JBoss.orgCommunity Documentation

User Guide

Copyright © 2009-2012

About this guide
1. Get Started
1.1. Glossary
1.2. eXo Platform 3.5 interface
1.3. Manage accounts
1.3.1. Register new account
1.3.2. Sign in & Sign out
1.3.3. Change account settings
1.3.4. Retrieve account and password
1.4. Manage language
1.4.1. Change the display language permanently
1.4.2. Change the display language for another user
2. Manage Your Organization
2.1. Add a user
2.2. Manage users
2.2.1. Search for users
2.2.2. Edit user information
2.2.3. Delete a user
2.3. Manage groups
2.3.1. Add a new group
2.3.2. Edit a group
2.3.3. Delete a group
2.3.4. Add a user to a group
2.3.5. Edit a user membership in a group
2.4. Manage memberships
2.4.1. Add a new membership type
2.4.2. Edit a membership type
2.4.3. Delete a membership type
3. Manage Your Portals
3.1. Manage permissions
3.1.1. Set permissions on a portal
3.1.1.1. Access permission
3.1.1.2. Edit permission
3.1.2. Set permissions on a page
3.1.2.1. Access permission
3.1.2.2. Edit permission
3.1.3. Set Access permission on a category
3.1.4. Set Access permission on a portlet
3.2. Manage sites
3.2.1. Create a new portal
3.2.2. Switch between portals
3.2.3. Edit a portal
3.2.3.1. Edit layout
3.2.3.2. Edit navigation
3.2.3.3. Edit configurations
3.2.4. Delete a portal
3.3. Manage a sample accessible website
3.4. Manage navigation nodes
3.4.1. Add a new node
3.4.2. Edit a node
3.4.3. Copy/Paste a node
3.4.4. Clone a node
3.4.5. Cut a node
3.4.6. Delete a node
3.4.7. Change nodes order
3.5. Manage pages
3.5.1. Add a new page using Page Creation Wizard
3.5.2. Add a new page using Page Management
3.5.3. Edit a page
3.5.4. Delete a page
3.5.5. Manage page navigation
3.5.5.1. Portal's page navigation
3.5.5.2. User's page navigation
3.5.5.3. Group's page navigation
3.5.5.3.1. Edit a group's page navigation
3.5.5.3.2. Create a new page navigation
3.5.5.3.3. Change priority of page's navigation
3.5.5.3.4. Delete a group's navigation
3.6. Manage applications
3.6.1. Inside a portal
3.6.1.1. Manage portlets and gadgets
3.6.1.1.1. Import portlets and gadgets
3.6.1.1.2. View/Edit detailed information of a portlet/gadget
3.6.1.1.3. Edit a specific portlet
3.6.1.1.4. Add a gadget
3.6.1.1.5. Add a new gadget from Dashboard
3.6.1.1.6. Edit a gadget
3.6.1.2. Dashboard portlet
3.6.1.2.1. Use the Dashboard workspace
3.6.1.2.2. Change gadget preferences
3.6.1.2.3. Add more external gadgets from Dashboard
3.6.2. Use Gadgets in your dashboards
3.6.2.1. Engagement gadgets
3.6.2.1.1. Latest Forum Posts
3.6.2.1.2. Top Voted Topics
3.6.2.1.3. Forum Statistics
3.6.2.1.4. Friend Suggestions
3.6.2.2. Management and Monitoring Gadgets
3.6.2.2.1. Memory Charts
3.6.2.2.2. Cache Levels
3.6.2.2.3. Applications Statistics
3.6.2.2.4. All Template Statistics
3.6.2.2.5. 10 Slowest Templates
3.6.2.2.6. Services Management
3.6.2.2.7. eXo Scripting Console
3.6.2.3. Audit & Collab gadgets
3.6.2.3.1. Login History
3.6.2.3.2. eXo Calendar Gadget
3.6.3. Inside Desktop
3.6.3.1. Add an application
3.6.3.2. Open an application
3.6.3.3. Quit an application
3.6.3.4. Change the Desktop title and background
4. Organize Your Content
4.1. Structure content
4.1.1. Access Sites Explorer
4.1.2. Drives
4.1.2.1. Private drive
4.1.2.2. Public drive
4.1.2.3. Personal Documents drive
4.1.2.4. Drive of a specific group
4.1.2.5. Hide/Show the sidebar in a drive
4.1.3. Views
4.1.3.1. Admin view
4.1.3.2. Cover Flow view
4.1.3.3. Icons view
4.1.3.4. Thumbnails view
4.1.3.5. Slide Show view
4.1.3.6. Timeline view
4.1.4. Functions on action tabs
4.1.4.1. Add a category
4.1.4.2. Add a document
4.1.4.3. Add a folder
4.1.4.4. Add translations to a document
4.1.4.5. Add a Symlink
4.1.4.6. Comment
4.1.4.7. Edit a document
4.1.4.8. Export nodes
4.1.4.9. Import nodes
4.1.4.10. Manage actions
4.1.4.10.1. Add an action
4.1.4.10.2. View an action
4.1.4.10.3. Edit an action
4.1.4.10.4. Delete an action
4.1.4.11. Manage auditing
4.1.4.12. Manage categories
4.1.4.13. Show/Hide content
4.1.4.14. Manage publication
4.1.4.15. Manage relations
4.1.4.15.1. Add a relation
4.1.4.15.2. Delete a relation
4.1.4.15.3. View a relation
4.1.4.16. Manage versions
4.1.4.16.1. Add versions to a node
4.1.4.16.2. Add/Remove labels for versions
4.1.4.16.3. View versions
4.1.4.16.4. Restore a version
4.1.4.16.5. Delete a version
4.1.4.17. Multi-Languages
4.1.4.18. Overload thumbnails
4.1.4.19. Request approval
4.1.4.20. Approve content
4.1.4.21. Publish content
4.1.4.22. Show drives
4.1.4.23. Show/Hide content structure
4.1.4.24. Tag documents
4.1.4.25. Upload files into folders
4.1.4.26. View metadata
4.1.4.27. View node types
4.1.4.28. View permissions
4.1.4.29. View properties
4.1.4.30. View a relation
4.1.4.31. Vote for a document
4.1.4.32. Watch/Unwatch documents
4.1.5. Actions on folders and documents
4.1.5.1. Add to favorites
4.1.5.2. Copy/Paste & Cut/Paste
4.1.5.3. Edit documents
4.1.5.4. Delete folders and documents
4.1.5.5. Drag and drop folders and documents
4.1.5.6. Lock/Unlock folders and documents
4.1.5.7. Rename folders and documents
4.1.5.8. Add a Symlink
4.1.5.9. View WebDAV
4.1.5.10. View information
4.1.5.11. View document
4.1.5.12. Copy a URL to the clipboard
4.1.5.13. Manage tags
4.1.6. Content Administration
4.1.6.1. Categories and Tags
4.1.6.1.1. Manage tags
4.1.6.1.1.1. Add a tag style
4.1.6.1.1.2. Edit a tag style
4.1.6.1.1.3. Delete a tag style
4.1.6.1.1.4. Set permissions on public tags
4.1.6.1.2. Manage categories
4.1.6.1.2.1. Add a category tree
4.1.6.1.2.2. Edit a category tree
4.1.6.2. Content Presentation
4.1.6.2.1. Manage a template
4.1.6.2.2. Manage metadata
4.1.6.2.3. Manage views
4.1.6.2.3.1. Views tab
4.1.6.2.3.2. ECM Templates tab
4.1.6.2.4. Manage drives
4.1.6.2.4.1. Add a new drive
4.1.6.2.4.2. Edit a drive
4.1.6.2.4.3. Delete a drive
4.1.6.3. Content Types
4.1.6.3.1. Namespace registry
4.1.6.3.2. Manage node types
4.1.6.4. Advanced Configuration
4.1.6.4.1. Manage queries
4.1.6.4.2. Manage Scripts
4.1.6.4.3. Create an action type
4.1.6.4.4. Manage locks
4.2. Manage content
4.2.1. Contribute content
4.2.1.1. Edit mode
4.2.1.2. InContext Editing
4.2.1.2.1. Add content
4.2.1.2.2. Edit content
4.2.1.2.3. Manage content
4.2.1.2.4. Manage preferences
4.2.1.3. Inline Editing
4.2.1.4. CKEditor
4.2.1.5. Publication process
4.2.2. Manage content list viewer by query
4.2.3. Create content inside a category
4.2.4. Manage content in Sites Explorer
4.2.4.1. Create new web content
4.2.4.2. Edit web content
4.2.4.3. Delete web content
4.2.4.4. Publish web content
4.2.4.5. Preferences
4.2.4.6. Search in Sites Explorer
4.2.4.6.1. Quick search
4.2.4.6.2. Advanced search
4.2.4.6.2.1. Search by Name
4.2.4.6.2.2. Search with constraints
4.2.4.6.2.3. Search by creating a new query
4.2.4.6.2.4. Search by existing queries
4.2.4.6.3. Search with saved queries
4.2.5. Manage content with WebDAV
4.2.5.1. Use WebDAV in eXo Platform
4.2.5.2. Add new content to a specific site
4.2.5.3. Delete web content
4.2.6. Manage content with Fast Content Creator
4.2.6.1. Configure Fast Content Creator
4.2.6.2. Create new content
4.2.6.3. View content
4.2.7. Create content templates with Form Builder
4.2.8. Manage CLV templates in Sites Explorer
4.2.8.1. Create a CLV template
4.2.8.2. Edit a CLV template
4.2.8.3. Delete a CLV template
4.2.9. Manage Category Navigation
4.2.10. Manage SEO
4.2.11. Search content in a site
4.2.11.1. Search for content
4.2.11.2. Edit the Search portlet
4.2.12. Print content
4.3. Manage newsletters
4.3.1. Newsletter viewer
4.3.2. Newsletter Manager
4.3.2.1. Manage categories in Newsletter
4.3.2.1.1. Add a new category
4.3.2.1.2. Edit a category
4.3.2.1.3. Delete a category
4.3.2.1.4. Manage users
4.3.2.2. Subscriptions
4.3.2.3. Open a newsletter
4.3.2.4. Edit a newsletter
4.3.2.5. Delete a newsletter
4.3.2.6. Convert as template
4.3.2.7. Create a newsletter
4.4. Manage workflows
4.4.1. Holiday process
4.4.1.1. Create a holiday process
4.4.1.2. Manage a holiday process
4.4.2. Pay raise process
4.4.2.1. Create a pay raise process
4.4.2.2. Manage a pay raise process
4.4.3. Upload a process
4.4.4. View process detail
5. Collaborate With Your Colleagues
5.1. Manage your calendar
5.1.1. Calendar views
5.1.2. Manage a calendar group
5.1.2.1. Add a new calendar group
5.1.2.2. Edit a calendar group
5.1.2.3. Delete a calendar group
5.1.3. Create a calendar
5.1.3.1. Create a personal calendar
5.1.3.2. Create a group calendar
5.1.3.3. Create a remote calendar
5.1.4. Edit a calendar
5.1.4.1. Set the calendar color
5.1.4.2. Delete a calendar
5.1.5. Export/Import a calendar
5.1.6. Share a personal calendar
5.1.7. Schedule an event
5.1.7.1. View details of an event
5.1.7.2. Create a new event
5.1.7.2.1. Quick add an event
5.1.7.2.2. Add a detailed event
5.1.7.3. Edit an event
5.1.7.4. Drag and drop an event
5.1.7.5. Export/Import an event
5.1.7.6. Delete an event
5.1.8. Schedule a task
5.1.8.1. View task details
5.1.8.2. Create a new task
5.1.8.2.1. Quick add a task
5.1.8.2.2. Add a detailed task
5.1.8.3. Edit task details
5.1.8.4. Drag and drop a task
5.1.8.5. Export/Import a task
5.1.8.6. Delete a task
5.1.9. Search for events/tasks
5.1.10. More actions
5.1.10.1. Generate RSS
5.1.10.2. Edit Calendar settings
5.1.10.3. Manage categories
5.1.10.3.1. Add a new category
5.1.10.3.2. Edit/Delete a category
5.1.11. Add My Agenda gadget to your page
5.1.12. Add My Tasks gadget to your page
5.2. Manage your contacts
5.2.1. View contacts
5.2.2. Create a new contact
5.2.3. Edit contact details
5.2.4. Tag a contact
5.2.5. Edit a tag
5.2.6. Delete a tag
5.2.7. Send a mail to a contact
5.2.8. Copy/Paste a contact
5.2.9. Move a contact
5.2.10. Delete a contact
5.2.11. Export contacts
5.2.12. Import contacts
5.2.13. Print contacts
5.2.14. Print an Address Book
5.2.15. Share contacts
5.2.16. Search for contacts
5.2.17. Manage Address Books
5.2.17.1. Create an address book
5.2.17.2. Edit an address book
5.2.17.3. Remove an address book
5.2.17.4. Export an address book
5.2.17.5. Import an address book
5.2.17.6. Share a personal address book
5.2.17.7. Grant permissions on a public address book
5.3. Email your contacts
5.3.1. Create a Mail account
5.3.1.1. Edit your account details
5.3.1.2. Delete your account
5.3.1.3. More about Incoming & Outgoing mail server settings
5.3.2. Get mails
5.3.3. Mail views
5.3.3.1. List view
5.3.3.2. Thread view
5.3.3.3. Conversation view
5.3.4. Read an email
5.3.4.1. Download an attached file
5.3.4.2. View all headers of a message
5.3.4.3. Mark/Unmark a message as read
5.3.4.4. Star/Unstar a message
5.3.4.5. Move a message to other folders
5.3.4.6. Report a message as spam
5.3.4.7. Delete a message
5.3.5. Compose a new message
5.3.5.1. Attach a file to a message
5.3.5.2. Save a message as draft
5.3.5.3. Set a priority level
5.3.5.4. Change the message signature
5.3.5.5. Change message preferences
5.3.6. Reply to a message
5.3.7. Forward a message
5.3.8. Print a message
5.3.9. Export a message
5.3.10. Import a message
5.3.11. Categorize messages by folders/tags/filters
5.3.11.1. Categorize by folder
5.3.11.1.1. Create a new folder
5.3.11.1.2. Manage Personal Folders
5.3.11.2. Categorize by tag
5.3.11.2.1. Create a tag
5.3.11.2.2. Assign a tag to a message
5.3.11.2.3. Edit a tag
5.3.11.2.4. Remove a tag
5.3.11.2.5. Empty a tag
5.3.11.2.6. Change the tag color
5.3.11.3. Categorize by filter
5.3.11.3.1. Create a filter
5.3.11.3.2. Edit a filter
5.3.11.3.3. Delete a filter
5.3.12. Search for messages
5.3.13. Add an event
5.3.14. Manage Address Book in Mail
5.3.14.1. Add a new address book
5.3.14.2. Add a new contact
5.3.14.3. Edit contact details
5.3.14.4. Delete a contact
5.3.15. Change Mail settings
5.4. Chat with your contacts
5.4.1. Add contacts to your friend list
5.4.2. Remove a contact
5.4.3. Chat with a contact
5.4.3.1. Send messages
5.4.3.2. Set your status
5.4.3.3. Send a file
5.4.3.4. Export the Chat history
5.4.3.5. Show chat history at a specific time
5.4.4. Create a chat room
5.4.4.1. Add people to a room
5.4.4.2. Join a chat room
5.4.4.3. Leave a chat room
5.4.4.4. Configure a chat room
6. Organize Your Knowledge
6.1. About user roles
6.2. Access Knowledge applications
6.3. Build a wiki
6.3.1. Work with Wiki pages
6.3.1.1. Create a page
6.3.1.2. Edit a page
6.3.1.3. Move a page to another location
6.3.1.4. Delete a page
6.3.1.5. View page information
6.3.1.5.1. Add a related page
6.3.1.5.2. View a page history
6.3.1.6. Watch a page
6.3.2. Work with attachments
6.3.2.1. View all attachments of a page
6.3.2.2. Add an attachment to a page
6.3.2.3. Insert an image
6.3.3. Use the WYSIWYG Editor (Rich Text editor)
6.3.4. Syntax Help
6.3.5. Work with Macros
6.3.6. Work with page versions
6.3.6.1. View versions of a page
6.3.6.2. Compare page versions
6.3.6.3. Restore a page version to the current version
6.3.7. Work with Spaces
6.3.8. Search
6.3.9. WebDAV support in Wiki
6.3.9.1. Access your workspace using WebDAV
6.3.9.2. Edit a page using WebDAV
6.3.10. Wiki Administration
6.3.10.1. Set up space settings
6.3.10.2. Manage Permissions
6.3.10.2.1. Space Permissions
6.3.10.2.1.1. Add space permissions
6.3.10.2.1.2. Delete space permissions
6.3.10.2.2. Page Permissions
6.3.10.2.3. Manage a page template
6.3.10.2.3.1. Search for a template
6.3.10.2.3.2. Create a new template
6.3.10.2.3.3. Edit a template
6.3.10.2.3.4. Delete a template
6.4. Build a forum
6.4.1. Administrator
6.4.1.1. Set up the Forum portlet
6.4.1.1.1. Specify the category scoping
6.4.1.1.2. Enable/Disable Forum components
6.4.1.1.3. Enable/Disable a bookmarkable Forum URL
6.4.1.2. Manage categories
6.4.1.2.1. Add a new category
6.4.1.2.2. Edit a category
6.4.1.2.3. Delete a category
6.4.1.3. Manage forums
6.4.1.3.1. Add a new forum
6.4.1.3.2. Delete a forum
6.4.1.4. Manage users
6.4.1.4.1. Promote a user
6.4.1.4.2. Modify user's forum settings
6.4.1.4.3. Ban users
6.4.1.5. Administrative tasks
6.4.1.5.1. Set up Sort Settings
6.4.1.5.2. Define censored keywords
6.4.1.5.3. Customize an email notification template
6.4.1.5.4. Customize a BBCode
6.4.1.5.4.1. Add a new BBCode
6.4.1.5.4.2. Edit a BBCode
6.4.1.5.4.3. Delete a BBCode
6.4.1.5.4.4. Activate/Deactivate a BBCode
6.4.1.5.5. Set up auto-pruning
6.4.1.5.6. Create a topic type
6.4.1.5.7. Ban IPs
6.4.1.5.8. Back up a category & forum
6.4.1.5.8.1. Export a category
6.4.1.5.8.2. Export a forum
6.4.1.5.8.3. Import a category
6.4.1.5.8.4. Import a forum
6.4.2. Regular users
6.4.2.1. View details of the Forum application
6.4.2.2. Search
6.4.2.2.1. Quick search
6.4.2.2.2. Advanced search
6.4.2.3. Topics
6.4.2.3.1. Start a topic
6.4.2.3.1.1. Select a topic icon
6.4.2.3.1.2. Set the topic options
6.4.2.3.1.3. Set topic permissions
6.4.2.3.2. Edit a topic
6.4.2.3.3. Create a poll
6.4.2.3.4. Rate a topic
6.4.2.3.5. Tag/Untag a topic
6.4.2.4. Post
6.4.2.4.1. Post a quick reply
6.4.2.4.2. Post an advanced reply
6.4.2.4.3. Post a private reply
6.4.2.4.4. Reply with a quote
6.4.2.4.5. Edit your post
6.4.2.4.6. Delete your post
6.4.2.5. Use BBCodes
6.4.2.6. Public user profile
6.4.2.7. Private messages
6.4.2.7.1. Send a private message
6.4.2.7.2. Receive a private message
6.4.2.8. Bookmarks
6.4.2.8.1. Add a bookmark
6.4.2.8.2. View bookmarks
6.4.2.8.3. Delete a bookmark
6.4.2.9. Subscribe to RSS feeds
6.4.2.10. Watch
6.4.2.11. Permanent links
6.4.2.12. User settings
6.4.2.12.1. Edit your profile
6.4.2.12.2. Change forum settings
6.4.2.12.3. Edit your subscription
6.4.3. Moderator
6.4.3.1. Moderate forums
6.4.3.1.1. Edit a forum
6.4.3.1.2. Lock/Unlock a forum
6.4.3.1.3. Close/Open a forum
6.4.3.1.4. Move a forum
6.4.3.2. Moderate topics
6.4.3.2.1. Approve a topic
6.4.3.2.2. Edit a topic
6.4.3.2.3. Close/Open a topic
6.4.3.2.4. Move a topic
6.4.3.2.5. Delete a topic
6.4.3.2.6. Lock/Unlock a topic
6.4.3.2.7. Stick/Unstick a topic
6.4.3.2.8. Merge topics
6.4.3.2.9. Split a topic
6.4.3.3. Moderate posts
6.4.3.3.1. Approve a post
6.4.3.3.2. Delete a post
6.4.3.3.3. Move a post
6.4.3.3.4. Hide a post
6.4.3.3.5. Show a post
6.4.3.3.6. Uncensor a post
6.4.3.4. View all pending moderation tasks
6.4.3.5. Ban IPs
6.5. Build an Answers & FAQs system
6.5.1. Administrator
6.5.1.1. Set up the Answers portlet
6.5.1.1.1. Change the display mode
6.5.1.1.2. Customize the email notification template
6.5.1.1.3. Enable the "Discuss in Forum" feature
6.5.1.1.4. Define the default category for discussions
6.5.1.2. Set up the FAQ portlet
6.5.2. Moderator
6.5.2.1. Manage categories
6.5.2.1.1. Add a new category
6.5.2.1.2. Edit category properties
6.5.2.1.3. Delete a category
6.5.2.1.4. Move a category
6.5.2.1.5. Export/Import a category
6.5.2.2. Moderate questions
6.5.2.2.1. View all questions
6.5.2.2.2. Edit a question
6.5.2.2.3. Approve/Disapprove a question
6.5.2.2.4. Activate/Deactivate a question
6.5.2.2.5. Delete a question
6.5.2.2.6. Move a question
6.5.2.3. Moderate an answer
6.5.2.3.1. Approve/Disapprove an answer
6.5.2.3.2. Activate/Deactivate an answer
6.5.2.3.3. Delete an answer
6.5.2.3.4. Promote a comment as answer
6.5.3. Regular user
6.5.3.1. View details of Answers
6.5.3.2. Submit a question
6.5.3.3. Edit a question
6.5.3.4. Answer a question
6.5.3.5. Edit an answer
6.5.3.6. Comment on a question
6.5.3.7. Send a question to others
6.5.3.8. Discuss a question in forum
6.5.3.9. Rate a question
6.5.3.10. Vote for an answer
6.5.3.11. Watch/Unwatch a category
6.5.3.12. Subscribe to RSS feeds
6.5.3.13. Edit user settings
6.5.3.14. View public user profile
6.5.3.15. Search
6.5.3.15.1. Quick search
6.5.3.15.2. Advanced search
6.5.3.16. Print
7. Build Social Network
7.1. Manage your profile
7.1.1. Edit your information
7.1.2. Upload your profile avatar
7.1.3. Update your current position
7.2. Manage spaces
7.2.1. Create a space
7.2.2. Edit a space
7.2.2.1. Change space information
7.2.2.2. Change visibility
7.2.2.3. Manage members
7.2.2.3.1. Invite new members
7.2.2.3.2. Revoke your invitations
7.2.2.3.3. Validate/Decline request
7.2.2.3.4. Promote/Demote a member
7.2.2.3.5. Remove a member
7.2.2.4. Manage space applications
7.2.2.4.1. Add a new space application
7.2.2.4.2. Delete an application
7.2.2.5. Edit space navigation
7.2.3. Join/Leave a space
7.2.4. View details of a space
7.2.5. Delete a space
7.2.6. Search for spaces
7.2.7. Accept/Ignore invitations
7.3. Manage connections
7.3.1. Search for contacts
7.3.2. View profiles of other contacts
7.3.3. Send connection requests
7.3.4. Revoke a connection request
7.3.5. Accept/Deny a connection request
7.3.6. Disconnect from your contacts
7.4. Follow activities in your organization
7.4.1. Update status
7.4.2. Share a link
7.4.3. Share a file
7.4.4. Delete activities/comments
7.4.5. Comment on activities
7.4.6. Like/Unlike activities
7.4.7. Create rich activities with allowed HTML tags

About this guide

The intended readers of this document are users using eXo Platform. This user guide explains all the basic and advanced features of eXo Platform by providing a series of in-depth examples and clear explanations which help users easily benefit from the eXo Platform capabilities and features.

This documentation is divided into the following chapters:

  • Get Started gives you a list of glossaries commonly used in applications of eXo Platform, interface of eXo Platform 3.5, and how to manage your accounts and language.

  • Manage Your Organization shows you how to manage users, groups and memberships in eXo Platform.

  • Manage Your Portals is a collection of a portal-based actions, allowing you to manage permissions, sites/portals, navigation nodes, pages and applications.

  • Organize Your Content gives you how to structure your content, manage content, newsletters and workflows.

  • Collaborate With Your Colleagues shows you actions to enhance communication and collaboration through emails, address books, chat and calendars.

  • Organize Your Knowledge shows you how to build wikis, forums, and FAQs.

  • Build Social Network covers actions on managing your profiles and spaces, building networks and following activities in your network.

Chapter 1. Get Started

eXo Platform is a full-featured application for users to have many experiences in building and deploying transactional websites, authoring web and social content, creating gadgets and dashboards with reliable capabilities of collaboration and knowledge.

This chapter covers the following topics:

  • Glossary provides terms which are commonly used in eXo Platform applications.

  • eXo Platform 3.5 interface introduces the default page of eXo Platform 3.5, and ways to enter the sample portals built in eXo Platform 3.5 before using functions.

  • Manage accounts gives you how to register new accounts, sign in and out, change account settings, and retrieve your account and password.

  • Manage language includes procedures on how to change the display language permanently and for another users.

Note

Some accounts will not include all features stated in this guide due to limitations of user role. Check with your administrator to assure which features are enabled for your account or ask for more appropriate rights.

This section provides a number of terms that you will encounter when implementing eXo Platform.

Portal

A web-based environment which is used for aggregating and personalizing information via specific applications with an interactive and consistent look and feel. Users and administrators are able to integrate information, people and processes via a web-based user interface.

Portlet

An applicative component pluggable to a portal through which users can access some specific information, including supports, updates, or mini-applications. The portlet produces fragments of a markup code that are aggregated into a portal page. Typically, a portal page is displayed as a non-overlapping portlet windows collection, where each portlet window displays a portlet. Content generated by a portlet can be customized, depending on the configuration set by each user. Portlets can be divided into two following types:

Navigation

A node tree (so-called menus) which contains hyperlinks to other parts of a portal. The default navigation menus in eXo Platform are located in the Administration bar with the following navigation types:

Gadget

A mini web application which is run on a platform and can be integrated and customized in the website. You can add these gadgets to your dashboards by yourself.

Modes

eXo Platform offers two access modes by default:

Permission

Permission settings control actions of a user within the portal and are set by the portal administrators.

Repository

A locus where content or digital data are maintained. Users can access without traveling across a network.

Drive

A shortcut to a specific location in the content repository that enables administrators to limit visibility of each workspace for groups of users. It is also a simple way to hide the complexity of the content storage by showing only the structure that is helpful for business users.

In details, a drive consists of:

Node

An abstract unit used to build linked data structures, such as linked lists and trees, and computer-based representation of graphs. Nodes contain data and/or links to another nodes. Links between nodes are often implemented by pointers or references.

Also, a node can be defined as a logical placeholder for data. It is a memory block which contains some data units, and optionally a reference to some other data. By linking one node with other interlinked nodes, very large and complex data structure can be formed.

WebDAV

This term stands for Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning. In eXo Platform, it is used as a mean to access the content repository directly from the Sites Explorer.

Postcast

An audio file which you can download and listen to on your device, such as a computer, or a MP3 player.

File Plan

A type of document which is used for planning the primary records management. Although file plans can differ across organizations, their typical functions are to:

Symlink

A special file which contains a reference to a document or a folder. By using symlinks, you can easily access specific nodes (target) to which symlinks point. In Sites Explorer, a symlink has a small chain symbol next to its icon.

After starting eXo Platform 3.5 successfully, open a browser window and enter the URL provided by your administrator, for example, http://mycompany.com:8080/portal/default.

You will be directed to the default page of eXo Platform 3.5.

Here, you have an overview of eXo Platform through default content displayed in this page. With eXo Platform, you can do almost everything, especially building social intranets and websites. From the default interface of eXo Platform 3.5, you are provided with two sample portals of a fictitious company named "ACME" where you can discover key features and customizability of eXo Platform. Therefore, before doing any actions, you first need to go to either of the provided portals (ACME website or ACME social intranet) by clicking one of the following links:

  • At the top of the default page's body:

  • Or, at the bottom of default page's body:

Note

There are also direct links to login as regular users or superusers in the sample portals.

As a guest user, you can visit eXo Platform but are limited to a lot of content and applications. To access more content or perform some actions in various applications, you first need to register by yourself and contact the portal administrator to gain certain permissions.

  1. Click Register on the top of the portal if you are in the ACME sample site.

    If you are in the ACME Social intranet, click Register at the bottom of the portal.

    The Create a New Account form appears as below:

    Details:

    Table 1.1. 

    Field Description
    Asterisk (*) This mark next to each field indicates that it is required to input values in this field.
    Username The name used to log in. The username must be:

    • Lowercase (a - z), digit (0 - 9), underscore (_), and dot (.) characters, but consecutive underscore (_) and dot (.) are not allowed.

    • From 3 to 30 characters in length.

    • Lowercase for its first character.

    • Lowercase or digit for its last character.

    Password The authentication string which must be between 6 and 30 characters, including spaces.
    Confirm Password Retype the password above. Values in both Password and Confirm Password fields must be the same.
    First Name The user's first name which must start with a character. Its length must be between 1 and 45 characters.
    Last Name The user's last name which must start with a character. Its length must be between 1 and 45 characters.
    Email Address

    The user's email address that must be in the correct form, such as username@abc.com.

    There are two parts in the email address, called local part and domain (for example, local_part@domain):

    • Local part: Only lowercase (a - z), digit (0 - 9), underscore (_), dash (-) and dot (.) characters are allowed, and the first and last characters of this part must be lowercase or digit ones.

    • Domain: Only lowercase (a - z), digit (0 - 9), dash (-) and dot (.) characters are allowed, and the first and last characters of this part must be lowercase or digit ones. Note that the dot (.) character is required.

    Text Validation The text to verify your registration.

  2. Fill values into fields.

  3. Click Subscribe to accept your new account, or Reset to clear all your entered values. If your registration is not successful, there will be warning messages which indicate invalid fields.

Note

Be sure you enter your email address carefully. Should you forget your username or password, you can recover it from this email address.

Sign in a portal

To enter the portal in the private mode, you just need to use your registered account. In eXo Platform 3.5, you can sign in the portal via two ways:

The first way

The second way

  1. Click the Login link to open the Sign in form.

  2. Input your registered Username and Password in the Sign in form.

  3. Select the Remember My Login checkbox for the first time if you want to automatically return to this portal without signing in again. This feature enables you to be automatically authenticated to avoid doing an explicit authentication when you access the portal.

  4. Click Sign in to submit the form, or Discard to quit.

Note

After selecting Remember My Login, if you do not sign out when you leave the portal, you will be automatically authenticated for your next visit.

Sign out a portal

This feature ends your authenticated session and returns you to the anonymous portal. To sign out, simply hover your cursor over your display name at the top right corner of the site, then select Logout from the drop-down menu.

To change your account information, hover your cursor over the account name at the top right corner of the site and click My Account from the drop-down menu.

The Account Profiles form appears.

Change your profile information

  1. Select the Account Profiles tab.

  2. Change your First Name, Last Name, Email. Your Username cannot be changed.

  3. Click Save to submit your changes.

Note

The email address changed must be in the valid format. See details about the Email Address format here.

Change your password

  1. Select the Change Password tab to go to the following form.

  2. Input your current password to identify that you are the owner of this account.

  3. Input your new password which must have at least 6 characters.

  4. Re-enter your password in the Confirm New Password field.

  5. Click Save to accept your changes.

Note

If the default accounts' passwords have been changed, you can no longer sign in the portal by clicking the default accounts directly as stated in the first way.

In case you forget your account or password, you can recover your username or password as follows:

  1. Click the 'Forgot your Username/Password?' link beneath the Password field when signing in.

    There will be two options for you to select.

  2. Select the appropriate option, then click Next.

    You will be prompted to provide identification information, depending on your choice.

  3. Enter your Username/Email in the form above.

  4. Click Send to submit your entered values.

In eXo Platform, the priority order of the display language decreases to the arrow direction from left to right:

User's language --> Cookies' language --> Session's language --> Browser's language --> Portal's language

It means that the language set by the user will be at the highest level, and the portal's language at the lowest level.

Accordingly, you should pay attention to this order when selecting your preferred display language.

Note

At present, eXo Platform only supports two languages: English and French.

eXo Platform supports 3 ways to change the display language permanently.

The first way

1. Hover your cursor over My Sites on the Administration bar and select your desired site where you want to change the display language. The currently selected site is marked with .

You will be directed to your selected site.

2. Hover your cursor over Edit, then select Site --> Layout from the drop-down menu.

Your selected site will be displayed in the Edit mode.

3. Click in the Edit Inline Composer form. The Site Settings form appears.

4. Change the display language of your site by selecting another language from the Locale field in the Portal Settings tab.

5. Click Save, then click to save all changes.

The second way

1. Hover your cursor over , then select Portal --> Sites.

The list of all existing portals will be displayed as below.

2. Select Edit Layout corresponding to the portal/site you want to edit.

The selected portal will be displayed as in the Edit mode.

3. Change the display language that is similar as steps in the first way (Steps 3, 4 and 5).

The third way

This way is only used to set the display language for yourself, not for displaying the language of portal.

1. Hover your cursor over your account name at the top right corner of the site, then select Change Language from the drop-down menu.

The Interface Language Settings form will be displayed with the list of all supported languages. The currently used language is marked with .

2. Select your desired language.

3. Click Apply and wait for a few seconds to take effect.

Note

The display language will be maintained permanently until you change another display language.

By this way, you can change not only your display language but also the display language of another users if you have the right to access the Organization portlet.

1. Hover your cursor over , then select Users --> Group and Roles from the drop-down menu to open the User Management form.

2. Click corresponding to the user with the display language you want to change.

3. Select the User Profile sub-tab, then change the display language for this user from the Language field.

4. Click Save to accept your changes.

Chapter 2. Manage Your Organization

This chapter covers the following topics:

  1. Click Add Users from the drop-down menu.

    The Create New Account window will open with two tabs: Account Settings and User Profile.

  2. Fill all fields in the Account Settings tab which must be completed. For more details on these fields, see here.

    Further information about the user, such as nickname, or birthday, can be added in the User Profile tab that is not required.

  3. Click Save to accept your new account. If you want to refresh the input information, simply click Reset.

By clicking Groups And Roles, you will see the Organization form which allows you to manage users, groups and memberships.

As an administrator, you can easily find, edit information of users, and even remove them from the system via the User Management tab. By default, all registered users will be shown in this tab.

Via the User Management tab, you also can define each user belonging to user groups and his memberships (roles) in these groups. You cannot add users to a group but can remove them from the group.

You can search for specific users by username, first name, last name or email address.

  1. Type the search term related to the user you want to search. You do not need to enter an exact term.

  2. Select the information type you want to search against.

  3. Click , or hit the Enter key to perform your search.

  1. Locate the user you want to edit his information.

  2. Click corresponding to the user with the information you want to edit.

  3. Select the Account Info tab to edit main information of the user, including First Name, Last Name, or Email Address.

    Username

    The Username cannot be changed.

    Change Password

    The Change Password option allows an administrator to set a new password for the selected user. When the Change Password option is unchecked, New Password and Confirm Password are hidden. Passwords must contain at least 6 characters, including letters, numbers and punctuation marks.

    For more details on these fields, see here.

  4. Select the User Profile tab to edit the personal information of the selected user, including Profile, Home and Business. You may also switch the default display language for that user by selecting another language from the Language field where all available languages are displayed in the alphabetical order.

  5. Select the User Membership tab to see the group membership information of the user.

    The User Membership tab displays which groups the selected user belongs to.

    To remove the user from a group, click .

  6. Click Save to accept your changes.

  1. Locate the user you wish to delete.

  2. Click corresponding to the user you want to delete in the main User Management form.

  3. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

Select the Group Management tab in the Organization form. This tab is used to add, edit or delete a group. You can also add or delete a user to a group and edit the user membership in the group.

By default, all existing groups will be displayed on the left pane. The right pane shows information of the selected group and of its members with the Add Member form.

  1. Select the path to create a new group by clicking the group from the left pane or by clicking if you want to create a group at a higher level. The selected path is displayed in the breadcrumb bar.

  2. Click in the left pane.

    The Add Group form will be displayed in the right pane.

    Details:

    Table 2.1. 

    Field Description
    Group Name Name of the group that is required and unique within the portal with its length from 3 to 30 characters. Only letters, numbers and underscore characters are allowed for the Group Name field.
    Label The display name of the group with any length from 3 to 50 characters.
    Description A description of the group with any length from 0 to 255 characters.

  3. Fill in the required fields. Once being saved, the Group Name cannot be edited.

  4. Click Save to accept creating the new group.

Note

The creator will automatically become the manager of that group. The creator's username will be added to the created group with the "manager" membership.

  1. Click the group you want to edit in the left pane.

  2. Click in the left pane to show the Edit Current Group form of the selected group.

  3. Make changes on the fields, except Group Name.

  4. Click Save to accept your changes.

  1. Click the group you want to delete in the left pane.

  2. Click in the row of the membership type you want to delete.

  3. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

Note

After being deleted, all information related to that group, such as users and navigation, is also deleted. You cannot delete the mandatory groups, including Platform, Platform/Administration, Platform/Guests, Platform/Visitors.

  1. Select the group to which you want to add a new user in the left pane.

  2. Enter the exact Username of the user that you want to add to the selected group (you can add many usernames separated by commas);

    Or, enter at least one character if you are not sure about the exact spelling and do the further followings:

    i. Click to search by your entered characters.

    After you have clicked , there will be a list of all existing users whose Usernames include the entered characters. For example, if you enter 'o', you will get the following result.

    ii. Select the checkboxes corresponding to users you want to add to the group.

    After clicking Add, you will see the complete Usernames in the Add Member form.

  3. Select the membership for the users from the Membership list. You can click to update the memberships list in case of any changes.

  4. Click Save to accept adding the selected users to the specific group with the specified membership type.

Note

By default, the "manager" membership has the highest right in a group. A user can have several membership types in a group. To do that, you have to use the Add Member form for each membership type. The user's membership information is hereafter updated. You can check it by opening the User Management form and editing the user you just added.

  1. Click corresponding to a specific user with a membership in the Action column in the right pane.

  2. Change the membership of the selected user by selecting another value in the Membership list.

  3. Click Save to complete your changes.

The role of a user in a specific group is managed by using the Membership Management tab.

By default, eight membership types available in eXo Platform include Member, Author, Editor, Manager, Redactor, Validator, Webdesigner, and Publisher. The "Manager" has the highest right in a group.

  1. Enter values into the fields of the Add/Edit Membership form. The Membership Name field is required, and only letters, digits, dots, dashes and underscores are allowed without ANY SPACES.

  2. Click Save to accept adding a new membership, or Reset to clear entered values.

  1. Click corresponding to the membership type you want to edit in the Action column. Information about the selected membership type will be updated automatically in the Add/Edit Membership form.

  2. Make your desired changes on the Description field. You cannot change the Membership Name.

  3. Click Save to accept your changes.

  1. Click in the Action column.

  2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

Chapter 3. Manage Your Portals

This chapter covers the following topics:

  • Manage permissions instructs you how to set permissions on a portal, page, category and portlet.

  • Manage sites gives steps on how to create/edit/delete a portal, and how to switch between various portals.

  • Manage navigation nodes includes actions which can be done on a navigation, such as adding/editing/copying/pasting/cloning/cutting/deleting a node, or changing the node orders.

  • Manage pages provides you step-by-step instructions to create a new page by using Page Creation Wizard or Page Manager, to edit/delete a page and to manage types of page navigations.

  • Manage applications represents actions which can be done on applications inside a portal and a Desktop.

Permissions play an important role in accessing and performing actions in eXo Platform. Depending on these permissions assigned by an administrator, users can gain access to various components and another actions, such as editing portals, pages, or portlets.

Details about permission types and levels can also be found in the Permission section.

You can set the portal permissions (Access permission and Edit permission) for a specific user via the Permission Settings tab.

The Permission Settings tab can be opened in some various ways, depending on the following approaches.

For new portals:

  1. Hover your cursor over in the Administration bar, then click Portal --> Sites.

  2. Select the Add New Portal button to open the Create New Portal form.

  3. Click the Permission Settings tab.

For existing portals:

The first way

  1. Hover your cursor over in the Administration bar, then click Portal --> Sites.

  2. Select Edit Portal's Config --> Permission Settings tab.

The second way

  1. Hover your cursor over My Sites on the Administration bar, then select your desired portal from the drop-down menu.

  2. Select Edit --> Site --> Layout on the Administration bar.

  3. Click Site's Config in the Edit Inline Composer window, then select the Permission Settings tab.

Note

To access a portal, you must belong to one of the groups that have the Access permission to that portal.

After entering into the Permission Settings tab, you first need to select the Access Permission Settings sub-tab to set the access permissions on a portal.

  • If you want to assign the Access permission to users in the public mode (without signing in), simply select the Make it public (everyone can assess) checkbox.

