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Setting Up Communities, Publishing & Sharing
1. How Sharing Resources Works
Sharing your Calendar and Contact List resources with other WeSync users is a simple 5-step process, listed below and described throughout this section:
The WeSync Calendar and Contact Managers applications on your handheld and desktop allow you to designate which resources you wish to Publish to the WeSync Server to be available for sharing with others through the private communities you belong to.
Community set up and resource sharing is managed from your password-protected, personal 'My WeSync Home' page at the WeSync.com web site. You can access your communities either by using a supported browser to log in -or- by clicking the 'WeSync Web Site' icon on the WeSync Desktop Viewer tool bar.
The first full HotSync + 'Sync to Server' you perform will download to WeSync on your handheld and desktop the resources you've subscribed to. Subsequent syncs will update the resources you're sharing with other WeSync users.
After completing the community set up and resource sharing process, you will only need to return to your Personal Home page when there are new resources you wish to share or subscribe to.
Note: You do not need to create a WeSync calendar or contact list on your handheld or desktop for the resources you wish to subscribe to. To access other users' resources, these users first need to publish & share them to a community you belong to so you can then subscribe to them.
2. Inviting New Members to a Community
After Creating a Community for a specific group of people that you wish to share resources of common interest with, you next need to invite the people you want to join this community:
Sending an Invitation
- From your Personal Home page, go to the desired Community Home page.
- Under the 'Invite New Members' section, enter the new member's email address and community User Name
Note: This User Name is an 'arbitrary alias' visible only to the community administrator.
- Check the optional 'Admin Privileges' box
Note: Community Administrators can invite and remove members, assign Admin Privileges, and delete the Community.
- Click the 'Invite' button and the WeSync Server will send an invitation to the specified email address, with a instructions on how to join the community
Tip: The email invitation also directs prospective community members to get WeSync if they don't already have it.
3. Joining a Community
The community email invitation contains a special web address (URL) that takes recipients to the WeSync.com home page and automatically joins them to the community when they log in:
- New Users
New Users are directed to the first New User Signup page so they can first create a WeSync User Account and download & install WeSync. They then need to return to the email invite and respond to the special 'join community' URL.
- Invite Expiration
Community Invitations are only valid for one log in attempt.
4. Publishing Your Calendars & Contacts Lists
You can use either WeSync on your handheld or your desktop to Publish resources that you own and create:
Publishing Calendars from the Handheld
- Launch wsCalendars, then tap the WeSync icon in upper left corner of the screen to bring up the Calendar management screen
- Tap / highlight the calendar name you wish to publish, then tap 'Edit'
- Check the 'Publish' box and tap 'OK'
- Performing a full HotSync + 'Sync to Server' uploads your published calendars to the the WeSync Server, where they're now ready to be shared with your communities
Publishing Calendars from the Desktop
- Launch the WeSync Calendar Manager from either the WeSync Desktop tray icon or the WeSync Desktop Viewer.
- Click / highlight the calendar name you wish to publish
- Click the 'Publish' button, then 'Close'
- Performing a full HotSync + 'Sync to Server' uploads your published calendars to the WeSync Server, where they're now ready to be shared with your communities
Publishing Contact Lists from the Handheld
- Launch wsContacts
- Tap / highlight the contact list (Address Book category) name you wish to publish, then tap 'Edit'
- Check the 'Publish' box and tap 'OK'
- Performing a full HotSync + 'Sync to Server' uploads your published contact lists to the WeSync Server, where they're now ready to be shared with your communities
Publishing Contact Lists from the Desktop
- Launch the WeSync Contact Manager from either the WeSync Desktop tray icon or the WeSync Desktop Viewer.
- Click / highlight the calendar name you wish to publish
- Click the 'Publish' button, then 'Close'
- Performing a full HotSync + 'Sync to Server' uploads your published calendars to the WeSync Server, where they're now ready to be shared with your communities
Security Settings
- If you select 'Read Only' - or 'Private' (calendars only) - subscribers will not be able to make changes to the resource.
- If you don't select 'Read Only' (or 'Private'), subscribers will be able to make changes to the resource.
5. Sharing Your Published Resources
After publishing your resources, you can then share them with your communities so the other members can subscribe to them:
- Go to your Personal home page either directly from the WeSync Desktop Viewer or by logging in from a browser.
