Title: Using Windows Web Folders

Microsoft Windows very conveniently allows users to view WebDAV folders over the web directly in Windows Explorer. These views are called "Web Folder Views."

Note: For cases where your TeamPage Server does not run on SSL and your client OS is Windows 7, be advised that Microsoft made changes in Windows 7 which block this feature. You can over-ride the default and enable the WebDAV folders functionality by making registry setting changes described in Support3081.

Where Web Folder Links Occur in TeamPage



A Web Folder view is available anywhere in TeamPage that you see this icon:



It may also appear with text:



In the Document Management Interface (DMI) introduced at version 4.1, instead of the above icon, you will see this icon:



or a link like this:



Note: Depending on your OS / Browser combination, you may not be able to click these links to automatically configure Web Folders. You may have to hover over them to see the proper link address, then go to Windows Explorer and find the "Add Network Place" menu option (e.g. by right clicking over the > Computer icon in Windows Explorer.

These links provide quick and easy access via Windows Explorer to the contents of WebDAV enabled folders for Windows users. The links are displayed in Microsoft Internet Explorer on Windows only; they are not supported by other browsers (like Netscape) or platforms (like Macintosh). These links can be enabled and disabled by a preference. Once the preference to show the links is set to "yes", the links can be found in the following places for WebDAV enabled resources:

DMI View of WebDAV Controlled Folder



If you are using TeamPage 4.1 or later, a folder view in Internet Explorer will look like the following example. Note that you have links to open folders as Web Folders and to directly edit a Microsoft Word file using Microsoft Word.



CFI View of WebDAV Controlled Folder



If you are using a TeamPage version prior to 4.1, you will be using the Common File Interface (CFI) rather than the Document Management Interface (DMI). If a folder is under WebDAV control, the Web Folder link will appear next to the path in the folder's CFI view. Here is an example of a project share folder's CFI view:



Article Share Portlets and Attachment Lists



Article share portlets and attachments are typically listed near the bottom of a TeamPage single article view. Web Folder links are displayed for article share portlets, and if your user preference allows it, they also occur in attachment lists (see the heading "Web Folder Links in Attachment Lists" in the section entitled User Preferences | Files Panel - Edit in Office and File Options to learn how to change that preference):



File Details View



The File Details view includes a Web Folder link for WebDAV enabled resources:



The link is not included if the file is an attachment and the user has set the preference for hiding the location in the File Details view (see the heading "Show Location for Attachments in File Details" in the section entitled User Preferences | Files Panel - Edit in Office and File Options to learn how to change that preference).

Opening a Web Folder View



Windows users can easily open a Web Folder view by clicking on one of these Web Folder links from Internet Explorer. For example, clicking on the Web Folder link for the /db/share/public/ folder (above) opens this Explorer view in Windows XP:



You may have to enter your TeamPage user name and password when you click one of these links. When you open a Web Folder view from Internet Explorer, the location is automatically added to Windows' "My Network Places", accessible from the start menu. For example, after opening the above Web Folder view, My Network Places now contains:





Accessing Web Folders by Adding a Network Place (or Network Location)



A Web Folder view can also be opened from a network place added manually from the Windows "My Network Places" panel, by clicking , selecting , and entering the full URL of the folder. For example, to add the project share folder for a project called "Private" to the My Network Places so you can easily access its Web Folder view, you would enter . It is likely that you will have to enter your TeamPage user name and password; if it is the same as your Windows login information, you may not have to enter it (but may still have to click OK):



After adding the network place as in the example, I can visit My Network Places any time and double click the network place icon to open the Web Folder view:



What You Can Do with Web Folder Views



Navigating Web Folder Views



You can easily navigate a Web Folder view just as you would any Windows Explorer view. You can visit another WebDAV directory by double clicking on its folder icon in a Web Folder view, or clicking the back or up buttons in your Explorer window. (Sometimes clicking the up button, which would ordinarily navigate to a view of the containing folder, navigates instead to the Network Places group that contains the shortcut to the folder being viewed.)

There is one small caveat on navigating Web Folder views: from a Web Folder view of one folder, typing the URL of the folder you want to view directly into the location bar will not open a Web Folder view of that folder; instead, it will open the the DMI or CFI view of the folder. Even just clicking the Go button next to the Explorer address bar will open the DMI or CFI view for the current WebDAV folder. This is the way Windows works: it switches from Explorer to Internet Explorer when it recognizes that an http URL has been entered. Fortunately, you can easily click the "Open Web Folder" link for the folder in the DMI or CFI view to return to a Web Folder view.

Editing Microsoft Office Files Directly over WebDAV



Please see the section entitled Editing Microsoft Office Files from Windows with IE.

File Management



With a Web Folder view, you can do almost anything that can be done with an ordinary folder in your Windows file system. You can view file properties for an individual file to see its name, location, size and creation and modification date:



You can easily click and drag a file anywhere you could ordinarily drag and drop a file in order to copy it to your local file system, or to another WebDAV folder. You can create a shortcut to a file or folder that will open just as if you double clicked on it from a Web Folder view. Here is an example of a shortcut to a sample document:



You can also create new folders as usual (although you can't create new files of arbitrary types as you would be able to in your Windows file system):



You can also delete files and folders just as you would in your Windows file system:



Warning on the Delete Operation



You can delete folders even if they contain other files or folders, and the delete operation cannot be undone. When you delete a file, if the file is version controlled, you will be irrevocably deleting the entire version history for that file. So please exercise caution when using the delete operation with WebDAV folders, especially in Web Folder views.



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Shared Files for Doc316
Related Articles
referenced by (5)
Doc749: Using Document Share FoldersDoc358: Sharing and Managing Files in TeamPageDoc332: Where are Files Shared and Managed in TeamPageDoc329: How is WebDAV Used in Traction TeamPageDoc114: File Management with Browsers
Article: Doc316 (permalink)
Date: March 22, 2008; 4:25:40 PM Eastern Daylight Time

Author Name: Documentation Importer
Author ID: importer