  • If you do not want everyone to access the portal, first deselect the Make it public (everyone can access) checkbox, and do the followings:

    1. Click the Add Permission button to open the Select Permission form.

    2. Select one group in the left pane, and one membership type in the right pane. In the list of membership types, the asterisk (*) means that any membership types of the selected group are allowed.

    3. Click Save to finish your settings.

  • After you have selected a membership type, the selected permission is displayed in the Access permission list.

  • You can select only one group with one membership type at each time. If you want to add more, click the Add Permission button and select again.

Note

Only members under the Editor group can edit that portal. Access rights can be given to several groups but edit rights can only be given to a group with a membership type. To assign the Edit permission to a user, you must add him/her to the editors group of the relevant portal.

After entering into the Permission Settings tab, you first need to select the Edit Permission Settings sub-tab to set the Edit permissions on a portal and do the followings:

  1. Click the Select Permission button to open the Permission Selector form.

  2. Select one group in the left pane and one membership type in the right pane. You can select * if you want to assign all available membership types to the selected group.

  3. Click Save to finish your settings.

To set permissions on a page, you first need to go to the Permission Settings tab via different ways:

Via Edit Page:

  1. Hover your cursor over My Sites on the Administration bar, then select the page you want to configure from the drop-down menu.

    You will be directed to your selected site.

  2. Continue hovering your cursor over Edit on the Administration bar, then select Page --> Layout from the drop-down menu.

  3. Click View Page Properties in the Page Editor window.

  4. Select the Permission Settings tab.

Via Page Management:

  1. Hover your cursor over on the Administration bar, and select Portal --> Pages to open the Pages Management page.

  2. Locate the page you want to edit using the Page Id column, then click corresponding the page in the Action column. You will be taken to the Page Editor window.

  3. Select the Permission Settings tab.

Note

To be able to access a page, you have to be in one of the groups that have the Access permission to that page.

To assign the Access permission on a page, simply follow steps as stated in the Access permission section.

Note

Only users under the page's editors group can edit it. The Access permission can be set for several groups but the Edit permission only can be set for one group.

To give users the Edit permission, you must add them to the editors group of that page via Permission Settings and follow steps as stated in the Edit permission section.

Setting the Access permission on categories allows these categories to be listed when a page is edited to add portlets or widgets.

  1. Hover your cursor over in the Administration bar, then select Applications from the drop-down menu to open the Manage Applications page.

  2. Select one category from the list of available categories in the left pane, then click .

  3. Select the Permission Settings tab.

  4. Set the Access permission on a category that is similar to the Access permission section.

  1. Go to the Manage Applications page.

  2. Select the category containing the portlet you want to set the Access permission, then click the relevant portlet under your selected category.

    The selected portlet will be highlighted in grey in the left pane with its detailed information in the right pane.

  3. Follow steps stated in the Access permission section to assign access permission on your selected portlet in the Default Permission Settings form.

You can perform this action only when you are a member of the /platform/administrators group.

  1. Open the Create New Portal window by following one of the two ways:

    The first way

    Hover your cursor over Edit --> Site on the Administration bar, then select Add site from the drop-down menu.

    The second way

    i. Hover your cursor over on the Administration bar, then select Portal --> Sites from the drop-down menu.

    ii. Click the Add New Portal button.

    By default, the Create New Portal window, which contains the Portal Settings tab, will open.

  2. Enter a string into the Portal Name field. This field is required and must be unique. Only alphabetical, numerical and underscore characters are allowed for this field with the length from 3 to 30 characters.

  3. Select the default display language for the portal from the Locale field.

  4. Click the Properties tab to set the properties of a portal.

    Details:

    Table 3.1. 

    Field Description
    Keep session alive Keep the working session for a long time to avoid the time-out. There are 3 options:

    Never: The session will time out if the logged-in user does not do any action after a given period. In this case, there will be a message which asks the user to log in again.

    On Demand: The session will time out to the application's requirement. If there is no request from the application, the session will time out after the given period that is similar to that of Never.

    Always: The session will never time out even if the logged-in user does not do any action after a long time.

    Show info bar by default Tick the checkbox to show the info bar of the porlet by default when the portlet is used in a page of the portal.

    The "Show info bar by default" option only takes effect on new porlets as from the time you select the checkbox rather than all portlets of the portal. In particular, after creating your new portal with the "Show info bar by default" option checked, newly created portlets of the portal will be displayed with the info bar by default. However, if you deselect the "Show info bar by default" option when editing the portal's configuration, the former portlets with the shown info bars are remained; meanwhile new portlets, which are created after this option is deselected, will be shown without the info bars.


  5. Click the Permission Settings tab to set permissions on the portal.

    The list of Access permissions for the portal is empty by default. You have to select at least one or tick the Make it public (everyone can access) checkbox to assign the Access permission to everyone.

    Note

    For more details on how to grant permissions on the portal, see the Set permissions on a portal section.

  6. Click the Portal Templates tab to select the template for your portal.

  7. Click Save to accept creating your new portal.

This function enables you to select and use another portals (gateway, starting site). You can perform this action only when you are assigned the appropriate permission by the administrators.

To switch between portals, hover your cursor over My Sites on the Administration bar for a list of all portals in which you have at least access rights, then click the desired portal. You need to wait a few seconds to be switched to your selected portal.

Note

The function allows you to edit layouts, navigations and properties of a portal. To do this, you must have the Edit permission by contacting your administrator.

When you have the Edit permission, follow either of two ways below to go to the relevant form that allows you to do actions related to editing a portal.

The first way

  1. Hover your cursor over My Sites on the Administration bar and select the portal you want to edit from the drop-down menu.

    You will be switched to your selected portal just after a few seconds.

  2. Hover your cursor over Edit on the Administration bar to open the drop-down menu.

    i. Select Site --> Layout.

    You will be directed to the Edit Portal page. From here, you can make changes on the layout of your selected portal, or on its configurations by selecting Site's Config at the bottom of the Edit Inline Composer form.

    ii. Select Site --> Navigation.

    From here, you can edit your selected portal's navigation.

The second way

  1. Hover your cursor over to open the drop-down menu.

  2. Select Portal --> Sites to show the list of active portals.

  3. Specify your desired portal, and do the following actions:

To edit your selected portal's layout, your first need to follow one of ways above to open the Edit Layout form.

New applications, containers or gadgets can be dragged and dropped from the Edit Inline Composer window to the main portal body.

You can rearrange elements in the portal body by dragging and dropping them into your desired positions. Also, you can edit or remove any element by hovering your cursor over it and selecting , or respectively.

Note

For more details on how to edit elements, see the Edit a specific portlet section.

To edit your selected's navigation, your first need to follow one of ways above to open the Edit Navigation form.

The Navigation Management form appears.

Note

For more information about actions, which can be done in the Navigation Management form, see the Manage navigation nodes section.

Configurations of a portal include settings, properties and permissions that can be set by following one of ways above to open the Edit Configurations window.

In this window, you can make changes on fields in the various tabs, except the Portal Name in the Portal Settings tab.

Note

For more details on these fields, refer to the Create a new portal section.

Note

To delete a portal, you must be in the group that has the Edit Permission on that portal.

  1. Open the list of existing portals by following steps as stated in the second way.

  2. Click Delete corresponding to the portal you want to delete.

  3. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

The accessibility subject is quite vast, but we have some guidelines like WCAG 2.0 (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) and also the RGAA for the French Administration. eXo Platform has been improved to be compliant with these rules. eXo Platform has priority in providing users with a way to create an accessible site and accessible contents regardless of their roles, by using the "Sample Accessible Website" template. This site is accessible without JavaScript enabled on the browser.

To check the compliance of this template, the following tools are used:

Create an accessible site

To create an accessible site, simply follow steps described in the Create a new portal section. Next, in the Portal Templates tab, select Sample Accessible Website from the templates list.

Access an accessible site

After creating the accessible site, you can access the site by hovering your cursor over My Sites on the Administration bar, then selecting the newly created accessible portal from the drop-down menu.

The homepage of the accessible portal appears as below.

Features of an accessible portal

The accessible portal provides you with some following features:

  • Skip to content : Allow you to ignore navigation links, banner, or redundant information, and directly go to the main content of a page.

  • Site map : Show a list of pages of the current template.

  • Accessibility : Allow you to access a specific page about the accessibility policy. It explains what the accessibility is, how to navigate into the site, and describes the available features of the accessible portal.

  • Font size : Allow you to select your desired font size, including Normal, Medium, and Large sizes. The default size is Normal.

  • Color themes : Allow you to change the skin color of the website into High Contrast, or return to the default skin with Normal Contrast.

  • Search : Allow you to search for accessible content in the website.

  • Breadcrumb : Allow you to ease and keep a consistent navigation. With the breadcrumb, you can easily navigate in an accessible website.

  • Navigation without JavaScript: One of the successful criteria of a website is to have accessible links and menu before the content when it is displayed like a screen reader. If JavaScript is disabled, you are still able to navigate, and the menu is expanded by default in this case.

If you are the portal administrator or granted the appropriate permission privileges by the portal administrator, you can execute some special actions related to portal nodes, including copying, editing, cutting, cloning, deleting, adding existing nodes. To do so, you first need to go to the nodes list by following steps described in the Edit navigation section, then right-clicking your desired node to open the drop-down menu.

  1. Select Add New Node to create a node as a sub-node of the selected node.

    The Add/Edit Page Node form appears.

  2. Enter values in the Page Node Settings tab.

    Details:

    Table 3.2. 

    Field Description
    Asterisk (*) This mark next to each field means that it is required to enter values in the field.
    Uri An identification of the node that is auto-created after the new node has been created.
    Node Name The node name which must be unique. Only alphabetic, numeric and underscore characters are allowed with its length from 3 to 30 characters and without ANY SPACES.
    Extended Label Mode Tick this checkbox to activate the extended label mode for your page node's label. If this checkbox is deselected, the Language field will disappear.
    Language Select your desired language for the node label from the drop-down menu.
    Label The display name of the node on the screen in the selected language. This field is not required and may be changed. Its length must be between 3 and 120 characters, including SPACES. For example, if you want to create a French label for your node, first select the Extended Label Mode checkbox. Next, from the Language drop-down list, select your desired language and enter your French label into the Label field.
    Visible This checkbox enables the page and its node to be shown or hidden at the navigation bar and sitemap.
    Publication Date & Time This option enables this node to be published for a given period. Two fields, including Start Publication Date and End Publication Date only display when this option is checked.
    Start Publication Date The start date and time to publish the node.
    End Publication Date The end date and time to publish the node.

    Note

    You can set date and time by clicking Start Publication Date and End Publication Date and selecting a date from the calendar pop-up.

  3. Select a page for this node in the Page Selector tab if you want.

    Details:

    Table 3.3. 

    Field Description
    Page Id The identification string of the page which is created automatically.
    Name The selected page's name.
    Title The selected page's title.
    Clear Page Remove the inputted page information from fields.
    Create Page Create a new page with the inputted name and the title.
    Search and Select Page Search and select an existing page.

  4. Select one icon in the Icon tab if you want.

  5. Click Save to accept the new node page, or X to close the form.

Note

To select a page, you must be a member in the Access Permission or Edit Permission list of the selected pages. When the page type is 'User', you cannot select a page of another users.

If you do not have the Access permission for any page in the list, please contact your administrator to get appropriate permissions.

This function is used to edit the node settings and reselect a page for a node.

  1. Select Edit this Node from the drop-down menu to open the form with all similar fields when you add a new node.

  2. Change values in fields of the current node, except the Node Name.

  3. Click Save to complete your changes.

These functions are used to reproduce a node in another place.

  1. Select Copy Node from the drop-down menu.

  2. Right-click the position you want to paste this node and select Paste Node.

  3. Click Save to accept your changes.

Note

Two same node names in the same place are NOT allowed.

The Clone Node function allows you to copy a node. The difference between cloning and copying a node is that the cloned node has its own page with the same content as the selected node. Therefore, there will be a new page that has the same name as the cloned node's page shown in the pages list when you access the Pages Management page.

  1. Select Clone Node from the drop-down menu.

  2. Right-click the position that you want to paste this node and select Paste Node.

    The cloned node will be reproduced in a new place.

  3. Click Save to accept your changes.

This function enables you to change the position of a specific node, such as changing the page path.

  1. Select Cut Node from the drop-down menu.

  2. Select the position that you want to paste this node, then click Paste Node.

  3. Click Save to accept your change.

    The cut node will be moved to your newly selected place.

Note

Two same node names in the same place are not allowed.

This function is used to remove a node linking to a page. After the node has been removed, the page has been still existing.

  1. Select Delete Node from the drop-down menu.

  2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

  3. Click Save to accept your change.

You can easily move the position of nodes up or down in the navigation bar following these steps:

  1. Select Move Up or Move Down from the drop-down menu.

  2. Click Save to accept your changes.

The Page Creation Wizard is available to the portal's administrators and facilitates them to create and publish portal pages quickly and easily. The whole process to create a new page can be divided into 3 specific steps:

Select a navigation node and create the page

In the first step, you have to set Node Name and Display Name of your page. You are also able to decide the pages visibility and the publication period of the page.

  1. Hover your cursor over My Sites and click one portal/site to which you want to add a new page from the drop-down menu.

    You will be switched to your selected portal only after a few seconds.

  2. Hover your cursor over Edit on the Administration bar.

  3. Select Page --> Add Page from the drop-down menu to open the Page Creation Wizard form.

    The wizard is divided into two sections.

    Details:

    Table 3.4. 

    Field Description
    Selected Page Node The path of the selected node to add a new sub-page.
    Node Name The node name of the added page. This field is required with its length between 3 and 30 characters.
    Extended Label Mode Tick the checkbox to show the Language field for you to select another language for your created node's display name. It means that if this checkbox is deselected, the Language field will be deactivated.
    Language Select your desired language for the node's display name from the drop-down menu.
    Display Name The display name of the node which contains the added page and must have a length between 3 and 120 characters.
    Visible

    This checkbox toggles the global visibility of this page.

    If this option is checked, the page or the page node appears on the navigation bar, the page navigation and the sitemap. If "Visible" is checked, the visibility also depends on the Publication Date & Time option.

    If not being unchecked, the page is hidden under any circumstances, even if the publication period is valid.

    Publication Date & Time This option allows the page to be published for a given period. If this option is checked, Start Publication Date and End Publication Date will be shown.
    Start Publication Date The start date and time to publish the page.
    End Publication Date The end date and time to publish the page.

  4. Click Next or number '2' of the wizard steps to go to Step 2.

Select a page layout template

  1. Select Empty Layout or click the down-arrow icon in the right pane to see more templates.

  2. Click Next or number '3' of the wizard steps to go to the last step.

Arrange the page layout

In this step, you can arrange the page's layout as follows:

Note

Click in the Page Editor window to save all changes, or to close without saving your changes.

  1. Hover your cursor over to open the drop-down menu.

  2. Select Portal --> Pages to go to the Pages Management page.

  3. Click Add New Page to open the Add New Page form with the Page Settings tab.

    Details:

    Table 3.6. 

    Field Description
    Page Id The page's identification string which will be automatically generated when the page is created.
    Owner Type

    • If Owner Type is "portal", the page is created for a portal. Therefore, only users who have the Edit permission on the portal can create this page type.

    • If Owner Type is "group", the page is created for a group. Therefore, only users who are the manager of that group can create this page type.

    Owner Id The identification name of the page's owner which will be automatically created after you have selected Owner Type.

    • When the owner type is set to "group", a list of groups will allow you to select one user as the 'owner'.

    • The name of the current portal is automatically selected for Owner Id, ensuring the Edit permission is assigned to users who can edit the current portal.

    Page Name The page name which is required and must be unique. Only alphabetical, numerical and underscore characters are allowed with its length from 3 to 30 characters.
    Page Title The page title which is optional with its length from 3 to 30 characters.
    Show Max Window The option enables the page to be shown at the maximum size or not.

  4. Define the page layout in the Page Layout template.

  5. Define permissions in the Permission Settings tab. This tab consists of two sub-tabs named Access Permission Settings and Edit Permission Settings.

  6. Click Save to accept creating a new page.

  1. Open the Page Properties page by following one of the two ways:

    The first way

    i. Open the Navigation Management form by doing the steps in the Edit navigation section.

    ii. Right-click your desired node and select Edit Node's Page from the drop-down menu.

    The second way

    i. Hover your cursor over and select Portal --> Pages to open the Pages Management page.

    ii. Click corresponding to the page you want to edit.

    The Edit Page form will be displayed in the Page Properties window.

  2. Click View Page Properties in the Page Editor window to edit page properties.

    i. In the Page Settings tab, you cannot change values in Page Id, Owner Type, Owner Id, and Page Name.

    ii. In the Permission Settings tab, you can change or add more Access and Edit permissions. This form is only supported for pages of a group or a portal. Because the user's page is private, noone can access or edit it, except the creator.

    Note

    For more details on how to assign permissions on a page, refer to the Set permissions on a page section.

  3. Click Save, then select in Page Editor for all changes to take effect, or to abort.

  1. Hover your cursor over and select Portal --> Pages to open the Pages Management page. You will see a list of all existing pages.

  2. Click in the row of the page you want to delete.

  3. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

Navigation types in eXo Platform are outlined in the Manage navigation nodes.

The /platform/administrators group can do actions related to the page navigation of a portal, including adding/deleting portals, editing the layout/navigation/portal configuration.

Note

The page navigation of portal is created automatically when a portal is created.

The navigation will be deleted automatically after its portal has been deleted.

Actions related to the page navigation of users include adding a new page, editing a page/page layout. These actions are based on permission settings set to a page.

Note

The page navigation of a user will be created automatically when the user is created (registered).

Only the user who is the owner of the user page navigation can edit it.

No one can create a user page navigation so that no one can delete it. The navigation will be deleted automatically when its user is deleted.

Each group has only one page navigation. Only managers of the navigation group and users of the administrators group can add/list/edit/delete the navigation or edit properties.

To manage the group's page navigation, hover your cursor over on the Administration bar, then select Portal --> Group Sites from the drop-down menu.

The Group Navigation Management page will appear.

Here, you can do many actions, including:

Click Edit Navigation corresponding to the group navigation you want to edit. The Navigation Management form will appear.

In this form, you can edit the group's page navigation through doing many actions, such as adding a new node to this group, cloning, moving up/down, and more. To learn more about specific actions, refer to the Manage navigation nodes section.

Note

Only users who are "managers" of a group can create new pages for that group, while others in this group cannot.

  1. Select Add Navigation at the bottom of the Group Navigation form. The groups list will be displayed with the Add Navigation buttons.

  2. Click Add Navigation corresponding to the group you want to add the new page navigation.

    After being added, the new group navigation will be displayed in the Group Navigation page.

Each group has only one navigation. If you add a new group navigation that has been existing, there will be a message, informing that you cannot create the navigation.

This function is to change the priority of a navigation. Only users who have the right can take this action.

  1. Click Edit Properties corresponding to the navigation you want to edit.

    The Page Navigation Form will appear.

  2. Select another priority from the list of available priorities.

  3. Click Save to accept changes.

This function is used to delete the existing navigation. It is only supported for the group navigation. A user navigation or a portal navigation will be automatically deleted when the user or portal is deleted respectively.

  1. Click Delete Navigation corresponding to the navigation you want to delete.

  2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

After the navigation deletion has been confirmed, the selected navigation will be removed from the Group Navigation page and its nodes/hyperlinks to pages will also be deleted.

In eXo Platform, applications can be managed inside a portal or inside Desktop.

To manage portlets and gadgets in a portal, you first need to hover your cursor over on the Administration bar, and select Applications. The Manage Applications page will appear.

Portlets and gadgets are organized into different categories. Each category contains one or several portlets or gadgets. You can also mix portlets and gadgets into one category. By default, all gadgets are placed in the Gadgets category.

Here, you can manage portlets and gadgets through the following actions:

This feature enables you to import default portlets and gadgets into different categories as follows:

  1. Click at the right corner on the Action bar.

  2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept importing portlets and gadgets automatically.

    All portlets and gadgets of all categories will be imported and listed on the left pane.

To view details of a portlet/gadget, simply select one portlet/gadget in the left pane. The details of that portlet will be shown on the right pane.

Left pane

All portlets and gadgets grouped by categories.

Right pane

Details of a portlet: Name, Display Name, Description.

Edit a portlet

  1. Click on the top corner of right pane.

    The Edit Application Information form will appear.

  2. Make changes on these fields, except Application Name.

This section tells you how to access the edit mode of a portlet and edit it.

  1. Define your desired portlet to check if this portlet has been existing in the portal or page. If not, drag and drop it from Edit Inline Composer to the main portal body while editing the portal's layout, or from Page Editor to the main page body in the Step 3 while creating a page and/or while editing a page.

  2. Hover your cursor over your desired portlet, then click at the upper left corner of that portlet.

    The Edit form will be displayed.

    Normally, a portlet has four tabs: Window Settings, Select Icon, Decoration Themes and Access Permission. However, some portlets may also have Edit Mode and Preferences tabs. For example, IFrame and Dashboard portlets have the Edit Mode tab where administrators can define the interface details.

  3. Make changes on fields in the various tabs.

  4. Click Save And Close to accept your changes.

To add a gadget, you first need to turn into the Gadget page by selecting Gadget on the tab bar of the Manage Applications page.

You can add a remote gadget using its URL or create a new gadget into the list.

Add a remote gadget

  1. Click the Add a Remote Gadget link.

  2. Enter the link of your desired gadget which is in the .xml format in the Gadget URL field.

  3. Click Add to accept your inputted URL.

    The selected gadget will be added to the gadgets list in the left pane with its details in the right pane.

Create a new gadget

  1. Click the Create a New Gadget link.

  2. Enter values in the form.

    For example:

  3. Click Save to accept creating your new gadget.

Note

To add the newly added remote gadget to a specific category, simply click the "Click here to add into categories" link at the bottom of the right pane. The table listing all categories will appear that allows you to select your desired category.

To update information of the added gadget, simply click to refresh information.

See the Add more external gadgets from Dashboard section for instructions on how to add new gadgets from the dashboard.

Click located at the header of the Gadget Details page to display the following window.

This portlet is to host mini-applications known as gadgets. The dashboard uses a variety of graphical effects for displaying, opening and using gadgets.

In the Dashboard portlet, you can do some specific actions as follows:

Note

You can open many gadgets with different settings at once.

In addition, eXo Platform is compatible with most gadgets which can be found here.

  1. Click Dashboard on the Administration bar to access the Dashboard portlet.

  2. Click Add Gadgets to open the Dashboard Workspace window which lists all available gadgets.

  3. Select a gadget in the Dashboard Workspace window.

  4. Drag and drop the selected gadget into the workspace.

The edit icon on gadgets only displays when the gadget has some gadget preferences. This icon enables users to display the edit form and change preferences of a gadget.

Change preferences of a gadget

The following is an example of changing preferences of the RSS Reader gadget.

  1. Click to open the edit form of the RSS gadget.

  2. Enter your preferred RSS into the FEED URL field and one numeric character (from 1 to 100) in the Items field. The numeric character you entered is the number of items displayed in the RSS gadget.

  3. Click Save to accept your changes.

  1. Obtain the URL (.xml or .rss) of the gadget you want to add from the gadgets source. For example, http://bejeweledg.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/bejeweled.xml.

    Note

    Remote gadgets can be only created using an .xml link or RSS URL. However, if you use a link that generates an RSS feed (for example, http://feeds.feedburner.com/gatein), a new RSS reader gadget will be created automatically even if the URL does not end with .rss.

  2. Return to your portal and click Dashboard in the Administration bar.

  3. Click Add Gadgets in the Dashboard to open the Dashboard Workspace window.

  4. Paste the URL in Step 1 into the textbox.

  5. Click to add the new gadget to the page.

Engagement gadgets include gadgets designed to aid users in engagement activities and events. These gadgets analyze the existing communications and community engagement in your organization, then show what is going on by providing statistics.

eXo Platform currently provides 3 types of Engagement gadget as follows:

The Latest Forum Posts gadget shows the latest posts in Forum. You can decide the specified number of the latest posts to be shown. This gadget helps you always stay updated with what is going on in the forum.

Latest Forum Posts settings

1. Click in the Title bar to open the form to edit the gadget settings.

Details:

Field Description
Total The number of last posts to be displayed in this gadget.
Forum portlet The URL pointing to the Forum portlet.
Subscription url The link to the service which you request to get data from (in this case, the data are last posts). For example: http://mycompany.com:8080/portal/rest/ks/forum/getmessage.

2. Input the values for all the fields, then click Save to accept your changes.

The Top Voted Topics gadget lists the highest rated topics in a forum. You can decide the maximum number of posts to be shown.

By clicking the post previewed-content, you will go to that post in the forum.

Top Voted Topics gadget settings

1. Click in the Title bar to open the form to edit the gadget settings.

2. Select the maximum number of topics to be displayed in the Maximum to display drop-down list, then click Save to accept your changes.

The Forum Statistics gadget displays statistics about the forum's activity. This gadget is especially useful for administrators who always need global as well as detailed view about how the forum is going on. Based on these statistics, the administrators can find the solution to increase the forum activities.

The statistics include the total number of the topics, posts, members, active members and the maximum number of online users.

You can switch between different views:

Global statistics view

Global statistics is the default view.

Weekly statistics view

  • Click to switch to the Weekly statistics view.

  • Click to back to the Global statistics view.

After switching to the Weekly statistics view, you can display the statistics in a list or a chart.

List view

  • Click to switch to the Chart view.

Chart view

  • Click to go back to the List view.

The Friend Suggestions gadget will suggest you to connect with people that have mutual friends with you.

To send the invitation to connect with the suggested people right on this gadget, simply click Send invitation under their usernames.

The Management and Monitoring gadgets include gadgets designed for providing the overall vision of the system. These gadgets monitor the system and provide the current system performance statistics which are especially useful for the system administrators and developers.

eXo Platform provides 7 types of Management and Monitoring gadget as follows:

The Memory Charts gadget provides the chart of memory used during runtime.

The chart shows:

The Cache Levels gadget displays the eXo cache levels and settings. Based on these statistics, the administrators can configure the cache settings properly to get better performance:

In which:

The Application Statistics gadget displays how fast applications are. It shows administrators and developers which applications should be optimized.

Applications that take long time to execute will be highlighted so that you can easily recognize.

Each application is provided with these statistics:

The All Template Statistics gadget displays how fast templates are. It shows administrators and developers which templates should be optimized.

Each template is provided with these statistics:

The 10 Slowest Templates gadget displays the 10 slowest groovy templates and their speed statistics. It helps administrators and developers specify what templates are slowing down the system performance most.

Similar to the All Template Statistics gadget, each template is provided with these statistics:

The Services Management gadget provides an easy access to REST management API.

Manage a remote service on another Platform settings

1. Click in the Title bar.

The form to edit the gadget settings appears.

2. Enter the link to the service in the Services URL field, then click Save to accept your changes.

The eXo Scripting Console gadget provides a Groovy console that developers can use to interact with the runtime. This gadget is useful when you want to experiment on code. It accepts eXo API and can access eXo components deployed in the portal container, so this can be used as a tool for drafting code, testing or exploring eXo API/components/data interactively on a live system. The eXo Scripting Console gadget is better viewed on the entire screen. You should configure an entire page or a Dashboard tab for it.

eXo Platform currently provides:

Under the group of Audit gadgets, Login History records user login history and provides statistics.

You can look up a specific user by entering his username in the User field and click Find.

Click Reset to clear the User field and return the default list of users who have signed in.

Under the group of Collab gadgets which are designed for collaborative activities, the eXo Calendar gadget displays a mini calendar and allows you to quickly add an event.

There are three tabs in this gadget, including Appearance, Quick add, and Refresh.

Appearance

If you have more than one personal calendar, you can select which calendar to display. Select the calendars from the list, then click save. Only the event in the calendar of your choice will be displayed.

Quick add

You can add a new event to your personal calendar in this gadget by simply entering the date, time and description, then selecting add.

To go into the Desktop application, simply click Desktop on the Administration bar. You will be directed to the Desktop user interface as below:

NumberMeaning
The administration bar which allows you to access and manage tasks quickly.
The background of Desktop.
The Dockbar which provides easy access to applications via icons.
The application icons which are used as shortcuts to gadgets, applications or pages.
The application.

In the Desktop, you can do the following actions:

1. Open the Add Application form via one of two ways:

The first way

Hover your cursor over the Dockbar and click the Add Application icon.

The second way

Right-click any area inside the Desktop background and select Add Application from the drop-down menu.

The Add Application form will appear.

2. Select a category on the left pane. The applications of this category will be shown on the right pane.

3. Click corresponding to your desired application. Your selected application is then automatically added to the Dockbar.

The application window will be shown on the Desktop. When an application is running, will appear right under its icon on the Dockbar to indicate that application is running.

The first way

Click at the right top of the application window.

The second way

Right-click the application icon on the Dockbar and select Quit.

The third way

This way allows you to close all running applications. Right-click any empty area on the desktop page and select Close All from the drop-down menu.

The icon will disappear after the running application has been closed.

First, right-click any area on the Desktop background.

Change the title

1. Select Page Title from the drop-down menu.

2. Enter your desired new name into the Page title field, and click Save to accept your change.

Change the background

1. Select Change Background from the drop-down menu.

All available images for the Desktop background are displayed in the Choose Background Image form.

2. Click to preview your background.

3. Click to select and apply the relevant background.

  • To get the default background again, click the Get Default link at the right corner of this form.

  • Also, from this form, you can do the following actions:

Delete any background

Click corresponding to the background you want to delete.

Upload an image from your local device

1. Click the Upload button at the bottom of the Choose Background Image form. The Upload Images form will appear.

2. Click Browse... to locate the image you want to set as background image and upload it.

After the image is uploaded, you can click to add more another image, or to delete the uploaded image.

3. Click Save to accept your upload, or Back to go back to the previous step.

Chapter 4. Organize Your Content

This chapter focuses on how to manage, store, preserve, and deliver content, and more, via the following main topics:

  • Structure content introduces types of drives and views, functions on action tabs, actions on folders and documents, and content administration.

  • Manage content shows how to contribute content, and to manage content (for example, creating/editing/publishing/deleting content).

  • Manage newsletters includes information of newsletter viewer and newsletter manager, and actions which can be done on the newsletter manager.

  • Manage workflows represents default processes, including holiday and pay raise, and how to create and manage these processes. Also, this section also focuses on how to upload or view details of a process.

Content is a main part of a website that may consist of various elements, such as texts, images, sounds, videos, animations, and more. In eXo Platform, you can manage both structured and unstructured content.

To create and manage the content more effectively and dynamically, you need to pay attention to the structure of each content, including:

This page is used to manage all documents in different drives. This is really a flexible way because you can do through Internet whenever and wherever. By default, anyone can access Sites Explorer, but the ability to do actions on Sites Explorer depends on the role of each user.

The Private drive contains personal data of registered users. Hence, only these individuals can access data in this drive type.

By default, there are some initialized folders to store private resources of users.

In Private drive, there are many functions on the Action bar, including:

With the Public drive, there is no initialized folder but you can create by yourself.

In the Public drive, you also can take similar actions to those in the Private drive.

This drive consists of some initialized folders as the Private drive.

In the Personal Documents drive, you also can take similar actions to those in the Private drive.

By default, there are two initialized folders but you also can add more and take actions that is similar in the Private drives. Only users in a specific group can access its drive.

Note

Drives which are created during space creation are visible and accessible by their members only.

The space drives only can be deleted when the spaces are deleted by the space manager.

The sidebar is used to show nodes like a tree or show the related documents, tags, clipboard and saved searches.

You can hide/show the sidebar in two ways:

The first way

  1. Click sprocket to open the Preferences.

  2. Deselect the Show Sidebar checkbox, then click Save to accept your changes.

The second way

There are many drives in Sites Explorer. Each drive has some views that enable you to view data in the drive in a particular way. Each view has some action tabs and each action tab contains some functions.

eXo Platform supports you some ways to view nodes in a specific folder and show actions of corresponding tab on the Action bar.

Note

The number of view types depends on which drive you are browsing. In eXo Platform, you can manage view types by selecting --> Content --> Content Administration --> Content Presentation --> Manage View. See the Manage views section for more details.

In this view, each item in the list includes following information: Name, Versionable, Owner, Date Modified , and Date Created. These information will help you manage nodes easily.

You also can sort nodes to the nodes information by clicking the label of corresponding column.

This view is defined as a dynamic one with the side-scrolling view to nodes in a folder. In this view, when a node is selected, its name is set with bold effect to more outstanding than others.

To move from one node to another one, you can do one of these ways:

In this view type, nodes in a specific folder will be viewed as icons. The name of each node will be shown under its icon.

By using the Thumbnails view, nodes in a specific folder are viewed as icons bounded by frames. Name of each node is shown under its icon.

If nodes are image files, their thumbnails will be shown like the screenshot below.

In this view type, pictures in folders are viewed in the slide show.

To view pictures in the slide show, click slide show.

If nodes are pictures, they are displayed like the following illustration.

The Slide Show view automatically shows all picture nodes. Users can control this slide show by clicking the below buttons.

Table 4.1. 

Button Function
Go to the first picture node.
View the previous picture node.
Pause the slide show. After clicking this button, will become . Click to continue viewing the pictures node.
View the next picture node.
View the last picture node.

This view enables users to view all document nodes created and uploaded by simply clicking clock.

All the document nodes, which have been created and uploaded, will be displayed.

Note

Functions are added to tabs in Sites Explorer by administrators. The number of displayed actions depends on each tab and each drive you are browsing and your role.

This function enables you to add a category to a node.

  1. Select a node to which you want to add a category.

  2. Select [ Add category ] on the Action bar to open the Add Category form.

  3. Enter a name for the category in the Category Name field.

  4. Click Save to accept creating the new category.

There are several types of document in eXo Platform, such as File, Article, Podcast, Sample node, File Plan, Kofax, and more.

The table below shows types of nodes which can be added to various document types. The rows indicate which nodes in the left column can be added. The columns indicate which nodes at the top can contain.

Table 4.2. 

 FileArticlePodcastSample nodeFile PlanKofax documentContent folderDocument folder
File
Article       
Podcast
Sample node       
File Plan    
Kofax  
Uploaded file
Content folder    
Document folder    

Note

green tick indicates that the corresponding document can be added into. A blank entry means that the corresponding document cannot be added into.

Following the horizontal, you will know which nodes can be added.

Following the vertical, you will know which node can be included.

Add a new document

  1. Select a folder from the left pane where you want to add a new document.

  2. Click [ Add Document ] on the Action bar to open a list of content templates.

  3. Click your desired template. See more details in Step 3 of the Add content section.

    Each document (except Article) must be added to categories when being created.

Attach files to a document

  1. Select a document or a folder that you want to attach files, and click [ Upload ] on the Action bar.

    The Upload File form will appear.

  2. Enter a name into the Name field. If not, the Name field is automatically filled with the file name.

  3. Click Browse... to select the attachment file. You can click plus to add more files.

  4. Click Save to attach the files.

    To view the attached file directly in Sites Explorer, simply click its name.

    Note

    eXo Platform enables you to view all types of documents, such as Open Office, Microsoft Office in the PDF format.

Create a new File document

  1. Follow the steps in the Add a new document section to open the corresponding form to add a File document.

  2. Input a name for the file document in the Name field. Some special characters (@ # % & * ( ) “ ' : ; [ ] {} / !) cannot be used in the Name field.

  3. Click the Mime Type field and select one type. There are three types of File document:

    • text/html: when creating a text/html File document, you can input values like source code (HyperText Markup Language HTML) in the Content field . After being created, it will generate the content you want, then you can see both the input source code and the generated content in that document.

    • text/plain: after a text/plain File document is created, it will display exactly what you input in the Content field.

    • application/x-groovy+html: it indicates your file as a groovy file.

  4. Input a value in the Content field:

    • text/html or application/x-groovy+html: if you want to create a File document with a source code and generated content, click the [ Source ] button in the Editor bar.

    • text/plain: if you select text/plain type, the content field will be displayed like the following illustration.

  5. Optionally, fill values in all the rest fields, including Title, Description, Creator and Source.

    Click plus to open more fields.

  6. Click Save or Save & Close to accept creating a new file document.

    After being created successfully, a file document with the text/html type will be displayed like the illustration below.

Create a new article

  1. Follow the steps in the Add a new document section to open the corresponding form to add a new Article document.

  2. Input name and title of the Article in the Name and Title fields. Special characters (@ # % & * ( ) " ' : ; [ ] {} / !) are not allowed in the Name field.

  3. Input values for both fields: Summary and Content.

  4. Click Save or Save & Close to accept the inputted values.

After being created, your newly added Article document will be shown as below.

The Links area lists all its related documents. After adding relations to a document, Article will be displayed. You can click these links to view the content of the related documents. For more details about how to add a relation to a document, refer to the Add a relation section.

The Attachments area lists all its uploaded files/documents which are attached with the Article. You can remove the attachments by clicking trash can.

For more details about how to add an attachment, see the Attach files to a document section.

Note

The name of document may be as the same to that of the existing one. When a new document is created with the same name as other existing document, a numeric index will be added to the name (for example, test [2]).

Create a new Podcast

  1. Follow the steps in the Add a new document section to open the corresponding Podcast form.

    Details:

    Table 4.3. 

    FieldDescription
    NameThe document name which is required. Special characters (@ # % & * ( ) “ ' : ; [ ] {} / !) are not allowed in the Name field.
    CategoriesCategories of a document.
    TitleThe display name of a document.
    LinkThe link to the source path of the uploaded media file that is required.
    AuthorThe author of the uploaded media file.
    Explicit

    It is used to indicate if your Podcast episodes contain an explicit content or not.

    CategoryThe category of the uploaded media file, for example music, film, or short clip.
    KeywordThis field allows you to search your Podcast files more quickly. You can use commas to separate between keywords.
    Publish DateThe date when an episode was released.
    DescriptionInformation about the uploaded media file.
    Mime TypeThe type of the uploaded media file.
    LengthThe length of the uploaded media file.

  2. Input values for fields. To upload a media file, click Browse... and select the media file from your device.

  3. Click Save or Save & Close to finish.

Once being created, a Podcast will be displayed.

Create a new Sample node

  1. Follow the steps in the Add a new document section to open the Sample node form.

  2. Complete the appropriate fields.

  3. Click Browse... to locate your desired image, and upload it.

  4. Click Save or Save & Close to finish.

After being created, a new sample node will be displayed.

The Relations area is used to list all its related documents. See the View a relation section.

You can click the links to view content of the related document.

The Attachments area is used to list all its uploaded files. See the Attach files to a document section for more details.

Create a new File Plan

  1. Follow the instructions in the Add a new document section to open the corresponding form to add a File Plan document.

    Details:

  2. Fill in the appropriate fields of the tabs in the form.

  3. Click Save or Save & Close to finish.

Create a new Kofax document

  1. Follow the instructions in the Add a new document section to open the Add Kofax Document form.

  2. Input a name for a Kofax document in the Name field which is required. Special characters (@ # % & * ( ) “ ' : ; [ ] { } / !) are not allowed in this field.

  3. Select categories for a Kofax document by clicking plus.

  4. Click Save or Save & Close to finish.

After being created, a Kofax document will be displayed.

  • The File View tab is used to display all added nodes in that Kofax. Besides, all added files in Kofax are also displayed in the Document View tab.

Create a new event

  1. Follow the instructions in the Add a new document section to open the Add an event document form.

  2. Enter a title for the event.

  3. Input the location where the event will take place in the Location field. Select the Google Maps checkbox if you want the location of the event to be shown on Google Maps.

  4. Enter the Start and End Date/Time of the event.

  5. Fill the Summary and Content fields.

  6. Click Save or Save & Close to finish.

After being created, the event will be displayed like the illustration bellow.

Create an accessible media

  1. Follow the instructions in the Add a new document section to open the content template list, and select the Accessible Media template.

    Details:

    Table 4.7. 

    FieldDescription
    NameThe document name which is required. Special characters (@ # % & * ( ) “ ' : ; [ ] {} / !) are not allowed in the Name field.
    CategoriesThe name of the selected categories.
    LanguageThe language of the media.
    ContentThe content of the media which is required.
    TitleThe display name of the media.
    CreatorThe creator of the media.
    SourceThe source of the media.
    CaptionsProvide the text of the dialogue and important sounds.
    Audio descriptionProvide the narrate track of the media. You can browse and upload another media file from your local device to set it as the audio description.
    Alternative textProvide the descriptive information about the media.

  2. Input the information in the fields, and attach existing files from your local device to the following fields:

  3. Click Save or Save & Close to finish.

The accessible media can be played right after being created.

Details:

Table 4.8. 

Button Function
Stop the media.
Play the media. After clicking this button, will become and vice versa.
Play the previous media.
Play the next media.
Listen to the audio description. This icon only appears if you attach another media with the audio description to the Audio description field. After opening the audio description, to back to the original media, click .
Activate/Deactivate the media caption. If you attach an .srt or .xml file to the Captions field, the caption will appear when you clicking this button.

Note

You can also attach Captions and Audio description to the uploaded media when editing this document. To know how to upload a file, see the Attach files to a document section.

You can create a document immediately in a specific drive. However, adding a document to a specific folder enables you to manage documents better.

There are two types of folder:

In the default skin, the icon for a content folder node is displayed in blue and the icon for a document folder node is displayed in yellow.

File and folder types in a folder

Content folder
Document folder

Create a folder

  1. Select the path to create a folder.

  2. Click [ Add Folder ] on the Action bar to open the New Folder form.

  3. Select a folder type.

  4. Input values for both Name and Title fields which are required. Special characters (@ # % & * ( ) " ' : ; [ ] {} / !) are not allowed in these fields.

