In addition to Libraries, there are a number of other places you may be able to view files and upload your own, including your site's Home page and the Home pages of communities you belong to.
NOTE: See Supported File Types & Sizes to learn about the file types supported on the Higher Logic platform.
NOTE: The options available to you depend on your Higher Logic configuration.
For example, the community shown below has the default content configuration, so a few of the latest files are listed on its Home page for easy access. You can click More to view the community's Library and Add to upload a file. A similar feed of the latest files from across your organization is likely shown on your Thrive Community's Home page as well.
The most common place to upload and download files is from a community you belong to, on its Library tab. Let's look at some of the functionality this page offers.
Switch between List and Folder view
On the Library tab, click the folder icon to switch between List and Folder View, both of which have a distinct purpose.
List view
List View is the default view for every Library, and is a more "socially-centered" interface than Folder View, as it provides additional file details, context, and functionality. By default, the most recent Library Entries are shown, but you can sort Entries in a number of ways via the two filter menus at the top and use the pagination buttons at the bottom of the page to view more if the Library has a lot of content.
Unlike Folder View, List View provides the following file and social information:
- Posting information, including the author's picture and name and how long ago it was uploaded
- An Entry's description, if one was provided (truncated if more than 100 characters)
- Previews of image and video files
- The ability to download a file directly from the Library page (and download all if the Entry has multiple files)
Folder view
This view has two specific purposes:
- First, it enables admins to create new folders and move Entries from one folder to another to better organize a Library's content;
- second, it's the only way all users can view any custom folders that have been created for a Library, potentially allowing them to more easily search for specific types of content in large Libraries.
Generally, though, Higher Logic users will want to use List View to enjoy the more streamlined social-centric interface.
NOTE: See Organize a Library's Entries to learn how to create new folders and move content within a Library.
In this view, folders are displayed on the left and their associated Entries are shown on the right. All Libraries have a base folder which defaults to the name of the community or Library, and any additional folders created exist as children of this parent folder. Library Entries with only a single file show an icon specifying the file type (e.g., PDF, MS Word, JPG, and other standard icons); Entries with multiple Entries have a unique icon that looks like stacked paper.
To view an Entry, just select it and then click View; to create a new Entry, click New.
Create an Entry
You can think of Library Entries as containers for individual files; you can upload multiple files to a Library Entry.
On the Library tab, click Create New Library Entry to work through the Create Entry Wizard, which guides you through the upload process. This process comprises four steps, each discussed in their associated sections below.
Step 1 - Describe & choose Entry Type
To begin, describe and configure your Entry using the available options:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Title | Give your Entry a descriptive title making its purpose clear. |
| Description | If desired, describe your Entry here to give users any helpful or useful information about it. |
| Library | The community you're uploading a file to will already be selected here, but if you'd like to upload the file to a different community's Library, you can select any communities you belong to from this menu. |
| Folder | If the selected community Library has additional content folders created for it, you can select which one to upload your file to here. |
| Entry Type | This is where you select which type of Entry to create. You can learn more about each type in their associated section of Step 2. |
| Owner |
An Entry's owner has management rights to it, and enables them to edit its details and files, moderate comments, etc. When initially creating an Entry, you can leave this blank to default yourself as the owner (i.e., creator) or enter someone's email address and click Lookup to assign them as the owner. You can update an Entry's owner at any time in the future, if the need ever arises. |
Step 2 - Configure your selected Entry Type
Each Entry Type is described in more detail below.
Standard/Copyright Files
These two Entries are similar, except Copyright Entries require an additional step to choose your copyright license for the file(s) you plan to upload. For these two types, you can upload one or more files types, including multimedia, using the various options on the left or by dragging-and-dropping files or choosing them from your computer or network.
Hyperlink
With this Entry, you aren't sharing files but are instead providing a link to the desired internal page (e.g., a page on your site) or external page (e.g., your organization's website). You can also enter customize your link's text so something other than its URL is displayed. This link is displayed to users on a standard Library Entry page.
Webinar
This Entry provides an embedded video on a standard Library Entry page, linked from a third-party provider like Adobe Connect. These Entry Types are meant for the display of completed webinars, not for the streaming of live webinars.
NOTE: Currently, .wmv files are not supported for playback in webinars.
YouTube
Use these Entries to embed a YouTube video that is displayed in the multimedia player of a standard Library Entry page. Instructions for acquiring the necessary YouTube information to embed your video are provided on the page.
Step 3 - Describe your files
If you're uploading files via a Standard or Copyright File upload Entry, this optional step allows you to change the title of each file on the left and provide a description for each file on the right, helping explain the purpose of your file(s) to other users.
NOTE: If you don't provide a title for a file on the left, it's file name is what will be displayed on the Library Entry page. In the example below, for example, I don't want "Higher Logic_Word_Template" displayed, so I changed its title to "Higher Logic Support Guide Template," as this will make more sense to other users.
Step 4 - Tag your Entry (optional)
The last step in the process is to optionally apply and available/desired tags to your Entry. While not required, applying tags is a best-practice to not only make it easier for other users to find your Entry but also for you to find the files shared by others.
View & download an Entry's files
On the Library tab, each Entry is listed on the page.
Click an Entry to:
- View its file(s). Multimedia files like images and videos are displayed directly on the page for convenient viewing without needing to download them first.
- Individually download any of the Entry's uploaded files.
- Download all of an Entry's uploaded files, if it has more than one. This allows you to quickly download every file without having to download each one individually.
- View any comments you and others users have posted about the Entry, as well as add your own via the Add button. You can edit and delete your own comments, and those of other users if you're an admin, by clicking the pencil and trashcan icons.
- View any related information users have made available for the Entry. If there are other Entries or pages (internal or external) that relate to an Entry, click Add and provide the link here. You can delete your own related links, and if you're an admin, those of other users clicking the trashcan icon.
Quick download files
If you just want to download an Entry's file(s) immediately, click the Download All button.