Colligo Contributor for SharePoint File Manager

Colligo Contributor™ File Manager is an easy-to-deploy Microsoft^® Windows^® Explorer extension that increases SharePoint adoption by seamlessly linking folders on your file system with SharePoint document libraries. Local folders become “SharePoint aware” – online or offline – so you can access advanced features such as metadata, content types, and document templates, while adding and editing files using familiar desktop operations. In addition to the Windows Explorer interface, SharePoint folders can be accessed from any application that uses the standard Windows File Open/Save dialog. Colligo Contributor File Manager supports various versions of SharePoint (WSS 2.0/3.0, SharePoint Foundation, or SharePoint Server 2003/2007/2010).

Once Colligo Contributor File Manager has been installed, you can download libraries, folders, views, lists, or entire sites using your standard SharePoint site login credentials. Site selection can also be pre-configured by IT prior to deployment. Once the site content is synchronized, you can read and edit it while offline. When the back online, changes made offline are automatically synchronized back to the server.

Step 1 - Synchronize Content to Contributor File Manager

The first step is to select a site for synchronization. You can select the "Connect to Contributor" button on the Internet Explorer toolbar from any SharePoint document library or list and synchronize it directly. Alternatively, double click to open the Colligo for SharePoint folder in the "Computer" section of the Windows folder tree (Start Menu > Computer). Then right-click in a blank area of the folder, and select "Download New Site". If the menu bar is showing, you can also choose File > Download New Site. Enter your SharePoint credentials, as shown below. Contributor File Manager then logs into SharePoint and retrieves libraries and lists that are available for you to select based on your permissions. You can select specific lists, libraries, or views and folders (by applying a "Filter") for synchronization. You can also select "Synchronize all document libraries and lists" to download the entire site. List and library synchronization settings can be changed later by right clicking the folder in the Windows Explorer folder tree.

Step 2 - Add & Edit Content Offline (Or Online)

Downloaded content is stored locally on the computer and is available to be edited, online and offline, regardless of network connectivity. You can navigate to folders using the Windows folder tree and double click files to open them. It's easy to edit files and save them back into the workspace. New documents can be created using content types and forms. Folders, files, and emails can be dragged-into and out of document libraries and folders. Other site elements, such as metadata are all available offline.

Contributor File Manager features special support for email and attachment drag-and-drop. A unique filename is automatically generated. Email message fields (such as To, From, Date, Subject, etc.) are automatically mapped to SharePoint metadata if the library is properly configured, as discussed in this feature article.

Emails and documents that are dragged-and-dropped into Contributor File Manager are immediately synced to SharePoint if online or cached if offline. When you drop an email or document into a library, a metadata editor pops up. In the example below, the extracted email metadata is shown, but administrators often hide these columns so users cannot edit them. You can also add custom metadata at this point and set the content type to enhance the classification of emails. This is discussed further in the next section.

Step 3 - Edit Content & Metadata

You can use Windows Explorer views online and offline to easily organize and find content in document libraries and lists. If you select the "Details" view in Windows Explorer, the metadata from the default SharePoint view is presented. In this case, you can sort and filter content using SharePoint metadata by right clicking in a cached document library or list.

Metadata for documents and list items can be edited or added to one or multiple items at once with a simple right-click. Default folder-level metadata can be set by right-clicking on a folder and selecting Default Metadata Values. Multi-value lookups to lists are supported. With SharePoint 2010 sites, you can set enterprise managed and keyword metadata in Contributor Client using the term store selector.

Step 4 - Synchronization & Conflict Resolution

When you return online, changes made offline are automatically synchronized to the SharePoint server while new content on the server is downloaded to your computer. If working online, changes made can trigger immediate synchronization. New content on SharePoint is downloaded periodically based on a configured time interval. At any time, you can also initiate immediate synchronization by clicking "Synchronize."

If a conflicting change is made on the server to content that you changed while offline, you are notified of a conflict error by a yellow alert box on the Contributor icon in the system tray. Clicking on the icon brings up a dialog box so you can resolve the conflict.

If you then click on the error, you can: (1) select the local version, (2) select the server version, (3) open the local version and use "save as" to create a new version, or (4) use Word Compare & Merge to merge the changes from both documents.

Step 5 - Lock Documents for Editing

For cached libraries and folders, Contributor File Manager features basic support for Check-Out and Check-In. You can track your own document checking activities performed in Contributor. To check-out documents, simply select the documents, right-click, and select "Check Out." To unlock a document, simply select "Check In" to save your changes to the server, or select "Discard Check Out" to discard your changes.

Colligo Contributor File Manager | How It Works!