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Using the shared document web space

Some lists have a shared document web space where subscribers can download and upload documents: this space is available through the 'Shared documents' section.

Presentation of the documents in the shared document web space

To access the 'Shared documents' section of a list, do as follows:

  1. Go to the list environment homepage and log on.
  2. Go to the information page of the list of your interest.
  3. In the left menu, click on the 'Shared documents' link.

The 'Shared documents' section can contain three types of resources: folders, files and bookmarks.

The functions of editing and creation of documents, when they are available to you, are accessible through the Expert mode. To switch to expert mode, click on the Expert mode button on top of page.

The list owner or the documents authors can choose to restrict the access rights to some files/folders. Both the reading and writing rights can be restricted:

Folders are sorted separately from files and bookmarks, and display before them. By default, documents are sorted ascendingly according to the 'Document' column.

Be careful: alphanumeric sort distinguishes uppercase from lowercase, thus all documents which have a name starting with an uppercase character display first, sorted in alphabetical order, and then, all documents which have a name starting with a lowercase character, sorted in alphabetical order. It is the same for folders.

You can sort documents and folders according to criteria other than the name of the document/folder: they can also be sorted according to their author, their size and their last update date. To sort documents according to the criterion of your choice, click on the name of the corresponding column.

Downloading documents from the shared document web space

To download a document from a list, do as follows:

  1. Go to the 'Shared documents' section of the list of your interest.
  2. Browse the folder containing the file you want to download.
  3. Select the 'expert mode'.
  4. Click on the name of the file to save it on your hard disk.

    Be careful: files available in formats likely to open in a web browser will. To download this type of files, you had rather make a right click on their names and choose 'Save target as...', 'Save link as...', etc., according to your browser. This can affect, among others, files of formats .HTM/HTML, .PDF, .PNG, .TXT, .SWF, etc. (this behavior varies according to your browser and settings).

Uploading documents in the shared document web space

Creating a folder on a list

To create a folder on a list, do as follows:

  1. Go to the 'Shared documents' section of the list of your interest.
  2. Browse the folder in which you want to create a folder.
  3. Switch to expert mode.
  4. Enter the folder name in the text field close to the 'Create a new folder inside [name of the current folder]' label.
  5. Click on the 'Create' button.
Uploading a file on a list

To upload a file on a list, do as follows:

  1. Go to the 'Shared documents' section of the list of your interest.
  2. Browse the folder in which you want to upload your file. Create a new folder if necessary.
  3. Switch to expert mode.
  4. Click on the 'Browse' button below the 'Upload a file inside the folder [name of the current folder]' label and choose the file you want to upload; after selecting it, click on the 'Open' button. Your file path then displays in the input box close to the 'Browse' button.
  5. Click on the 'Publish' button.

Be careful: list owners may define quotas, that is to say a maximum size not to be exceeded for the shared document web space. If you try to upload or create a too large document with regard to the space left, you will get the following error message: "The document repository exceed disk quota".

In order to avoid any list overload, try and delete useless files as you go along. A good organization of the list will allow you to manage the shared document web space more easily. To save some space, you can also publish your files in compressed formats.

Publishing a bookmark on a list

To publish a bookmark on a list, do as follows:

  1. Go to the 'Shared documents' section of the list of your interest.
  2. Browse the folder in which you want to publish your bookmark. Create a new folder if necessary.
  3. Switch to expert mode.
  4. In the 'title' field, enter a descriptive name for the website to be linked through the bookmark.
  5. In the 'URL' field, enter or paste the website's URL.
  6. Click on the 'Add' button.
Creating a file on a list

To create a file on a list, do as follows:

  1. Go to the 'Shared documents' section of the list of your interest.
  2. Browse the folder in which you want to create your file. Create a new folder if necessary.
  3. Switch to expert mode.
  4. Enter a file name in the input box close to the 'Create a new file' label.
  5. Click on the 'Create' button.

You are brought to the file creation page.

Enter or paste the text you want to put in your file in the 'Edit the file /nameofthefile' text area, and then click on the 'Publish' button.

Important: the only files that can be created online on the lists are plain text files. On the other hand, it is impossible to create office documents (.DOC, .XLS, .PPT, .RTF, .ODT, etc.), .PDF, images, etc.

You can also replace the file, describe it or rename it. To know more about these features, refer to the 'Editing or deleting documents in the shared document web space' section.

Editing or deleting documents in the shared document web space

In addition to uploading and downloading documents, you can also act on files and folders that are already online:

Changing access rights

You can change read and/or write access rights to folders and files. This has several advantages:

You are allowed to change access rights only to documents you uploaded or created yourself on the lists (one exception: list owners can change access rights to any document published on the lists; this does not concern moderators).

To change access rights for a document, click on the 'Access' text in front of the document's name, in the 'Access' column. You are brought to the access rights editing page.

Choose options from the drop-down lists 'Read access' and 'Edit access'.

Though it isn't mentionned in any of the options, note that the document owner (most of the time the person that published it) keeps the write and read rights on this document whatever happens (unless the list owner changes the document owner).

You can also change the document's owner, for example to allow another person to edit it online, or to indicate the actual author of a document if it has been published by someone else.

Editing folders, files or bookmarks

To edit a document, click on the 'Edit' text in front of the document's name in the 'Edit' column.

According to the type of document you edit, you have different possibilities:

Any click on a button related to an input box only validates the changes specified in that box. To make several changes, you need to click on each button corresponding to your choices.

Some buttons immediately bring you back to the page of the folder containing the document, while others perform the update without bringing you to another page. To go back to the folder page without changing anything, click on the 'Up to higher level directory' button.

Deleting folders, files or bookmarks

To delete any type of document, click on the 'Delete' text in front of the document's name in the 'Delete' column. A confirmation message displays in order to let you go back on your decision: once deleted, the document will not be retrievable anymore.

If there is no 'Delete' text in front of the document's name, you do not have write access rights to the document.

It is impossible to delete a folder which still contains documents: before deleting a folder, you need to empty it entirely first.

A few tips to organize the shared document web space

If you are one of the people likely to organize the list and create files and folders, be far-sighted: think that the list will maybe develop in a considerable manner and that it will maybe be used for several years.

Here are a few suggestions to prevent a list from developing in an anarchic manner:

In order to avoid problems, choose carefully the names of files and folders you publish on lists: give them explicit yet short names and avoid spaces, accents, hyphens and special characters.


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