  5. Click Save to accept creating a new folder.

Note

The name of a folder may be the same as that of the existing one. When a new folder is created with the same name as other existing folders, an index will be added to the name of your newly created folder (for example, test[2]).

You can only create a content folder in another content folder.

You can create a document folder in a content folder or a document folder.

This function enables users to add multiple languages for a document. This action is similar to adding a language.

  1. Select a document to which you want to add the translation. For example, select an Article in English.

  2. Click [ Add Translation ] on the Action bar to open the Symlink Manager form.

  3. Click plus, then browse to the target document that has different language with the first document. For example, the Article version in French.

  4. Click Save on the Symlink Manager form.

  5. Select the document to which you have added the translation, then click the Relation button on the Filter bar.

    You will see the available language for the selected document. Click the language on this pane to view the document in the corresponding language version.

A symlink in Content works like shortcut to a directory or file. To add a Symlink, you can follow one of these ways.

The first way

  1. Select a node where you want to add a Symlink.

  2. Click [ Add Sym Link ] on the Action bar to open the Symlink Manager form.

    Details:

    Table 4.9. 

    FieldDescription
    Path NodeThe path to the target node.
    Symlink NameThe name of the Symlink.

  3. Click plus to open the Select Target Node form.

  4. Select the workspace which contains the node that you want to add a Symlink.

  5. Click green tick in the row of the node that you want to add. The path that the node will appear in the Path Node field and the name of the node is set by the name of the selected node. You can also edit this name.

  6. Click Save to finish adding a Symlink.

The second way

  1. Right-click a node that you want to create a Symlink. Note that if you follow this way, the Symlink will be created to the current node.

  2. Click Add Symlink from the drop-down menu.

This node will become a Symlink to the current node.

Note

You should notice the different behaviour between adding a Symlink via the Action bar and the right-click menu.

Warning

You will get an error message if you create a Symlink inside the following content types: Article, CSS, Event, HTML, JS, Kofax, Podcast, Sample node, Weblink.

This function is used to comment on a document.

Note

You cannot comment on a File Plan document.

  1. Select a document to which you want to add your comment.

  2. Click [ Comment this document ] on the Action bar to open the Comment form.

  3. Add your comment to the Comment field.

  4. Click Save to commit.

The comments are shown at the bottom of the document.

To view your comment, click the Show comments link:

You can edit your comment by clicking pencil or delete it by clicking trash can.

There are two ways to edit a document.

The first way

  1. Select a document you want to edit in the left panel.

  2. Click [ Edit Document ] on the Action bar.

The second way

  1. Select a folder that contains the document you want to edit.

  2. Right-click the document you want to edit and select Edit from the menu.

    The form to edit the document will appear. All information of the selected document will be displayed in this form and ready for you to change except the Name field.

  3. Click Save to commit your changes.

Nodes can be exported into either .xml or .zip file types.

  1. Select a node that you want to export.

  2. Click [ Export Node ] on the Action bar to show the Export form.

    Details:

    Table 4.10. 

    FieldsDescription
    Path to ExportThe path of the node being exported. This field will be pre-populated.
    FormatThe format of the original node.
    System ViewEach node and each property of that node is included in a different tag.
    Document ViewEach node is a tag and properties of that node are considered to be elements of that tag.
    ZipIf this field is checked, the node will be exported as a .zip file.

  3. Click Export and select a location to save the exported file.

    Note

    The Export form can contain Export Version History if the exported node or any of its child nodes is versioned.

    This action exports all of the node's version history.

Nodes which are in the .xml file format can be imported into the JCR Explorer system.

  1. Select the location where you want to import the new node.

  2. Click [ Import Node ] on the Action bar. The Import form appears.

  3. Click Browse... next to the Upload File field and navigate to the file you want to import.

  4. Select one value from the UUID Behaviour drop-down menu, including:

    Create New

    If you select this behavior, the imported nodes receive new UUIDs which are completely independent of any existing nodes. As the imported nodes get new UUIDs, there are no UUID conflicts with the existing nodes in the workspace. The existing nodes in the workspace are not moved, modified or deleted. The imported nodes are considered as new nodes and therefore, do not have a version history. You cannot import a version history for these nodes.

    Remove Existing

    If you select this behavior, the imported nodes in a selected path receive the same UUIDs of the exported nodes. As the result, there is UUID conflicts with the existing nodes. Therefore, the existing nodes are removed from the workspaces and the new nodes will have the same version history as the existing nodes.

    Replace Existing

    If you select this behavior, you only can import the exported nodes into their original workspaces where they are exported. When the new nodes are created with the same UUIDs of the existing nodes, causing UUID conflicts with the existing nodes in the workspaces. Therefore, the existing nodes are replaced by the new ones in the same location and the new nodes have the same version history as the existing nodes.

    Throw Exception

    If you select this behavior, there is a message which will alert that you can not import this node in case this node has been existing in the workspace. If this node hasn't existed, a new node will be created.

  5. Click Browse... next to Version History to select a version to import.

  6. Select a format.

  7. Click Import to import the file's selected version.

There are some actions you can perform as follows:

  1. Select the node to which you want to add an action.

  2. Click [ Manage Actions ] on the Action bar.

    The Manage Actions form will appear.

  3. Select the Add Action tab.

    Details:

    Table 4.11. 

    FieldDescription
    Name The name of this action. This name is internal to the JCR explorer.
    Lifecycle Select the lifecycle for this action. The action will be executed, depending on the lifecycle:

    • 'User Action': The action is executed when right-clicking the folder and then selecting the action.

    • 'Content Addition': The action will be executed on a new document, but not on a subfolder when the document or the subfolder is created in the folder to which an action has been added. It is also applied to a new document in the subfolder of the folder.

    • 'Content Removal': The action will be executed on a document, but not on a subfolder in the folder when the document or the subfolder is moved.

    • 'Property Addition': The action will be executed on a document when a property is added to the document.

    • 'Property Removal': The action will be executed on a document when a property is removed from the document.

    • 'Property Modification': The action will be executed on a document when a property of the document is modified.

    • 'Schedule': The action is done at specific time.

      If you need the same action to be executed in several lifecycles, you have to create several actions.


  4. Select one type for your action from the Create Action of Type drop-down menu.

    Details:

    Table 4.12. 

    FieldDescription
    exo:AddMetadataActionAdd metadata.
    exo:autoVersioningAdd a version automatically.
    exo:createRSSFeedActionCreate an RSS file.
    exo:enableVersioningEnable versioning.
    exo:getMailAction Fetch mails.
    exo:populateToMenuThis type is not supported.
    exo:sendMailActionSend mails.
    exo:taxonomyActionCreate categories.
    exo:transformBinaryTo TextActionConvert .pdf or .doc file types into plain text.

  5. Complete all the fields in the form. The Name and Lifecycle fields are required.

  6. Click Save to commit the action.

All actions of a node are listed in the Available Actions tab.

Once an action is added to a node, it is auto-added to any child nodes of the selected node.

If an action is added with the lifecycle named 'User Action', it will be applied to the current node. If an action is added with other lifecycles, it will be applied to the child nodes.

Note

Not all actions are listed in a right-click menu of nodes. Some actions can be performed immediately when that action is added.

  1. Open the Manage Actions form and select the Available Actions tab.

  2. Click magnifying glass that corresponds to the action you want to view.

    The details will be displayed in the Action Info tab.

  1. Open the Manage Actions form and select the Available Actions tab.

  2. Click pencil that corresponds to the action you want to modify.

  3. Edit properties in the Action Form.

  4. Click Save to accept your changes.

  1. Open the Manage Actions form and select the Available Actions tab.

  2. Click trash can that corresponds to the action you want to modify.

  3. Click OK in the confirmation message to delete the action.

This function logs property changes in nodes.

  1. Select a node.

  2. Click [ Manage Auditing ] on the Action bar. The Activate Auditing message appears.

  3. Click Activate to enable auditing on the selected node.

  4. Click [ Manage Auditing ] again to view the audit information of the selected node.

    The Auditing Information list appears.

    If the node has no audit information, the form will appear as below.

Assign a category to a node

You can add categories to the document type nodes only.

  1. Select the node to which you want to add a category.

  2. Click [ Manage Categories ] on the Action bar.

    The Add Category form appears.

  3. Select the Select Category tab to show the available categories.

  4. Click green tick to add the corresponding category to the node.

The category, which has been added to a node, is listed in the Referenced Categories tab.

All nodes, which belong to a category, can be viewed as follows:

View a category

  1. Go to the drive which contains the category you have added. There will be a list of categories available.

  2. Select your desired category. The documents in that category will be listed.

Note

When copying and pasting a node in a drive, a new node with the same content will be created with a different name.

When copying and pasting a node in the category tree, a reference to the original node will be created. This reference is a link rather than a copy. This feature is used to preserve the disk space.

Delete a category

  1. Select a categorized node.

  2. Click [ Manage Categories ].

  3. Select the Referenced Categories tab.

  4. Click trash can that corresponds to the category you want to delete.

Nodes can be hidden or shown easily.

Hide a node

  1. Select the node you want to hide.

  2. Click [ Hide/Show content ] on the Action bar to hide the node.

    A confirmation message, which notifies that the node has been hidden, will appear.

Show a node

To show a hidden node, click [ Hide/Show content ] again.

This function is used to manage node publication.

  1. Select a node (on the left or right pane) which you want to manage its publication.

  2. Click [ Manage Publications ] on the Action bar.

    The Manage Publication form appears.

    The Revision tab displays some basic information and the current state of the selected node.

  3. Click magnifying glass to view the content of the node or click [ Restore Version ] to restore a version (refer to the Manage versions section for information about versioning).

  4. Select the History tab to view the publications history of the node.

  5. Click Save to accept your changes.

    Note

    See the Publication process section to understand more Manage Publication.

There are some actions you can perform on relations as follows:

You can use this function to create relations between nodes.

  1. Select the node you want to add a relation to.

  2. Click [ Manage Relations ] on the Action bar.

    The Add Relation form appears.

  3. Select the Select Relation tab to see a list of other documents.

  4. Click green tick that corresponds to the documents related to the document selected in the Step 1.

    Documents linked to the original via a relation will be listed in the Relation List tab.

Note

Relations can only be added to document and uploaded file node types.

A node cannot have a relation to itself.

  1. Select a node that has links to related documents.

  2. Click the [ Manage Relations ] button on the Action bar.

  3. Select the Relation List tab to view relations of the selected node.

  4. Click trash can corresponding to the relation you want to remove.

  5. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

    The related document will be removed from the list.

  1. Select a node that has links to related documents.

  2. Click [Relation button] on the Filter bar.

    All nodes related to the selected node will be displayed in the Relations List in the left pane.

  3. Click the name of the related node to view the document.

There are some actions you can perform on versions as follows:

  1. Select a node to add a version to.

  2. Click [ Manage Relations ] on the Action bar.

    The following message will appear.

  3. Click Activate to enable a version for the node.

  4. Right-click the selected node and select CheckIn from the drop-down menu.

  5. Click [ Manage Versions ] again to open the Version Info window.

    The node selected in Step 1 has been added as the Base version..

  6. Right-click the node again and select CheckOut to obtain a version of this node.

Note

No actions (copying/cutting/renaming) can be taken on a node in the CheckIn status. You must check it out before you can perform any actions on it.

If you want to add more versions to a node, right-click the selected node above and select CheckIn and then CheckOut.

Add a label

  1. Select a versioned node.

  2. Click [ Manage Versions ] on the Action bar.

  3. Click plus on the Version Info window to show the Add Label field under the version list.

  4. Enter a value into the Label field.

    The label must be unique without containing any special characters, such as @, #, $.

  5. Click Save to submit the new label.

Remove a label

  1. Select a versioned node which has at least one label.

  2. Click [ Manage Versions ] on the Action bar.

  3. Click minus on the Version Info window to show the Remove Label field under the versions list.

  4. Select the label you want to remove from the drop-down menu.

  5. Click the Remove button to remove the selected label.

  1. Select a versioned node.

  2. Click [ Manage Versions ].

  3. Click magnifying glass to see the current versions of the selected node.

Note

Version viewing is not supported on folder nodes.

If you click magnifying glass while the selected node is a folder, a message will appear.

  1. Select a node which has at least two versions stored.

  2. Click [ Manage Versions ].

  3. Select the version that you want to restore as the base version.

  4. Click "Restore Version" to restore the selected version.

  1. Select a node which has at least two versions.

  2. Click [ Manage Versions ].

  3. Click trash can corresponding to the version you want to delete.

  4. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

Note

You cannot delete a base version.

This function is used to add multiple languages to a document. Each document can be displayed in many languages.

  1. Select a document that you want to add languages.

  2. Click [ Add/Edit localized content ] on the Action bar.

    The Multi Language form will appear.

    The View Language tab contains a list of all languages. The default language for the document will be automatically populated.

  3. Select the Add Language tab. This tab will be displayed differently, depending on which file you selected. However, the area where you can add languages to a document is the same. The below illustration shows the Add Language tab for a Sample node file:

  4. Select a language you want to add from the Language drop-down list.

    If the selected language has not been added to the current document, the content field will be blank.

    Select the Set Default checkbox if you want to set your selected language as a default language.

  5. Click Save to be returned to the View Language tab. Your selected language is now added to the Language field.

    You can view this document in your newly added language by selecting that language from the Language drop-down list, then click the View button.

View the languages list of a document

  1. Select a document that you want to view the languages list, then click the Relation button on the Filter bar:

  2. The list of language (and all related documents) will be displayed in the left pane.

    You can view the document in the new language by clicking the corresponding link in Languages List.

    For more details about Relations, refer to the Views relations section.

Note

You cannot add multiple languages to a File Plan document.

When a document is a sub-node of File Plan, you also cannot add language to it.

You can overload a thumbnail image for a folder. Overloading allows a folder to be represented by a thumbnail image, rather than a folder icon (see the Thumbnail view section).

  1. Select the folder you wish to overload with a thumbnail image.

  2. Click [ Overload thumbnail ] on the Action bar.

    The Add Thumbnail Image form appears.

  3. Click the Browse... button to select the image which will be used as the display icon for the selected folder.

  4. Click Save to accept your changes. The node will be stored in an exo:thumbnails folder.

If you want to publish one created content but you do not obtain the 'Publish' right, you must send a request for approving your content.

  1. Select the content that you want to send the request for publishing it.

  2. Click [Request approval ] on the Action bar.

    The content is displayed at the bottom of the Sites Explorer of the people who have the right to approve content.

When content is created by users, it is possible to approve the publication if there is an approval request. To approve content, do the followings:

  1. Select content that needs approving.

  2. Click [Approve Content ] on the Action bar and the content is ready to be published.

    Note

    The Approve Content button is only visible for users who have the right to approve content.

    By default, this button is not displayed on the Action bar.

    Enable this function by selecting --> Content --> Content Administration --> Content Presentation --> Manage Views. See the Manage views section to know how to add the Approve Content button to the tabs on the Action bar in Sites Explorer.

After the content is approved, it can be published by people who have the "Publish" permission.

  1. Select content that you want to publish.

  2. Click [Publish] on the Action bar. The content will be published as the schedule that you set up.

    Note

    The Publish button is only visible for users who have the "Publish" right.

    By default, the button is not displayed on the Action bar.

    Enable this function by selecting --> Content --> Content Administration --> Content Presentation --> Manage Views. See the Manage views section to know how to add the Publish Content button to the tabs on the Action bar in Sites Explorer.

This function enables you to show or hide all the drives in Sites Explorer.

To show drives, click [ Show/Hide Drives ] on the Action bar.

To hide drives, click [ Show/Hide Drives ] again.

This function allows you to view document nodes in a tree structure.

Show the JCR Structure

  1. Select a document.

  2. Click [ Show/Hide Like JCR Structure ] on the Action bar.

Hide the JCR Structure

  1. Select a document which is showing the JCR structure.

  2. Click [ Show/Hide Like JCR Structure ] again.

A tag is a keyword or term associated with or assigned to a piece of information (a picture, a geographic map, a blog entry, a video clip, and more). Each tag describes one item and enables the keyword-based classification and search of information.

Add a new tag to a document

  1. Select a document to which you want to add tags.

  2. Click [ Tagging this document ] on the Action bar. The Tag Manager will be displayed.

    Details:

    Table 4.13. 

    FieldDescription
    Tag NamesThe tag names that users want to add tags to documents.
    Tag ScopesClassify the tags. There are four tag types: private, public, group, and site. Currently, the two first types are activated ("Private" means that a user who creates tags can view and edit tags; "Public" means that all users can view and edit tags).
    Linked TagsList all tags of a document after the Add Tags button has been clicked.

  3. Input a value into the Tag Names field. Several tags can be added to a document at a time. To do that, input all tag names in the Tag Names field and separate by commas.

  4. Select a value for the Tag Scopes field.

  5. Click Add Tags to accept, or Close to quit. Only you can see this tag in this document.

  6. Click trash can to delete tags.

Remove tags from a document

  1. Select a document with tags that you want to delete the tags.

  2. Click [ Tagging this document ] on the Action bar to open the Tag Manager form.

  3. Click trash can corresponding to the tags you want to delete.

  4. Click OK in the confirmation message to delete the tags.

This function allows you to upload a file from your device. All file types can be uploaded. Special characters (! @ $ % & [ ]) are not allowed.

  1. Select the folder that you want to upload a file into from the left/right pane.

  2. Click [ Upload ] on the Action bar to open the Upload File form.

  3. Browse and select a file on your device by clicking the Browse... button. The selected file name will be displayed in the Select File field.

    If you want to upload multiple files at the same time, click plus to open more Upload File forms.

    Click trash can to close a Upload File form.

    To change the uploaded file, click trash can in the Select File field and select Browse... again to select another one.

  4. Optionally, type a name in the Name field which is not required. Special characters (! @ $ % & [ ]) are not allowed in this field. If not, the name of the uploaded file will be kept as original.

  5. Click plus next to the Categories List field to select categories to which you want to add this file.

    i. Select a category in the left pane to open its child nodes in the right pane.

    ii. Click green tick corresponding to a child node that you want.

    Note

    You can add more categories to a file by clicking plus again to open the Add Categories form.

    Click trash can to delete a category in Upload File form.

    You also manage categories which have been added to files by using the Manage Categories function. See the Manage categories section.

  6. Complete uploading file by clicking Save.

    After being saved, the main information of the uploaded file will be displayed.

  7. Optionally, click pencil to see more details about its external metadata information. The List External Metadata tab will be enabled and you can do some actions in this tab.

    • Click pencil corresponding metadata that you want to edit.

    • Click Add metadata to add more metadata to the uploaded file. Then, tick the checkbox, and click Add.

      The new metadata are displayed in the List External Metadata tab.

  8. Click Close to quit the Upload File form.

    After being uploaded, the tree is displayed in the left pane.

Note

The size of the uploaded file depends on the size limit of the uploaded file that you set up in the 'Edit' mode of Sites Explorer. If your file size exceeds the limit, the alert message will appear.

This function allows you to view metadata attached to File nodes, Podcast nodes, File Plan child nodes and uploaded file nodes (nt:file nodes).

  1. Select an appropriate node (nt:file).

  2. Click [ View Metadatas ]. The View Metadata form appears.

  3. Click the Add/Edit button at the bottom of the View Metadata form to add metadata.

  4. Complete the desired fields in the Add/Edit Properties form. Click plus to add further metadata.

  5. Click Save to accept the new metadata values.

This function allows you to view the detailed information of a node.

  1. Select a node that you want to view its detailed information.

  2. Click [ View Node Types ] to view detailed information about the selected node.

  3. Click the tabs at the top of the form to view categorized information.

This function allows an administrator to manage the permissions for nodes.

  1. Select a node.

  2. Click [ View Permissions ]. The Permission Management form appears.

By opening the Permission Management form, you can perform the following actions:

Add permissions

  1. Select a user or a group to whom you want to assign permissions.

  2. Select the permission you want to grant the selected users or groups by ticking the corresponding checkboxes beside rights you want to add.

  3. Click Save to accept your changes. The new permissions will appear in the permissions table above.

Edit permissions

  1. Select the permission of a user or a group in the permissions table.

  2. Click pencil.

  3. Change the permissions as desired.

  4. Click Save to accept your changed permissions.

Delete permissions

  1. Select the permission of a user or a group in the permissions table.

  2. Click trash can.

  3. Click OK in the confirmation message to remove the permission.

This function allows users to review all the properties and values of a node. It can also be used to add values to a node.

  1. Select the node you want to review or add values to.

  2. Click [ View Node Properties ] to show the Properties Management form.

    This form has two tabs:

    Properties

    This tab displays all properties and values for the selected node.

    Add New Property

    This tab contains fields to add new properties to the selected node.

  3. Select the Add New Property tab to add new properties to the selected node.

  4. Select the namespace for the property.

  5. Enter a name for the new property in the Name field.

  6. Select the property type from the Type drop-down menu.

  7. Enter a value for the property in the Value field.

    To add multiple new values, click plus and repeat the above steps.

    To remove a value, click trash can.

  8. Click Save to accept your new values, or Reset to clear all modified fields.

After you have made changes on new properties, you will be returned to the Properties tab. The newly added values will be displayed.

In this form, you can edit a property by clicking pencil, or delete it by clicking trash can.

This function shows/hides documents related to a selected node.

This function is used to vote for a document.

Note

You cannot vote for a File Plan document.

  1. Open the document you want to vote for.

  2. Click [ Vote for document ] on the Action bar.

    The Vote Document form will appear.

  3. Rate the document by clicking the appropriate star level.

After a vote has been added, the rating will appear at the bottom of the document:

By using this function, whenever any change is made on the document, a notification message will be sent to your email address. To receive that email, you must configure in your mail server.

Watch a document

Select the document you want to watch and click eye.

The Watch Document form will appear. Click the Watch button to finish.

Stop watching a document

Select the document and click eye.

A message will appear to confirm the action.

This section represents actions on folders and documents through the right-click menu (Adding to favorites, copying, cutting, pasting, adding Symlink, locking/unlocking, viewing/renaming/downloading document, and allowing edition and copying URL to clipboard) and other actions (dragging and dropping folders or documents).

Depending on the actions on folders or documents, the right-click menu (drop-down menu) will be different.

This function helps users easily add nodes (documents, folders or files) as favorite.

  1. Right-click a node you want to add as a favorite.

  2. Click [ Add to favorite ] from the drop-down menu.

A symlink of your favorite nodes (folders, documents, files) will be created in the Favorite folder.

This function is used to make a copy of a node (including sub-nodes) to other places.

There are two ways to cut/copy & paste the node:

The first way

  1. Right-click the node, then select Copy or Cut from the drop-down menu.

  2. Right-click a destination node that you want to be the parent node of the copied/cut node, then select Paste from the drop-down menu. Note that the Paste function is enabled in the menu only after selecting the Copy/Cut action.

    The copied/cut folder (and its sub-folders) will be pasted into the new selected path.

The second way

  1. Right-click the node and select Copy/Cut from the drop-down menu.

  2. Select the destination node that you want to be the parent node of the copied node.

  3. Select the Clipboard icon on the Filter bar.

    The Clipboard window will appear.

  4. Click clipboard in the clipboard window to paste the copied/cut node into the selected destination node in Step 3.

Note

You only can take the Copy action if you have this right on the source node.

You only can take the Paste action if you have the right on the destination node.

If the destination node has the same name with the copied node, after being pasted, an index will be added to the name of the pasted node, for example Live and Live[2].

You cannot copy a content folder into a document folder.

After taking the Copy action, you can take the Paste action on different nodes before taking another Copy action.

To edit a document, refer to the Edit web content section.

This function helps you remove folders/documents from their locations easily. Do the same steps as in the Delete web content section.

Note

You can only take the Delete action if you have the right on a node.

If the deleted node contains sub-nodes, these sub-nodes will be deleted, too.

This function allows you to move folders/documents from a current location to another one by using the drag and drop feature.

  1. Hover your cursor over folders/documents in the right pane, or hold the Ctrl or Shift key to select multiple folders/documents at once until the cursor changes to a pointing hand.

  2. Press the left-mouse button and drag the selected folders/documents.

  3. Drop them into another folder in either the right or left pane by releasing the left-mouse button. The "dragged" folders/documents will be relocated to the destination folder.

This function is to avoid changes on specific folders/documents and actions by others, during a specific time.

Lock folders/documents

Just right-click a folder/document (on either the right or left window pane) and select Lock from the drop-down menu. The selected folder/document will be locked.

Note

Only users with appropriate rights can lock folders/documents.

After being locked, other users can only view the folders/documents.

The lock will be kept as current for a session only. If the locking user signs out, the node will be unlocked.

Other users can copy the locked node (by using the Copy/Paste functions outlined above); however, the original node cannot be removed or altered.

If no action is taken on a locked node within 30 minutes, the lock will be automatically removed.

Unlock folders/documents

To unlock the locked folder/document, right-click it and select Unlock from the drop-down menu. The folder/document will then be unlocked and other users can take actions on it.

This function is used to change the folder/document name.

  1. Right-click a folder/document that you want to rename, then select Rename from the drop-down menu.

    The Rename form will appear.

  2. Input a new name in the Name field. You can also change the its title by entering a new one in the Title field.

  3. Click Save to accept your changes.

A symlink embedded into a node allows you to quickly access the node even if you are in other nodes.

To add a symlink, simply right-click a document that you want to add a Symlink, and select Add Symlink from the drop-down menu. The symlink will be added to the selected document immediately. To view its content, simply click the symlink.

WebDAV enables users to access files, folders, and read/write documents over the web. Thanks to its benefits of easy, quick and flexible manipulations and time-saving, WebDAV is used to view nodes.

  1. Select the path of node you want to view WebDAV or open that folder from the left/right pane.

  2. Right-click the node and select Download And Allow Edition from the drop-down menu.

    With each type of node, the form to view in WebDAV will be different:

eXo Platform supports you to view all information of a document, such as name, title, creator, and publication state of the document.

To view information of a document, simply right-click the document, and select View Information from the drop-down menu.

The View Information form appears as below.

The View Document item is visible in the drop-down menu when you right-click a document. This function allows you to view the document on another tab with the link containing the document path.

To view a document, simply right-click it, and select View Document from the drop-down menu. The document is opened in another tab.

The Copy URL To Clipboard enables you to copy the WebDAV URL of a selected folder or a document. You then can view it with the WebDAV view on a browser.

  1. Right-click a folder/document, and select Copy URL To Clipboard.

  2. Paste the URL on another tab.

    You can view the folders of the node you copied its URL or download documents to your computer. You also view other nodes by clicking ... above the current folder to go up the root node as below.

Tags are easily managed by editing or deleting them with the Tag Manager.

Edit a tag

  1. Click Tag Cloud on the Filter bar, then click tag at the upper-right corner of the tags pane.

    The Edit Tag form will appear.

  2. Click pencil that corresponds to the tag you want to edit.

  3. Edit the tag to your desires.

  4. Click Save to accept your changes.

Delete a tag

  1. Do Step 1 from the procedure above.

  2. Click trash can.

  3. Click OK in the confirmation message to delete the tag.

Use your created tags

  1. Click tag.

    You will see all existing tags which are listed and classified by private or public tags.

    Depending on the popularity of tag, the display of each tag will be different from others by font-size, font-weight, color, font-family, and text-decoration. For example, when a tag is added to over 10 documents, it will be displayed in red color, size:20px, bold. This can also be configured in the Manage Tag tab.

  2. Each tag is similar to a link listing all documents to which it is added. To display the documents list in the right pane, click a tag name.

This page is used to manage all workspaces, drives, node types, metadata, templates, queries, and more. Only administrators can access the Content Administration page.

To access the Content Administration page, hover your cursor over --> Content --> Content Administration on the Administration bar.

The Content Administration page will appear.

From this page, you can access:

This section is divided into 2 sub-topics:

The Manage Tags function enables you to manage tag styles. The tag styles will change, depending on the number of documents in a tag.

By selecting Categories & Tags --> Manage Tags, you will be directed to the Manage Tags page as below:

Here, you can perform the following actions:

  1. Click the Add Style button. The Edit Tag Style Configuration form will appear.

    Details:

    Table 4.14. 

    FieldDescription
    Asterisk (*) This mark next to each field means that it is required to input values.
    Style Name Give the tag name which cannot be edited.
    Document Range Give the number of document assigned to a tag.
    HTML Style Include font-size, font-weight, color, font-family, and text-decoration.

  2. Input values in the fields: Style Name, Document Range, and HTML Style.

  3. Click Update to accept adding a new tag style.

Note

The format of valid range must be: a..b where 'a', 'b' are positive integers. You can use * instead of 'b' to indicate it is unlimited. For example, 0..2 (means 0-2 documents assigned to a tag), 10..* (means at least 10 documents assigned to a tag).

The 'HTML style' textbox cannot be empty. You can change values of font-size, font–weight, color, font-family, and text-decoration.

The Tag Manager tab enables you to edit the existing tags.

Edit an existing tag

  1. Click pencil corresponding to the tag name which you want to edit in the Action column to edit the tag style configuration. The Edit Tag Style Configuration form appears which is similar to that of adding a tag style.

  2. Change values in the fields, including Document Range and HTML Style, except Style Name.

  3. Click Update to save new changes.

To delete one tag style, simply click the corresponding Delete icon and select OK in the confirmation to accept your deletion.

The Tag Permission Manager tab helps you set permissions regarding to editing and deleting public tags.

Set Permission To Tag Management

  1. Click "Select user" beside the Memberships field to select memberships to add a permission to those memberships. The Select Membership form will appear.

  2. Select a group on the left and the corresponding membership on the right. The selected membership will appear in the Memberships field.

  3. Click Save to accept adding a permission for the membership to the Memberships column.

    You can also delete memberships that have permissions by clicking regarding to that membership, then click OK in the confirmation message.

A category can be understood as a classification practice and science. It is used to sort documents, aiming at facilitating searches. The category management includes adding, editing and deleting a category tree.

By selecting Categories & Tags --> Manage Categories, you will be directed to the Manage Categories page as below:

Here, you can do the following actions:

  1. Click the Add Category Tree button to add a new category. The Add Category Tree form will appear.

  2. Enter the category tree name in the Name field which is required.

  3. Select the workspace you want to work with.

  4. Select the home path by clicking . The Select Home Path form will appear.

  5. Click Reset if you want to reset values that have just been selected or Next to select permissions for a category tree.

    i. Click "Select user" to select a user or "Select memberships" to select memberships or "Select everyone" to select everyone to set permissions. The user or membership that you have just selected will be displayed in the User or Group field.

    ii. Check at least one of these below options to set rights for the selected user to membership:

    Table 4.15. 

    FieldDescription
    Read Right Select the Read right or not.
    Add Note Right Select the Add Node right or not.
    Set Property Right Select the Set Property right or not.
    Remove Right Select the Remove right or not.

  6. Click Save to save all values, or Reset to change values that have just been set. After clicking Save, click Next to go to the next step.

  7. Enter the name for an action of the category tree in the Name field which is required.

  8. Select values for Lifecycle, Node Types, Target Workspace, Target Path, Affected Node Types which are required.

  9. Click Save to save all values, then select Next to go to the next step.

Note

Do not input some special characters into the Name field, such as: !,@,#,$,%,&,*,(,).

Do not add a category which has the same name and level with existing taxonomies in a node.

The category name must contain less than 30 characters.

  1. Click pencil corresponding to the category tree you want to edit.

  2. Click plus in the Add column to add more category trees. The Edit Category Tree form will appear.

  3. Enter a category name in the Category Name field which is required.

  4. Click Save to save the category name.

  5. Click Previous to return to the previous steps.

  6. Click Save to save all changes, or Previous or Next if you want to edit more.

Note

You can delete a category by clicking corresponding to the category that you want to delete. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

You cannot delete categories that have been referenced.

This section is divided into 4 sub-topics:

When creating a node in eXo Platform, you must set its properties. Thus, each node needs to have a form to enter data for their properties (called the Dialog template), and display the existing values (called the View template). The template management allows users to view, delete and modify the predefined templates or to add a new template.

Add a new template

  1. Click Content Presentation --> Manage Templates.

  2. Click the Add button in the Manage Templates form to open the Template Form.

  3. Select the template type from the Name drop-down menu.

  4. Specify a name for the template in the Label field. It is required.

  5. Select the is Document Template checkbox if you want your created template to become a template for a document.

  6. Click next to the Permission field to open the Select Permission dialog. It is required.

  7. Optionally, select the Dialog tab and enter the value in the Dialog Content field.

  8. Optionally, select the View tab and enter the value in the View Content field.

  9. Optionally, select the CSS tab and enter the value in the CSS Content field.

  10. Click Save to create the template.

Edit a template

  1. Click Content Presentation --> Manage Templates.

  2. Click in the Action column, corresponding to the template you want to edit.

  3. Make changes on the values of each tab, including:

Delete a template

  1. Click trash can corresponding to the template you want to remove in the Manage Templates page.

  2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

Metadata is generally defined as "data about data". Metadata is information which describes, or supplements the central data. In the Manage Metadata tab, you can manage nodes in the metadata format in the eXo Platform system. The metadata may be considered as information used to describe the data. When data are provided to end-users, the metadata allows users to understand about information in more details. All metadata nodes can combine with other nodes to create a new node (add mix).

View metadata

  1. Click Content Presentation --> Manage Metadata.

  2. Click corresponding to the metadata you want to view.

    The Metadata Information form will open.

Edit metadata

  1. Click in the Template's Actions column, corresponding to the metadata you want to edit.

    The Edit Metadata's Template form will open.

  2. Change the required properties of the metadata.

    Note

    You cannot edit the metadata name.

  3. Click Apply to save all metadata changes.

Delete metadata

  1. Click corresponding to the metadata you want to delete.

  2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

The Manage View function is used to control view ways of a user. It has two tabs: View and ECM Templates

To open the Manage View function, click Content Presentation --> Manage View. The Manage View form displays.

Here, you can do many actions through 2 tabs:

In this tab, you can add, edit, delete, and preview views.

Add a view

  1. Click the Add View button located at the bottom of the Manage View form.

    The Add View form will open.

  2. Specify the view name in the Name field that must be unique, and only contains standard alphanumeric characters. It is required.

  3. Set permissions for the view by clicking the plus icon. It is required.

  4. Click the Templates field and select a template from the drop-down menu for this view.

  5. Click the Add Tab button to create a functional tab on this view. It is required.

    i. Enter the name for the tab in the Name field.

    ii. Specify functions to add to the tab.

    iii. Click Save to finish creating a tab;

    Or, click Reset to clear the Tab form;

    Or, click Back to return to the View Form tab of the Add View form.

    The newly created tab is displayed on the Tabs field.

  6. Click Save to apply all settings and close the form.

Edit a View

  1. Click in the Action column, corresponding to the view you want to edit.

  2. Edit the view properties.

    Note

    You cannot change the view name.

    If you select the Enable Version checkbox, this view automatically increases to one version after you click Save. It is displayed at the Base Version column in the View tab.

    If the dialog has at least two versions, in the View tab, it displays the Restore button. You can use Restore to roll back to the previous View.

  3. Optionally, click the Add Tab button to open the Tab Form tab that allows you to add more Tabs to the View.

  4. Optionally, click an added Tab to add or remove functions on it. Note that you cannot change the tab name.

  5. Click Save to apply all changes in the View tab.

Delete a view

  1. Click corresponding to the view you want to delete in the Manage View page.

  2. Click OK to delete the view in the confirmation message.

    Note

    You cannot delete a view which is in use.

Preview a view

  1. Click in the Action column of the view you want to preview.

    The View form will open.

  2. Click Close to exit the View form.

Add a new ECM Template

  1. Select the ECM Templates tab.

  2. Click the Add button to open the Add ECM Template form.

  3. Input the content of the template in the Content field.

  4. Input a name for the template in the Name field.

  5. Select a type for the template in the Template Type field.

  6. Click Save to accept adding a new template.

Edit a template

  1. Click next to the template you want to edit.

  2. Change the current template's properties.

  3. Click Save to accept all changes.

    Note

    You cannot edit the template name.

    If you tick the Enable Version checkbox, this template will automatically increase to 1 version after you have clicked Save. It is displayed at the Base Version column in the ECMS Template tab.

    If the template has at least two versions, in the Edit ECM Template form, it displays the Restore button that allows restoring the template version.

Delete a template

  1. Click corresponding with the template you want to delete.

  2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

The function supports you to manage drives in the Sites Explorer. It allows adding, editing and deleting drives.

Go to Content Presentation --> Manage Drives.

Here, you can do certain actions on the drives as follows:

  1. Click the Add Drive button in the Manage Drives page to open the Add Drive form.

  2. Input a name for the new drive in the Name field that is required.

  3. Select a workspace for the drive from the drop-down menu by clicking the Workspace entry.

  4. Select the home path for the drive by clicking plus beside the Home Path entry.

  5. Browse an icon for the workspace by clicking plus beside the Workspace Icon entry.

    Select an icon by clicking green tick corresponding to your desired icon file.

  6. Select permissions for groups that have access rights to this drive by clicking plus beside the Permissions entry.

  7. Select or deselect the various checkboxes to hide or show the drive elements respectively.

    Show Referenced Document

    Allow viewing preference documents.

    Show Non-document Nodes

    Allow viewing non-documents.

    Show Sidebar

    Allow showing the sidebar.

    Show Hidden Node

    Allow showing the hidden nodes.

  8. Select the document type that will be created in this drive.

  9. Select the Apply Views tab and select the view types you want to be available in the drive.

  10. Click Save to complete creating the new drive, or Refresh to clear the form.

  1. Click pencil corresponding to the drive you want to edit. The Edit Drive form will appear.

  2. Edit the properties as required.

  3. Click Save to commit the changes.

Note

The drive name cannot be edited in this form.

  1. Click trash can that corresponds to the drive you want to delete.

  2. Click OK to delete the drive in the confirmation message.

This section is divided into 2 sub-topics:

The namespace is a prefix in the node type name. It enables you to create node types without fearing any conflict with existing node types. The registry helps you manage the namespaces used in the system.

Select Content Types --> Namespace Registry to open the Namespace Registry form.

Register a namespace

  1. Click the Register button on the Namespace Registry form to register a new namespace.

  2. Enter the value for the Namespace Prefix field that is required.

  3. Enter the value for the URI field which must be unique and required.

    Note

    The namespace must not contain special characters, such as !,@,#,$,%,&,*,(,).

This function is used to control all node types in eXo Platform.

View node types

  1. Click [ Glass icon ] that corresponds to the node you want to view. The View Node Type Information form will appear.

  2. Click Close to exit this form.

Add a node type

  1. Open the Add/Edit Node Type Definitions form by clicking the Add button on the Manage Node Type page.

  2. Select a namespace for the node.

  3. Enter a name in the Node Type Name field. This field is mandatory and its value must be unique.

    Note

    The name must not contain special characters, such as !,@,#,$,%,&,*,(,).

  4. Select a value for the Is Mixin Type field.

  5. Select a value for the Orderable Child Nodes field.

  6. Enter a value for the Primary Item Name field.

  7. Click [ Plus icon ] to add more parent types in the Super Types field.

  8. Click Save to accept adding a new node type, or Save as Draft to save this node type as draft.

Export Node Types

  1. Open the Export Node Types form by clicking the Export button at the bottom of the Manage Node Type page.

  2. Click Uncheck all if you do not want to export all node types. After clicking Uncheck all, this button becomes the Check all button.

  3. Select nodes that you want to export by ticking the checkboxes.

  4. Click the Export button in this form.

  5. Select the location in your device to save the exported node.

    Note

    You must select at least 1 node type to be exported. If you do not want to export the node, click Cancel to quit this pop-up.

Import Node Types

  1. Open the Import Node Type From XML File form by clicking the Import button at the bottom of the Manage Node Type page.

  2. Click the Browse... button to upload a file.

    Note

    You must upload an XML file. This file is in the node type's format.

  3. Click the Upload button.

    Note

    If you want to upload another file, click to delete the file which has just been uploaded, then upload other files.

  4. Tick the checkboxes corresponding to the nodes that you want to import.

  5. Click the Import button to complete importing a node type.

This section is divided into 4 sub-topics:

The function enables you to add, edit and delete queries by going to Advanced Configuration --> Manage Queries.

Add a new query

  1. Open the Add Query form by clicking the Add Query button in the Manage Queries page.

  2. Enter a query name into the Query Name field.

  3. Select the query type from the drop-down Query Type menu.

  4. Enter the statement for the query that must be unique.

  5. Check or uncheck the Enable Cache Results option. If you tick this checkbox, for the first time you use this query to search, the result will be cached. For the second time you search using this query, it will show the cached results. After 45 minutes, the cache will be removed.

    For example, you have the query Test with statement //element (*, nt:file). In the File Explorer, you have a nt:file document named File1. When you execute the query Test, only document File1 will be shown. After that, create a nt:file document named File2 and execute query Test, only document File2 document will be listed. After 45 minutes, the cache will be removed. When you execute the query Test, the documents File1 and File2 will be listed.

  6. Select permissions for a group that can use this query by clicking green plus.

  7. Click Save to finish adding a new query.

Edit a query

  1. Click pencil corresponding to the query you want to edit. The Edit Query form will appear.

  2. Edit the properties of the selected query.

  3. Click Save to accept all changes.

Delete a query

  1. Click trash can corresponding to the query you want to delete.

  2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion, or Cancel to discard this action.

The function enables you to manage all script codes in the eXo Platform and Browser Content system by going to Advanced Configuration --> Manage Scripts.

Add a new script in ECM

  1. Click the Add button in the Manage Script page to open the Add/Edit Script form.

  2. Enter a value for the Script Content field.

  3. Enter a script name for the Script Name field that must be unique and not contain special characters, such as !,@,#,$,%,&,*,(,).