- Click the name of the community you wish to share resources with
- Select the desired resources from the 'Share my resources to this group' pull down list (below the 'Community Resources' section of the Community home page)
- Clicking the 'Share' button makes the resources available for others to Subscribe to
6. Subscribing to Resources Shared by Others
You can subscribe to resources others have shared to the communities you belong to:
- Go to your Personal home page either directly from the WeSync Desktop Viewer or by logging in from a browser.
- Click the name of the community that has the resources you wish to subscribe to
- Click the 'Subscribed' checkbox for the desired resources
- Performing a full HotSync + 'Sync to Server' downloads your subscribed resources to WeSync on your handheld and desktop.
Syncing Subscribed Resources to the Desktop Only
- Subscribed calendars can be downloaded and/or synced to your WeSync Desktop Viewer only if you wish, without performing a HotSync operation to a handheld.
- Subscribed contact lists can only be downloaded and synced to your desktop by performing a HotSync operation to a handheld. Desktop only support will be added to the WeSync Contacts application in a future release.
7. Using WeSync Without a Handheld
People who do not have handheld computers can use the WeSync Desktop Viewer to access and update others' calendars via syncing with the web-based WeSync Server. Some common situations where this works well are where a central secretary or administrator needs to be able to update one or more handheld user's calendars, such as a medical clinic, a remote sales force, or a geographically dispersed management team. Following are instructions for how a non-handheld user can set up this type of scenario.
Note: The ability to share Contact Lists with others via the WeSync Desktop only will be provided in a future version of WeSync Contacts.
- Install the Palm Desktop Software
WeSync requires that Palm™ Desktop Software & HotSync® Manager 3.0 or higher be installed. Because Palm Inc. has granted WeSync.com a redistribution license, anyone who wishes to use the WeSync Desktop Viewer without a handheld can legally install the Palm Desktop Software for this purpose.
Non-handheld users can obtain the Palm Desktop Software (which includes HotSync Manager) for free by going to the Support area of Palm's Web site and clicking on the Software Downloads link.
Note: You can install both the Palm Desktop Software and WeSync without performing a HotSync with your handheld - just skip the installation steps that prompt you to do so.
- Set Up a WeSync User Account & Install the WeSync Desktop Software
Just as those with handhelds do, non-handheld users need to Download & Install WeSync then Sign up as a New User.
Note: When the WeSync Setup program asks what type of install to do, select 'WeSync Desktop only'.
Important This selection disables both the WeSync Calendars and WeSync Contacts HotSync conduits. Note that these conduits can be re-enabled at any time via the HotSync Manager 'Custom' dialog.
- Set Up Communities, Publish, Share, & Subscribe
Once everyone in the group have their WeSync User Accounts set up & WeSync installed on their respective desktops & handhelds, one of the group members - an admin without a handheld perhaps - goes to her/his Personal Home Page (via either a browser or the 'WeSync Web Site' tool bar icon in the WeSync Desktop Viewer) and Creates a private Community for the group.
Then the admin Invites the other members to join the community, which will generate email to them with instructions on how to join.
After Joining, the group members each Publish their respective calendars via WeSync on their handhelds or desktops and perform a HotSync + 'Sync to the WeSync Server'. Next, they go to the community via their Personal Home Pages and Share their published calendars so the other members - and the admin - can Subscribe to them. After subscribing, each person needs to HotSync + 'Sync to the Server' again - or 'Sync to the Server' only in the case of the admin - to bring their subscribed calendars down to WeSync on their desktops & handhelds.
The admin can now use the WeSync Desktop Viewer to view & edit each person's individual calendar, schedule meeting & events across all or some of the group's calendars, and even create new calendars for group events - such as a marketing or training schedule, for example - and share these calendars for others to subscribe to.
Because every WeSync user can set up as many private communities as they wish, the admin can control who is invited to and therefore becomes members of each community. The admin can also create separate 2-person communities for confidential information to share with the group members individually.
- Sharing a Non-Handheld User's Personal Calendar
If non-handheld users wish to share their personal calendar with other WeSync users, they will need to use the WeSync Desktop Viewer. Syncing personal schedule information stored in a 3rd party desktop PIM - such as Microsoft® Outlook - without performing a HotSync operation with a handheld is not supported at this time.
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