level 1 Manager cannot share a View with anyone else, but they can still make them for themselves!
Note: Only the creator of a View has the ability to change the settings for Distribution and Sharing. If the icons are missing from the controls, then you don't own the View.
Views are completely independent of other Views and so one View's settings has no bearing on another View's settings.
Originally we separated Distribution and Sharing settings into 2 different icons and pages. After a redesign of the settings, we decided to combine the settings into a single page. However to prevent confusion, or maybe create confusion..., we left the two icons as is and both redirect to the same page.
Each icon does however tell you whether a View is set to Distribute and/or is Shared. As you can see in the 2nd screenshot, this View has both enabled (the left icon is Distribute and the right icon is Share).
Clicking on either icon will bring you to the settings page.
Example of an Admin's Settings
Example of a Level 3 Manager's Settings
At the top of the settings is where you enter what day of the period the Distribution will go out on. For clients using Custom Date Ranges, the word 'Month' changes to a pulldown showing an entry for each type of defined Custom Date Range (Small, Medium, and Large) and Month. As the note says, the data in the PDF will be for the previous period. So for our first screenshot, on the 5th of February, this View will be sent out and the data in the PDF will be for January 1st - January 31st.
Note: We usually recommend that Distribution be set to a few days after the new period begins so that any late shops can be finished and still be included in the PDF.
The left column of checkboxes are for Distribution. The first entry should be the creator of the View and then a checkbox for each Level under them in the hierarchy.
The right column of checkboxes are for Sharing. As you can see there is no checkbox for the creator since the View is owned by this person. After that, we again see a checkbox for each Level under them in the hierarchy.
Note: The only exception to the hierarchy rule is shown above in the screenshot regarding Admins. Admins have the ability to Distribute and Share their Views to other Admins of the client.
You can set any combination of settings but one thing to note is that if you Distribute a View to a person but do not share this View, the login link in the email will simply login that person with their normal, default View.
The last part of the settings is the 'Other Recipients' field for single or comma separated email addresses which is only visible to Admins. Any emails entered in this field will get a Distribution email based on the creator of the View with only a PDF and no login link.