  4. Click Save to accept adding the new script.

Edit an ECM script

  1. Click pencil corresponding to the script that you want to edit in the ECM Scripts tab. The Add/Edit script form will appear.

  2. Edit the properties in this form.

  3. Click Save to save all changes.

Delete an ECM script

  1. Click trash can on the script that you want to delete in the ECM Scripts tab.

  2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion, or Cancel to discard this action.

This function allows you to manage all action nodes in the eXo Platform.

  1. Select Advanced Configuration --> Create Action Type.

  2. Click the Add button to open the Action Type form.

  3. Select the action type.

  4. Input a name for the action.

  5. Check/uncheck the is Action Move option. The action will have exo:move property or not.

  6. Select an "execute" for the Execute field.

  7. Click plus next to Variables field to add more values for the action.

  8. Click Save to accept adding a new action type.

All locked nodes are listed and managed by administrators in the Content Administration page. There are two ways that help administrators lock nodes: unlock nodes in the right-click menu in Sites Explorer or unlock nodes in the Content Administration page.

Unlock a node

  1. Select Advanced Configuration --> Manage Locks on the Manage ECM Main Functions pane on the left. The locked nodes will be listed in the right pane.

  2. Click open lock corresponding to nodes which need to be unlocked in the Locked Node tab in the right pane. The unlocked nodes will disappear from the locked nodes list.

    Administrators can manage and add the unlock permission for another group and users in the Manage Lock tab.

  3. Select the group on the Select Group pane and the corresponding membership on the Select Membership pane. The selected group will be listed in the Groups Or Users column.

When you access a site, by default, the site content is in the published mode and you cannot edit them.

However, each site in eXo Platform has the Edit mode which enables you to edit all content of the current site. When hovering your cursor over content, you can see the Edit icon which enables you to quickly edit this content. You can take advantage of this feature to submit content to a page.

To turn on the Edit mode, hover your cursor over Edit on the Administration bar, then select Content from the drop-down menu.

For Single Content Viewer (SCV), you can see the current state of the content, the Edit Content icon and Preferences icon.

For Content List Viewer (CLV), you can see the current state of the content, the Edit Content icon, the Preferences icon, the Add Content icon and the Manage Content icon.

By using the InContext Editing feature, the process of editing a page becomes more intuitive. This feature allows you to edit content "in context" without using the WYSIWYG editor, and the new content will automatically override old one.

To use InContext Editing, you first need to turn on the Edit Mode.

Here, you can do the following specific actions:

Adding new content by using InContext Editing is enabled for the Content List Viewer (CLV).

  1. Turn on the Edit Mode, then hover your cursor over the CLV to which you want to add new content.

  2. Click on the CLV.

    You will be directed to the Sites Explorer with a list of content templates for you to select.

    Details:

    Table 4.16. 

    FieldDescription
    Free layout web content This template is a free layout.
    Picture on head layout web content The site's content is presented in two spaces. One is for inserting an image and the other for editing the site's content. The image will be put at the head of a site.
    Display the list of the content templates in the List view.
    Display the list of the content templates in the Thumbnail view.
    Cancel selecting the content template and back to the previous page.

  3. Click one template for your content. Each template has an Info bar on the top of the template.

    Details:

    Table 4.17. 

    FieldDescription
    Change Content Type Select another content types.
    Save Save the content without closing the content form.
    Save & Close Save the content and close the content form.
    Close Close the content form without saving the content.
    Switch on/off the full-screen mode.

  4. Fill all the fields in the form. See the Add a document section to know how to create the different content types.

  5. Click Save or Save & Close to save the document.

Note

The folder, where a document is saved, is the path you have selected in the Manage preferences section.

You can edit any content on the homepage for SCV and CLV with InContext Editing. However, for CLV, you only can edit each content in it.

  1. Turn on the Edit mode by hovering your cursor over Edit on the Administration bar, then select Content.

  2. Hover your cursor over the content you want to edit, and click pencil at the right corner. You will be directed to Sites Explorer with the document form for you to edit.

  3. Make changes on the content, then click Save or Save & Close to accept your changes.

  4. Click green reverse arrow to return to the site. In the Edit mode, your new content will be in the "Draft" state with its visible modifications.

  5. Click , or on the Action bar to publish your edited content. Your content is now in the "Published" state.

Note

You cannot see the edited content in the draft state when you turn off the Edit mode.

With InContext Editing, you can easily manage a Content List Viewer on the homepage. You can add new content in the CLV, edit, delete an existing content or copy/cut/paste to another CLV and take more actions in the right-click menu.

Add content in the CLV

  1. Turn on the Edit mode.

  2. Hover your cursor over the CLV which you want to manage on the homepage, and click .

    You will be directed to the Sites Explorer page.

  3. Click [ Add Document ] on the Action bar.

  4. Do the same steps as in the Add Content section.

Do other actions

Right-click specific content in the CLV to open the drop-down menu. From here, you can do many actions as mentioned in the Actions on folders and documents section.

Preferences enable you to edit content in the Single Content Viewer (SCV) and the Content List Viewer (CLV), reset the display of the content in SCV and CLV and publish content.

Edit the Single Content Viewer

  1. Turn on the Edit mode.

  2. Select of a Single Content Viewer.

    The Content Detail Preferences dialog appears.

    Details:

    Table 4.18. 

    Field Description
    Content Selection Select the path of the content that you want to show by clicking blue plus .
    Display Settings Configure the visibility of Title, Date and Option bar.

    • Show Title: Select this checkbox to display the title of the content.

    • Show Date: Select this checkbox to display the date of the content publication.

    • Show Option Bar: Select this checkbox to display the Option bar which is used to show the print link.

    Print Settings

    • Show in Page: The content is shown in the page.

    • with: Parameters contain the content path.

    Advanced link: When clicking this link, the Advanced pane will be shown with two parts.

    • Dynamic Navigation: Allow you to get a parameter to configure the portlet by URL. It means that the URL containing the content path can be dynamically changed.

      • Disable: By default, if the property is set as "Disable", the Advanced pane is closed by default. It means the single content will be opened by an URL containing the Content Path.

      • Enable: This portlet is configured with the provided parameter ("content-id" by default) and the content.

      • By: This parameter is the key in the URL to let SCV know which really is the path in the current URL. It is editable when the Contextual Content is set to "Enable".

    • Content Visibility: Allow you to use a cache shared between users to get content. If you want to get content, which are displayed in CLV or SCV, from one cache, select Restricted by Authentication. If not, select Restricted by User Roles.


    Note

    Hover your cursor over question mark to see a quick help for each section.

  3. Click next to the Content Path to select another content. The Select Content dialog appears.

  4. Select a folder in the left pane, and its content in the right pane. The selected content will be displayed in the Content Path field.

  5. Tick the checkboxes, including Show Title, Show Date and Show Option Bar, if you want to display the content title, the publication date and the print button like the illustration below.

    i. In the Print Setting part, click magnifying glass to open the UIPageselector dialog. You will see Printviewer.

    ii. Click the Print button. The content is opened in the print viewer page.

  6. Click Save to save all your changes.

Edit the Content List Viewer

  1. Turn on the Edit mode.

  2. Select the Preferences icon of a Content List Viewer.

    The Content List Preferences dialog appears.

    Details:

    Table 4.19. 

    Field Description
    Content Selection

    Mode: This mode is to select web content for the list viewer. There are two modes:

    • By Folder: This mode allows you to select a content folder in the Folder Path field.

    • By Content: This mode allows you to select by the content in a specific folder in Folder Path field.

    Folder Path: The path to a location of a folder that contains the content.

    Order by: Sort content in the List Viewer by Title, Date Created or Date Modified in ascending or descending order.

    Display Settings

    Header: The title of all content that is listed in the List Viewer.

    Template: The template which is used to view the content list.

    Paginator: The template which is used to view each content in the list.

    Items per Page: The number of items which will be displayed per page.

    The following options which can be shown or hidden by ticking or unticking checkboxes respectively.

    • Show Title: Title of each published web content/document.

    • Show Header: Header of each published web content/document.

    • Show Refresh: The Refresh button at the left bottom of the page.

    • Show Image: The illustration of each published web content/document.

    • Show Date: The created date of each published web content/document.

    • Show More Link: The Read more link to read all the content of web content and/or document.

    • Show Summary: The summary of each web content/document.

    • Show Link: The link of web content/document.

    • Show RSS Link: The RSS link of all content of web content/document.

    Advanced link

    Dynamic Navigation

    • Disable: The single content will be opened by an URL containing the Content Path.

    • Enable: This portlet is configured with the provided parameter (content-id by default).

    • By: This parameter is the key in the URL to let CLV know which really is the path in the current URL.

    • Show in Page: The single content in CLV will be shown in a selected page. You can select any page but should take one with a Content Detail Portlet. The "Dynamic Navigation" is enabled in the Content Detail Portlet that interprets the URL and shows a single content.

    • With: This parameter is the key in the URL to let SCV know which really is the path in the current URL.

    Content Visibility: Allow you to use a cache shared between users to get content. If you want to get content, which are displayed in CLV or SCV, from one cache, select Restricted by Authentication. If not, select Restricted by User Roles.


  3. Browse the documents or web content of an available site by clicking blue plus next to the Folder Path field.

  4. If you select the By Folder mode, select an available site on the left, then select a folder that contains content (documents and/or web content) on the right by clicking the folder.

    If you select the By Content mode, select an available folder from the left pane, all content in this folder will be listed in the right pane. Click content on the right that you want to add to the content list. There will be a message, informing that you have successfully added it to the Content List. The selected content will be listed in the Content List.

  5. Enter a header for the content list in the Header field if you want.

  6. Select a template to display the content list in the template list.

  7. Tick/Untick your desired options.

  8. Click Save to accept your changes.

The Inline Editing mode allows you to edit directly on the page without going to a separate one. By using this mode, you can edit the text in the same location in such an intuitive and convenient manner.

Do the Inline Editing

  1. Turn on the Edit mode on the Administration bar.

  2. Hover your cursor over the area you want to edit. The editable area will be highlighted.

  3. Double-click the area until the Edit area is shown as below.

    In case the hovered area is in the Rich Text format, the Edit area will be displayed with the CKEditor as below. (See more information about CKEditor here.)

  4. Make changes on your selected area.

  5. Click to accept, or to discard changes.

  • After you have made changes on your content, it is only in the Draft state.

  • Click to publish the content. Now, your edited content is in the Published state.

When using CKEditor to write/edit a document, you can also:

Insert a portal link

  1. Click to open the Insert Portal Link form.

  2. Enter the title of the portal in the Title field.

  3. Enter the portal URL manually, or you can also click Get portal link to open a page containing all the portals in the same server, then select one that you want.

  4. Click Preview to view the portal.

  5. Click Save to accept inserting the portal to the document.

Insert a content link

  1. Click to open a page.

  2. Click the plus before the document name, or click directly the document name in the left pane to show the content in the right pane, or click to upload a file from your local device.

  3. Click content that you want to insert to the document.

After new content has been created, it is saved as draft and you can easily to publish it on your site. The publication process consists of four steps:

Request for Approval --> Approval --> Stage --> Publish

In case you want to publish your content without having the "Approve" or "Publish" right, you first need to send your request for approval.

In case you have the right to approve or publish content, you can yourself publish it with the Stage step immediately.

The Content By Query portlet allows you to collect and display data throughout a workspace by using a query instead of selecting items by a folder or by content.

To use this portlet, first you need to add the Content By Query portlet to a specific page as follows:

  1. Drag and drop the Content By Query portlet from the Page Editor --> Applications --> Content to the main pane. You can do this step while creating a new page or editing an existing page or editing the layout of a portal.

  2. Edit the Content By Query portlet by hovering your cursor over it, then click pencil to edit the portlet.

    The form with the Edit Mode tab appears.

  3. Enter a valid query into the by query field to get data that you want to display.

  4. Select a workspace where you want to get data.

  5. Click Save to complete adding the Content By Query portlet.

  6. Click pencil to quit the Page Editor page and see the displayed data.

Note

To learn more about fields in the Edit Mode tab, refer to Content List Preferences.

In eXo Platform, you can create new content in any folders or directly in a CLV with Incontext Editing. However, to facilitate the content management, categories are usually used to sort and organize documents that makes your desired searches more quickly. Also, creating content inside a category helps you manage and publish them effectively.

After creating a document, you should categorize it by adding it to a category. Otherwise, documents should be created right in a category and links to those documents will be automatically created in the category. In eXo Platform, categories are stored in JCR.

Create content in a category

  1. Hover your cursor over --> Content --> Sites Explorer on the Administration bar.

    For example, select the acme-category drive as the following illustration.

  2. Click the New Content button to create new content. See the Add a document section to know how to add new content. The new content is a Symlink. To view the content, simply click the Symlink.

Web content is a key resource which is used for a site. Other resources make a site more dynamic and animated by using layout, color, font, and more. This section focuses on how to manage web content in a specific site.

Note

Only users who have the right to access the Sites Management drive can do it.

This function is used to add new web content to a specific site.

  1. Go to the Sites Management drive, then select a site to which you want to add web content.

  2. Select the web content folder on the left.

    Note

    In this step, you also can add new web content into another folders (documents and media folders) of a site but you are recommended to select the web content folder because:

    Managing web content of a site becomes more easily.

    You only may add new web content in this folder so that you do not need to select web content document in the list of document types. It makes adding new web content more flexibly.

  3. Click [ Add Document ] on the Action bar to open a list of content templates, including Free layout web content, and Picture on head layout web content.

  4. Select a template to present the web content by clicking one.

  5. Enter values in the fields of the Add New Document form.

  6. Click Save or Save & Close to save the content or Close to quit the Add New Document form.

Tabs in the Add New Document form

The Main Content tab

Table 4.20. 

Field Description
Title The title of the web content.
Name The name of the web content that you want to add new.
Language The language of the web content. At present, eXo Platform 3.5 supports two languages: English and French.
Main Content The main content that you want to display when publishing this web content.

The Illustration tab allows you to upload an illustration that makes the site's content more attractive.

Details:

Table 4.21. 

Field Description
Illustration Image The path to an image that you want to upload into a site. This image will be used like an illustration of that site.
Summary You can give a short description about the web content because it will be displayed with the illustration image when the web content is listed. The main content will be shown when it is selected to be viewed.

Upload an image

  1. Browse a list of images on your local device by clicking the Browse... button, then select a specific location.

  2. Select an image in the list to upload.

The Advanced tab includes two parts: CSS Data and JS Data.

Details:

Table 4.22. 

Field Description
CSS Data Contain the CSS definition to present data in the web content. You can optionally enter CSS data into this field to specify the style.
JS Data Contain the JS content to make the web content more dynamic after being published. You can optionally enter the JS content in this field.

This function is used to edit web content in a specific drive of an existing site.

  1. Go into the folder of a site which contains the web content that you want to edit.

  2. Select the web content by double-clicking it in the left tree or in the right pane. The detailed information of web content will be viewed in the right pane.

  3. Click [ Edit Document ] on the Action bar to show the form to edit the selected web content. This form is similar to that of creating a new document.

  4. Make changes on current values in the fields of this form.

  5. Complete editing the selected web content by clicking Save or Save & Close.

Note

When you click [ Edit Document ], the web content will be auto-locked for your editing. After finishing, the content is back to the unlock status. You can manage "Locks" in the Unlock a node section.

This function is used to remove web content from the web content folder in a specific site's drive.

  1. Right-click the name of the web content that you want to delete, then select Delete from the drop-down menu.

  2. Click OK to accept your deletion in the confirmation message.

This function helps you publish web content that you have added to a web content folder in Sites Explorer.

See the Publication process section to know how to publish web content.

After the content is published, all users who have the right to access that position can view the published web content as a page on the Navigation bar.

This function is used to set up your browsing preferences.

  1. Click sprocket on the right side of the Sites Explorer portlet.

    The Preferences window will appear.

    Details:

    Table 4.23. 

    Field Description
    Sort by Sort nodes in the nodes list by Alphabetic, Type, Created Date, or Modified Date.
    Show Sidebar Display/Hide the sidebar.
    Enable Drag & Drop Enable/Disable the "drag and drop" action.
    Nodes Per Page This number of nodes displayed per page.
    Show Non-document Nodes Display/Hide nodes that are non–documents.
    Show Referenced Documents Display/Hide referenced documents.
    Show Hidden Nodes Display/Hide hidden nodes.
    Query Type This query type.
    Enable DMS Structure Display/Hide document nodes in the tree structure.

  2. Configure the preferences as required and click Save to set them;

    Or, click Close to quit without submitting changes.

There are 3 search types in Sites Explorer:

With the quick search, you can directly type a search term in the search field. All documents, whose keywords are matched with the search term, are retrieved and listed in the Search results form.

  1. Enter a keyword into the search text box.

  2. Click magnifying glass to perform the search;

    Or, press Enter.

    The search results will be displayed in the right pane.

    The search results are empty if no document contains the search string.

  3. Click magnifying glass to view the content containing the keyword;

    Or, click preview to go to the node that contains the search result.

Perform an advanced search

  1. Click "Saved Search" on the Filter bar.

  2. Click magnifying glass to open the Advanced Search form.

The tabs in this form offer different search functions:

Use the Search by Name tab to search nodes by name as follows:

  1. Enter the exact name you wish to search in the Content Name field.

  2. Click Search.

    Results will return with the message “No result found” if there is no node with the entered name.

    Results will be returned in the Search Results tab if the requested name is found.

This search enables you to search with more constraints to limit the returned results.

Extra search constraints are entered in the Advanced Search tab of the Advanced Search form.

The Current location field is not editable. It shows the path selected to search.

  1. Enter search terms in the A word of phrase in content field.

  2. Select the Operator.

  3. Click Show/Hide Constraint Form to add more constraints.

    A further constraint options window will appear.

    Details:

    Table 4.24. 

    ItemDescription
    You can add more than one constraint with either of two operators (AND and OR).
    Add a constraint to search by a property with specific values.
    Add a constraint to search by a property that contains one of the word in the specific string.
    Add a constraint to search by a property that does not contain the specific string.
    Add a constraint to search by a duration of date (created, modified).
    Add a constraint to search by a document type, including File, Article, Podcast, Sample node, File Plan, Kofax).
    Add a constraint to search by categories.
    Add a document type.
    Add a category.

  4. Select the constraint operator (AND/OR).

  5. Add the required constraints using one of the following methods:

  6. Click Add to add any/all activated constraints.

    The constraints will be converted to an SQL query and displayed in the search form.

    • Remove unnecessary constraints by clicking trash can.

  7. Click Search to launch the search. Results will be displayed in the Search Results tab.

  8. Click Save and put a name for this search configuration if you want to save it to use at another time.

There are some methods to add the required constraints as follows:

Add a constraint for exact values

  1. Tick the checkbox that corresponds to the constraint you want.

  2. Enter the property you want to locate, or click "Add property" .

    A list of possible properties appears.

  3. Select a property from the list and click Add. The selected property will populate Property field.

  4. Define the property value to search for by entering a value into the Contain Exactly field, or click Find exactly.

    The Filter Form will appear.

    All pre-existing values for your selected property will appear.

Add a constraint including or excluding values

  1. Tick the checkbox corresponding to the Contain or Not Contain constraint, as appropriate.

  2. Enter the required property in the Property field, or click Add Property (refer to Step 2 in the Add a constraint for exact values section for more information).

  3. Enter the required values in the Contain or Not Contain fields.

Add a constraint by date

  1. Tick the checkbox beside the field with the drop-down menu (below the Property entries).

  2. Define the search condition from the drop-down list (CREATED/MODIFIED).

  3. Click in the From field.

    A small calendar will appear.

    Select the date you want to use as a constraint.

  4. Repeat the above steps for the To field.

    The selected dates will populate the From and To fields in the Add constraint form.

Add a constraint by document type

  1. Tick the checkbox beside the Document Type field.

  2. Enter the document type you want to search, or click "Add node type" to open a list of document types.

  3. Tick the checkbox corresponding to your desired document type, then click Save.

    The selected document type will populate the Document Type field.

Add a constraint by category

  1. Tick the checkbox beside the Category field.

  2. Enter the category you want to search, or click "Add category" for a list of categories.

  3. Click green tick that corresponds to your desired category.

    The selected category will populate the Category field.

You need a knowledge of the structure of query statements to configure a search using the parameters on the New Query tab.

  1. Enter a unique name for this query in the Name field.

  2. Select a query type from the drop-down menu: SQL or xPath.

  3. Enter a query statement.

  4. Click Search to perform the search and display the results in the Search Results tab;

    Or, click Save to save the search query to the Saved Query tab;

    Or, click Cancel to quit.

This tab lists all saved search queries that you have access rights to use.

Do the followings to perform a search with saved queries:

  1. Click magnifying glass on the sidebar to see the list of existing queries.

    A query list will appear. It contains the sections, including All Articles, Created Documents, CreatedDocumentDayBefore and allArticles.

  2. Launch, modify or delete the queries as required (see the Search by creating a new query section for more information).

  3. Filter results with the entries in the All Items and/or By Type panes on the left of the tab. Items matching the selections will appear in the right pane.

  4. Click the required document or folder name to view or download them.

What is WebDAV?

WebDAV is an abbreviation of Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning. It is used to publish and manage files and directories on a remote server. It also enables users to perform these functions on a website.

WebDAV provides the following features:

Locking

This feature prevents two or more collaborators from overwriting shared files.

Site Manipulation

WebDAV supports the "copy" and "move" actions and the creation of collections (file system directories).

Name Space Management

This function enables copying and moving webpages within a server's namespace.

Why use WebDAV?

With WebDAV, you can manage content efficiently with the following actions:

To use WebDAV in eXo Platform, you first need to have the Internet or Intranet connected. Next, you can follow one of the two following ways:

The first way

You need to connect to the WebDAV server. For example, for Windows XP, do the following steps:

  1. Navigate to the My Network Places on your local device. You will see all shared files and folders:

  2. Click the Add a network place link on the left to open the Add Network Place Wizard.

  3. Click Next to select a network location:

  4. Select Choose another network location to create a shortcut.

  5. Enter an address into the Internet or network address field.

    For example, the address of the Acme demonstration site is http://mycompany.com:8080/portal/rest/private/jcr/repository/collaboration/sites/content/live/acme.

  6. Click Next. After a few seconds, a folder named acme on localhost appears in the My Network Places directory.

    Each site managed by WebDAV appears as a folder in this location.

  7. Take actions on the content in this folder to administrate the site content remotely.

The second way

This way can be done through Sites Management.

  1. Hover your cursor over on the Administration bar, then select Content --> Sites Explorer from the drop-down menu.

  2. Click the Drives button, then select Sites Management.

    You will see all sites listed in the left sidebar.

  3. Right-click your desired site to view with WebDAV, and select Download and Allow Edition from the menu.

    The selected site will be shown in WebDAV.

    In this view, you can access documents in the directories that are linked to the web server.

This function enables you to copy web content, such as an .html file, from your local device to a web content folder of a site.

  1. Access a site via WebDAV (refer to the Use WebDAV in eXo Platform section), then go to a web content folder of the site.

  2. Copy the web content on your local system into this folder.

    The copied file will be converted to web content that is viewable by WebDAV automatically. The content is converted to a directory containing CSS, documents, js and media.

After the new content is added, it can be viewed as a folder in WebDAV or as a page using a web browser.

This function enables site administrators to delete web content files separately or in batches.

  1. Navigate to the folder that contains the content you want to remove.

  2. Right-click the content files or directories (hold the Ctrl key to select multiple files at once), and select Delete from the drop-down menu.

    The selected files will be removed from the site.

The Fast Content Creator portlet in eXo Platform enables you to quickly create and save a new document with only one template in a specific location without accessing Sites Explorer. This helps you save a lot of time when creating a new document.

There are two modes in Fast Content Creator: Content Creator and Standard Content Creator.

The Standard Content Creator mode allows you to add an action to your document. When Configuring Fast Content Creator, the Edit Mode tab has the Actions part that allows you to add an action to the document and view actions added to the document.

To add an action to a document, click Add or plus to open the Add Action form. Do the same steps in the Add an action section.

To use the Fast Content Creator portlet, you need to add it to a specific page first by dragging and dropping Content Creator or Standard Content Creator from Page Editor --> Applications --> Forms to the main pane. This can be done when creating a new page or editing an existing page or editing the layout of a portal.

In eXo Platform, the Fast Content Creator is applied in the Question? portlet with the Content Creator mode by default. Thus, in this guide, you are instructed how to configure the Fast Content Creator by editing the Question? portlet as an example.

  1. Open the Question? page.

  2. Hover your cursor over Edit --> Page, then click Layout on the Administration bar.

    The edit page appear.

  3. Hover your cursor over the portlet, then click pencil to edit the portlet.

    The form with the Edit Mode tab appears.

    Details:

    Table 4.25. 

    Field Description
    Location to Save Select the location to save documents or messages.
    Select Template Select a template for the document. There are different input fields corresponding to each selected template.
    Custom Save Button Change the label for the "Save" button.
    Custom Save Message Change the content of custom message that informs you have just saved a document.
    Redirect Allow you to redirect the path in the Redirect Path field.
    Redirect Path Show a path to which you will be directed after clicking OK in the confirmation message.

  4. Select a specific location to save documents.

    i. Click magnifying glass to open the Select Location form.

    ii. Select the parent node in the left pane, then click green tick in the Add column to select the child node in the right pane. After being selected, this location will be displayed on the Location to Save field. Created documents will be saved in this location.

  5. Select a template which is used to create a new document.

  6. Change the label for the Custom Save button, and the content for Custom Save Message.

  7. Tick the Redirect checkbox if you want to redirect to the path in the Redirect Path field after clicking OK in the confirmation message.

  8. Click Save to finish the configuration of Fast Content Creator. Then, click OK in the notification message to accept your changes.

  9. Click Close to quit the form to edit the configuration of Fast Content Creator.

  1. Go to your newly created page.

  2. Fill values in all the fields in the page.

  3. Click Save to accept creating the new document. A message appears to let you know that the document is created successfully at the location selected in the Location to Save field.

After creating a new document by Fast Content Creator, you can view it as follows:

  1. Go to Sites Explorer.

  2. Select the drive and the path that you established in the configuration of Fast Content Creator. You will see this document.

Note

The Form Builder portlet is deprecated in eXo Platform. It remains fully supported for eXo customers, however it will not receive any enhancement and will be removed from the product scope in the future.

The Form Builder portlet allows users to create and edit the template of document types. Documents are stored in the so-called node; therefore, the term "node" and node types are often applied.

To use this porlet, you need to add it to a specific page first by dragging and dropping Form Generator Portlet from Page Editor --> Applications --> Form Generator Portlet to the main pane. This can be done when creating a new page or editing an existing page or editing the layout of a portal.

Create a content template

  1. Open the Form Builder portlet.

  2. Enter the template name into the Name field which is required.

  3. Enter a brief description about the template.

  4. Click the Form Builder tab that allows you to set properties for the template. Available components are displayed in the left pane.

  5. Click the desired components in the left pane. The selected components will be displayed in the right pane.

  6. Click up arrow corresponding to the component to move this component up; or click down arrow to move the component down.

  7. Click pencil corresponding to the component to edit properties of that component. The form to edit properties appears like the illustration below.

    Details:

    Table 4.26. 

    Field Description
    Field Label The label of the field.
    Width The width of the field width.
    [ Rules: ] If the checkbox is marked, the asterisk (red asterix) will appear beside the textbox, indicating that it is required to enter values in this field.
    Height The height of the field.
    Default Value Display the default value.
    Guidelines for User Display instructions about this component.

    After editing the properties of the components, the components look like the below illustration.

    • To delete the component, click trash can corresponding to the component.

    • Click pencil again to hide the form to edit the properties.

  8. Click Save to accept creating a new template, or Reset to edit this template again before saving.

  1. Access Sites Explorer, then select DMS Administration.

  2. Click exo:ecms --> views --> templates --> content-list-viewer --> list.

  3. Right-click in the white space, then select New Content in the menu; or select New Content on the Action bar.

  4. Select File from the content templates list. The form to add the File document appears:

  5. Enter all the fields in the form. The fields marked with the asterisk (*) are required.

    In the Mime Type field, select application/x-groovy+html from the drop-down menu.

  6. Click Save or Save & Close to accept creating the CLV template.

Note

See more details about the File document in the Create a new File document section.

  1. Click exo:ecms --> views --> templates --> content-list-viewer --> list in the DMS Administration drive.

  2. Right-click a template that you want to edit, then select Edit from the drop-down menu.

  3. Edit your desired fields, then click Save or Save & Close to accept your changes.

  1. Click exo:ecms --> views --> templates --> content-list-viewer --> list in the DMS Administration drive.

  2. Right-click a template that you want to delete, then select Delete from the drop-down menu.

  3. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

Category Navigation and Parameterized Content List Viewer portlets get rid of long URLs when you view content and enable users to see published documents or web content in specific categories in one page. Thanks to the symbolic link, no matter where the object physically resides, the database can retrieve it. In addition, the relations amongst shortcuts can be managed. Now, you can view documents or web content in the Parameterized Content List Viewer easily.

Access the Category Navigation portlet

  1. Go to News on the Navigation bar.

  2. Select a category that you want to view on the left. The selected category will be shown on the right (only documents or web content published are shown).

Configure Category Navigation

Administrators can edit the Category Navigation portlet as follows:

  1. Open News page on the Navigation bar.

  2. Hover your cursor over Edit --> Page --> Layout.

    The page which allows you to edit the Category Navigation portlet will appear.

  3. Click pencil to open a form with the Edit Mode tab, allowing you to edit the portlet.

  4. Click plus icon to select the folder path which restores content you want do display.

  5. Edit some fields in the Display Settings part as you want. See more details in the Content List Preferences section.

  6. Click the Advanced link to set up some properties for the portlet. See more details here.

  7. Click Save to accept saving the configuration for the Category Navigation portlet.

  8. Click Close to quit the form.

  9. Click on the Page Editor form to finish editing the Category Navigation portlet.

Note

In the Edit Mode tab, some options are disabled.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) allows you to improve the visibility of your webpages and web content in the major search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, Live) via the search results. The higher your website position is in the search engine results page, the more visitors access it. Therefore, it is very important for you to maximize your webpages and content's position in the search engines.

In eXo Platform, the SEO Management feature is featured to meet this target. By using SEO Management, you can easily manage SEO data of web pages and web content and optimize your website for search engines.

Manage the SEO data

  1. Open a page or content that you want to edit the SEO data.

  2. Open the SEO Management form by hovering your cursor over Edit --> Page --> SEO on the Administration bar.

    Depending on your SEO management for a page or content, the content of the SEO Management form will be different.

    Details:

    Table 4.27. 

    FieldDescription
    DescriptionThe description of your page/content. This description will be seen in the results list of search engines.
    KeywordsBy using these keywords, other users can find out your page/content via search engines.
    RobotsSearch engines can access the whole directories on a website, or individual pages, or individual links on a page and list your page/content or not, it depends on your options:

    • INDEX: Allow search engines to index your page/content on the search engine results page.

    • NOINDEX: Restrict search engines from indexing your page/content on the search engine results page. Use this option if you want to keep your page private.

    • FOLLOW: Allow search engines to follow links from your page to find other pages.

    • NOFOLLOW: Restrict search engines from following links from your page to find other pages. Use this option if you want to prevent spam links in comments of blogs, forums and others.

    SitemapAllow you to see pages of the sites in the tree-like structure.
    FrequencyShow how often pages are updated on the site. Also, setting your frequency levels tells the search engines which pages should be crawled over other pages. The frequency levels include: Always, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly and Never. If you set "Never" for the frequency level, meaning that this page never gets updated, so search engines will move onto other pages that get updated more frequently.
    PriorityAllow search engines to search the page with the higher priority level first. The acceptable value in this field is from 0 to 1. In which, 0 is the lowest priority level and 1 is the highest.

  3. Fill out all the fields in the form.

  4. Click Save to finish creating SEO data.

Note

means that the SEO information is empty.

means that the SEO information has been updated but some information are not filled out yet.

means that the SEO Management form is filled out with the full SEO information.

means that the SEO Management feature is disabled.

The Search function allows you to quickly search for any content in the system with a keyword from the front page, even if you do not log in. However, the number of the search results displayed depends on your role.

For example, if you do not log in, you only see the search results that are published.

  1. Enter a keyword into the search box and press Enter.

    The search results matching with your keyword are displayed in the search page:

    In case of no search results matching the keyword, the search page is displayed as below:

    Details:

    Table 4.28. 

    Field Details
    in Content

    Search all published content of search index areas that contain the keyword.

    in Pages Search all SEO data (description, keyword) and pages that have titles or names matching the keyword.

  2. In the Search form, you can enter another keyword and set the search scale.

  3. Press Enter, or click Search to start searching.

Editing the Search portlet allows you to change the display of search results.

  1. Open the Search page as in Section 4.2.11.1, “Search for content”.

  2. Open the Edit Mode of the Search portlet by following one of two ways:

    • The first way

      Hover your cursor over Edit --> Content on the Administration bar, and then click pencil.

    • The second way

      Hover your cursor over Edit --> Page --> Layout on the Administration bar. The Page Editor will be displayed.

      • Hover your cursor over the SearchResult portlet and click pencil to edit the portlet.

    The Edit Mode of the Search portlet appears.

    Details:

    Table 4.29. 

    Field Details
    Items per Page

    The number of search results displayed in each page.

    Page Mode The way to display the search results. There are 3 options:

    • None: Only the first page of search results is displayed in the search page.

    • More: When you click the Search button, the first page of search result is displayed. The difference from the None mode is that, there is a More button allowing you to see more search results. When clicking this button, new search results are appended to the current search result page like Twitter or Facebook behavior.

    • Pagination: In this mode, the search results are divided into many pages (for example, 1, 2, 3 and Next). You can navigate to another page by clicking the page number or Next in the bottom of the Search portlet to view more results.

    Search Form Template The template of the Search form.
    Search Result Template The template for displaying the search results.
    Search Page Layout Template The layout of the Search portlet.
    Base Path The page where you can see the content of a search result.

  3. Edit your desired portlet and click Save to accept your changes.

Users can easily print any content in a site by following these steps:

  1. Click Read more to read all the content of a document or of an article in a site.

  2. Click the Print button. The Print Preview page will be displayed on another tab.

  3. Click Print to print the content of this page, or Close to close this tab without printing.

eXo Platform provides the Newsletters service, aiming at helping users quickly get the updated newsletters from a website.

Note

The Newsletter portlet is deprecated in eXo Platform. It remains fully supported for eXo customers, however it will not receive any enhancement and will be removed from the product scope in the future.

With Newsletters, you can instantly get newsletters from your email to update the last information about categories and subscriptions.

Subscribe your email to get newsletters from eXo Service

  1. Go to Newsletters on the Navigation bar. The Newsletters page will appear.

  2. Enter your email address in the Your Email field.

  3. Select the checkbox corresponding to the subscription that you want to get newsletters.

  4. Click Subscribe. A message informing that you have just subscribed to the selected newsletter will appear.

  5. Click OK in the confirmation message. You can reselect the subscription that you want or do not want to receive newsletters by re-selecting the checkbox in the Check to subscribe column.

  6. Click Change your subscriptions to update your changes.

  7. Click Forget this email if you want to unsubscribe from newsletters.

Note

The Newsletter Manager portlet is deprecated in eXo Platform. It remains fully supported for eXo customers, however it will not receive any enhancement and will be removed from the product scope in the future.

eXo Platform facilitates administrators to easily and quickly manage newsletters.

To use this portlet, you first need to add it to a specific page by dragging and dropping Newsletter Manager from Page Editor to the main pane. This can be done when creating a new page or editing an existing page or editing the layout of a portal.

Note

In eXo Platform, the Newsletter Manager portlet is put in Page Editor --> Applications --> Newsletter.

Access the page with the Newsletter Manager portlet to open the newsletter page.

Managing categories in Newsletter includes the following actions:

  1. Click New Category on the Action bar of the Newsletter page. The Create New Category form will appear.

    Details:

    Table 4.30. 

    Field Description
    Asterisk (*) This mark next to each field means that it is required to enter values into that field.
    Name The name of a category.
    Title The title of a category.
    Description A brief description of the category.
    Moderator Select users/groups who have rights to manage this category.

  2. Input values into fields.

    i. Select a moderator for a category by clicking "Select user" next to the Moderator field to open the User Selector form.

    ii. Click "Select membership" to select users in a specific group. The Group selector window will appear.

  3. Click Save to accept creating a new category.

    You will see your added category in the list of categories.

  1. Select a category that you want to edit.

  2. Click Administration --> Edit Category from the drop-down menu.

    The Create New Category form appears.

  3. Change the values in the Title and Description fields as required.

    Note

    The category name cannot be changed.

  4. Click Save to save all changes.

  1. Select a category that you want to edit.

  2. Click Administration, then select Delete Category from the drop-down menu.

  3. Click OK in the confirmation message to delete the category.

Administrators can manage users accounts and activities with actions, such as editing, banning, removing bans, or deleting.

  1. Select a category that you want to edit.

  2. Select Administration --> Manage Users from the drop-down menu.

    The Manage Users form will appear.

    Details:

    Table 4.31. 

    Field Description
    Email The email address of user who has subscribed this subscription.
    Banned

    This field has two values:

    False

    The user is allowed to get email.

    True

    The user is not allowed to get email.

    Ban this user from receiving emails.
    Remove a ban on a user.
    Delete the user.

  3. Click Close to close the form.

Administrators can add more subscriptions to any category via two ways as follows:

The first way

  1. Click New Subscription on the Action bar.

    The Create New Subscription form will appear.

    Details:

    Table 4.32. 

    Field Description
    Asterisk (*) This mark next to each field means that it is required to enter values into that field.
    Category The category which contains this subscription.
    Name The name of the subscription.
    Title The title of the subscription.
    Description The brief description about the subscription.
    Redactor Select users/groups who have rights to manage this subscription.

  2. Click the Category field and select a category from the drop-down menu.

  3. Enter the rest of their values in the form.

  4. Click Save to create the new subscription.

The second way

  1. Click directly the category to which you want to add a new subscription.

  2. Click New Subscription on the Action bar.

    The Create New Subscription form pops up.

  3. Do the same steps (3, 4) as stated in the first way.

  • Administrators can create newsletters for each subscription.

  • These newsletters can be opened, edited, deleted or converted to a template for reuse.

Details:

Table 4.33. 

Element Description
Shoes The name of the subscription.
Fashion Shoes The brief description about the subscription.
Letter The list of all letters of this subscription.
Date The date and time when creating this newsletter.
Status There are three types of status: draft, awaiting and sent.
Moderation This button allows you to take actions on your selected newsletter.

Administrators can easily view the content of a newsletter as follows:

  1. Open the subscription containing the letter you want to open by clicking it or ticking the corresponding checkbox, then select Administration --> Open.

  2. Directly click the newsletter;

    Or, select the checkbox corresponding to your desired newsletter, then click Administration --> Open.

    The View Newsletter's Content form pops up.

  3. Click Close to exit.

  1. Select the newsletter you want to edit by ticking the relevant checkbox in a specific subscription.

  2. Click [ Moderation ], then select Edit from the drop-down menu.

    The Newsletter Entry pops up.

  3. Change the values in the fields that you want to edit: Template, Send Date, Category, Subscription.

  4. Click the Update a Newsletter's info button.

  5. Change values in the Title and Main Content fields.

  6. Click Save to save as draft, or click Send.

Administrator can delete obsolete newsletters in a specific subscription.

  1. Select the newsletter you want to delete by ticking the corresponding checkbox.

  2. Click [ Moderation ], then select Delete from the drop-down menu.

  3. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

The administrator can reuse the template of the frequently used newsletter template.

  1. Select the newsletter that you want to create as a template.

  2. Click [ Moderation ], then select Convert As Template from the drop-down menu. For the next time when you create a newsletter, this template will be listed in the Template field in the Newsletter Entry form.

Each subscription consists of many newsletters. In eXo Platform, you can easily create newsletters by following these steps.

  1. Select a subscription where you want to create a newsletter.

  2. Click [ New Letter ] on the Action bar to open the Newsletter Entry form.

    Details:

    Table 4.34. 

    Field Description
    Template The template for your newsletter form. Basic Template is set by default.
    Send Date The date and time to send the newsletter.
    Category The category contains this newsletter.
    Subscription The subscription contains this newsletter.
    Update Sending Parameters This button allows you to update information about this newsletter.

  3. Click the Template field to select the template for the newsletter.

  4. Click the Send Date field. The calendar will appear, allowing you to select the date and time when you want to send the newsletter.

  5. Click the Category and Subscription to select the category and the subscription in the list.

  6. Click the Update Sending Parameters button to update information about this newsletter. A message pops up and informs you that you have updated information successfully.

  7. Input a title of a newsletter into the Title field.

  8. Create content for a newsletter by inputting information into the Main Content textbox.

  9. Click Save to save this newsletter as draft, or click Send to send this newsletter.

Note

Two portlets, including Workflow Controller and Workflow Administration, are deprecated in eXo Platform. They remain fully supported for eXo customers, however they will not receive any enhancement and will be removed from the product scope in the future.

Workflow is the movement of documents and/or tasks through a work process. More specifically, workflow is the operational aspect of a work procedure: how tasks are structured, who performs them, what their relative order is, how they are synchronized, how information flows to support the tasks and how tasks are being tracked. As the dimension of time is considered in Workflow, Workflow considers "throughput" as a distinct measure. Workflow problems can be modeled and analyzed using graph-based formalisms like Petri nets.

eXo Platform supports two default processes that are used to request tasks from users:

To perform these processes, you need to add the Workflow Controller portlet to a specific page by dragging and dropping it from Page Editor --> Applications --> Workflow --> Workflow Controller to the main pane. This can be done when creating a new page or editing an existing page or editing the layout of a portal.

