Colligo Contributor Pro | How it works!

Colligo Contributor^™Pro is easy-to-deploy .NET client software that drives user adoption of Microsoft^® Office SharePoint^® by providing an intuitive user experience that better integrates SharePoint into the way users work on their desktops. It enables information workers to easily access, modify, and create SharePoint content through familiar desktop interfaces. Contributor Pro combines all the great features of the Contributor Client and Contributor Add-In for Outlook. It enables users to synchronize SharePoint libraries, folders, views, and lists to their desktops, then add, access, or edit content from a rich desktop client or from Outlook, online and offline.

Colligo Contributor Pro offers a number of options for synchronizing and accessing SharePoint content. Once you've installed it, you can access your SharePoint sites and content through Microsoft Outlook or the Contributor Client interface, as described below.

Using the Outlook Add-In Interface

To synchronize SharePoint content to Contributor Add-In, simply select the "Connect to Outlook" button on the Internet Explorer toolbar from any SharePoint document library or list.

The Contributor Add-In will use the credentials you entered to access the SharePoint site and link the library, folder, or list into Outlook. The subfolders and content synchronized will be "security trimmed", meaning that you will only be allowed to download content that you are authorized to download.

Next, select "Make this list or library available offline" if you want to cache the content to your local data store. Or simply click "Yes" to sync the document library or list in online-only mode. If you opted to take the list or library offline, content from SharePoint will be automatically cached for offline access.

A tree-view showing folders and sub-folders will be added under the Colligo for SharePoint folder in the left-hand navigation pane of Outlook. The naming convention is the site name and document library name - at any time you can personalize and reorganize these folders locally.

For more on how the Colligo Contributor Add-In interface works, please visit this page.

Using the Contributor Client Interface 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 2007 document library or list and synchronize it directly. Alternatively, from the Contributor menu bar, select "Site" and "Download New Site ...", then enter your SharePoint credentials, as shown below. Contributor Client 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.

Downloaded content is stored locally on the laptop and is available to be edited, online and offline, regardless of network connectivity. 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. Files can be also dragged-into and out of document libraries and folders from Outlook folders, emails, and your desktop. Other site elements, such as metadata and views are all available for use offline.

For more on how the Colligo Contributor Client interface works, please visit this page.

Contributor for SharePoint Pro | How It Works!