Share the Link to Share the Doc

Smart alternative to email attachments

7/02/04

By James Cope

Instead of emailing a large file attachment to a dozen of your classmates or colleagues, try sharing the file via a link over the Notre Dame network.

Unlike group document review by email attachment, which potentially creates as many versions of the original document as there are recipients, a single file in a shared file space keeps all of the changes and comments in a single wrapper.

One approach is particularly convenient for Windows XP and Windows 2000 users. It employs NetFile, a relatively new shared storage system developed by the Notre Dame Office of Information Technologies (OIT).

Here's how it works.

Save the document, a Microsoft Word file, for example, to a shared file space on a Notre Dame Institutional File Space (IFS) NetFile server, give your reviewers permission to access the document and then email them a link to it.

The format of the link on Windows 2000 and Windows XP machines will look like this: \\fs.nd.edu\~yournetid\ShareDocs\review.doc.  

• The first part of the link, \\ fs.nd.edu \~yournetid\ShareDocs\review.doc directs recipients to the NetFile server.
• The second part, \\fs.nd.edu\~ yournetid \ShareDocs\review.doc is the NetID provided to Notre Dame students, faculty and staff.
• The next section of the link, \\fs.nd.edu\~yournetid\ ShareDocs \review.doc, is the name of the shared folder that you create to hold the documents you want to share with others.
• The last piece of the link, \\fs.nd.edu\~yournetid\ShareDocs\ review.doc, is the name of a document you create and place in the shared folder.

Recipients then can mouse-click on the link to open the document over the network, make their changes and save the modified file back to the shared space where it will be ready for the next reviewer to open and log his or her comments.

Related Information
Setting up NetFile on a Windows 2000 or XP computer
Giving other Windows users permission to access your shared NetFile folder
NetFile and the Apple Macintosh
Difference between NetFile and AFS

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