This process is used to request a task related to your holiday. If you want to have a holiday in a time interval, you should use this process.

1. Select the BP Definition Controller tab to bring up the process list.

2. Open the Task Management form by clicking in accordance with a holiday process that you want to request a task as below.

In which:

In this form, you need to set a time interval in the Start and End field by moving your cursor to each field, then click each field to open the Calendar pop-up.

3. Submit your task by clicking the Submit button. After being submitted, this task will be sent to members of *:/organization/management/executive-board group for waiting to be approved/disapproved or refused.

If you are a member of *:/organization/management/executive-board group, you have a responsibility to evaluate received tasks. To take this action, do as follows:

1. Open the Workflow Controller portlet. If there are tasks pending to be evaluated, you will see the task list in Task Controller tab.

2. Click the Manage function in the Action column that corresponds to a task that you want to evaluate. The Task Management form will appear.

You can see the following dialog for more details about this process.

3. Do one of the following actions.

i. Click the Approve button on the Task Management form. Automatically, this task will be sent to members of *:/organization/management/human-resources to read it.

Thus, if you are a member of *:/organization/management/human-resources group, you have responsibility to read the approved tasks as below.

ii. Select the Manage function in the Action column to open the Task Management form.

iii. Click the Read button to accept reading the task.

This process is used when you want to propose raising your pay.

1. Select the BP Definition Controller tab to bring up process list.

2. Open the Task Management form by clicking that corresponds to a pay raise process which you want to request a task.

Details:

Field Description
Amount The amount of money that you want to request.
Priority The priority level of this task. It may be: not important, important or critical.
Rewarded The amount of money that you requested including reward or not.
Reason The reason why you want to request this amount.

3. Enter values for fields in the form.

4. Click the Submit button to submit your task.

This task will be sent to members of the *:/organization/management/executive-board group that manage it.

If you are a member of *:/organization/management/executive-board group, you have a responsibility to evaluate received tasks. To do this action, do as follows:

1. Go to the Workflow Controller page. If there are tasks which are pending for evaluation, you will see the tasks list in the Task Controller tab.

2. Click the Manage function in the Action column that corresponds to a task which you want to evaluate. The Task Management form will appear.

3. Select one of the followings.

i. Input the number that the creator wants in the Grant field.

ii. Click the Grant button. Automatically, this task will be sent to members of *:/organization/management/human-resources to read it.

Thus, if you are a member of the *:/organization/management/human-resources group, you have responsibility to read the approved tasks in the Task Controller tab by *:/organization/management/executive-board as below.

iii. Select the Manage function in the Action column to open the Task Management form.

iv. Click Finish it to accept reading the task.

Besides two default process supported by system, administrators also can upload a new process as follows:

1. Add the Workflow Administration portlet to a specific page by dragging and dropping it from Page Editor --> Applications --> Workflow --> Workflow Administration to the main pane. This can be done when creating a new page or editing an existing page or editing the layout of a portal.

2. Open the Workflow Administration portlet.

3. Click Upload Process to open the Upload Process form.

4. Enter a name for the uploaded process in the Name field.

5. Click the Browse button to select the location which contains the configuration of a new process, then double-click to upload it.

6. Click Save to save the uploaded process.

This function is used to help administrators keep track of process details as follows:

1. Open the Workflow Administration portlet.

2. Click to view requested process list from users as below.

Note

The completed processes are listed in the Completed tab.

To remove all completed processes from the list in the Completed tab, click the Flush All button, then click OK in the confirmation message.

3. Click corresponding to your desired process to view its details (including all actions from different users on this task). The List Tasks of Instance form will appear.

To delete a process from the requested process list in the Process Detail form, click corresponding to that process.

Chapter 5. Collaborate With Your Colleagues

eXo Platform provides a set of collaborative applications which help you achieve your goals and enhance your productivity in the corporate environment. This chapter presents the following topics:

  • Manage your calendar through the Calendar application. Calendar allows you to schedule appointments and meetings, establish recurring activities, create multiple calendars and share calendars with others. With Calendar, it is easy to keep track of all important events/tasks and collaborate with other people, all in one place.

  • Manage your contacts through the Address Book application. Address Book is a contact manager, allowing you to organize all the contact information. You can use the contact information with other applications, such as Mail, Calendar and Chat. The integration between Address Book and other applications will help you enhance your group productivity in the collaborative environment.

  • Email your contacts through the Mail application. Mail is a webmail application which is smoothly integrated with Address Book and Calendar. Besides typical features of the Mail application, you can also add contacts, create address books or schedule your work right in Mail.

  • Chat with your contacts through the Chat application. Chat allows you to communicate with other users in your contact book quickly with an easy-to-use integrated text messaging application. You can chat with other people in real time, create chat rooms and add contacts from your Address Book to your friends list. This will save time and enhance the productivity when you want to have an instant communication with your contact without sending mails.

The Calendar interface has 5 basic components.

Details:

NumberDescription
The Toolbar contains most of actions in Calendar, such as adding an event/task, switching between view modes and more.
The Search Pane where you can perform quick and advanced searches.
The Mini calendar which can be hidden by clicking .
The Calendars pane which includes 3 categories: Personal Calendars, Shared Calendars, and Group Calendars. Each category may include various calendar groups.
The Calendar View pane where you can create tasks/events quickly and view your own tasks/events.

Note

In eXo Platform, the left pane of Calendar is hidden by default. To show this pane, select Toggle Left Pane on the toolbar.

If a calendar is not selected, its events and tasks will be hidden from the Calendar View Pane. You can show/hide the events/tasks by simply clicking the calendar name.

The calendar groups allow you to categorize your calendar types easily. Each calendar group may contain one or more calendars added by users. There will be a default calendar group named My Group in the Personal Calendars category.

This function allows you to organize and personalize calendars in your own way.

1. Click at the right of the Calendars pane, then select Add Group from the drop-down menu.

2. Enter the group name, and its description in the respective fields.

3. Click Save to finish.

After creating a new calendar group, the created group will be displayed in the Groups table of the Calendar Groups form, so you can easily edit or remove groups from this list by clicking or respectively.

Note

After you have created a Space for a group, one calendar with the same name as that of your group will be created automatically in the Group Calendars pane.

The calendar group without any calendars inside it will not be displayed in Personal Calendars.

You can also add a new calendar group by clicking next to the Group field when creating a personal calendar.

This function allows you to change the name and description of a specific calendar group.

1. Hover your cursor over the calendar group that you want to edit, then click that appears.

2. Click Edit from the drop-down menu to open the Calendar Groups form.

3. Make changes on the Group Name or on the Description fields, then click Save to accept your changes.

Once a calendar group is deleted, all calendars inside it are also deleted.

The first way

1. Hover your cursor over the calendar group that you want to delete, then click that appears.

2. Click Delete from the drop-down menu.

3. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

The second way

1. Open the Calendar Groups form by adding a new calendar group or by editing a calendar group.

2. Click corresponding to the calendar group you want to delete in the Groups table.

3. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

The deleted calendar group will be removed from the Groups table.

You may create a personal calendar or group calendar that can be shared with specific users or groups to your desires. You can also create a calendar which is synchronized with a remote calendar.

Note

All personal calendars will be put in the Personal Calendars pane.

1. Follow either of the following ways to open the Calendar form.

The first way

Click , then select Add Calendar from the drop-down menu.

The second way

i. Hover your cursor over the calendar which you want add calendar, then click that appears.

ii. Click Add Calendar from the drop-down menu. By this way, the group that contains your new calendar is already selected.

2. Fill in fields of the Calendar Details tab.

Details:

FieldDescription
Display Name The calendar name which is displayed.
Description The brief description of the calendar.
Groups The list of groups under the Personal Calendars category. Click to select one existing group that contains your calendar from the drop-down list. Or, click to create a new group that contains your calendar. The newly created group is only displayed in the Personal Calendars category after you finish creating the calendar.
Country (Language) The location and language of the calendar. You can change the default value by following steps in the Edit Calendar settings section.
Time Zone The display time zone for the calendar activities. You can personalize your calendar time zone by following steps in the Edit Calendar settings section.
Color The display color of the calendar activities that can be personalized.

Warning

If you select the Groups tab and tick either of the checkboxes, your added calendar will be put in the Group Calendars category, NOT in the Personal Calendars category.

3. Click Save to finish your creation.

Note

All group calendars will be put in the Group Calendars pane.

1. Follow steps as stated in the Create a personal calendar section to give details for your new calendar.

2. Select the Groups tab.

3. Tick checkboxes corresponding to groups that contain your created calendar. The users of the selected groups can only view this calendar.

  • Grant the Edit permission to specific users of your selected group as follows:

i. Click to open the User Selector form. This form will help you select a specific user you want to share.

ii Click the user you want to share the Edit permission.

i. Click to open the User Selector form.

ii. Select a membership type of each group. Select * if you want to assign the Edit permission to all memberships of each group.

Note

You can select more users/memberships by repeating the above steps. The selected users/memberships will be updated in corresponding textboxes.

You can delete your selected users/memberships manually in each textbox.

4. Click Save to finish creating your new group calendar.

Your newly added calendar will appear in the shared groups.

Note

To create a remote calendar in the Calendar application successfully, you need to learn about the calendar settings of the relevant provider. For more information about types of remote calendars, refer to this section.

1. Open the Subscribe Calendar form via one of the following ways.

The first way

Click , then select Remote Calendar from the drop-down menu.

The second way

i. Hover your cursor over the personal calendar which you want to add remote calendars, then click that appears.

ii. Click Remote Calendar from the drop-down menu.

2. Select the type of the remote calendar: iCalendar or CalDAV.

3. Enter the URL linking to your calendar server in the URL field.

4. Click Next to go to the Remote calendar form.

5. Fill in the fields. The asterisk (*) next to each field means that it is required to enter value in the field.

6. Tick the Use Authentication checkbox, then enter the username and password of your remote calendar server if the remote server requires verification.

7. Click Save to accept your creation.

After setting up the remote calendar, you will see one auto-generated group named Remote in the Personal Calendars pane. The Remote group contains your remote calendars.

Note

After creating a remote calendar, you can ONLY VIEW all events and tasks which are created in the remote calendar server right in the Calendar application by clicking it and selecting Refresh from the drop-down menu.

More information about types of remote calendars:

iCalendar provides a link to an online .ics file from another calendar servers, such as Google Calendar, Yahoo Calendar, or eXo Calendar (including public URL or private URL).

An example of a Google Calendar URL:

http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/Webdesignteam%40gmail.com/public/basic.ics

  • CalDAV:

CalDAV is an open protocol that allows you to access calendars via WebDAV. With CalDAV, you can publish and subscribe to calendars, share them collaboratively, synchronize among multiple users or devices.

Google: https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/your_gmail_account@gmail.com/events/

Yahoo: https://caldav.calendar.yahoo.com/dav/your_yahoo_account@yahoo.com/Calendar/calendar_name/

For example:

https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/hoavuvn@gmail.com/events/

Note

You can ONLY edit personal calendars and group calendars which have been created by yourself.

For group calendars which are created by another users, you can ONLY edit them if you are granted the Edit permission. Meanwhile, for shared calendars, you cannot edit them. If you are granted the Edit permission on them by the calendar creators, you can ONLY have the right on their tasks or events (for example, adding/modifying/deleting, exporting/importing).

1. Hover your cursor over the calendar which you want to edit, then click that appears.

2. Click Edit from the drop-down menu. The form to edit the calendar will be different, depending on your selected calendar type. For example, if you select a personal calendar, the form only contains the Calendar Details tab.

3. Make changes on the calendar, then click Save to accept your changes.

The Calendar application allows you to select different colors for all types of calendars to recognize them easily.

1. Hover your cursor over the calendar which you want to set the color, then click that appears.

2. Select one color from the available 32-color palette.

This function allows you to remove any calendars and all their events/tasks.

Note

You cannot delete group calendars created by ANOTHER users if you are not granted the Edit permission.

1. Hover your cursor over the calendar which you want to delete, then click that appears.

2. Select Remove from the drop-down menu.

3. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

Note

You can only export the calendar which contains at least one event or task. Besides, for shared and group calendars, you can only export/import them if you have the Edit permission.

Export a calendar

This function allows you to export a calendar and its events/tasks into a separate file on your device.

1. Hover your cursor over the calendar which you want to export, then click that appears.

2. Click Export from the drop-down menu to open the Export Calendars form.

3. Enter the exported file name in the File Name field and select its format from the Export Format drop-down menu. At present, only the ICalendar(.ics) format is supported.

Note

Your selected calendar cannot be exported if you untick the checkbox next to its display name.

4. Click Save to finish your export.

Note

You can only open the exported file if you have an application installed on your device that supports its format.

Import a calendar

This function allows you to import one or more calendars stored in a file from your device to a selected calendar in the Calendar application.

1. Open the Calendar form via one of the following ways.

The first way

Click at the right top of the calendars list, then select Import from the drop-down menu.

The second way

i. Hover your cursor over the calendar which you want to export, then click that appears.

ii. Click Import from the drop-down menu.

Note

This way is only activated for calendar groups under the Personal Calendars category.

The third way

i. Hover your cursor over the calendar which you want to import, then click that appears.

ii. Click Import from the drop-down menu.

The Calendar form will appear differently, depending on your selected way.

2. Select a format type from the Format drop-down menu. At present, the Calendar application only supports the .ics and .csv formats.

3. Click Browse... or click directly the Upload Files field to open the File Upload form.

4. Select a file from your device, then click Open to upload your selected file.

5. Click next to the Import To field, then select the calendar to which you want to import your uploaded file from the drop-down list.

i. Create the new calendar by following similar steps as stated in the Create a personal calendar section.

  • If you select another calendar of the Group Calendar type, the Edit Permission field will appear right under the Groups field. For more details, see here.

ii. Click to narrow the form which allows you to import your uploaded file to either of existing calendars.

6. Click Save to complete.

This function allows you to share your personal calendar with other users, so that they can participate in all activities of this calendar.

You can set permissions on your shared calendar to two levels:

Note

If other users share their calendars with you, you will see shared calendars in the Shared Calendars category.

Share a personal calendar

1. Hover your cursor over the calendar which you want to share, then click that appears.

2. Click Share from the drop-down menu to open the Share Calendar form.

Details:

FieldDescription
Calendar Name The name of the calendar which you have selected to share.
User Name The name of the users with whom you want to share your calendar.
Group The name of the groups with whom you want to share your calendar.
Edit Permission This option allows granting the edit permission on the calendar to the selected users/groups.

3. Select users or groups by manually entering the correct names into the textboxes;

Or, click or to open the forms to select users or groups respectively.

4. Click the Edit Permission checkbox if you want to grant the Edit permission to your selected users/groups.

5. Click Save to accept sharing your personal calendar.

Share a calendar using iCal

iCal provides a link that allows users to download a *.ics file which contains all events and tasks of a calendar. iCal is supported by many popular products, such as Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple iCal.

  • Public URL: The Public URL link allows you to share your calendar with other users. They do not need to have Calendar accounts to download the file, but they must use a calendar application which supports the .ics to open and view it. By default, Public URL is empty and it is only accessible when public access is explicitly enabled.

  • Private URL: iCal is used for personal use. It means that as the creator of the calendar, you can download it to your computer and use any calendar applications which support .ics format to open it. You can also import it into another calendar.

Get the link to download iCal

1. Hover your cursor over the calendar which you want to get iCal, then click that appears.

2. Click Edit from the drop-down menu to open the Calendar form.

3. Get a Public URL or Private URL by clicking . For Public URL, you must assure that the iCal is public. If it is not public, simply click the "Disable Public Access" link.

One Calendar Feed form will pop up.

4. Copy the link in the Calendar Feed form, then send it to another users. The shared users can use this link to download the .ics file which can be opened in popular calendar applications, such as Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple iCal.

To view an event of a specific calendar with more details, you have two ways:

The first way

Hover your cursor over the event to see its detailed view.

The second way

Right-click the event in the Calendar View pane, then select View from the drop-down menu.

The Preview form will appear.

At the Preview form, if the event includes attachments, you can download them by directly clicking its title. If the attachment is an image, you can also click View to preview it.

You can create a new event through either of 2 ways:

1. Open the Quick Add Event form via either of 4 ways:

The first way

Click on the toolbar.

The second way

Right-click the Calendar View pane, then select Add New Event from the drop-down menu.

The third way

i. Hover your cursor over the calendar which you want to add new events, then click that appears.

ii. Click Add Event from the drop-down menu.

The forth way

Click the appropriate time slot in the calendar view pane. Drag your cursor to alter the length of the event. For more details, see the Drag and drop an event section.

The Quick Add Event form will appear.

Details:

FieldDescription
Event Summary The event title which is required.
Description The detailed description of the event.
From The starting time of the event.
To The ending time of the event.
All Day If the event does not have a specific time, select the All Day option. This option allows setting the event duration to be all day or not. If you do not check this option, you have to define the starting date/time and ending date/time. By default, the starting date and ending date is the current date.
Calendar The calendar which contains the event.
Event Category The category which contains the event.

2. Give information for your event. Click the More Details button to show the event in more details that allows you to define more properties of the event.

3. Click Save to complete.

With a detailed event, you can:

Add a detailed event

1. Open the Quick Add Event form, then click to open the Add/Edit Event form.

2. Give details of your event in fields of tabs.

i. In the Detail tab, you can:

  • Follow similar steps as stated in the Quick Add Event section.

  • Also,

    • Enter the location name where the event will take place in the Location field.

    • Select the priority level of this event, including None, Normal, High and Low, in the Priority field.

    • Tick the Repeat checkbox if you want to create a recurring event. For more details, see the Create a recurring event section.

    • Click to open the Attach Files form if you want to attach any files, such as map, or invitation card, with your event.

ii. In the Reminders tab, you can create a reminder for your event. For more details, see the Create a reminder for upcoming events section.

iii. In the Participants tab, you can add participants to your event by selecting the system users or contacts from your Address Book. For more details, see the Add participants to an event section.

iv. In the Schedule tab, you can view the availability time of users, or change date and time for your event and apply them into the Details tab. For more details, see the View the availability time of participants section.

3. Click Save to finish creating your detailed event.

There will be a confirmation message. Click Save and Send to save and send the invitation, or Save to only save.

You will see the event updated in your Activity Stream of your Space or Group Space.

The event will be updated in your Activity Stream with its brief information, such as description, location, start time and end time. You can even deny or accept participating in this event directly in Activity Stream without going to the Calendar application.

Create a recurring event

In the Detail tab, tick the Repeat checkbox to open the Repeating event form.

Here, you can define the repeating time for your event as follows:

1. Select the type for your repeating event from the Repeat option.

2. Select the frequency for repeating your event in the Repeat Every option. The selected frequency will work on the Repeat value. For example, if you set Weekly in the Repeat option and 5 in the Repeat every option, the event will be repeated 5 times in each week.

3. Select the option for ending your repeating event by ticking the relevant checkbox.

Create a reminder for upcoming events

The Calendar application provides 2 options for reminding users who will take part in events. A reminder includes the summary information of the event, such as title, time and location. To use this feature, go to the Reminders tab.

Details:

FieldDescription
Send an mail before the event starts in The interval time that the reminder will be repeated before an event starts.
Repeat Tick the checkbox to set the frequency for sending the email reminder before the event takes place.
Also send reminders to The list of email addresses to which the reminder will be sent. The default value is the email address of the event creator. Click to add more email addresses. To delete an email address, simply click corresponding to it.
FieldDescription
When the event starts in next The interval time that the pop-up reminder will be repeated before the event starts.
Repeat Tick the checkbox to set the frequency for sending the pop-up message before the event takes place.

Add more emails

1. Click to open the Select an Email form.

2. Tick checkboxes corresponding to email addresses you want to select;

Or, use the Search function to search for your expected email addresses. Also, to narrow your search results, select the address book where you want to perform your search from the Address Books drop-down menu.

3. Click the Add button to add your selected emails, or click the Replace button to replace existing emails with your selected emails.

The list of your selected email addresses are displayed right below the Also send reminders to field of the Reminders tab.

Add participants to an event

If you want to invite people to attend an event, go to the Participants tab. This tab contains options to add participants and to send invitation mails.

1. Select the privacy of your event by ticking the Private or Public checkbox. At present, public or private has informative meaning only.

2. Set the status of participants during the time when your event takes place.

3. Select participants who will take part in the event by clicking to open the Invitations form.

Here, you can select contacts from your Address Book or users who have registered in the system as follows:

i. Click or respectively.

ii. Select your desired contacts/users by ticking the checkboxes, or do the Search function to find out your contacts/users quickly. Then, click Add to add your selected contacts/users to the Participants pane.

iii. Enter your invitation message into the Invitation Message pane.

iv. Click Save to add your selected contacts/users to the Participants table.

4. Tick one checkbox corresponding to your desired option of sending invitations to participants in the Invitations sent. This option is loaded by default with the value defined in the Calendar Settings.

The participants will receive an invitation mail, for example with the following content, which allows you to import the event directly into their calendars.

View the availability time of participants

Go to the Schedule tab to check the availability of the participants in a defined slot time. By default, it is the start and end time of the event which you define in the Detail tab. You can easily detect the schedule conflicts to manage the alternate meeting time that works best for all participants.

Note

This function is only for checking the availability of participants, who are the system users. It means that you cannot see the availability of participants who are selected from your Address Book.

Add participants

Click in the left pane to select users from the Select Users form.

Delete participants

Tick the checkboxes corresponding to users in the Participants list, then click . The deleted users will be removed from the participants list of both Schedule and Participants tabs.

Apply selected date

Note

It is required to have at least 1 user in the Participants list.

1. Enter the time manually into the From and To fields;

Or, tick the All Day checkbox if your event will be hold for all day;

Or, hover your cursor over the time pane to visually select the available time of users. The selected period will become green and the corresponding time will be automatically updated into the From and To fields.

Note

If you do not see any available time for your selected date in the time pane, you can switch to another dates by clicking / to check another time availability of users.

2. Click the Apply Selected Date checkbox to accept applying the selected date and time into the Detail tab.

1. Open the Add/Edit Event form by doing one of two following ways:

The first way

Double-click the event you want to edit.

The second way

Right-click the event that you want to edit and select Edit from the drop-down menu.

The Add/Edit Event form is displayed with information that is similar when adding your event.

2. Edit information of the selected event to your desires.

3. Click Save to complete.

Note

For shared and group calendars, you can only edit their events if you have the edit permission.

Tip

When editing an event, you can add/remove the attachment files or download them by directly clicking their titles.

If you only want to change the starting date and time of the event, you can also use the drag-and-drop feature to edit the time for the event directly on the Calendar View pane.

The drag-and-drop feature helps you change the starting date and time of an event more conveniently. You only need to click the event, drag and drop it into another date or new time area in the Calendar View pane.

You also can hover your cursor over the Scroll button to alter the event period.

According to the features of the Calendar pane view, the drag-and-drop feature can be applied to the date and time differently.

Note

For shared and group calendars, you can only drag and drop their events if you have the Edit permission on these calendars. If you drag and drop an event of one calendar on which you do not have the edit permission, you will get a warning message.

Export an event

This function allows you to export one event into a file on your device. This file can be imported to use in another Calendar application.

1. Right-click the event that you want to export, then select Export from the drop-down menu.

The Export Calendars form will appear.

2. Enter a file name, and select the export format.

3. Click Save to accept exporting the event.

4. Click OK in the confirmation message to save the exported file into your device.

Note

In fact, exporting an event means exporting a calendar with one event only. Therefore, the exported file format and the way to export an event is similar to the way to export a calendar with multiple events and tasks.

Import an event

You can import an event into a specific calendar. The process to import an event is similar to importing a calendar. For more details, see the Import a calendar section.

This function allows you to remove events from a calendar.

1. Right-click the event you want to delete, then click Delete from the drop-down menu.

2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

Delete an event in the Month view

1. Tick the checkboxes corresponding to the events you want to delete.

2. Click on the Month information bar.

3. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

Note

For shared and group calendars, you can only delete their events if you have the Edit permission on these calendars.

To view details of a task, do one of the following ways:

The first way

Hover your cursor over the task to open the task preview pane.

The second way

Right-click the task in the Calendar View pane, then select View from the drop-down menu.

The Preview form will be displayed.

At the Preview form, if the task includes attachments, you can download them by directly clicking its title. If the attachment is an image, you can also click View to preview it.

You have 2 ways to add a new task:

  • Quick add: allows you to create the most basic event details.

  • Detailed add: allows you to create events with advanced details.

1. Open the Quick Add Task form via the following ways:

The first way

Select on the Toolbar.

The second way

Right-click the Calendar View pane, then select Add New Task from the drop-down menu.

The third way

i. Hover your cursor over the calendar which you want add tasks, then click that appears.

ii. Click Add Task from the drop-down menu.

2. Fill in fields of the Quick Add Task form.

Details:

FieldDescription
Task The name of the task.
Note The note of the task.
From The starting date/time of the task.
To The ending date/time of the task.
All Day Tick the checkbox to set the task duration to be all day. If you do not check this option, you have to select the starting date/time and ending date/time. By default, the starting and ending dates are the current ones.
Calendar The calendar which includes the task.
Task Category The category which includes the task.

3. Click Save to finish creating your new task; or click More Details to open the Add a detailed task form.

1. Open the Quick Add Task form by following steps as stated in the Quick add a task section.

2. Click in the Quick Add Task form to open the Add/Edit Tasks form

3. Give details of your task in fields of tabs.

i. In the Detail tab, you can:

  • Follow the Step 2 to provide basic information for your task.

  • Also,

    • Select the user to whom you want to delegate the task in the Task Delegations tab. For more details, see the Assign a task delegation section.

    • Select the priority level of the task from the Priority drop-down menu.

    • Select the category of the task from the Task Category drop-down menu. You can add a new category by clicking .

    • Select the status of the task from the Task Status drop-down menu: Need Action, In Process, Completed or Canceled.

    • Attach files to your task by clicking .

ii In the Reminders tab, you can create one notification to remind you of your task. For more details, see the Create a reminder section.

Assign a task delegation

This function is done in the the Detail tab. To delegate a task to users, simply enter their names manually, or click to select users from the Select Users form.

Create a reminder

The reminder function is used to remind users of their tasks. A reminder includes the summary information of the task, such as title, time, and place where the task will happen.

This function is done in the Reminders tab. To create a reminder for a task, see the Create a reminder for upcoming events section for more details.

1. Right-click the task you want to edit, then select Edit from the drop-down menu.

The Add/Edit Tasks form will be displayed.

2. Modify the information of your selected task, then click Save to finish.

Note

For shared and group calendars, you can only edit their tasks if you have the Edit permission on these calendars.

Tip

When editing the task, you can add, remove or download attachments by directly clicking their titles.

If you only want to change the starting date and time of the task, you can also use drag-and-drop feature to edit the time for the task directly on the Calendar View pane.

Like dragging and dropping an event, drag-and-drop is a feature to change the starting date and time of a task conveniently. You only need to click and hold your cursor over the task, drag and drop it to a new day and a new time area in Calendar View pane.

Note

For shared and group calendars, you can only drag and drop their tasks if you have the Edit permission on these calendars. If you drag and drop the task that you do not have the Edit permission, you will receive a warning message informing that you are not allowed to edit this task.

Note

Exporting/Importing a task means exporting/importing a calendar with one task only. Therefore, the exported/imported file format and the way to export/import a task is similar to the way to export/import a calendar with multiple events and tasks.

Export a task

1. Right-click the task that you want to export, then select Export from the drop-down menu.

The Export Calendars form will appear.

2. Enter the file name and export format.

3. Click Save to accept exporting the task.

4. Click OK in the confirmation message to save the exported file into your local disk.

Import a task

This function allows importing a task from your local device into a specific calendar. For more details, see the Import Calendar section.

1. Right-click the task you want to delete, then click Delete from the drop-down menu.

2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

Delete a task in the Month view

1. Tick the checkboxes corresponding to the task you want to delete, then click on the Month information bar.

2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

Note

For shared or group calendars, you can only delete their tasks if you have the Edit permission on these calendars.

This function allows finding existing events/tasks according to specific search conditions easily. There are 2 search types: Quick search and Advanced search.

Perform a quick search

This function allows you to do a quick search with specific keywords in all your events/tasks. All events/tasks having the text matching with your search term will be returned.

1. Enter a word in the Search field at the right corner of the toolbar.

2. Click to perform your search.

Perform an advanced search

This function allows you to make a search with multiple criteria.

1. Click next to the search box.

2. Define your search criteria in the Advanced Search form.

Details:

FieldDescription
Text The search term or keyword for searching.
Type The type you want to search with 3 options. If you leave this field "blank", both events and tasks are retrieved. If you select Task, you will see one more field named Task Status right after Category.
Calendar The calendar on which you want to perform your search.
Category The category of event/task to conduct your search.
Task Status The status of the task: Need Actions, Completed, In Process, Canceled.
Priority The priority of your needed tasks/events: Normal, High or Low. If you leave blank in the field, your search will be done to all priority levels.
From Date Only the events/tasks having 'To date' greater than or equal the date entered in the From Date field are listed in the results form. You can manually input or select the date from drop-down calendar.
To Date Only the events/task having 'From date' less than or equal to the date entered in the To date field are listed in the results form. You can input the date manually or select the date from the mini calendar.

3. Click the Search button to perform your search. All events/tasks matching with your criteria will be listed in the results form.

Note

At the Search Result form, you can also view, edit or delete one event/task by right-clicking it and selecting one action from the drop-down menu.

This function allows you to publish your calendar as an RSS feed. It will build a URL that helps you keep track of all events via the RSS reader.

1. Open the Feeds tab by following either of the ways:

The first way

Click directly on the toolbar.

The second way

Click on the toolbar to open the Calendar Settings form, then select the Feeds tab.

2. Click the Add button to open the Edit Feed form.

Details:

FieldDescription
Name The name of the feed which is required.
URL The link of the feed which is required.
Calendars The calendars into which your created feed is applied.
Add more Add the calendar that you want to get RSS feed.

3. Input the name of RSS in the Name field.

4. Click to generate the RSS link. The URL will be automatically generated into the URL field. Click to reset the RSS link.

5. Input the calendar name that you want to get the RSS feed in the Add more field, then click to add your selected calendar.

6. Click Save to accept generating the feed, then click OK in the notification message.

The created feed will be shown like the illustration below.

In the Calendar application, you can change default values for its settings.

1. Open the Calendar Settings form via either of the following ways:

The first way: Click on the Toolbar.

The second way: Click , then select Calendar Settings from the drop-down menu.

2. Make changes on your calendar settings.

i. In the Settings tab, you can change values in the following fields:

FieldDescription
View Type The view type of Calendar View Pane. You can define the default view type when you start the Calendar application (Day, Week, Work Week, Month, Year, List).
Date Format The date format which is displayed in Calendar, such as Starting date, Ending date of events/tasks.
Time Format The time format which is displayed in Calendar, such as the time of Starting date, or Ending Date and the time displayed in Calendar View Pane.
Country (Language) The default geographical location displayed in Calendar.
Time Zone The default time zone displayed in Calendar.
Week Start On The first day of the week displayed in the Week and Work Week views.
Show Working Times Click the checkbox to display the working times when viewing the calendar. The working time can be defined by selecting Starting and Ending time.
Send Event Invitations

Tick one checkbox to set the default value for sending an email event invitation when you create an event. There are 3 options:

Never: The event invitation will not be sent to any participants.

Always: The event invitation will automatically be sent to the participants.

Asked: There will be a confirmation message to ask whether you want to send the invitation or not.

ii. In the Displayed Calendars tab, you can define which calendars to be displayed in the Calendar application by simply ticking checkboxes.

iii. In the Feeds tab, you can generate an RSS feed as stated in the Generate RSS section.

Categories are used to classify events and tasks. For example, you could use a 'Meeting' category for all meetings with your colleagues or customers in your company. By default, Calendar provides 5 available categories: Calls, Meeting, Holiday, Clients, Anniversary. You can add and view events/tasks in default categories. In addition, you also can edit, delete default categories or create new categories by yourself.

Managing categories can be performed via the following actions:

1. Click at the right corner of the Toolbar.

The Event Categories form will appear.

2. Enter the category name and its description in the Event Category and Description fields respectively, then click Save to finish.

Your newly created category then appears in the Categories table.

This function allows you to change name and description of a selected category.

1. Click on the information bar to open the Event Categories form.

2. Click or corresponding to the category which you want to edit or delete respectively in the Categories table.

3. Click Save to finish editing/deleting your selected category.

The My Agenda gadget is a utility associated with the Calendar application. This gadget is used for listing upcoming events and tasks from your personal calendar.

Add My Agenda gadget to your Dashboard

1. Click the Add Gadgets link on your Dashboard to open the Gadget Directory.

2. Drag and drop the My Agenda gadget to you Dashboard. You can rearrange this gadget to get different layouts.

You will see the My Agenda gadget in the Dashboard as below:

Configure the My Agenda gadget

1. Click to open the Agenda gadget settings.

FieldDescription
Number of Items to Display The maximum number of the events and tasks which will be shown.
Calendar Name of your personal calendar.

2. Select your desired preferences.

3. Click Save to accept your changes.

Tip

By clicking the Show My Calendars link, you will go to the Portal page that contains the Calendar application.

The My Tasks gadget is a utility associated with the Calendar application. This gadget is used for listing upcoming tasks of the current day from your personal calendar.

Add My Tasks gadget to your Dashboard

The procedure is similar to adding Agenda gadget to your Dashboard

You will see the My Tasks gadget in the Dashboard as below:

Note

The Address Book portlet and its services are deprecated. It remains fully supported for eXo customers, however it will not receive any enhancement and will be removed from the product scope in the future.

Before starting to use Address Book, you should familiarize yourself with the Address Book interface, which has six basic elements.

NumberDetails
The Toolbar allows you to add a new contact/address book, import/export an address book, view and customize the layout.
The Action bar allows quick access to actions on contacts, such as moving, deleting, copying, printing, adding tags to selected contacts.
The Contacts list shows all contacts in a specific address book.
The Contact view pane displays details of the selected contact.
The Search pane which allows you to do the quick and advanced searches to find contacts.
The Navigation pane contains search pane, address books list and tags list.

The layout can also be customized. You can hide or show specific parts of the Address Book interface. To change the layout, click on the main toolbar, then select the layout you want to hide or display from the drop-down menu.

At present, your contacts can be viewed in 2 modes: List or VCards.

List view:

The list view displays all contacts in the list pane and detailed information of the selected contact in the Contact view pane. On the toolbar, click , then select List from the drop-down menu.

The contacts are displayed in a list as below.

VCards view:

VCard is a file format standard for electronic business cards. It is a powerful new means of Personal Data Interchange that is automating the traditional business card. On the Toolbar, click , then select VCards from the drop-down menu.

The contacts are displayed in separate cards as below:

1. Open the Add/Edit Contact form by following either of two ways:

The first way

Click on the Toolbar.

The second way

Right-click an address book in the Address Books pane, then select Add from the drop-down menu.

Tip

You can also add a new contact from the Mail application as covered in the Add a new contact section.

2. Input information into fields of each tab in the Add/Edit Contact form.

Details:

i. The Profile tab

FieldDescription
Asterisk (*) This mark next to each field means that it is required to enter values in the field.
First Name The first name of your contact which must be between 1 and 40 characters.
Last Name The last name of your contact. Its length must be between 1 and 40 characters.
Nick Name The nick name of your contact with any unlimited length.
Gender Gender of your contact. Simply tick the two available checkboxes: Male or Female.
Birthday Birthday of your contact. Click the relevant down arrows to select the day, month and year from the drop-down menu.
Job Title The job title of your contact. Its length must be between 0 and 40 characters.
Email The email address of your contact.

Change contact's avatar

  • Click Update below the avatar to upload photos from your device.

  • Remove your uploaded image by simply clicking Delete below the avatar.

Add contact's email address

  • Enter the email address into the Email field. If you want to add more email addresses, simply click to show another Email field.

  • Remove your email address by clicking .

Add contact's instant message information

  • The Work tab

All fields in this tab are optional. In this tab, you can provide the contact's job-related information without any limitations of character types or length.

  • The IM Contact

In this tab, you can enter information about the contact chat identity (IM stands for Instant Message). The default text messaging service is the Chat application of eXo Platform, but you can select other services by clicking to open the drop-down menu.

  • The Work, Home and Note tabs

In these tabs, you can further provide many information related to the contact's work, home and note.

3. Click Save to accept adding a new contact.

This function allows you to update information of contacts whenever you like.

1. Right-click your desired contact in the list, then select Edit from the drop-down menu. The Add/Edit Contact form will appear with the selected contact's current information that is similar when creating a new contact.

2. Make your desired changes on fields, then click Save to accept.

Note

You can only edit a contact of your personal and shared address books (if you have the Edit permission).

Tip

You can also edit contact details in Mail. For more information, see the Edit contact details section.

The first way

Right-click the relevant contact, and select Tag from the drop-down menu.

The second way

Select the contacts by ticking their respective checkboxes, then click on the Action bar.

The third way

Drag and drop contacts to a specific tag in the Tags list in the left pane to open the Add/Remove Tag form.

In this form, you can add a new tag, remove or reassign a tag to a contact.

Tip

To add a new tag quickly, click Add in the Tag pane.

1. Right-click a tag in the tag area, then select Edit from the drop-down menu.

2. Make changes in the Edit Tag form, then click Save to accept your changes.

1. Right-click a tag you want to delete, then click Delete from the drop-down menu.

2. Click OK in the confirmation to accept your deletion.

Note

This function allows you to send a mail directly to one or more contacts in your address book. To take this action, you first need to:

Have at least one account in Mail.

Have the email address of the contact which you want to send mail.

Email address of the selected account will be used to send mail to a contact.

Send a mail to a contact

1. Open the Email function by following either of 3 ways:

The first way

Right-click the contact to whom you want to send mail, then select Email from the drop-down menu.

The second way

Select the contacts that you want to send mail by ticking their respective checkboxes, then click on the Action bar.

The third way

Right-click the address book and select Email from the drop-down menu. By this way, you will send mail to all contacts in that address book.

The Send Email form will appear.

2. Input the recipients' email addresses in the To field if needed.

You just need to enter one character included in your desired email address. There will be a list of addresses matching your entered character for you to select quickly.

3. Enter the subject and content of your message in the Subject field and mail body respectively.

4. Click the Send Mail button.

This function allows you to make the copies of contacts from an address book and to store in another ones.

Copy a contact

The first way

1. Select contacts by ticking their respective checkboxes.

2. Click on the Action bar.

The second way

Note

This way is to copy all contacts of an address book.

1. Right-click one address book.

2. Select Copy from the drop-down menu.

Paste a contact

Note

The Paste action is only activated after your desired contacts have been copied.

1. Right-click one destination address book to which you want to move your copied contacts.

2. Click Paste to accept moving your contacts.

It is simple to move one or more contacts from one address book to another.

The first way

Right-click a contact and select Move from the drop-down menu.

The second way

Select contacts you want to move, then click on the Action bar. The Move Contact form will appear, allowing you to select a destination address book where your moved contacts are stored.

The third way

Use the drag-and-drop function to move one or more contacts to a new address book.

The drag-and-drop function is done more easily in the VCards view.

Note

You can only move contacts of a personal or shared address book if you have the Edit permission. You cannot move contacts in the address book which you do not have the Edit permission or contacts in a public address book.

The first way

1. Right-click a contact you want to remove, then select Delete from the drop-down menu.

2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

The second way

Note

This way allows you to delete multiple contacts.

1. Tick checkboxes corresponding to contacts you want to delete, then click on the Action bar.

2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

This feature allows you to export one or more contacts into a file to be used in another address book applications. These exported contacts will have the same information in all address books you use. You can export a single contact or multiple contacts flexibly.

1. Right-click one contact, or address book if you want to export all contacts of the address book, then select Export from the drop-down menu.

The Export Address Books form will appear.

2. Select contacts to export by ticking their respective checkboxes.

3. Enter the file name and select the export format. At present, only x-vcard is supported.

4. Click Export All to export all contacts in all pages;

Or, click the Export Selected Only button to export your selected contacts only.

This function allows you to import one or more contacts from your device to a selected address book.

1. Open the Import Contacts form via either of the following ways:

The first way

Click on the toolbar.

The second way

Right-click a personal or shared address book which you have the Edit permission, then click Import from the drop-down menu. By this way, you can quickly select the destination address book for the imported contacts.

2. Click in the Address Book field, then select your desired address book into which you want to import your contacts from the drop-down menu;

Or, click to quickly create a new address book.

3. Select the file format in the Import Format field. At present, only x-vcard is supported.

4. Click Browse... to open the File Upload form.

5. Select the file you want to import from your device, then click Open to upload your selected file.

6. Click Save to finish your import.

The Print function allows you to print information of your selected contacts. You can print one or more contacts at the same time.

Print one contact

1. Right-click the contact you want to print, then select Print from the drop-down menu.

The single Contact Print Preview will appear with the detailed information:

2. Click the Print button to print.

Note

When you are in the VCards view, the print process is a quite different. You first need to click View Details to display the contact's details. After that, click Print Preview to open the Preview page, then select the Print button.

Print multiple contacts

1. Select contacts you want to print by ticking their respective checkboxes, then click on the Action bar.

The Print Preview page will appear with their summary information.

