A first state identifier is determined according to the state of a first file at a first time point, and a second state identifier is determined according to the state of a second file at a second time point. The first and second state identifiers are compared and an alignment indication is displayed to a user of a client device thereby making the user aware of the alignment state between the files. The files may be associated with different client devices or different users thereby showing group alignment. The files may also be associated with a single user or client device thereby showing local alignment. The state identifiers may include digest hashes of content of the first and second files, metadata, or state information regarding the files. The files may be encrypted and access check keys utilized to determine whether a client device is authorized to receive an encrypted file.