2. Click Print to print information of your selected contacts.

This function allows you to print the summary information of contacts in form of name cards. You can also print all contacts in an address book at the same time.

Print an address book

1. Right-click the address book which you want to print, and select Print from the drop-down menu.

The Print Preview page will appear.

2. Click Print to start printing.

This function allows you to share contacts with other users or groups. The shared users/groups may have View or Edit permissions on the shared contacts.

Note

The shared users can move or delete the shared contact only from their address books. It means that the shared contact still exists in the Shared address book of another shared users and of the creator/author. The shared contact will be permanently deleted in the Shared address books of the shared users or cannot be shared with other users if it is removed by the creator/author.

Share contacts with other users

1. Right-click the contact you want to share, then select Share from the drop-down menu;

Or, drag and drop this contact to the Shared address book in the Address Books pane.

The Share a contact with other users form will appear.

2. Select users or groups that you want to share.

i. Click to open the User Selector form;

In this form, tick the checkboxes corresponding to your desired users, then click Add. Also, you can use the Search function to look for your desired users quickly.

ii. Or, click to open the Group Selector form.

In this form, select the group in the left pane, and its child group in the right pane.

3. Tick the Edit Permission checkbox if you want to grant the edit permission to your selected users or groups.

The shared users/groups will be updated in the Shared Users/Groups table of the Share a contact with other users form.

  • Click if you want to change the Edit permission of specific users/groups. Click to remove the shared users/groups.

4. Click Save to accept your sharing.

This function allows you to find contacts easily and quickly via 2 types:

Do a quick search

This function allows you to do a quick search with specific keywords in all your contacts. All contacts having the text matching your search term will be displayed in the Search Result dialog.

1. Enter your search term in the Search textbox in the left pane.

2. Click to perform your search.

Your search results will be displayed in the right Search Result pane.

Do an advanced search

With this mode, you can refine your search by using a variety of criteria. Your search results will be limited as follows:

1. Click next to the search box to open the Advanced Search form.

2. Define your search criteria. You can set the search criteria by: Text, Full Name, First Name, Last Name, Nick Name, Job Title, Email and Gender.

3. Click the Search button to search. All contacts matching your criteria will be shown in the Search Result dialog.

By default, there are 3 Address Book categories:

1. Open the Add/Edit Address Book form via one of the following ways.

The first way

Click on the Toolbar.

The second way

Click in the Address Book pane, and select Add from the drop-down menu.

2. Type name and description for your new address book in the Name and Description fields respectively in the Add/Edit Address Book form.

3. Click Save to accept adding your address book.

Tip

You can also create a new address book from Mail. For more information, see the Add a new address book section in Mail.

1. Right-click an existing address book, and select Edit from the drop-down menu.

2. Make changes on information of your address book in the Add/Edit Address Book form.

3. Click Save to accept your changes.

Note

You can only edit a Personal or Shared address book that you have the Edit permission. You cannot edit a Group address book.

1. Right-click an existing address book, then select Delete from the drop-down menu.

2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

Note

You cannot delete your default and group address books.

1. Open the Export Address Books form via one of the following ways.

The first way

Click in the Toolbar.

The second way

Click in the Address Books pane, and select Export from the drop-down menu.

The Export Address Books form will appear with a list of all existing address books.

2. Tick checkboxes corresponding to address books that you want to export. If you want to select all the address books, tick the checkbox next to Name.

3. Enter the file name in the Name field, and select the export format from the Export Format form. At present, only x-vcard is supported.

4. Click Export All to start exporting all the address books or click Export Selected Only to export your selected ones only.

Once you have exported your address books, you can retrieve them easily at any time. Others can also import your address book to store in their address book. The process to import address books is simple as exporting address books.

1. Open the Import Address Books form via one of the following ways.

The first way

Click the Import button in the Toolbar.

The second way

Click in the Address Books pane, then select Import from the drop-down menu.

The Import Address Books form will be displayed.

2. Select the address book which stores your imported address book contact from the Address Book drop-down menu;

Or, click to create a new address book.

3. Select the import format. At present, only x-card is supported.

4. Click Browse... to open the File Upload form.

5. Select the address book file to import from your device, then click Open to upload your selected file.

6. Click Save to finish. You will see a notification of your successful import on the top right corner.

This feature allows you to share personal address books with specific users or groups. The shared users/groups can view, export, add, edit or delete a shared address book (if they have the Edit permission). The shared address book is distinguished from other address books by a hand symbol.

1. Right-click the address book you want to share, and select Share from the drop-down menu.

The Share an Address Book with other users form will appear.

2. Select users or groups that you want to share. For more details, see here.

  • The shared users/groups will be updated in the Shared Users/Groups table of the Share an Address Book with other users form.

  • Click to change the Edit permission or to remove specific users/groups from the Share Users/Groups table.

3. Tick the Edit Permission checkbox if you want to grant the Edit permission to your selected users/groups.

4. Click Save to finish.

You can grant the Read/Manage permission on your managed public address books to specific users, groups or memberships.

By default, any member of a group has the Read permission and the group manager has the Manage permission.

Grant a permission on a public address book

1. Right-click your managed public address book, and select Permission from the drop-down menu.

The Permissions form appears.

2. Select certain users or groups you want to grant permissions. For more details, see here.

3. Tick the Can manage? checkbox if you want to grant the Manage permission to your selected users/group.

Note

The Mail portlet and its services are deprecated. It remains fully supported for eXo customers, however it will not receive any enhancement and will be removed from the product scope in the future.

To get mails from other mail services, you first need to create a mail account in the Mail application which connects to another mail POP3 or SMTP supported servers, such as Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, GMX, Cyrus, Exchange Server. The Mail application allows you to get mails from different mail services at one place.

To create one mail account, you first need to click , then select Add Account from the drop-down menu to open the Create New Account form. In the Create New Account form, there are 5 steps with clear instructions at each step. After completing information at each step, you can:

Note

The asterisk (*) next to each field indicates the required field.

1. Fill your account name and brief description in Step 1.

2. Configure identification settings for your mail in Step 2.

Details:

FieldDescription
Your Display Name The name to be displayed when you use the account. This name will be displayed with your email address when you compose a new message.
Email Address The email address corresponding to your created account. It must be in a valid format. (See more details about the Email Address format here.)
Reply-to Address The email address which receives all replies.
Signature The identification text which is automatically inserted at the bottom of your sending messages.

3. Give the server information in Step 3.

Details:

FieldDescription
Server type

Type of the mail server. Select either of two types supported by your mail server:

- POP3 (Post Office Protocol - Version 3) which is a protocol to get emails from a remote server. This type is selected by default.

- IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) which retrieves emails from a remote server over a TCP/IP connection.

Incoming Mail Server & Outgoing Mail Server The Incoming Mail Server (POP3) and Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) of your current email provider. Each email provider has different Incoming Mail Server and Outgoing Mail Server settings. By default, the value of this field is "pop.gmail.com" and "smtp.gmail.com" which are the settings for Gmail. For settings of other mail servers, you can find the information on their websites. See More about Incoming & Outgoing mail server settings for more information.
Use Incoming SSL This option allows using SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) or not. SSL is a cryptographic protocol which provides secure communication on Internet, such as web browsing, email, Internet faxing. The Incoming SSL allows using SSL to check incoming emails.
Use Outgoing SSL This option is to use SSL to send mail in the Mail application.

4. Configure another account properties in Step 4.

Details:

FieldDescription
Username The email address which is used in the Mail application.
Password The password of your email address. It will be used to get your messages of the email address entered in the Username field.
Save Password Tick the checkbox to avoid entering your password again for each mail check.
Do not download all messages (IMAP only) Check this option if you do not want to download all messages.
Limit to Messages Arrived Since Select the time to limit the downloaded messages from the drop-down calendar.

5. Verify your inputted information in Step 5.

6. Click Finish to complete your registration.

To make changes on your account, simply click in the left pane, then select Edit Account from the drop-down menu;

Or, select on the Toolbar.

The Edit Account form will appear, allowing you to change information in the Identity, Incoming, Outgoing and Fetch Options tabs.

If you use multiple accounts, you can delete any unused mail accounts via either of the following ways:

The first way

1. Select the account from the accounts list in the left pane.

2. Click in the left pane and select Delete Account from the drop-down menu.

3. Click corresponding to the account, then click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

The second way

1. Open the Edit Account form as stated in Edit your account details.

2. Select the account you want to delete in the left pane. Your currently selected account is marked with .

3. Click to delete your marked account.

The following reference introduces some common Incoming and Outgoing Mail Server settings. Provided that you are aware of the server type and name, you can start creating your mail accounts quickly. If you do not see your mail service in this list, find these settings on the mail provider websites. Remember that the Mail application only supports POP3 and SMTP mail servers.

Yahoo! Mail settings

Hotmail settings

MSN Mail settings

AOL Mail settings

This function is used to receive messages from the remote mail servers and forward them via SMTP, so it can be read in Mail. It supports any mail servers with POP3, IMAP, SMTP, such as Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, GMX, MS Exchange.

1. Click the folder you want to check for new mails. If no folder is selected, the default folder will be Inbox.

2. Click on the Toolbar. The status notification with 'Fetching email messages...' shows that emails are being loaded. All arrived mails are shown in the messages pane. Click Refresh if you want to refresh the fetching mails.

This function offers three options for viewing messages in your mailbox. Messages are displayed by date, where receipt hours are for today mails and dates are for mails received in previous days. You simply toggle between 3 views by clicking View as and selecting either of the views. The selected view is marked with .

In this view mode, all messages are arranged as a list.

Messages are arranged as a tree structure. All replies are shown as sub-nodes. When you click one message, its content is displayed in the message details pane with block quotes containing content of the parent messages.

When this view mode is selected, only the subject of parent message and the number of replies in the conversation are displayed in the messages list pane. When being opened, all messages are shown in the message details pane with separate reading pane which can be expanded by left-clicking the relevant reading pane.

If you want to read an email, simply click your preferred mail in the mails list and scroll down to read your selected email in the details pane.

If your received mail contains any attached file, you can see their details, such as file name, type, and size right in the Attachments pane of the currently opened message.

Click to download an attachment to your local system. If the uploaded file is image, you can also click to preview the image without downloading.

Download and save attachments to server

1. Open the mail with attachments.

2. Click Save to server to open the Save attachment form.

3. Change the name of the downloaded file in the Save file to the server field if needed.

4. Select a drive category from the Select Drives drop-down menu. The number of shown drive categories depends on your role.

5. Select one drive from the drives list to open a list of folders.

6. Select one folder which stores your downloaded file from the folders list.

Note

Your selected location is shown in the breadcrumb.

7. Click Save to finish downloading the attachment to the server.

By default, the header's information shows email addresses of the sender and recipients and the mail subject. If you want to view full headers of a message, do as follows:

1. Open the message which you want to view its full headers.

2. Click at the right corner of message's content and select View All Headers from the drop-down menu. All message headers are then appeared in the pop-up window.

In the Mail application, the unread mails will be recognized in the bold format in the mails list pane, meanwhile the read mails will be unbold.

Mark a message as read

The first way

1. Select checkboxes corresponding to messages you want to mark as read.

2. Click More Actions, then select Mark as Read from the drop-down menu.

The second way

Note

This way is used to mark all unread messages in a specific folder.

1. Right-click the folder which contains messages you want to mark as read.

2. Select Mark all as read from the drop-down menu.

After being marked as read, all unread messages inside the folder will be marked as read.

Mark as unread

1. Select the messages you want to mark as unread.

2. Click More Actions, then select Mark as Unread from the drop-down menu.

Star a message

The first way

Tick the checkboxes corresponding to messages you want to star, then click More Actions on the action bar and select Star from the drop-down menu.

The second way

In the messages list pane, click next to the message you want to add a star.

After being marked, the selected messages will be appended with , so that you can recognize them quickly.

Unstar a message

Simply select Unstar from the More Actions drop-down menu on the action bar;

Or, click next to the message.

The first way

1. Open the Move Message form via one of the following ways.

The first way

Right-click the message you want to move to another folder in the messages list pane, and select Move to Folder from the drop-down menu;

The second way

Tick the checkbox corresponding to the message you want to move, then click More Actions on the action bar and select Move from the drop-down menu.

2. Tick next to the Move To Folder field to select your desired destination folder from the drop-down menu.

3. Click Save to move messages to your selected folder.

The second way

In the mails list pane, tick the message you want to move, then drag and drop it into your desired destination folder in the left pane.

The first way

Simply tick the checkbox corresponding to the message you want to report as spam, then click on the Action bar.

The second way

Drag the message in the right mails list pane and drop it into the Spam folder in the left pane.

Unspam a message

1. Go to the Spam folder, then tick the checkbox corresponding to the relevant message.

2. Click on the Action bar.

The spam message will be removed from the Spam folder. All messages from this sender will be received normally.

Delete a message temporarily

The first way

Right-click the message, then select Delete from the drop-down menu.

The second way

Tick the checkbox corresponding to the message you want to delete, then select on the Action bar.

The third way

Drag the message in the mails list pane and drop it into the Trash folder in the left pane.

Delete a message permanently

Note

All messages which have been deleted permanently cannot be restored any longer. To delete a message permanently, the message should first be in the Trash folder. It means that the message should have been deleted temporarily.

1. Select the Trash folder in the left pane to see all messages in this folder.

2. Right-click the relevant message, then select Delete from the drop-down menu;

Or, tick the checkbox corresponding to the relevant message, and click on the action bar.

Undelete a message

Note

This function is only for messages which have been TEMPORARILY deleted.

The first way

1. Select the Trash folder in the left pane to see the list of temporarily deleted messages in the right mails list pane.

2. Tick the checkbox corresponding to the message you want to undelete.

3. Drag and drop the message into another folder.

The second way

Open the Trash folder, then use the Move function to remove the message from the Trash folder.

1. Click on the Toolbar to open the Compose New Message form.

2. Specify the sender's email address from the From field.

3. Enter email addresses of recipients into the To field.

The To box must always contain at least one address; everyone who receives your message can see the addresses in the To box.

Note

You can use CC and BCC to send mail to more than one person easily and quickly.

Use the CC (Carbon Copy) box for the addresses of people you want to send a copy of the message to other recipients. Everyone who receives your message can also see the addresses in the CC box. If someone responds to your message using "Reply to all", the carbon-copied recipients also receive the message.

BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) mails are private to the sender and the BCC recipients. Use BCC when you want to send the message to undisclosed recipients. It means you send the message to people and they do not know about other recipients. Addresses listed in the BBC box will not receive replies sent to this message.

4. Enter a few words into the Subject box to give the general topic to recipients.

5. Enter your message in the text-input field. You can use this toolbar to format the message text.

Click on the Mail toolbar to switch between Rich Text and Plain Text editors. If Rich Text is selected, the message text can be composed with format tools, meanwhile Plain Text only allows you to compose a message with the simple text format.

6. Click to send your message. Click to discard composing your new message.

Note

Sent mails will be saved in the Sent folder. In case emails of recipients do not exist in your Address Book, they will be added automatically to the Collected Address in the Contact application.

Select more email addresses in the "To" field

The first way

Type more email addresses by separating them with commas.

If your typed address matches one or more addresses in your Address Book, the list of matching addresses will appear and you can click one address to select.

The second way

Select one or more contacts from your Address Book.

1. Click the To button.

The Contacts window listing all of your contacts will appear.

2. Tick the checkboxes corresponding to the contacts who will receive your message.

Also, you can

  • Search for email addresses in a specific address book as follows:

i. Type the contact name in the search box.

ii. Define the address book where you want to search for your entered contact name to limit the search results in the Address Book select-box.

iii. Click to perform your search.

  • Tick the Send To All checkbox if you want to send the email to the contacts defined in the Address Book select-box.

3. Click Add to add your selected email addresses to the To box, or Replace to replace the current email addresses in the To field with your newly selected ones.

1. Click in the Compose New Message form to open the Attach Files window.

2. Click Browse... to open the File Upload form.

3. Browse the file from your device, then click Open to upload your selected file.

4. Click Save to accept your attachments and go back to the Compose New Message form.

You will see your uploaded files in the Attachments area of the Compose New Message window.

Attach a server file

This function is only featured in eXo Platform 3.5, allowing you to browse and attach one file from your server as follows.

1. Click next to the Attach a Local File in the Compose New Message form, then select Attach a Server File from the drop-down menu.

2. Follow steps 4, 5, and 6 as stated in the Download and save attachments to server section.

3. Click the server file from the files list of your selected folder.

  • Click if you want to upload a file from your device.

4. Click Attach to upload your selected source file into the message;

Or, click Attach Link to get the link pointing to the selected source file that is shown in your message body. The Attach Link function allows your mail recipients to download the attached source file just clicking the relevant link.

If you are not ready to send your composed message, click to save it as draft. Your draft message will be in the Drafts folder for you to send whenever you like.

The priority levels set to a message allow recipients to define if one received message is at a high, or normal, or low importance level. It means that when a message is set at the high priority level, its recipients need to read as soon as possible.

This useful tool can be done with a few clicks when you are composing a new message.

Set a priority level for your composed message

1. Click in the Compose New Message form.

2. Select your preferred priority from the drop-down menu.

  • Low: The exclamation icon corresponding to the mail is marked in grey in the column.

  • Normal: There is no the exclamation icon. By default, the message is sent with the Normal priority.

  • High: The exclamation icon is marked in red.

A message signature is an identification text which is automatically inserted at the bottom of your sending messages. You can change this signature by editing your account details.

At present, this function only allows you to receive a notification message that the recipient has already read your message or not.

1. Click in the Compose New Message form.

2. Select the Return Receipt option from the drop-down menu. However, seeing the notification message or not also depends on the Return Receipts configuration of the recipient in the Change Mail settings section.

Reply to the sender only

1. Open the Reply form via either of 3 ways:

The first way

Tick the checkbox corresponding to the message you want to reply in the mails list pane, then click on the action bar.

The second way

Right-click the message you want to reply, then select Reply from the drop-down menu.

The third way

Click the message that you want to reply to display its content, then select at the upper right corner of the message content.

2. Compose the content in the Compose New Message window.

3. Click to send your reply.

Reply to all recipients of the message

1. Tick the checkbox corresponding to the message you want to reply, then click on the Action bar;

Or right-click the message, then select Reply to All from the drop-down menu.

2. Compose your reply message in the Compose New Message window, then click to send your reply.

This function allows you to resend a message, which has been delivered to your email address, to another email addresses.

1. Open the Compose New Message window via either of 3 ways.

i. Tick the checkbox corresponding to the message which you want to forward, then click on the action bar.

ii. Or, right-click the message, then select Forward from the drop-down menu;

iii. Or, open the message which you want to forward, then click at the upper right corner of the message content, and select Forward from the drop-down menu.

The Compose New Message window will be displayed with the original content of the message you want to forward.

2. Enter the recipient's email address in the To field.

3. Click to forward the message.

Note

Before forwarding a message, you can edit it to your desires that is similar to composing a new message.

This function helps you take a hard copy of the message, provided that your device is connected to a printer, either directly or through a network connection.

The first way

Right-click the message which you want to print and click Print from the drop-down menu.

The second way

Tick the checkbox corresponding to the message, then click on the action bar.

The third way

Open the message, then click at the upper right corner of the message content and select Print from the drop-down menu.

You will be directed to the Print Preview page. Here, click Print to start printing.

This function allows you to back up your messages, then import them into your another accounts. Messages are exported in the *.eml file.

1. Open the Export Message form via either of 3 ways.

i. Right-click the message that you want to export, then select Export from the drop-down menu;

ii. Or, tick the checkbox corresponding to the message, then click More Actions on the action bar and select Export from the drop-down menu;

iii. Open the message, then click at the upper right corner of the message content and select Export (*.eml) from the drop-down menu.

The Export Message form will appear.

2. Change the file name in the File Name field if needed, and select the export format. At present, only the *.eml format is supported.

3. Click Export to accept exporting your selected message.

The function is used to import a message from your device to your selected folder in Mail.

1. Click More Actions on the action bar and select Export from the drop-down menu.

The Import Message form will appear.

2. Click Browse... to get one .eml file from your device.

3. Select the folder into which you want to import the message in the Import to Folder field.

4. Click Import to accept importing your selected file.

Note

By default, your imported file must be in the *.eml format.

Folders help you manage your messages more easily and flexibly. Once your new mail account is created successfully, five default folders, including Inbox, Drafts, Sent, Spam, Trash, will be automatically generated. You cannot delete, rename or move these folders.

Details:

FolderDescription
Inbox Store all incoming messages.
Drafts Store all messages which have been composed but not sent yet.
Sent Store all sent messages.
Spam Store all messages suspected of being unwanted messages.
Trash Store temporarily deleted messages.
Personal Folders Store folders which are created by yourself.

Categorizing by folders can be performed via:

1. Click on the Folders pane, then select Add from the drop-down menu.

2. Enter the folder name into the Folder name field. Special characters are not accepted in this field.

3. Click Save to complete adding your new folder.

Note

Your created folder will be displayed in the Personal Folders pane.

Right-click any folder under the Personal Folders pane to show the drop-down menu.

Here you can manage personal folders through the following actions:

Note

All above actions are only for folders/sub-folders under the Personal Folders pane.

Create a sub-folder

1. Select New Subfolder from the drop-down menu.

2. Follow steps as stated in the Create a new folder section.

Rename a folder

1. Select Rename from the drop-down menu.

2. Enter a new name in the New Folder Name field of the Remove Folder form.

3. Click Save to finish your removal.

Remove a folder

1. Select Remove from the drop-down menu.

2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

Mark a folder as read

This function is to mark all mails of a personal folder as read by clicking Mark all as read from the drop-down menu.

Tags are used as labels for filtering or categorizing messages from different folders. You can add more than one tag to a message. Using tags makes easy for you to find messages independently from the folder where they are stored.

You can categorize by tags through the following actions:

1. Click on the Tags pane of the right pane and select Add New Tag from the drop-down menu to open the Tag form.

Details:

FieldDescription
Name The new tag name.
Color The tag color.
Description The brief description of the tag.

2. Fill in required fields, then click Save to finish.

Your newly selected tag will be updated in the Tags pane.

Note

You can assign a tag to many messages simply by ticking their checkboxes first.

1. Open the Tag Message form via one of the following ways.

The first way

i. Tick the checkbox corresponding to the message to which you want to assign a tag, then click More Actions on the Action bar.

ii. Select Tag from the drop-down menu.

The second way

Right-click your selected message, then select Tag from the drop-down menu;

The Tag Message form will be displayed.

2. Give a new tag name in the Tag Name field. This field contains words and keywords which are used to describe the same messages.

Or, tick the checkboxes corresponding to your desired tags from the tags list.

3. Select one color for the tag from the Color drop-down menu.

4. Click Add to finish assigning the tags to your selected messages;

Untag a message

1. Select a message which has been tagged, then follow Step 1 to open the Tag Message form.

2. Click Remove to remove the assigned tag from your selected message.

Note

To remove one tag from all messages, simply use the Empty function.

1. Right-click a tag name in the Tags pane, and click Edit from the drop-down menu.

The Tag form will appear.

2. Make changes on the tag, then click Save to save your changes.

Right-click the tag that you want to remove in the Tags pane, then select Remove from the drop-down menu.

The selected tag will be removed from the tags list and from all messages.

By using this function, you can remove one tag from all messages.

1. Right-click the tag in the Tags pane.

2. Select Empty from the drop-down menu.

Right-click the tag in the Tags pane, then select your desired color from the 32-color palette.

By default, the messages list shows all of your received messages in your inbox but you can filter to specify which message to be displayed.

You can filter messages according to the following criteria:

You can categorize by filter through the following actions:

There are 2 ways to create a new filter:

Create a new filter by defining all filter rules

By this way, you need to manually define conditions for the new message filter.

1. Click on the Toolbar to open the Message Filter form.

2. Click or the "Click here to add a new filter" link to create a new filter.

The Add/Edit Message Filter will appear.

Details:

FieldDescription
Filter Name The filter name.
From Filter the email address of sender.
To Filter the email address of recipient.
Subject Filter the subject of incoming messages.
Body Filter the body of incoming messages.
Move the message to folder The folder to which the filtered messages will be moved.
Apply Tag Assign the tag to messages matching the filter rules.
Execute now Take the action right after editing the filter.

3. Define the rules for the new filter.

4. Click Save to finish creating your new filter.

Create a filter from a message

By this way, you could create a filter which is based on existing conditions of one existing message without defining the filter rules.

1. Right-click a message containing the criteria you want to include in your new filter.

The Add/Edit Message Filter form will appear with some pre-defined filter conditions of the current selected message.

2. Modify the rule if necessary, then click Save to finish.

The created filter will be displayed in the list. All messages matching the defined filter rules will be affected.

1. Click on the Toolbar to open the Message Filter form.

2. Click the filter you want to edit in the left pane. Your selected filter is marked with .

3. Click on the filter bar to open the Add/Edit Message Filter form.

4. Change the filter conditions to your desires.

5. Click Save to complete your changes.

1. Click on the Toolbar to open the Message Filter form.

2. Click the filter you want to delete, then select on the filter bar.

3. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

The Mail application supports two search modes: Quick search or Advanced search.

Quick search

Quick search allows you to conduct a search with specific keywords in all of your messages. All messages from the different folders that match with your search term will be displayed.

1. Enter your search term into the search box in the left pane.

2. Click . All messages containing the search term will be listed in the search results.

Note

By default, the Quick Search function of the Mail application does not retrieve messages of the Spam and Trash folders. To do Quick Search on these folders, simply select these folders before searching.

Advanced search

The Advanced Search allows you to specify criteria to narrow your search results.

1. Click in the left pane to open the Advanced Search form.

2. Define the search conditions to your details, including:

ConditionFunction
contains Include the term in the search box.
doesn't contain Not include the term in the search box.
is Include exactly the term in the search box.
is not Not include exactly the term in the search box.
starts with Start with the term in the search box.
does not start with Not start with the term in the search box.

3. Click Search to perform your search.

If you want to invite your colleagues to join a conference or a meeting, you can create an event, invite them or make email notifications to receive reminders right in the Mail application.

1. Click on the Toolbar to open the Add Event form.

2. Give basic information for your event in the Event Detail tab, such as setting the event priority, creating repeating events, attaching files.

3. Select the Reminders tab to create the event reminder via an email. This step is optional.

4. Click Save to finish adding your event.

Address Book in the Mail application provides you with a list of contacts which can be retrieved for sending your mails. This section will explain some actions related to managing contacts and address books in Mail.

1. Click on the Toolbar to open the Contacts form.

2. Click Add Address Book to add a new address book.

3. Enter values in fields of the Add Address Book form.

Details:

FieldDescription
Name The name of your address book that is required.
Description The brief description of your address book.

3. Click Add to finish adding your address book.

The function is used to add a new contact to a group.

1. Open the Add New Contact form via the following ways.

The first way

Click , then select on the Contacts form.

The second way

Right-click a message, then select Add to Contacts from the drop-down menu.

Note

This way is used to add the message sender to a specific address book.

The Contact form will appear.

2. Enter information for your contact. For more details, see the Create a new contact section.

3. Click Save to finish adding your contact.

The function is used to edit a contact in a specific group.

1. Open the Contacts form by clicking on the Toolbar.

2. Select the contact whom you want to edit in the left pane.

3. Click .

4. Change the contact details, then click Save to finish.

The function is used to delete a contact from a specific group. This contact will be removed from your address book as well.

1. Open the Contacts form by clicking on the Toolbar.

2. Select the contact whom you want to delete in the Address Book form.

3. Select , then click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

Note

You cannot delete your own contact from your address book.

The function allows you to change the behavior and the layout of Mail to your needs.

1. Click on the Toolbar to open the Settings form.

2. Change settings for the Mail application in 4 tabs: General, Return Receipts, Layout and Delegation.

i. In the General tab, change basic information.

Details:

FieldDescription
Select a Default Account Set the default account if you use multiple accounts.
Number of conversations per page Select the number of conversations which will be displayed per page from the list: 10, 20, 30, or 70 messages.
Automatically check messages every Select the time interval to automatically check the system, including 6 available options: Never, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes and 1 hour.
Compose message with Select the editor type for composing messages, including Rich Text and Plain Text.
Reply to message with

Select the message type to reply, including

- Original message as attachment: Reply to messages with attachments.

- Original message text quoted: Reply to messages with text only.

Forward message with

Select the message type to reply, including

- Original message as attachment: Forward messages with attachment.

- Original message text quoted: Forward messages with text only.

Save sent messages in the 'Sent' folder Tick this checkbox to save sent messages in the 'Sent' folder.

ii. In the Return Receipts tab, set options to specify what the Mail application should do when it gets a "Return Receipt" request. It means that you can determine whether to send a notification of having read the message to the sender or not.

Details:

FieldDescription
Ask me when someone requests a return receipt If you receive a message with the Return Receipt request, the Mail application will show a pop-up message for you to decide sending a notification of having read the message to the sender or not.
Never send a return receipt The Mail application will ignore all Return Receipt requests from senders.
Always send a return receipt If you receive a message with the Return Receipt request, the Mail application will automatically send a notification of having read the message to the sender without asking for your permission.

iii. In the Layout tab, personalize the Mail layout by ticking another checkbox corresponding to your desired layout. The Horizontal Split type is set by default.

iv. In the Delegation tab, delegate your account to any registered user in the system as follows:

3. Click Save to accept your changes.

Note

Two portlets, including Chat and Chatbar, and their services are deprecated. They remain fully supported for eXo customers, however they will not receive any enhancement and will be removed from the product scope in the future.

The Chat feature is used through the Chat or Chatbar portlet. The only difference between these portlets is the arrangement of common actions. In particular, actions of the Chat portlet are arranged in a window, meanwhile actions of the Chatbar portlet are put in one bar. Also, the Chatbar holds shortcuts to your Calendar, Contact, Mail.

Chat portlet

Chatbar

To use the Chat feature, you first need to add the Chat portlet or the Chatbar to a specific site or page as follows:

1. Drag and drop the application called Chat Portlet or ChatBar Portlet from the Edit Inline Composer/Page Editor --> Applications --> Collaboration to the body of your selected site/page. You can do this step while creating a new page, or editing an existing page, or editing the portal layout. For example, drag and drop the Chatbar portlet as the below illustration.

2. Edit the Chatbar portlet by hovering your cursor over it, then clicking .

3. Go the the Windows Settings tab and uncheck the following options: Show Info Bar, Show Porlet Mode, Show Window State. By unchecking these options, the portlet border will be hidden. This may help the Chatbar portlet look homogeneous with other components of your site/page.

4. Click Save And Close to finish your changes and quit the Edit form of the ChatBar Portlet.

5. Click to save all changes on the page/site and quit the Edit Inline Composer/Page Editor form. After that, you will see the Chatbar in your site/page.

Note

Steps 2, 3 and 4 are optional, but you are recommended to follow these steps.

You can search for contacts in your Address Book and add them to your friend list.

1. Click on the Chatbar, then click from the pop-up menu.

The Add Contact form will appear.

2. Select the contacts from the list by ticking their respective checkboxes.

You can use the Search function to search for a specific contact.

3. Click the Add Contact button to add your selected contacts to your friend list.

Your invited contacts will receive the request messages.

After the contacts have accepted your requests, you will receive the confirmation messages. Click OK to allow your contacts to see your status and add contacts to your contacts list.

After adding your contacts successfully, the added contacts will be shown in your friend list.

This action is to remove a contact from your friend list.

1. Click on the Chatbar to show your friend list.

2. Right-click the contact that you want to remove, then select Remove from the drop-down menu.

2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your removal.

Sending messages in Chat is as simple as typing and clicking, so it is easy for you to start a conversation.

Send instant messages

1. Open the Conversation window via one of the following ways:

The first way

Click the contact name that you want to chat from your friend list.

The second way

Click on the Chatbar to show your friend list, then right-click your desired contact and select Send Message from the drop-down menu.

2. Type the message that you want to send into the message textbox, then click the Send button or hit the Enter key to send your message.

Minimize the chat window

Click at the right corner of the Conversation window to minimize it to the Chatbar. To restore the window, simply click the minimized window () on the Chatbar.

Note

When you send a message to offline contacts, they will receive your message at their next logins.

You can chat with several contacts at the same time. Each conversation is displayed in its own tab. You can switch between tabs to follow different ongoing conversations.

When you signed in Chat, by default, your logged-in status is available and your friends will see the online icon appending to your account name in their friend lists.

There will be a notification about your friend's status if they are available to chat or go offline.

Change your status

1. Click the account icon on the Chatbar.

2. Select your desired status from the drop-down list.

Details:

IconDescription

Online

This status means you are available to chat.

Away

This status means you are away from your local device. Other users still can send instant messages to you.

Busy

This status means you are away from your local device for an extended period of time.

Available

This status means you are free to chat with everyone.

Offline

With this status, you are invisible to other users. This means everyone will see you offline even though you are actually online.

The Chat application allows you to send files to your contact, such as holiday pictures, or documents needed for the incoming meeting.

Send a file to a contact

1. Click on the Conversation window.

You will be prompted to select a file from your local device.

2. Locate and select the file you want to send in the File Upload form, then click Open.

Your contacts may cancel or accept the file transfer.

The Chat application can archive your chat conversation and allows you to export and save your conversation history to your local device.

1. Click on the Conversation window.

You will be prompted to select the location to save the exported file.

2. Select the location to save the file, then click Save to accept the exported file to your local device.

You will have a text file containing all of your conversation messages.

Your chat messages history can be shown in a specific time interval.

1. Select a contact that you want to show the message log.

2. Select a time interval.

Currently, the Chat application shows messages in the following time ranges:

All messages with the created time and date will be shown in the Conversation window.

A chat room is a place where people with similar interests can meet and communicate with each other. People can often enter an unmoderated chat room without any verification of who they are.

With Chat, you also create a chat room and invite other users to join your room. In this way, you can organize and manage your group activities efficiently. It is convenient in the corporate environment when you can communicate in multiple chat rooms, each may have different topics and members. Chat supports up to 30 users to join a chat room.

Create a chat room

1. Click on the Chatbar, then click from the pop-up menu.

The New Room form will appear.

2. Enter the room name in the Name field without any spaces, then click OK to accept adding your new room.

After that, the Conversation window and Room Configuration form appears.

3. Configure your chat room to your desires, including General and Security settings.

Note

If you cancel this step, the default configuration will be used.

i. Set the General settings.

Details:

FieldDescription
Persistent Room Tick the checkbox if you want to set your room always exist even if no participant takes part.
Presence Broadcast By default, a room is configured without any invisible members. In this field, you can select any groups (Moderator, Participant, and Visitor) to be visible or not. Moderator is the user who has created the room or a participant who is granted the moderation right. If you want users of one group are hidden in the room, simply unselect the group. For example, if you only select the Participant and Visitor groups, users who are moderators of this room will not appear in the participants list of the chat room. Users of the hidden group only take part as "listeners" who can supervise the whole conversation of this room, although users of other groups do not know their presence.
Who is Specific users from the selected group in the Presence Broadcast field. At present, there is only the "anyone" option.
Room Description The brief description of the chat room.
Max Users The maximum number of participants in the chat room.

ii. Set the Security settings.

Click Show Security in the Room Configuration form to show the Security option.

Details:

FieldDescription
Public Room When this option is checked, your room is listed in the chat rooms list for everyone to see and join this room.
Member Only Tick this option to limit the number of participants. It means that users need to be invited to participate in the room.
Allow Invitations This option is only available if the "Member Only" option is checked. If checked, the room's participants can invite others to join chat room.
Reserved Nickname Tick this option to prevent anonymous users from joining the chat room. If this option is checked, only registered users can enter the room.
Password Protected Room This option is to change the public room to a locked, secure protected room accessible only to specific individuals with the right password.
Moderated Room The room is moderated or not. With the moderated room, you can select the room administrators.
Room Admins This option is to select the administrators for the created chat room. It is only available when the Moderated Room option is selected. At present, there is no difference between the room moderator and regular participants.
Room Owners This option is to select the room's creator.

4. Click OK to complete the room configuration.

This function is to add people to a chat room where you already participated.

1. Click on the chat room conversation window.

The Add Contact form will appear:

2. Select contacts you want to add by ticking their respective checkboxes.

Also, you can search for contacts through your Address Book simply entering the search term in the Search textbox. It can be the first name, last name or user name. All contacts matching the search term will be displayed in the results list.

3. Click Add Contact to finish. The contacts you want to add will receive your invitation message.

When joining a chat room, you can learn more about a subject, ask questions and talk with others having common interests. Joining a chat room is just few clicks away.

1. Click on the Chatbar, then select from the drop-down menu.

The Join Room form will appear.

2. Select a room in the list by checking the appropriate radio button.

3. Click Join Room to join the selected room. Click the Refresh button if you want to clear the selected rooms.

Note

You can join several chat rooms at the same time. Each chat room will be displayed in its own tab and you can easily switch between different rooms.

Click on the room conversation window.

Your conversation window of this room will be closed and you will not receive messages from the chat room any more.

When creating a chat room, you are required to configure it before you can start the chat room conversation. However, after the chat room was created, you can also update the room configuration at any time.

1. Click in the Conversation form of the chat room.

2. Set values for the fields in this form. For more details, see here.

Note

The chat room configuration is available only if you are the owner or administrator of the chat room. You can change the room owner and select the room administrator in the Set the Security settings section.

Chapter 6. Organize Your Knowledge

In eXo Platform, you can manage your knowledge base easily through the Knowledge application. Knowledge includes 3 main portlets, including Forum, Answers and Wiki. With Knowledge, you can share information, seek supports through helpful answers and post your ideas.

This chapter covers the following topics:

  • Build a wiki through the Wiki portlet. This application provides the content productivity to portal users as a tool to forge the unstructured knowledge. With Wiki, you can create and edit pages by using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG editor. Also, your company can use Wiki as an internal reference, such as work policy or a public wiki for a comprehensive product information. Wiki along with Answers and Forum will complete the ideal combination that helps users enhance their experiences on collaboration activities and build valuable knowledge center for clients.

  • Build a forum through the Forum portlet. Forum is designed for the group discussion and user-generated content in which participants with common interests can exchange their opinions on a subject. While Answers is an ideal site for you to find answers quickly, Forum gives deep discussion through your posted topics.

  • Build an Answers & FAQs system through the Answers portlet. Answers is a collaborative Question & Answer system similar to Yahoo! Answers or StackOverflow.com but for your own enterprise, where the collaboration is encouraged. With this application, you and your collaborators can post a series of common questions and find answers on a specific topic. Here, you can edit questions, provide answers and edit them. FAQs takes this content as input and publishes it in a clean and quickly browsable manner. You can point a FAQs portlet to one or several Answers categories. As a publishing portlet, it is impossible to edit questions and answers in FAQs.

Please note that each user group has different privileges to perform actions. Some actions can be limited to some specific user groups. Advanced users have the ability to control and assign functions or features that other users can and cannot do within the application. There are five user groups: administrator, moderator, regular user, banned user and guest.

Notice that there will be no section dedicated to anonymous users. You can refer to the table that summarizes all the actions that different user roles can perform in each application.

There are 2 ways to access either of the Knowledge applications of a space:

Hover your cursor over My Spaces --> SpaceName, then click the application that you want to access.

Or, hover your cursor over My Spaces, then select your space name and click the application name on the Space navigation.

Note

In case you do not see the Forum, Answers or Wiki applications, it means that they are not activated or not added to the current page or space. To use these applications, you need to add them to a page by dragging and dropping them from Page Editor/Edit Inline Composer --> Applications --> Collaboration --> Forum/Answers/Wiki to the main page. This can be done when creating a new page, editing an existing page, or editing the layout of a portal. You can also configure the portlets as in the edit a specific portlet section.

This section provides you with instructions on how to use all Wiki features and configure the Wiki application to make it work in your desired way. Before going further, you should know some basic concepts about Wiki through accessing the Wiki application. You will be directed to the Wiki homepage as below:

Details:

Item Description
The Breadcrumb which shows the page hierarchy.
The Wiki administration area which allows administrators only to configure the space settings.
The Search box.
The pages tree view.
The Page Control area which helps users take actions with the current page.
The page content.
The page information. Click View Change to see changes in the latest versions. Click Attachment(s) and Revisions links to open the Attachments details pane and the Revisions pane respectively. These two panes can be collapsed by clicking the relevant links again.

Page hierarchy in Wiki

The Wiki content is organized as a page tree in which each page may contain many sub-pages. The hierarchy is reflected on UI by the Breadcrumb and the page tree in the left pane. When a page is added, it is always defined as a sub-page to the current one. You can have wikis for portals, wikis for groups or users.

Wiki Spaces

Space is a set of pages, so the spaces partitioning means that spaces are independent trees. This separation enables Wiki to provide knowledge spaces for different groups.

There are 3 space types:

A portal wiki is published for every user who can access that portal.

A group wiki can be understood as a space wiki. The wiki application of a space works as a group wiki for that space ("/Spaces/name_of_space" group). The group wiki can be accessed by members of that group.

For example:

Every user has his own wiki. The URL to an user wiki is in the following format: .../wiki/user/name_of_user.

For example:

Note

In this document, Spaces are referred as wikis, particularly portal wikis, group wikis and user wikis.

Any space which has an implicit root page is named Wiki Home.

Pages are places where information in Wiki is stored and shared. Pages are stored within a space. Actions that a user can perform on a specific wiki page depends on permissions assigned by the administrator. See the Page Permissions for detailed permissions.

There are two ways to create a page:

The first way

In this way, you need to use the toolbar.

1. Go to a Wiki space in which you want to create a page.

2. Click Add Page, then select Blank Page or From Template... to add a page with a template.

If you select From Template..., a list of available templates will appear.

You can:

i. Click Preview corresponding to the template you want to see. The template preview appears.

ii. Click Select corresponding to the template you want to select for your new page. The selected template appears.

3. Enter the title for your page. The page title must be unique.

4. Enter the content of your page by using Wiki Markup or the WYSIWYG editor.

5. Click Preview if you want to see how your page looks like.

6. Click Save to finish.

The second way

In this way, you need to use the undefined link in a page.

In the Wiki application of eXo Platform, you can add a link pointing to a page which you are going to create later. Such links are called undefined links. These links are often used to remind other Wiki users to create the page.

Add an undefined link for creating a page later

1. Add a link by typing the page title between square brackets '[.... ]' into your page body.

For example:

What you type What you get
[eXo User Guide]

2. Click Save to save the page containing the link. The undefined link is underlined.

3. Click this link to open the Add Page form.

4. Follow the steps stated above to enter the page title, content and save the page.

You can edit a page at any time if you have the Edit permission on that page.

Edit the whole page content

To edit the whole page content, click Edit in the Page Control area. Your page will be switched to the Edit mode.

Now, you can rename the page and edit the page content. In the View mode, hover your cursor over the page title and double-click to edit it. The toolbar in the Edit mode will be changed to activate the following actions.

Details:

Item Description
 Switch to the Rich Text (WYSIWYG) editor.
Display the preview mode of the currently edited content. Previewing a page helps you verify the result of rendering the markup you just entered without saving.
Open the Wiki syntax help pane.
Show more syntax help.
Input the edit reason if necessary.
Save the current page and go back to the view mode. Changes will be sent to watchers via mail notification.
Save the current page without sending notification to the watcher.
Discard the current changes and go back to the View mode.

Edit a page section

To edit only a section in the whole page content, hover your cursor over the title of the section you want to edit, then click .

The selected section will be switched to the Edit mode.

Tip

In the View mode, you can quickly edit the page title by double-clicking it, then press Enter when finishing.

1. Select a page that you want to move.

2. Click More in the Page Control area, then select Move Page from the drop-down menu.

The form to select the destination page appears.

3. Select the destination page.

4. Click Move.

Note

The Move page action is not displayed when you are at the Wiki Home. You can only move pages inside a wiki space and not between spaces.

1. Open the page you want to delete, then select More in the Page Control area.

2. Click Delete Page from the drop-down menu.

3. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

Note

The Delete page action is not displayed when you are in the Wiki Home.

Viewing page information is accessible to users who have the View permission on that page. The page information provides details about related pages of the current page, the hierarchy structure of the current page, the page history, and more.

1. Select the page you want to view the information.

2. Click More from the page toolbar, then select Page Info from the drop-down menu.

All information of the opening page, including page summary, related pages, page hierarchy, recent changes will be displayed.

Here, you can do the following actions:

This feature allows you to add pages related to your page. This function can be done in the Page Info view and is activated to users with the Edit permission.

1. Click Add More Relations in the Page Info view, then select the related pages in the Select a page window.

2. Click Select to add the selected page to the list of the Related Pages.

The related pages of the opening page are displayed in the side pane as below.

To access the page history, just click View Page History in the Page Info view.

The History Page appears.

Details:

Item Function
Compare selected page versions.
Allow you to select two versions that you want to compare.
Allow you to specify the version labels of the page and link to view a specific version.
The date and time when the page is changed.
The authors who make changes of the page.
The reasons why the changes are made (optional).
 Restore a page to the selected version.

Watching a page allows you to receive a notification message about any changes in the page.

Watch a page

1. Open the page you want to watch.

2. Click More in the Page Control area, then select Watch from the drop-down menu.

Stop watching a page

1. Open the page which you are watching.

2. Click More in the Page Control area, then select Stop Watching from the drop-down menu.

Attachments are any files enclosed with your pages. The attachments may be images, documents, presentation or multimedia files.

1. Open the page you want to view attachments.

2. Click the Attachment(s) link in the Page info area.

The Attachment pane of that page will appear:

Here, you can:

There are two ways to add an attachment to a page:

The first way

In this way, you need to open the Attachment pane of the page.

1. Click the Upload New File in the attachment list pane. The upload window will appear.

2. Select a file from your local device, then click Open. The file will be uploaded automatically then.

The second way

You can use this method when editing the page content by WYSIWYG editor (Rich Text editor).

1. Select a page to which you want to add an attachment.

2. Select Edit at the Page Control area. For more details, see the Edit a page section.

3. Select the Rich Text editor on the page toolbar.

4. Click on the toolbar of the Rich Text editor, then select Attached File... from the drop-down menu.

The Link form is displayed as below.

5. Select a file to upload. Now you can upload a new file or select one file from existing files.

  • Upload a new file:

i. Double-click Upload new file, or click Upload new file --> Select in the Current page or All pages tab.

ii. Click Browse to select a file from your local device, then select Upload.

  • Select from existing files: Click the file, then select Select.

The form to edit the link parameters appears.

6. Provide the link label and tooltip.

7. Click Create Link to update the link.

1. Click on the text editor, then select Insert Image...

2. Select an inserted image of the current page, or click the All Pages tab to select an image attached to another page in the space.

3. Click the Insert Image... button.

WYSIWYG stands for What You See Is What You Get. The WYSIWYG editor allows you to edit an wiki page directly in the wiki markup language. This has the advantage of being faster than the Rich Text Editor for some formatting tasks.

You can switch between the Source and WYSIWYG editors at any time by clicking or . In the Source editor, which is selected by default when you edit a page, you have to use the wiki markup language for text formatting, while the WYSIWYG editor enables the content to be appeared during editing that is very similar to the published result. Thanks to available tools on this editor, you can format your content visually without using wiki markups.

Note

If the final result is not similar to what you wish when editing a page by the WYSIWYG editor, you can go back to the Source editor and use Wiki markups to edit the content.

When using the WYSIWYG editor, examples of commonly used markup are displayed in a lateral panel with a link to the Full Syntax Notation page for more details.

To learn more about the WYSIWYG editor, you can refer to the WYSIWYG editor user guide.

If you do not know how to use a syntax, you can use the Syntax Help function. The Syntax Help is displayed by clicking from the page toolbar. When being clicked, a lateral pane beside the editing area will show all the Confluence syntax information. The lateral pane can be hidden by clicking in the upper right corner or by clicking again.

You can click at the bottom of the short Help Tips form to open the Full Syntax Notation page.

You can insert icons, emoticons to emphasize the content. The usage is described in the Full Syntax Notation page with example so you can easily remember and use them.

Example of emoticons and icons

By using macros, you can apply extra formatting, functionality and customization to your content. You can easily add macro tags by using the Rich Text editor.

1. Switch to Rich Text editor.

2. Click Macros, then select Insert Macros... from the drop-down menu.

The Insert Macros form appears.

The macro is classified into different categories: Content, Formatting, Navigation.

3. Select a macro category.

4. Select your desired macro from the selected categories list, then click the Select button, or simply double-click it. For example, if you select the Box macro, you will go to the macro parameters form.

5. Enter parameters into the corresponding fields for your selected macro. Click Insert Macro to perform your macro insertion, or click Previous to return to the initial Insert Macro form.

The following table describes specific functions of common macros.

MacroFunction
Excerpt Create additional information for the current page and it can be set to "hidden" in the current page, but displayed to add more information as the summary about the page when it is used with the Page Tree macro.
Include Page Include the content of another page in the current page.
Box Draw a box around the provided content.
Color Change the text color.
Code Highlight code snippets of various programming languages.
Error Message Display an error message note.
Float Allow content to 'float' on the left or the right.
Info Message Display an info message.
No Format Keep the content displayed like you type.
Note Message Display a note message.
Panel Embrace a block of text within a fully customizable panel.

Table

Table cell

Table row

Inset a table.

Insert a table cell.

Insert a table row.

Tip Message

Display a tip message block.

Warning Message

Display a warning message block.

Anchor Create an anchor in a page.
Children Display the children and descendants of a specific page in the current page.
Page Tree Display the hierarchy of a page in the current page.
Related Pages Render the related pages of the current page.
Table of Content Generate a table of content for the current page.
Section & Column Write the content in columns.

When editing the content of a page, Wiki will automatically create a version of that page after it is saved. Thanks to the page versions, you can make changes on the page safely and roll back to an earlier version without worrying about messing things up.

In the Page History view, you can see all versions of a page.

Each version includes the following information:

  • Revision numbers.

  • Author making changes.

  • Date and time when changes are made.

  • Summary (if any).

Note

All functions, including viewing, comparing and restoring, can also be done by clicking the Revisions link at the Page Info bar. One pop-up pane appears right under this bar, allowing you to do the same steps as described below.

To view a specific version of a page, just click a version label in the Page History page. The selected version of that page will be displayed.

At a version of the page, you can do the following actions:

Wiki keeps track of histories of changes on a page by maintaining a version of the page each time it is modified. To compare two versions, select two checkboxes corresponding to each relevant version, then click .

A page which shows the changes between these two versions will be displayed.

The changes between two versions will be marked with colors:

Note

Only two revisions can be selected at one time.

When you notice that there are changes in the current page version that you are not satisfied, you can rollback to an older version of that page quickly.

To restore an older version, click corresponding to your desired version in the Page History page.

Note

Restoring an older version will create a copy of that version. For example, if the [current version (v.2)] is restored to the [older version (v.1)], Wiki will create a new version (v.3) containing content of v.1. The version v.3 will become the current version.

Wiki provides permanent bookmarkable URLs to all wiki pages. Wiki will resolve wiki pages by inspecting the URL used to call it. URLs are in the following form:

http://hostname/$CONTAINER/$SITE/$NAV_URI/[$OWNER_TYPE/$OWNER]/$WIKI_PAGE_URI

Item Description
$CONTAINER$ The portal container.
$SITE The portal site (e.g,'classic').
$NAV_URI The URI of navigation bound to a page containing the Wiki portlet.
$OWNER_TYPE May be 'group' or 'user'.
$OWNER The wiki owner which can be name of user or of group.
$WIKI_PAGE_URI The URI inferred automatically from the wiki page name.

Any wiki page should be accessed by a friendly URL. For example:

In Wiki, you can search for spaces, or pages in a space, or attached files via either of 2 types:

Quick Search

1. Enter a keyword into the search box.

2. Select your desired page from the drop-down menu. You will be redirected to the selected page.

Note

If you are in the portal wiki, your quick search will be performed on all wiki spaces, otherwise it will only be performed on the current wiki.

Advanced Search

The Advanced Search function allows you to search with a keyword in a specific space. This mode helps you limit the search results.

1. Enter a key term into the search box, then hit the Enter key.

The search results are displayed like the illustration below.

If no results matched with the keywords, the search screen informs "there is no search result...!"

2. Click to select a space from the drop-down menu to define a scale where to search for the entered word.

3. Click Search.

The WebDAV enables you to use the third party tools to communicate with hierarchical content servers via HTTP. It is possible to add and remove documents or a set of documents from a path on the server.

To access any workspaces of your repository, you can use the following URL format:

dav://host:port/rest/jcrwiki/{RepositoryName}/{WorkspaceName}/{Path}

For example, to access the Wiki Home of the "exo vietnam" space, enter the following URL in the address bar of your OS's explorer (Nautilus is used in this example):

You will be asked to enter your username and password.

After login succesfully, you will see all content in that Wiki space.

1. Go to the folder that contains the content you want to edit.

2. Use your text editor to edit the "Content" file in this folder. You can use the wiki syntax to format content as normal.

3. Save the file.

Note

Note

This section is for administrators only.

The administrator has the highest right in Wiki. The administrator can delete a page, change the space settings, set the Edit permission for users and more.

For each space, you can manage page templates.

Access the Space Settings page

1. Open a Wiki space.

2. Click Browse, then select Space Settings.

The Space Settings page appear.

Now, you can:

Wiki gives you the choice to make a space or an individual page to be open or restricted to specific users, groups or memberships. There are two levels of permissions in Wiki:

Each space may have its own permissions. Space permissions determine which actions a user can do within the space. A permission can be assigned to any users, groups or memberships.

To change the space permission, open a space, then click Browse and select Space Settings from the drop-down list. Click Permission in the Space Settings page that appears.

There are some permissions on a space as follows:

Permission Description
View Pages Specify who can view and watch pages of this space, its attachments and history.
Edit Pages Specify who can edit pages of this space.
Admin Pages Specify who have the administration rights on pages of this space.
Admin Space Specify who can administrate the space permissions and settings

In the Space Permissions form, you can:

In the Space Permissions form, you can add permissions for individual users, groups of users or memberships.

1. Click to assign permissions to a user, a group or a membership respectively.

The form to select the user, the group and the membership appears.

2. Select a user, a group or a membership, then click Add.

3. Click to add the selectors to the Owner column in the Space Permissions form.

4. Tick the checkboxes corresponding to each permission you want to assign to the selectors.

5. Click Save to commit.

Note

View, Edit, Admin Pages permissions are applied by default to any pages of the space unless specific page permissions are set. The super user has all permissions implicitly.

To delete the permissions of a user, group or a membership in a space, just click corresponding to a user or group or membership in the Space Permissions form.

The Page Permissions allows you to set the View and Edit permissions for a specific page of a space.

1. Open a page of the space that you want to set the permissions.

2. Click More and select Page Permissions from the drop-down menu.

The Page Permissions form appears.

Pages are viewable/editable according to the space permission. On each page, a user with the Admin Pages permission will be able to override the view and edit permissions on this specific page.

A Page Permissions action appears in the page action menu when the user has the Admin Pages permission.

You can add and delete the View Pages Permission or the Edit Pages Permissions for the page. Do the same as Add space permissions and Delete space permissions.

When adding a new page, you are not required to write the content from scratch. You can start by selecting a page template which is actually a Wiki page with predefined content.

In the Space Settings form, select the Template tab and the form to manage templates appears.

Here, you can:

This feature allows you to find your desired template quickly from the existing list as follows:

1. Input a word included in the title of your desired template in the Search textbox.

2. Press the Enter key, or click the Search button next to the textbox to start your search.

All matching results which contain your entered search term are displayed right below the textbox.

Note

The Search function is only performed by the template titles and you must enter a complete word into the Search textbox. For example, to find the template whose title contains "daily report", you can input "report" rather than "repo", or "daily" rather "ly".

1. Click Add more... in the Spage Settings page and the sample template form appears.

2. Add the title for the template.

3. Write the description in the Description....

4. Write the content for the template.

5. Click Save Template at the Page Control area. A message will inform your successful template creation.

1. Click the Edit icon corresponding to the template you want to edit.

2. Change the title, the description or the content as you want.

3. Click Save Template at the Page Control area.

1. Click corresponding to the template you want to delete.

2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

The section provides you a guide to use all Forum features or to configure the Forum portlet to make it work in your desired manner.

In Forum, the role of each user group is clear and very important. Each role has a set of tasks that they can execute. Administrators and moderators are responsible for setting up and maintaining Forum. With the highest rights, the administrators are in charge of the entire management tasks, including form configurations, users management, permissions, categories, forums, topics and messages. With sub-sets of administrative permissions, the moderators will manage the respective sub-sets of the forum.

The user interface will indicate which features are available to you, based on your role.

To have an overall look of actions which users of each role can do in the Forum application, see the following table:

Features Description Administrator Moderator Regular user Guest
View details of Forum View categories, forums and many another information.
Subscribe to RSS feeds Provide the link to Forum for easy sharing.
Attach a file Upload attachments to a topic/post, preview and download attachments.
Search Do the simple and advanced search.
Bookmark Bookmark category, forum, topic.
Add a post Post reply, quote, private post, quick reply.
Edit your post Edit post, quote and private post.

Delete your post Delete post inside specific topic.
Add a topic Start a new topic.
Edit a topic Edit topic in a specific forum.

Delete a topic Delete topic inside a specific forum.

Lock/Unlock a topic Lock/Unlock topics inside a specific forum.

Add a poll & Vote Add a poll to topic and vote poll.
Rate a topic Evaluate a topic by rating star.
Add a tag Create new tags and tag a topic.
Private message Send or receive private messages.
Watch Subscribe to categories, forums, topics to receive notification mails of new posts or topics.
User Settings Change profile settings, personal forum settings.
Stick/unstick a topic Stick/unstick topics inside a specific forum.

Lock/unlock a topic Close/open topic inside a specific forum.
Split a topic Divide one topic into two separate topics.
Merge topics Combine two or more topics into one.
Manage a poll Create, edit, delete, close and reopen polls.
Move a topic/post Move one topic/post from a forum/topic to the other forum/topic.
Approve a topic/post Change new topics/posts from pending status to normal status so that guest, normal user can view.
Uncensor a post Allow a topic which has censored content to be displayed.
Show/hide a post Allow posts to be shown/hidden.
Manage pending tasks Manage all topics/posts waiting for moderation in one place.
Manage a watch Manage the subscription (watch). Edit and delete subscribed email.
Ban a user Ban users from accessing specific forums or categories
Add a forum Add a new forum to a specific category.
Edit a forum Change the title, description, moderator, permissions of a forum. However, moderators cannot set moderators for a forum.

Delete a forum Delete forums from a specific category.
Lock a forum Lock a forum so that it can be viewed only.
Unlock a forum Unlock a locked forum that allow doing basic action on unlocked forum.
Close/open a forum Close/open a forum. Closed forum are still manageable by administrator and moderators.
Move a forum Move forum from one category to the other category.
Export a forum Export a forum in the format of a .zip or .xml file.
Import a forum Import a forum from .zip/.xml file into the Forum application.
Add a category Add a new category.
Edit a category Edit a category and change properties.
Export a category Export categories in the format of a s.zip or .xml file.
Import a category Import categories from .zip/.xml file into the Forum application.
Delete a category Delete a category and all forum, topic, post inside it.
Administrate Sorting Sort forums, topics according to specific conditions.
Administrate Censor Define keywords that will be censored in forum.
Customize the notification template Define the content of the notification mails.
Customize BBCode Add, edit and delete the BBCode tags used in writing posts/topics.
Add a topic type Add topic types that help users easily know what topics are about at a glance .
Set up auto-pruning Set up auto-pruning to clean a large amount of obsolete and inactivate topics based on criteria.
Ban IPs Ban IPs on the whole Forum application (only administrators) and on only specific forums (administrators and moderators).
Manage users Manage user's profile, promote users, ban users, view topic and post of a specific user.

Note

(*): Regular users can only edit/delete their own posts/topics.

Before reading, please notice that this document is divided into 3 parts which correspond to different user roles:

With the highest rights, administrators are in charge of the entire management tasks, including configuring and customizing the Forum portlet, backing up data, managing users and granting permissions, managing categories and forums. Administrator has the global role.

See also

After adding the application to your Space, you have to configure the portlet settings to make it work in your desired way.

1. Click --> Portal --> Pages.

The Page Manager page will be displayed.

2. Click that corresponds to the Forum page in the pages list.

3. Hover your cursor over the Forum portlet, then click in the quick toolbar to open the Edit Mode.

This form allows you to configure the Forum portlet in various aspects, including:

In the Scoping tab, you can show/hide categories and forums in the Forum portlet by selecting or deselecting their respective checkboxes.

In the Panels tab, you can enable/disable some components in the Forum portlet.

Simply select/deselect checkboxes of the components that you want to enable or disable.

The following components can be enabled/disabled:

For example, if you have the Moderators or Show Statistics panel enabled, you will see it as below:

Forum Statistics

Before doing this function, you first need to have a knowledge of Ajax. Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) is used in the Forum application, aiming at updating a whole webpage or a part of the webpage.

This feature defines how the links are generated in the Forum portlet. You can select to use Ajax or not.

Only administrators can do categories-related management tasks. To manage forums better, the administrators usually build a good forum structure using categories. So, a category is a set of forums containing all discussions about the same subject. See the following diagram to learn about one typical Forum structure.

Managing categories can be performed through the following specific actions:

Only when you are assigned as an administrator, you can do this function. Normally, one category is created as public and it allows everyone to access without any restrictions. Meanwhile, one restricted category only allows specific users/groups/memberships to access. Also, you can assign moderators to your category and specify a set of permissions for members in the category.

1. Click on the Forum Administration bar. The Category form will be displayed.

2. Enter the category title into the Title field which is required. Its length must be between 1 and 100 characters (Special characters and spaces are accepted).

In the Category tab, optionally you can also:

The first way

Enter names of users/groups/memberships that can access this category into the Restricted Audience textbox. The different values are separated by commas.

The second way

Use selectors next to the Restricted audience textbox.

i. Click to select a specific user from the groups list.

ii. Click to select all users with the specific membership in a group.

iii. Click to select a group of users.

Optionally, select the Permissions tab to specify the category permissions.

3. Click Save to finish.

1. Select a category to edit from the Forum homepage, then click on the Action bar when you are in the categories list.

2. Click Edit from the drop-down menu.

3. Make changes on the category properties.

4. Click Save to save your changes.

1. Select a category to delete from the Forum homepage, then click on the Action bar.

2. Click Delete from the drop-down menu.

3. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

Note

When a category is removed, all its forums are also removed.

Managing forums can be performed through the following actions:

Add a new forum to a specific category

1. Go into the category to which you want to add a new forum.

2. Click on Forum Administration bar;

Or, click on the Action bar and select Add Forum.

3. Enter the forum title which is required. Its length must be less than 50 characters, including spaces.

Optionally, you can:

  • Enter the order for your forum that must be in the positive integer format.

  • Select the forum state.

  • Select the forum status.

  • Give brief description for your forum.

4. Click Save to finish.

The administrators and moderators of a forum may want to get updated of what is new in forums under their management. This can be done when creating a new forum.

Configure the moderation settings

When creating a forum, you can set moderation-related options.

1. Select the Moderation Options tab in the Forum form.

2. Do actions in the relevant fields.

Details:

FieldDescription
Moderators The username of the moderators.
Auto-fill the moderator's email Check this option if you want the moderator's email is auto-filled. The email address will be taken from in moderator profile.
Email addresses to notify when there is a new post Enter the list of email addresses which will get the notification if any new post is created. This field will be filled automatically if the Auto-fill the moderator's email is checked.
Email addresses to notify when there is a new topic Enter the list of email addresses which will get the notification if any new topic is created.This field will be filled automatically if the Auto-fill the moderator's email is checked .
Moderate Topics By default, new topics must be always approved and visible to everyone. If this option is selected, new topics will be pending for approval before being viewable.

Only administrators can perform this action. When a forum is removed, all of its topics will then be deleted.

1. Go into the forum you want to remove.

2. Click on the Action bar, then select Delete from the drop-down menu.

3. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

To take this action, click on the Forum Administrator bar. The User Management form will be displayed.

Here, by clicking corresponding to the relevant user, you can do the following management actions:

Note

You can first search for your desired users to do the management actions quickly.

In the Profile tab, you can promote your selected user to an administrator or a moderator by editing the following fields:

FieldDescription
Forum Administrator Grant the Administrator role to a selected user or not. The Administration role of the default administrator cannot be edited in the User Management form.
Moderator of Categories The list of categories moderated by the selected user. Click to select a category.
Moderator of Forums The list of forums moderated by the selected user. Click to select a forum.

Also, you can modify the user's profile in the following fields:

FieldDescription
Screen Name The name displayed in Forum.
User Title The title representing the role of user, by default. However, you can enter anything you want.

You can modify the forum settings set by your selected user by going to the Settings tab in the User Management form.

For the detailed descriptions in the User Settings form, see User settings.

This function is to ban users from the Forum application or specific forums and categories. To do so, go to the Ban User tab and tick the Banned checkbox.

Details:

FieldDescription
Duration The interval during which the user will be banned. This field is only edited when you ban this user in the 'Banned' field. In the ban duration, the banned user only can view forums and topics but he/she cannot post replies or send messages.
Reason The reason for banning this user.
Ban Count The ban times of the user.
Bans Log Other log information.
Ban Date The date when the ban takes effect.

See also

All of administrative tasks can be reached via the menu that appears after clicking on the Forum Administration bar. You can select a desired action from the following drop-down menu.

The administrative tasks include the following actions:

Click on the Forum Administration bar, then click Sort Settings from the drop-down menu. The Sort Settings form opens. Now, you can set properties for how forums and topics are sorted in Forum.

Censored keywords are those which are specified as inappropriate in the Forum application. If any topics or posts contain censored keywords, they will be hidden until being verified by Administrators or Moderators. Click on the Forum Administration bar and click Censor Keywords from the drop-down menu. The Censor Keyword form will be displayed.

Enter censored keywords in the Censored Keywords field. Keywords are separated by commas.

If there are new posts in the category or topic that a user has watched, the user will receive the email notification like this.

This section will describe how to create and edit the email templates that can be used to send email notifications to users.

Click on the Forum Administration bar and click Notifications from the drop-down menu to open the Notifications form.

The Notifications form consists of two tabs:

Details:

The followings are variables which can be used in the template:

The common variables for both tabs:

The variables used in the New Post Notification tab:

The variables used in the Moved Notification tab:

These variables are used to load the content dynamically. Thus, you should not edit them. In case the template is changed unexpectedly, you can go back to the default template by clicking . You can use the text editor to format the template as you wish.

By default, there are some default BBCode tags that are initialized via plugins: "[B]", "[I]", "[U]", "[FONT]", "[HIGHLIGHT]", "[IMG]", "[CSS]", "[URL]", "[GOTO]", "[QUOTE]", "[LEFT]", "[RIGHT]", "[CENTER]", "[JUSTIFY]", "[SIZE]", "[COLOR]", "[CSS]", "[EMAIL]", "[CODE]", "[LIST]", "[WIKI], "[SLIDESHARE]". You can add, edit or delete the BBCode tags.

Click on the Forum Administration bar, then select BBCodes from the drop-down menu to open the BBCode Manager form.

Here, you can do the following actions:

1. Click Add BBCode in the BBCode Manager form to open the Add BBCode form.

2. Input values into the Add BBCode form.

Details:

FieldDescription
Tag This is the text for BBCode, which goes inside the square bracket.
Replacement The HTML codes that replace the user-entered BBCode.
Description The brief description about this BBCode tag.
Example The sample of the BBCode in use.
Use {option} Allow BBCode tag to have option or not.
Preview Click this button to preview your rendered BBCode.
Click this icon to see descriptions of each field.

3. Click Save to finish or Reset to clear all input fields.

1. Click corresponding to the relevant BBCode tag in the BBCode Manager form.

2. Make changes on the BBCode tag.

3. Click Save to finish your changes

Simply click corresponding to the BBCode you want to delete in the BBCode Manager form, then select OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

Any BBCode can be activated/deactivated.

The pruning allows you to clean a large amount of obsolete and inactive topics based on criteria.

1. Click on the Forum Administration bar and click Pruning from the drop-down menu to open the Auto Prune form.

2. Click corresponding to the forum you want to set the prune settings.

3. Specify the criteria.

4. Click to check how many topics will be pruned.

5. Click Save to accept settings.

After setting the prune successfully, the auto-prune will be run automatically on the forum that has been set to check for the inactivate topics.

The topic type is the visual indication for other users to know what is topic about at a glance. When creating a new topic, users can select the topic type that they are going to start. The administrator can define these topic types.

Click on the Forum Administration bar and click Topic Types from the drop-down menu to open the Topic Type Manager form.

The Topic Type Manager form lists all topic types and allows you to add new topic types, edit or delete the existing ones.

Add a topic type

1. Open the Topic Type form via one of two following ways:

  • The first way

Click Add Topic Type in the Topic Type Manager form.

  • The second way

Click next to the Type field in the Option tab of the New Topic or Edit Topic form.

(Note that only administrators can see .)

2. Enter the topic name in the Type field, then select an icon for this topic type.

3. Click Save to accept adding your new topic type. You will see the new topic type added.

  • To edit the topic type, click .

  • To delete the topic type, click .

Administrators can ban IP addresses used by users who abuse the forum functions or violate the forum rules and policies. All banned IPs cannot be used to add posts to all forums in the Forum application. Any users who use banned IPs to add post, will be recognized as the banned user. As the result, the banned user can only view in Forum.

Click on the Forum Administration bar then click Banned IPs from the drop-down menu. The Banned IPs form appears.

Besides, you can also filter the banned IPs if there are so many banned IPs.

To filter banned IPs, enter a part of the IPs address into filter textbox, all IPs matching with filter term will be displayed.

The Export function is a best way to back up data in the Forum application. This function allows you to export categories and forums in the Forum application into the .zip or .xml file. When a category/forum is exported, all of its forum, topics, posts and properties are also exported. This exported file can be used to import into the Forum application.

Backing up a category & forum includes the following actions:

1. Click on the Forum Administration bar.

2. Click Export from the drop-down menu to open the Export Categories form.

Details:

FieldDescription
File Name Enter the name of the exported file.
Export All Check this option to export all data in Forum, such as all categories, user profiles and forum statistics.
Only Categories Check this option to export the selected categories only.

3. Select categories and enter the file name into the File Name field.

4. Click Save.

This function is used to export forums and all topics inside the Forum application into the .xml or .zip file.

The first way

1. Go into a forum and click on the Action bar.

2. Click Export Forum from the drop-down menu to open the Export Forums form.

3. Input the file name.

4. Tick the Compress checkbox to export the file into the .zip file or leave it blank to export into .xml file.

5. Click Save to get and store the exported file in your local device.

The second way

1. Go into a category containing the forum you want to export.

2. Click on the Action bar, then click Export Forums from the drop-down menu.

3. Select a forum you want to export by ticking the relevant checkbox.

4. Select the Compress checkbox to export the file in the .zip format or leave it blank to export in the .xml format.

5. Click Save to get and store the exported file in your local device.

1. Click on the Forum Administrator bar, then click Import from the drop-down menu to open the Import Category form.

2. Click Browse... or the Upload Files field to open the File Upload form. Browse and select the file to import.

3. Click Save.

1. Go into one category, then click on the Action bar.

2. Click Import Forum from the drop-down menu.

3. Browse and upload the selected file in the Import Forum form.

4. Click Save to accept importing.

After being imported successfully, the forum and topic data will be displayed properly in the Forum homepage.

This section describes actions that a regular user can perform in the Forum application of eXo Platform.

See also

Once clicking Forum on the Administration bar, you will be directed to the Forum homepage. Here, you can see categories of Forum, forums in each category, forum statistics as shown below:

Like in Answers, you can do either of two search types (Quick Search or Advanced Search) anywhere in the Forum application, right on the homepage or inside each specific forum or topic that makes it easy to find the expected information.

This function can be performed via:

With Quick Search, users can directly type a search term in the textbox. All the categories, forums, topics and posts that have the keyword matching the search term will be quickly displayed in the Search Result form.

For example:

Do a quick search

1. Enter a search term into the relevant search textbox.

2. Click or press the Enter key to perform your search, or click the Search button if you want to search in one forum or topic.

Depending on your selected object, the results which contain the matching keyword will be displayed in the Search Result form.

See also

The Advanced Search allows users to make a search with particular criteria corresponding to the object you want to find.

Perform your advanced search

1. Click at the top right of the Forum homepage when being in the Forum application or in the search pop-up or in the Search this category/Search this forum/Search this topic/ on the Action bar of each selected object.

Based on the criteria you want to search, such as category, forum or post, the search criteria will be changed accordingly.

2. Enter the search criteria.

3. Click the Search button to do search. Also, click the Clear Fields button to reset the inputted values.

Matched results will be shown in the Search Result form. There will be an alert message when there is no object matching with the search criteria.

Find in categories

Select Category from the Search in drop-down menu.

Details:

FieldDescription
Terms The search keyword.
Scope The search scale. With the "Full" option selected, returned results are those with both titles and content matching the keyword. With the "Titles" option selected, returned results are those with titles matching the keyword.
Username Filter search results by the category creator. Input the name manually, or click to select users from a specific group.
Created between - and Filter search results by categories created within an interval. Input the date manually, or click to select a date from the mini calendar.
Moderator Filter search results by the category moderator. Input the name manually, or click to select users from a specific group.

Find in forums

Select Forum from the Search in drop-down menu.

Details:

FieldDescription
Terms The search keyword.
Status The status of the forums ("Locked" or "Unlocked").
State The state of the forums ("Open" or "Closed").
Posts Filter search results by the minimum number of posts in the forum. Click and drag the slider bar to set the number of posts.
Topics Filter search results by the minimum number of topics in the forum. Click and drag the slider bar to set the number of topics.
Moderator Filter search results by the forum moderator. Input the name manually, or click to select users from a specific group.

Find in topics

Select Topic from the Search in drop-down menu.

Details:

FieldDescription
Terms The search keyword.
Type The type of the topic specified by the topic type name and its icon. It can be selected from the existing list.
Status The status of the topics ("Locked" or "Unlocked").
State The state of the topics ("Open" or "Closed").
Created between - and Filter search results by topics created within an interval. Input the date manually, or click to select a date from the mini calendar.
Last Post between - and Filter search results by the last post's created date in the topic. You can input the date manually, or click to select a date from the mini calendar.
Posts Filter search results by the minimum number of posts in the topic. Click and drag the slider bar to set the number of posts.
Views Filter search results by the minimum number of topic views. Click and drag the slider bar to set the number of views.

Find in posts

Select Post from the Search in drop-down menu.

Details:

FieldDescription
TermThe search keyword.
ScopeThe scale for searching. With the "Full" option selected, returned results are those with both title and content matching the keyword. With the "Titles" option selected, returned results are those with post titles matching the keyword.
UsernameFilter search results by the posters' usernames. Input the name manually, or click to select users from a specific group.
Created between - andFilter search results by posts created within an interval. You can input the date manually, or click to select a date from the mini calendar.

See also

Regular users can do many topic-related actions, including:

1. Go into the forum where you want to start a new topic.

2. Click .

3. Enter the topic title and its content. The title must be less than 100 characters (special characters are accepted). You may set other optional properties if you want.

  • Click the Attach files link to attach files to your message. The maximum size for the attachment is 20Mb. Click next to the attachment to remove it.

  • Use BBCodes to format text, or to insert images, videos and links.

4. Click Preview to see before submitting, or Submit to complete your topic.

Note

In a forum that enables moderation, new topics will need reviewing and approving by moderators before being published.

When creating a topic, you can also add extra properties to this topic:

When posting a new topic, you may also assign an icon to the topic for the quick visual identification.

1. Go to the Icon tab in the New Topic form.

2. Select an icon category, then click your desired icon in the right pane. The selected icon is surrounded with the red border with its name shown below.

Going to the Options tab, you can select status, state, type of the topic and more.

Details:

FieldDescription
Type Type of the topic specified by the topic type name and its icon. You can select it from the existing types. The administrator can add a new one by clicking (Note that only administrators can see .
Posts Moderation Check this option if you want posts to be moderated before being viewed.
Posts Notification Check this option to enable the notification email when there are new posts in your topic.
Sticky Check this option to stick the topic. A sticky topic will be located at the top of the topics list. A sticky topic will not fall down in the list if any new posts are added.

Go to the Permissions tab, you can set rights to view and post on your topic for another users. By default, all users can view and reply on a topic.

To set the permission to certain users, you can enter their usernames manually or:

Regular users can only edit their own topic.

1. Click on the Action bar. For regular users, this button is only shown when you are the creator.

2. Click Edit from the drop-down menu to open the Edit Topic form.

3. Make changes to your desires. Also, leave the reason in the Reason field if needed.

4. Click Submit to finish.

Each topic may have a poll question with pre-defined options for users to select. As a regular user, you can only add a poll question to your own topic. Meanwhile, administrator and moderator can add the poll to any topics.

1. Go to the topic you want to add a poll.

2. Click on the Action bar, then select Add Poll from the drop-down menu.

3. Enter the poll question and options.

Details:

FieldDescription
Poll Question Question raised for polling that is required.
Poll Options Options which allow users to select as their answers.
Close Poll After Period after which the poll is closed.
Users may change their votes Allow users to change their votes or not.
Allow Multiple Choices Allow users to vote for multiple options or not.

4. Click Submit Poll to complete. After adding a poll to the topic, is then displayed in the topics list.

To perform further actions on this poll, simply left-click More Actions on the Poll pane to open the drop-down menu. Here, you can edit, close/reopen or remove the poll by clicking the relevant button.

The Forum application provides an intuitive rating experience through a five-star scale. Your choice of five stars means the highest rating for the topic.

1. Go to the topic you want to vote.

2. Click on the Action bar.

The Rate This Topic form will appear.

3. Rate the topic by clicking the star. The number of selected stars will be changed from grey into yellow.

Note

Each user can only vote for a topic once. The function is disabled in closed topics and with banned users.

This function is for all logged-in users. Tags are keywords which are used as labels to describe or categorize the topic content. One topic may have several tag names. Using tags allows you to categorize topics based on the actual content. Even, it can be a better way to find a specific topic than a full-text search.

Tag a topic

1. Click on the Action bar.

An input text box will pop up.

2. Enter a tag name or multiple tags separated by a space or select existing tags in the suggestion list that appears when typing.

3. Press Enter or click Add Tag.

Tags assigned to the topic appears as follows.

Untag a topic

The first way

  • Simply click next to that tag.

The second way

This way allows you to untag one or multiple topics.

1. Click the tag name to be directed to the tags management page.

2. Tick your desired topic checkboxes from the topics list.

3. Click on the Action bar, then select Untag from the drop-down menu.

To post a reply, select the topic you want to reply to. You can reply to any topic as long as it is not closed and restricted. While you are viewing the topic, you can reply to it via either of the following ways:

Also, you can:

You can post a reply quickly with plain texts without taking into account its format.

1. Scroll down to the bottom of the topic to see the Quick Reply box.

2. Enter you message. Use BBCodes to format text insert images, videos, or links.

3. Optionally, click Preview to view your reply before submitting it.

4. Click Quick Reply to send you message.

After posting your post, it will be highlighted, so you can notice it easily.

See also

You can post a reply with the full editor as follows:

1. Go to the topic you want to post a reply.

2. Click on the top or bottom of the topic.

3. Enter your message in the textbox. Use BBCodes to format texts, or insert images, videos and links.

Optionally, you can:

  • Attach files to the topic by clicking the Attach files link. The attachment size must be less than 20Mb.

  • Select an icon or smiley for the post in the Icons and Smileys tab.

4. Optionally, click Preview to view your reply before submitting it.

5. Click Submit to finish.

If your post is the last one, its information will be shown at the Last Posts column of the forum.

The icon in the topic title allows you to jump to the last read post in that topic.

See also

You can send a private reply in a topic, which only allows the responded user to view the message content.

1. Go into the topic you want to post the reply.

2. Click under the post to open the Private Post form.

3. Enter your message and send it as described in the Post an advanced reply section.

Note

Private posts will not be checked for approval when it is posted in a topic that has the 'Posts moderation' enabled. Private posts are displayed with the 'Post private!' label.

You can include a quote from the previous message in your reply to a specific post. This may substantially increase the readability of the discussion topics when it is used correctly.

1. Click under the post you want to quote.

This will bring up the "Quote" form, with the previous message already quoted in the textbox.

2. Enter your message. Edit the quotation if necessary.

i. In the Content tab, the quoted content is wrapped between BBCodes tags [QUOTE][/QUOTE] which is automatically generated. Add your message content before or after this quoted content. You can create a quoted content manually by clicking from the WYSIWYG editor toolbar.

This will generate the quotation BBCodes tag for your message. After getting the quotation tag, enter your quotation between [QUOTE] and [/QUOTE].

ii. In the Icons and Smileys tab, select an icon for your reply here.

3. Click Submit to finish.

This function is to make changes on the post which has been submitted.

1. Click under the post you want to edit.

2. Make changes on the post, then click Submit to accept your changes. When you edit your post, you also can upload attachments, or delete an existing ones.

1. Click under your post that want to delete.

2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

BBCodes (Bulletin Board Codes) are special tags in bulletin boards that help users enrich their posts with formatting and inclusions. They are useful to provide guarded formatting capabilities to the forum users without the risk of breaking the HTML markup of the page. BBCode itself is similar in style to HTML: tags are enclosed in square braces "[" and "]" rather than "<" and ">" and it offers greater control over what and how something is displayed.

Depending on the BBCode template customized by administrators only, you may find it very easy to add BBCodes to your posts through a toolbar above the message area on the posting form. You can either type the BBCode tags manually or use the toolbar in the posting form. To easily get the BBCode tags without typing them, simply click the respective icon which is shown on the toolbar above the message area.

Click on the toolbar to get the full list of built-in BBCode explanations and examples.

Every forum member has a publicly viewable profile. This includes information provided by the member, either during the registration process or later via the User settings.

Whenever you see a member's name in a topic, you can view his public profile quickly by clicking his username or avatar and select View Public Profile from the drop-down menu.

The View User Profile form will be displayed.

Private messages will not be moderated and only viewable for recipients. Only logged-in users can do actions on private messages, including:

1. Click the username or avatar of the user you want to send message, then select Send Private Message from the drop-down menu.

The Private Messages form will appear.

2. Enter the username of the other recipients;

Or, click the icons next to the Send to field to select more others (if you want to send to many users at the same time).

3. Type your message title and content.

4. Click Save to send the message.

When you have received a private message, there will be a notification on your User bar.

Click Private Messages to open the Private Messages form.

Details:

TabDescription
Inbox All received messages which can be viewed and deleted.
Sent Messages All sent messages which can be forwarded and deleted.
Compose New Message Where to compose new messages.

In the Forum application, the Bookmark function is to collect links to a category, forum or topic you have visited, so that you can return to that category, forum or topic directly. Bookmarks can be created and managed by yourself through the following actions:

This function is for all logged-in users to save links to categories, forums or topics into the Forum Bookmark.

1. Go into the object (category, forum or topic) you want to bookmark.

2. Click on the Action bar;

Or, right-click the object title and select Bookmark from the drop-down menu. The bookmarked link will be added to your bookmarks list.

To view bookmarks, click on the Action bar. This will bring up the My Bookmarks form, with the list of your bookmarked links. To view the bookmark, click a desired bookmark title from the list.

Simply click corresponding to the link that you want to delete.

The selected bookmarks will be removed from the bookmarks list.

This function is for all users to subscribe to a specific category, forum, topic. If there are any changes, the feed of the subscribed category, forum or topic will be updated. To get the RSS feed, click on the Action bar.

Or right-click the item you want to subscribe to.

The detailed information of the category/forum/topic is displayed on another tab. Depending on which browser you are using, this page may look different. The browser used in this example is Firefox 8.0.

The following illustration demonstrates the RSS feed subscription using the Firefox Live Bookmark.

This function is for all logged-in users to keep track of changes in categories, forums or topics via notification emails. Whenever there are new changes, such as new categories, topics, posts created, you will receive a notification.

Watch a desired object

Go into the object (category, forum or topic), then click on the Action bar;

Or, right-click the object title and select Watch from the drop-down menu.

The watched objects are also listed in the My Subscriptions tab in the Settings form. When being unwatched, they also have been existed in this list.

You will receive the notification message of the successful watching. You will receive the email notifications about new posts/replies of the forum that you are watching as well. In the notification email, you will be provided links that help you go directly to the topic or go to reply to the post. After clicking this link, the new posts in your watched topic will be highlighted.

Note

Once a category/forum or a topic has already been watched, the Unwatch option will appear in the right-click menu or on the Action bar, so you can unsubscribe from the object.

This function is for all users to view and copy the link to a specific forum/topic and share it with others.

1. Go into a forum/topic which you want to share link.

2. Click the Permalink label at the right corner.

Note

The page link you want to share is displayed in the address bar of the web browser. You can copy and share it to others.

You may configure your settings yourself, such as personal profile, forum settings and subscriptions.

Click on the User bar to go to the Settings form. Once you opened the Settings form, you can control your personal settings, options and preferences via the following actions:

By selecting the Profile tab, you can see your personal information and other preferences.

Here, you can:

Go to the Forum Settings tab in the Settings form. You can change preferences, such as time zone, date and time formats, and other display options.

Check/Uncheck the Show Forum Jump if you want to show/hide the Forum quick navigation at the bottom of the Forum page.

Go to the My Subscriptions tab in the Settings form, where you can update or delete existing subscriptions.

Next, click Save to accept your changes.

Moderators in Forum are responsible for managing content of posts and replies before and after they are posted to the category where they are assigned as moderators.

See also

Moderators can manage all the forums inside their assigned categories. If you are a moderator of any category, you can do the following actions:

1. Go into the relevant forum.

2. Click on the Action bar, then click Edit from the drop-down menu.

3. Edit the forum properties.

4. Click Save to save all the changes.

Locking a forum will prevent all members from creating new topics and posting replies in this forum. All topics in a locked forum will be locked also, but their content is still viewable. Moderators can only lock/unlock the forum that they manage.

1. Go into the forum.

2. Click on the Action bar, then click Lock/Unlock from the drop-down menu.

Closed forums are invisible to regular users. To administrators and moderators, the content in a closed forum is still viewable, but creating topics and comments is disabled. Moderators can only close the forum that they are assigned to manage.

1. Go into the forum you want to close or open.

2. Click on the Action bar, then select Close or Open from the drop-down menu.

You can move a forum into another category as follows:

1. Go into the forum you want to move.

2. Click on the Action bar, then select Move from the drop-down menu.

A list of existing categories will appear. Select a destination category to which your selected forum will be moved.

Topics are moderated via the following actions:

Moderators can approve pending topics in forums that enable the 'Moderate Topic' option. All new topics added to these forums will be pending for approval. It means that nobody can view these topics except administrators and moderators of the forums. Pending topics are only viewable when they are approved.

The administrator and moderator will know the total number of pending topics at the right corner of their Forum Administration bar and User bar.

Moderator can view the list of topics to be moderated. See View all pending moderation tasks for more details.

Approve a topic

The first way

1. Select topics by ticking their relevant checkboxes, then click on the Action bar if you are in a list of topics;

Or, if you are in a topic, simply click on the Action bar.

2. Click Approve from the drop-down menu.

The second way

1. Click on the Action bar, then click Approve from the drop-down menu. The Waiting for Approval form opens.

2. Select checkboxes corresponding to the posts you want to approve. You can preview the post when hovering your cursor over the post title.

3. Click Approve to accept your approval. Approved posts are shown normally for regular users to view and take some actions.

1. Select a topic to edit by ticking its respective checkbox.

2. Click on the Action bar, then click Edit from the drop-down menu that appears.

3. Make changes on the topic. Leave the reason for editing in the Reason field if needed.

Only administrators and moderators can perform these actions. Closed topics will be invisible to regular users. Moderator can only close or open topics in the category that he manages.

1. Select a topic by ticking its relevant checkbox, then click on the Action bar if you are in a topics list;

Or, click on the Action bar if you are in a topic.

2. Click Close or Open from the drop-down menu.

The icon of the closed topic will be changed to automatically.

Only administrators and moderators can perform this action. This function is used to move topics from a forum to another one. Moderator can only move topics between forums that he manages.

1. Select a topic by ticking its relevant checkbox, then click on the Action bar if you are in a topics list;

Or, click on the Action bar if you are in a topic.

2. Click Move from the drop-down menu.

3. Click a destination forum to move.

Note

The moderator of a forum will be checked for permission. The moderator cannot move topics to:

Closed/locked forums that he does not manage.

Forums to which he does not have the right to add topics.

Forums which are in categories that he is restricted.

Therefore, only the forums which the moderator can move topics are shown in the list of destination forums.

1. Select topics by ticking their corresponding checkboxes, then click on the Action bar if you are in a topics list;

Or, click on the Action bar if you are already in a topic.

2. Click Delete from the drop-down menu.

3. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

This function is for administrators and moderators only to lock inappropriate topics. All posts in a clocked topic are still viewable, but posting replies will be disabled.

1. Select a topic by ticking its corresponding checkbox, then click on the Action bar when you are in a topics list;

Or, click on the Action bar when you are in a topic.

2. Click Lock or Unlock from the drop-down menu.

This function is for administrators and moderators only to stick topics which will be located at the top of the topics list. The topics will not fall down the list if any new posts are added.

1. Select a topic by ticking the corresponding checkbox, then click on the Action bar when you are in a topics list.

Click on the Action bar if you are already in a topic which you want to stick/unstick.

2. Click Stick or Unstick from the drop-down menu that appears.

You can see the sticked topic in the top of the topics list.

When creating a new topic, you can also make this topic sticked by ticking the Sticky checkbox in the Options tab.

When there are two or more related topics, you may want to merge these topics into one.

1. Go to the topics list.

2. Select more than two topics to be merged by ticking their checkboxes.

3. Click on the forum Action bar.

4. Click Merge from the drop-down menu that appears. The Merge Topics form opens.

5. Select a destination topic which will be the main entry of the merged topic from the list of the existing topics.

6. Give one name for the new topic in the New Topic Title field if you want.

7. Click Save to accept.

After being merged, selected topics will be joined into one topic. All posts of the other topics are displayed as posts below the main entry.

A topic with more than two posts can be split into separate topics.

1. Go into the topic you want to split.

2. Click on the Action bar, and select Split from the drop-down menu. The Split Topic form opens.

3. Enter the name for the new topic in the New Topic field.

4. Select posts by ticking their respective checkboxes.

5. Click Save to complete.

The new topic will be displayed in the topics list with the new name. The last selected post will become the main entry of the new topic.

As a moderator, you have some specific rights on a post. To moderate a post, you need to select that post first by ticking its relevant checkbox.

Next, click on the Action bar and select your desired action from the drop-down menu. All the moderation actions will be reached via this menu.

The followings are actions that a moderator can perform on a post:

All posts in a topic that requires post moderation will not be viewable before approval. This function is to approve posts which are pending for approval.

You can select to approve a single post or multiple posts at the same time. The moderator can view the list of tasks to be moderated. See View all pending moderation tasks for more details.

The first way

1. Select the posts to approve.

2. Click on the Action bar, and select Approve from the drop-down menu.

The second way

1. Click on the Action bar, and click Approve from the drop-down menu. The Unapproved Topics List form opens.

2. Select checkboxes corresponding to the posts you want to approve. You will see the preview of the post when hovering your cursor over the post title.

3. Click Approve to accept your approval.

Approved posts are shown normally for regular users to view and take some actions.

The first way

1. Tick the checkbox corresponding to the post you want to delete.

2. Click on the Action bar, then select Delete from the drop-down menu.

3. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

The second way

1. Click under the post you want to delete.

2. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

You can move posts to a topic of your choice.

1. Select the post that you would like to move.

2. Click on the Action bar, then select Move from the drop-down menu.

3. Select a destination topic in the topics list that appears.

The moderator will be checked for "Move" permission. He can only move posts inside the forum that he manages. Therefore, at the destination topics list, only the topics which the Moderator has the "move" permission, are listed.

When a post is hidden, only administrators and moderators can view and manage it.

To hide a post, select on the Action bar, and click Hide from the drop-down menu.

After being hidden, the hidden post is marked with the 'Post Hidden!' label which cannot be viewed by regular users.

You can show a single or multiple hidden posts at the same time:

The first way

The second way

1. Click on the Action bar, then select Show from the drop-down menu.

2. Select hidden posts by ticking their checkboxes.

3. Click Show.

The administrators and moderators can uncensor all topics, posts containing censored keywords. These censored keywords are specified by Administrator. All topics and posts containing these keywords will be labeled with 'Pending and Censored' respectively.

The first way

  • Follow this method to uncensor a specific post/topic.

1. Select censored posts/topics by ticking their checkboxes.

2. Select on the Action bar, then click Censor from the drop-down menu.

The second way

  • Follow this method to uncensor posts/topics in the list of existing hidden posts/topics.

1. Click Moderation on the Action bar, then select Censor from the drop-down menu. A list of hidden posts appears.

2. Select hidden posts by ticking their relevant checkboxes.

3. Click Show.

Administrators and moderators can manage all pending tasks in Forum easily. The total number of pending topic/posts that need to be moderated are shown right on the User bar/Forum Administration bar.

To open the list of pending tasks, click Pending on the User bar.

The pending topics and posts are shown in the Waiting for Approval form.

This form lists all the pending topics, posts and the created dates. From here, you can approve or delete topics/posts.

Approve a pending topic/post

1. Click the topic/post title in the list.

2. Click the Approve button to accept approving topic/post.

Delete a pending topic/post

Simply click the Delete This Topic/Delete This Post button. The pending topic/post will be removed completely from the pending list and its forum.

This function allows banning IPs that may be used by users who abuse the forum functions or violate the forum rules and policies.

This function is similar to the Ban IPs tool used by administrators. However, the Ban IPs tool used by administrators can ban IP from all forums, while moderators can only ban IP from forums which he manages.

Ban IP on a specific forum

1. Go to the forum you want to ban IP.

2. Click on the Action bar, then select Banned IPs from the drop-down menu. The Banned IPs form opens.

3. Do the same actions as the Ban IPs section of Administrators.

The administrators have the global role and take care of the entire management tasks.

When adding the Answwers portlet to a page, you have to configure this portlet to make it work in your desired way.

Configure the Answers portlet

1. Open the page edit mode via one of the following ways:

  • The first way

i. Click --> Portal --> Page on the Administration bar.

ii. Click that corresponds to the page containing the Answers portlet in the Page Management page.

i. Select a portal that contains a page with the Answers portlet, then open the page.

ii. Hover your cursor over Edit --> Page, then click Layout.

Now, you should be in the Edit mode of the page.

3. Hover your cursor over the Answers portlet, then click on the quick toolbar that appears.

4. Make changes in the Answer Portlet form.

In this form, you can:

In the Display Mode tab, you can set all the default display properties of the Answers application, including:

The type of sorting entries in the list may be: Ascending or Descending.

See also

When there are new questions or answers in the category or topic that a user has watched, the user will receive the email notification. In the Email Notifications tab, change the content of the email notification manually or edit the template for each email notification.

The followings are variables that you can use in your template:

&categoryName_: will be replaced with the watched category.

&questionContent_: will be replaced with the content of the new question.

&questionResponse_: will be replaced with the content of the new question's reply.

&questionLink_: will be replaced with the link for going to new questions.

&answerNowLink_: will be replaced with the link for going to new questions and open a pop-up form which allows you to answer the question..

These variables are used to load the content dynamically. Thus, you should not edit them. In case the template is changed unexpectedly, you can go back to the default template by clicking . You can use the text editor to format the template as you wish.

See also

In the Discussion tab, enable/disable the Discuss in Forum function in Answers and set the default forum for this function by selecting/deselecting the checkbox.

See also

1. Click next to the Select a forum field to open the Select a forum form in the Discussion tab.

2. Click a specific category/forum title to select it.

3. Click Save to accept saving changes in the Discussion tab.

Select the category scoping

In the Category Scoping tab, show/hide categories in Answers. The hidden category is not displayed in Answers.

To hide/show any category, simply deselect/select its checkbox and click Save.

See also

The FAQ portlet can be added to a page for users to view questions and answers quickly and easily.

The Edit Mode of the FAQ portlet allows you to set the properties to display questions and answers in the View mode.

Configure the FAQ portlet

1. Click --> Portal --> Pages.

The Page Manager page will be displayed.

2. Click that corresponds to the FAQ page in the page list. Now, you should be in the page edit mode.

3. Hover your cursor over the FAQ portlet and click in the quick edit toolbar that appears.

i. In the Display Category tab, you can control what categories will be displayed.

ii. In the Edit Template tab, you can use CSS to customize the FAQ template.

This is an example of the FAQ template after applying the new style.

iii. In the Preference tab, you can enable or disable the bookmarkable URLs in FAQ.

By not using Ajax, the FAQ will generate plain URLs in the links. The added benefit will be bookmarkability and better SEO as the links will be permalinks. Using Ajax, the links will be JavaScript-based and generate Ajax calls. This should make browsing faster because the whole page is not reloaded.

See also

Moderators in Answers manage the content of questions and answers before and after they are posted to a moderated category. The Moderator can read new content (editing or removing if necessary), approve or activate answers, and more. The moderator has the category-specific role.

Moderator can only manage categories that he moderates.

In this section, you will learn how to manage categories. With a category, you can group all questions of a specific subject into one place.

To perform an action on a category, you can select one of these approaches:

The first way

1. Right-click a category from the categories list.

2. Select an appropriate action from the drop-down menu.

The second way

If you are already in a category that you moderate, you can perform all actions on this category by clicking on the Action bar, then select an action from the drop-down menu.

Managing categories includes the following specific actions:

See also

Notice that only administrators can initialize Answers by creating first categories and assigning to moderators for each category. Moderator can only add new sub-categories in a category that he moderates.

Add a new category

1. Click Category on the Action bar, and select Add Category from the drop-down menu. The Add Category form will be displayed.

Details:

FieldDescription
Asterisk (*) This mark next to each field means that it is required to enter values in the field.
Category The name of the category.
Order The order of the category which must be in the positive integer format.
Restricted Audience Select specific users/groups to be restricted from the category.
Moderate New Questions Check this option if you want to moderate all newly posted questions before they are viewable.
View Question Authors Check this option if you want information of the question poster to be shown.
Moderate Answers Check this option to moderate all answers before they are viewable.
Moderator The moderator of the category.

2. Do the same as the Step 2 of adding a new category in the Forum application.

3. Click Save to complete.

1. Follow one of the approaches described in Manage categories.

2. Select .

3. Edit the category properties.

4. Click Save to accept your changes.

1. Follow one of the approaches described in the Manage categories section.

2. Select from the drop-down menu.

3. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

1. Follow one of the approaches described in Manage categories to open the drop-down menu.

2. Select .

3. Select the destination category from the list.

Both functions can be executed on all categories and questions in the Answers home or a specific category in Answers.

Export categories and questions

1. Click to open the Export form.

2. Input the file name to export.

3. Click Save to accept exporting all categories and questions.

The exported file is in the .zip format and it can be used to import to Answers or keep it as backup.

Import categories and questions

1. Click to open the Import form.

2. Locate the file to import, then upload the selected file.

3. Click Save to finish.

After being imported, all categories and questions will be displayed in the Answers homepage.

In this section, the following topics are covered:

Each question may be displayed in different ways, depending on the preset properties when it is created or edited. To view all posted questions, click on the Action bar to open the Manage Questions form. Here, you can have the overview of all the posted questions in the category you manage.

1. Select on the Action bar to view all the open questions.

2. Click next to the question that you want to edit and scroll down to see the Edit Question form.

3. Make changes on your question.

4. Click Save to save all changes.

In a category that requires question to be moderated, any new questions will be in the unapproved status and need to be approved before being published.

There are two options when approving/disapproving questions:

If you select Approved, the Moderate Question function will determine the unapproved questions to display or not.

Approve/Disapprove a question

The first way

1. Right-click the question title, then select Edit from the drop-down menu to open the Edit form.

2. Select/Deselect the Approved checkbox.

The second way

1. Click on the Action bar to open the Manage Questions form.

2. Click or to disapprove or approve the question respectively.

When a question is activated, it will be displayed and visible to all users. If not, it will be hidden and invisible.

The first way

1. Edit a question to open the Edit Question form.

2. Select/Deselect the Activated checkbox.

The second way

1. Click on the Action bar.

2. Click or to activate or deactivate the question respectively.

There are several ways to delete questions:

The first way

The second way

The third way

1. Open the Move Question form by following one of two ways:

The first way

The second way

2. Select the category to which you want to move your selected question.

Note

Only the Administrator can move questions to any areas in Answers.

The Moderator will be checked for permission when moving questions. The Moderator can only move questions to the category where he is also the moderator.

A notification will be only sent to the creator of the question that has been moved.

In this section, the following topics are covered:

On the top right of an answer, you will see icons that represent actions you can do on that answer.

Click / on the top right of the answer content to approve/disapprove that answer.

Note

The approved answer is visible to regular users while the unapproved question is invisible.

Click / on the top right of the answer content to activate/deactivate that answer.

Note

The deactivated answer is hidden to the regular users while the activated question is shown.

To delete an answer, click on the top right of the answer content, then click OK in the confirmation message.

This function enables users to log in and give comments on specific questions.

If the comment is considered as the best answer for the question, it can be promoted to the answer.

Leave a comment

1. Follow one of the following two ways:

The first way

  • Click the question you want to leave comments, then select .

The second way

  • Right-click a specific question, then select from the drop-down menu.

2. Enter your comment in the text-input field.

3. Click Save to finish.

Promote a comment as answer

Simply click on the top right of the comments panel.

Note

Comments can be written in different languages. However, you can only put comments on a question in multiple languages only when the question has been posted in multiple languages.

After accessing Answers, the left pane is hidden by default. To toggle the left pane, click on the Action bar. To view details of a category, simply left-click it to open its details in the right pane.

Here, you can view all activated questions of this category, some basic information of questions, such as authors, scores, number of answers.

To view details of a question, simply click it to open its details, including its content, answers and comments, uploaded files. Here, you can also preview the attached image, or download the attached files.

See also

The Answers application allows you to raise your questions on any issues and helps you find the best answer.

1. Right-click the category/sub-category where you want to submit your question, then select from the drop-down menu;

Or, go into the category that you want to submit questions, then click on the Action bar.

The Submit Question form appears as below.

2. Type your question into the Question field.

In this form, you can also:

i. Give details to your question into the Details field.

ii. Select your desired language in the Language drop-down list.

iii. Enter your email in the valid format, such as username@abc.com into the Email form.

iv. Attach different-typed files to your question by clicking the Attach a file link. The max size for the attachment is 20Mb. To remove the attached files, click respective next to the file attachments.

3. Click Save to complete submitting your question.

A message will inform that your question has been added successfully.

If you submit a question to the moderated category, a message informs that your question needs to be approved before being displayed in that category.

See also

Regular users can only edit their own questions.

1. Open the Edit Question form by following one of these ways:

The first way

The second way

2. Make changes on your question. You can add more or remove the language options, attach files, approve or disapprove the question and its answers.

3. Click Save to accept your changes.

See also

A question may have multiple answers and each can be moderated separately.

1. Open the Answer form by following one of these approaches:

The first way

The second way

2. Enter your answer into the Answer field.

3. Click Save to submit your answer.

See also

Regular users can only edit their answers.

1. Click on the top right of the answer that you want to edit.

2. Make changes on your selected answer.

3. Click Save to accept your changes.

See also

You can leave comments on a question when you are not sure about the answer, or want to give your ideas. Then, the moderator can promote your comment to answer if necessary.

1. Follow one of these following ways:

The first way

The second way

2. Type your comment in the text-input field.

3. Click Save to finish.

Note

Comments can be written in different languages. However, you only can put comments on a question in multiple languages only when the question has been posted in multiple languages.

See also

When you find a question interesting, you can share it with others easily. Regular users cannot send pending questions.

1. Follow one of these following ways:

The first way

The second way

2. Enter the receiver's email address into the To field.

3. Select the display language for the question content. English is set by default.

4. Click Send.

Note

Add CC/Add BCC allows you to send this message to multiple receivers. Use Add CC if you want all receivers to refer to this message. Use Add BCC if you want all receivers to get this message but cannot see email addresses of other receivers.

If the submitted question has been existing in another language, you can select your desired language from the Language drop-down list. If you change the language, the question's subject and the message content will be changed accordingly.

The users with email addresses in the To, CC and BBC fields will receive this message. The receivers can click the here link in the content of the message to view the question in details in the Answers application.

See also

This feature is not enabled by default. Only Administrators can activate this feature.

When you want further discussion on a question rather than getting quick replies from Answers, you can make that question posted in Forum as a new topic. The topic created in Forum will have the same title and content as your question in Answers. All the comments will become posts in that topic. Once there is a new reply in that Forum topic, your question in Answers will be updated correspondingly.

Discuss or view the question discussion

The first way

  • Open the question and click on the top right of the question pane.

The second way

  • Right-click a specific question and select Discuss in Forum.

The topic posted in Forum needs to be approved by the administrators or moderators before you can view it. To go to that topic, right-click the question title and select Discuss in Forum from the drop-down menu again.

See also

If you want to evaluate the quality of the question, you can use the intuitive rating feature provided by Answers to the five-star scale with the ascending level from the left to the right.

1. Open the question which you want to rate.

2. Click the star on the top right of the question content.

After being rated, the vote statistics will be updated.

Note

Each user can only rate a question once. Rating is not available to anonymous users.

See also

You can vote for an answer that you find interesting and useful.

If you think the answer is good, click the thumb-up icon. If you think the answer is not good, click the thumb-down icon.

Note

You cannot vote both (+1 and -1) for an answer at the same time. By clicking either of thumb icons, your voting will accordingly be changed.

See also

The Watch feature allows you to keep track of all changes in specific categories. You will get all the updates via mail notifications if you enable the Watch function on a category.

To watch a category, right-click a category in the categories list and select Watch from the drop-down menu. For the administrator/moderator, the watched category will be marked with .

If you do not want to receive any email notifications about the watched categories, right-click your desired category in the Categories pane, then select Unwatch from the drop-down menu.

See also

You can get the latest questions in a category by getting the corresponding feed links, then use your favorite RSS client to read.

Get the RSS link of a category

1. Click the category you want to get the RSS feed.

2. Click the RSS button on the Action bar.

The RSS information page will appear on another tab. Depending on the browser you are using, this page may be displayed differently. Use the RSS link provided in this new page to put in the RSS reader of your choice.

See also

When going to user settings, you can:

Change your user settings

Click on the Action bar. The Settings form will appear.

Now you can:

Change the display settings

You can select to display entries by created date/alphabetical order and sorted by ascending/descending type or by popularity.

Manage watches

1. Click to open the User Watch Manager form.

2. Click the category title if you want to view its details, or click to unwatch the corresponding category.

Change your avatar

1. Click the Update link to open the Upload File form.

2. Locate and upload your desired file.

3. Click Save to save the changes.

See also

The function is for all logged in users. To view a specific user's profile, click his username. The profile of that user will be displayed.

This form shows the selected user's profile, including the join date and the last login time.

See also

With the Search function, you can find your desired item, such as categories, questions, answers, or comments easily. In the Answers application, you can do your searches to specific search conditions easily through two types:

You can do quick searches easily by entering specific keywords into the Search area. All items containing the text matching your search term will be returned in the Search Results form.

1. Enter a keyword into the Search field at the right corner of the breadcrumb.

2. Click , or press the Enter key to perform your search.

The Search Results window will open with all matching categories and questions.

Details:

ItemDescription
The question has been answered.
The question has not been answered.
The category containing your entered keywords.
Click this icon to go into a question or a category.

See also

The Advanced search allows you to do a search with multiple criteria corresponding to the object that is expected to be found. Using the advanced search, you can find questions/categories more exactly.

1. Click on the Search area.

2. Define some search criteria in the Advanced Search form. The criteria may vary, depending on where you want to search.

3. Click the Search button to launch the search. All items matching your criteria will be listed in the search results pane below the Search form.

See also

Print all questions with their answers of a category and its sub-categories

1. Select one parent category from the Categories list on the left pane.

2. Click on the action bar under the selected category.

3. Click the Print button to accept printing or Close to quit the Print Preview form without printing.

Print details of a question

1. Click your desired question.

2. Click on the top right of the question pane. You will see the question and its details as below.

3. Select the Print to start printing.

See also

Chapter 7. Build Social Network

Social is an application of eXo Platform, which gives users rich experiences with many features that are similar to social networks, such as Facebook, and Linkedln. With Social, you can establish more meaningful connections and improve your communication and collaboration. Social allows you to add details, including experiences, skills, and team information, to your own profile. Besides, Social supports the OpenSocial API standard that allows developers to write social gadgets intuitively and easily for displaying and mashing up activity information for contacts, applications, services and social networks.

This chapter presents the following topics:

  • Manage your profile through step-by-step instructions. In this section, you can build your profile with full personal information, such as contact information, work experience, current position, and more.

  • Manage spaces which shows you how to create/edit/join/leave/delete a space, or to view its details, or to search for spaces and to accept/deny invitations.

  • Manage connections which includes actions related to searching for contacts and sending connection requests.

  • Follow activities in your organization which allows you to update status, share links, delete activities/comments, comment on activities, or like/unlike activities.

In this chapter, most Social-related actions are demonstrated through the Intranet site which is a default social portal built in eXo Platform.

After entering Intranet, you will be directed to the Intranet homepage as below.

By default, your profile is just initialized with the basic account information entered in the Registration form. Therefore, if you only want to view or edit the basic information on account and password, simply hover your cursor over your display name on the top right corner of the page, and select My Account.

The Account Profiles form is displayed with information you have set previously.

Here, you can change your account information in the Account Profiles tab, except for Username. These changes will be automatically synchronized with details in the Basic information in your Profile and vice versa. Also, you can change your password by clicking the Change Password tab.

If you want to view and update more details, go to the My Profile page by following either of 3 ways:

The first way

Hover your cursor over your display name at the top right corner of the page, then select My Profile from the drop-down menu.

The second way

Go to the Activity Stream page first, then select the My Profile tab in the left pane.

The third way

Go to the My Connections page first, then select the My Profile tab in the left pane.

The My Profile page is displayed that allows you to edit your information, upload your profile avatar, or update your current position.

Your own information is visible to all people using the network. You can change your information as follows:

1. Click Edit at the top of each corresponding section in the right pane of the My Profile page.

2. Change your desired information. In both Contact and Experience sections, click Add corresponding to one field you want to add more or Remove to delete your input information.

3. Click Save to accept all changes, or Cancel to close the Edit form without any changes.

The followings are changeable information in each pane.

Basic Information

FieldDescription
First name The first name which is required with the length from 1 to 45 characters.
Last name The last name which is required with the length from 1 to 45 characters.
Email The email address which must be in a valid format, for example, johnsmith@exoplatform.com. (See more details about the Email Address format here.)

Contact

FieldDescription
Gender The gender of user. Select your gender from the select box, either male or female.
Phone The phone numbers at work, home or at other sites which must be from 3 to 20 numeric characters.
IMs The nickname of either IM services that must be between 3 to 60 characters.
Urls The website address which must be in the correct format, for example, http://exoplatform.com/.

Experience

FieldDescription
Organization Where you have worked. The field's length is limited from 3 to 90 characters.
Position The job title which is limited from 3 to 90 characters.
Job Details Brief description of your job without any character-related limitations.
Skills Used Skills used without any limitations.
Start Date The start date of your work.
End Date The end date of your work.
Still in this position Indicate that you are currently at the described position.

See also

You easily upload a photo to your profile or to the spaces which you have created or have the Manage permission.

1. Click the Change Picture link, or directly click your current avatar in the left pane to open the Upload an Image form.

2. Click Browse... to select an image from your local device.

3. Select your desired image, then click the Open button or double-click the image to upload it. The uploaded image must be smaller than 2 MB.

4. Click Confirm to open the Image Preview form to see some related information, such as file name, file type, and image size.

5. Click Save to accept your changes.

Note

Your image will be automatically resized to a specified value.

1. Click the Edit link.

The form to update the current information will appear.

2. Enter your new position which is limited from 3 to 30 characters and click Save. Your current position will be immediately updated.

Note

The information entered in the Position field will be retrieved when you do the Search function.

The concept "team work" becomes very familiar in business environment. By establishing one specific team or group, you and your collaborators can work together on important projects. Based on the importance of team working, eXo Platform develops the Space application, allowing you to collaborate with specific people. This means that if you want to work on a team project, you can create a space for your team members to make organizations, share links and information related to the project.

To access a space, click My Spaces on the Administration bar.

The My Spaces page appears as below.

The Space navigation includes the following tabs:

Note

Administrator, who has the highest permission, can see all spaces regardless of the member role.

After redirecting to the Space application, you can add a new space so that you and your collaborators can work together or discuss specific topics as follows:

1. Click at the left corner of the Space page.

2. Enter a space name, description and select the priority level in the Settings tab of the Add New Space form. There are 3 levels: High, Intermediate, and Low with textual explanations corresponding to each selected preference value.

3. Select an access level in the Access & Edit tab.

4. Select all members of a specific group for your space where you are already 'manager' in the Invite users from group tab.

One of the two following cases occurs when you select this tab.

The Invite users from group tab will be displayed as below.

i. Tick the Select a target group for this space checkbox to open the selection form.

ii. Select the group in the left pane, then its child group in the right pane.

You will see your selected group as below.

Note

To remove the selected groups, untick the Select a target group for this space checkbox.

After you have selected one existing group, all users in that group will be invited to join your newly created space.

5. Click Create to finish adding your new space.

The new space appears.

Note

When more than two space characters are input between words in the space name, these spaces will be converted to ONLY ONE space when being displayed. With space characters at the beginning and end of space names, these space characters will be also omitted.

After being created, your space will be automatically added to the My Spaces button on the Administration bar. Therefore, you can access your space by clicking My Spaces --> [Space Name] from the drop-down menu.

This function allows you to change the initial settings of a space if you are the creator or have the Manage permission on it.

To edit a space, first access the Space Settings by following one of 2 ways:

The first way

1. Click My Spaces on the Administration bar to direct to the My Spaces page.

2. Click Edit corresponding to the space which you have the Edit permission.

3. Click next to the space name.

The second way

1. Hover your cursor over My Spaces on the Administration bar, then select one space from the drop-down menu.

2. Click next to the space name.

Note

You only see for spaces which you have the Edit permission.

This function allows you to edit the basic information of a space.

1. Select the Settings tab in the Space Settings page.

2. Change information in the Description and Priority fields, and the space avatar.

Note

You cannot change the space name.

3. Click Save to accept your changes.

1. Select the Access & Edit tab in the left pane of the Space Settings page.

2. Change values of Visibility and Registration if you want. For more details, see here.

3. Click Save to accept your changes.

Select the Members tab in the left pane of the Space Settings page to open the Manage members form.

Here, you can do many actions on members as follows:

You can invite other users to join your spaces as follows:

The first way

To invite multiple people, use commas to separate your multiple entered usernames.

The second way

1. Click to open the Select Users form.

2. Select your desired users by ticking their corresponding checkboxes, and click Add.

You can also search for your desired members in eXo Platform, do as follows:

i. Enter a search term into the Search box.

ii. Select a criterion you want to find in the combo box next to the Search box.

iii. Click to perform searching.

3. Click to invite your selected users.

After that, you will see the list of invited users.

If your invited users have not accepted your requests yet, you can revoke your invitations by clicking . The users will be removed from the Invited list.

As a manager or creator of a space, you can validate other users' requests for joining your space.

Note

Be careful not to remove the rights for yourself; otherwise, you will not be able to edit your space's settings anymore, except that you are an administrator.

Click corresponding to the member you want to delete in the Members list.

Select the Applications tab to go the Applications page which allows you to manage space applications.

Here, you can:

1. Click Add Application to open the Space Application Installer form.

2. Select the application you want to add by clicking .

If there is no available application, ask your system administrator to gain the access right.

To remove an application, click corresponding to the application name.

Note

You cannot delete the Space Setting application because it is configured as a mandatory space application.

You can easily edit a space navigation, such as adding a new node, editing a node, replacing in the navigation, moving up/down a node, and taking other actions in the context menu as follows:

1. Click the Navigations tab to open the space navigation.

You can take the following actions:

For more details, see the Manage Navigation Nodes section.

2. Click Save to accept all changes.

Join a space

Click My Spaces on the Administration bar, then click the All Spaces tab to display all your spaces and ones whose Visibility is set to "Visible".

There are two cases to join a space:

  • The first instance: For spaces without validation required, click Request to join corresponding to your desired space. You will automatically become their members.

  • The second instance: For spaces with validation required, after clicking Request to join, you have to wait for the validation from the space's owner who can accept or deny your request.

Revoke your request

  • To revoke your request for joining a space that has not been validated by its owner, simply click Cancel.

Leave a space

  • To leave a space, simply click Leave.

If you are the only leader of that space, the message which informs that you cannot leave a space will appear as below.

Note

After you have left a space, the space will not exist in the My Spaces tab, but in the All Spaces tab (for the "visible" space only).

To view one detailed page of a space, you must become its member first. Then, do either of the two following ways to view the space.

The first way

The second way

The detailed page of the space displays information about the space. The functions you can perform depend on your granted permissions or whether you are the space's creator or not.

As a normal user, you can:

Besides the actions above, as a space manager or creator, you can:

Only the space managers can delete their spaces by clicking Delete under the space name. All information and navigations related to that space are also deleted.

The Search function in the Spaces application helps you easily find spaces from one of the tabs in the Space navigation.

After accessing your desired spaces tab, you can search for spaces by Name and Description or Alphabets.

Search by name/description

1. Enter the key word into the Find Space field.

2. Press the Enter key or click Search.

The found spaces will be listed in the Spaces Found pane.

Search by alphabets

Simply click a specific letter.

Only spaces whose names start with the search letter are listed in the Spaces Found pane.

This function allows you to accept and/or deny invitations that you received from others. You can see all spaces which are being waited for your acceptance in the Invitations Received tab, or in the My invitations tab in the left pane of the Intranet homepage.

1. Access the Intranet homepage, then click Space in the My Invitations tab on the left of the Intranet homepage. A list of spaces which you are invited to join appears.

2. Click the space name to open the Invitations Received tab.

  • Click Accept to accept joining the space.

  • Click Ignore to deny joining the space.

Note

You can also go to the Invitations Received tab by clicking My Space --> Invitations Received.

To build your connections, you first need to hover your cursor over the display name on the Administration bar and select My Connections from the drop-down menu.

The Connections page appears.

This page consists of the following tabs:

This function allows you to find your desired contact quickly by searching by name, and/or searching by role (by position, and/or work skills), and searching by alphabets.

1. Select the relevant tab in which you want to do your search.

2. Select the search criteria:

3. Hit the Enter key, or click Search to find your desired contacts. The results will be listed in the People Found pane.

Note

  • When searching by alphabets, only contacts whose last names start with the search letter are listed in the Connections Found pane.

  • The search results are also ordered by the last name.

To view the profile of a contact, simply click the contact name. You will be directed to his/her profile.

From his/her profile, you can see all his/her activities and connections.

Note

Regardless of being an administrator, you do not have right to edit profiles of other contacts.

After specifying your desired contact, you can send a connection request via one of two ways.

The first way

Click Connect to send your connection request.

The second way

Access the profile page of the contact to whom you want to send a connection request, then click Invite to connect at the right corner of the profile page.

Note

If you follow the first way, the Connect text will become Cancel Request. Meanwhile, if you follow the second way, the Invite to connect text will be turned into Revoke.

After sending connection requests to other users, you still can remove the requests by selecting the Requests Sent tab and do one of two following ways.

The first way

Click Cancel Request to revoke the connection request.

The second way

Access the profile page of the contact to whom you sent a connection request, then click Revoke at the right corner of the profile page.

You can perform these actions via one of the following way:

The first way

Select the Requests Received tab to see the list of all connection requests sent to you

The second way

1. Access the Intranet homepage to see the list of all connection requests sent to you in My Invitations on the left pane.

2. Click the contact name in the list to go his/her profile page.

  • Select Connect to accept the request.

  • Click Deny to deny the request.

In the My Connections or Everyone tab, you can remove the connections between you and the users who are as your contacts via one of two following ways.

The first way

Click Remove Connection to remove your established connection.

The second way

Accessing the profile page of the contact who is your connection, then click the Disconnect link at the right corner of the profile page.

All activities of a user are displayed in the user's and Space's Activity Stream.

To enter the Activity Stream page, hover your cursor over your display name (for example, John Smith) on the Administration bar and select Activity Stream.

The Activity Stream page consists of the following tabs:

You can see activities of any registered people by clicking their display name to go their profile page, then select Activity Stream on the left pane. However, for people to whom you have not connected, you only can view their activities but cannot post any activities, comments or like on their activity streams.

In addition, you can keep track of activities of a space application. For example, whenever there is a new post in the Forum application, it will be updated in the activity stream.

The actions described in this section are those which you can do on activity streams of yours, of your connections or of any spaces where you are a member or manager, depending on the accessed tab.

By entering your status message, you can tell people what are you doing on or ask for their helps or ideas. Thereafter, your colleagues who are connected with you can see your updates in their connections.

There are 2 ways to post your status.

The first way

1. Hover your cursor over your display name on the right corner of the page.

2. Input your status into the Status Update textbox from the drop-down menu, then hit the Enter key to accept updating your status.

The second way

1. Go into the Activity Stream page as here.

2. Enter your current status in the Status Update box.

3. Click Share to accept sharing your status.

Your new status will be updated in two tabs: All Updates and My Status.

Note

You can use some HTML tags when updating your status. See more details in the Create rich activities with allowed HTML tags section.

1. Click .

2. Enter the link and click .

If the link address is correct, it will be attached, then shown with the overall content of the link.

3. Click Share to share your entered link with your connections, or click again to remove your entered link.

1. Click to open the Select File box.

2. Click Select File to open the Select Document form.

3. Select the relevant drive category from the Select Drive drop-down menu.

4. Select the folder and the server file, then click Select to finish uploading your selected file.

Note

You can also click to select a file from your local device; Or click to create a new folder.

You will see your uploaded file in the Select File box as below.

5. Click Share to share your uploaded file with your connections.

You are allowed to delete your activities/comments that you created, and those in your activity stream and in the space where your are the manager.

1. Select All Updates or My Status to view all your own activities.

2. Select the activity you want to delete, then click .

3. Click OK in the confirmation message to accept your deletion.

This action allows you to get ideas, answers, and any additional information when your collaborators respond to your status updates. Besides, you yourself give your ideas about any contacts' status update as follows:

1. Select an activity on which you want to comment.

2. Click Comment in the bottom line of the profile to open the Comment form.

3. Enter your comment into the Comment form and press the Comment button. Your comment will be displayed right below the profile.

Note

You can use some HTML tags when commenting on activities. See more details in the Create rich activities with allowed HTML tags section.

The function allows you to show your interest by selecting Like and/or Unlike activities.

Like activities

1. Select the profile containing the activity you want to like.

2. Click Like beside the activity.

Unlike activities

You only can Unlike an activity after you liked it.

1. Select an activity that you clicked Like.

2. Click Unlike beside the activity.

When updating the status or writing a comment, you can use the following HTML tags:

Tags Description
<b> Render as bold text.

For example:

<b>Bold text</b>

<i> Render as italic text.

For example:

<i>Italic text</i>

<a> Refer to an external link by using the href attribute.

For example:

<a href="http://cloud-workspaces.com">Cloud Workspace</a>

<span> Group inline-elements in a document.
<em> Render as emphasized text.

For example:

<em>Emphasized text</em>

<strong> Render as strong (highlighted) text.
<p> Define a paragraph.
<ol> Define an ordered list. An ordered list can be numerical or alphabetical.
<ul> Define an unordered or bulleted list.
<li> Define a list item. The <li> tag is used in both ordered (<ol>) and unordered (<ul>) lists.

For example:

<ul> <li>Bullet 1</li> <li>Bullet 2</li> </ul>

<br> Insert a single line break.
<img> Define an image in an HTML page. The <img> tag has an required attribute named src which specifies the URL of the image.

For example:

<img src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR59KE-ltJTWbaNBpB3K_uOJYMGE0HaQOx4htrm8DML6lUj90t4"/>.

<blockquote> Define a long quotation.
<q> Define a short quotation.