Documentation - Webshare
WebShare FAQs
- What can I do with this service?
- Can people see what's in my folder?
- How can I tell if someone has looked at a document?
- How can I tell if someone has added a new document to a shared folder to which I have access?
- How much space do I have?
- How can I check my quota?
- How do I prevent someone who has write permissions to my file from making changes while I'm editing a document?
- How can I create and secure a drop box?
- Can I undelete something?
- Is the site secure?
- Can I set up a web page here?
- How can my organization get a site?
- How is it different from a Windows file share?
- Can I mount this as a regular file share instead of over the web?
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What can I do with this service?
You can use WebShare to store, share or easily access your files. Some useful ways to utilize this tool are:
- Use WebShare instead of sending large email attachments
- Use WebShare to share a file with others
- Use WebShare to grant someone temporary access to a file
- Use WebShare to access a file from multiple computers or locations
- Use WebShare to backup your files
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Can people see what's in my folder?
People can only see files and directories to which you've granted them access, though we provide a private folder as a courtesy for sorting your files. There is one exception: any files uploaded to your public folder are visible to others by default. You will need to change permissions if you wish to prevent others from seeing files in your public folder. If you've granted Administer permissions to someone, he or she has the ability to grant access to others.
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How can I tell if someone has looked at a document?
You can tell if someone has looked at a document by setting up subscriptions. A subscription is a request to receive an email notification when someone views, changes or comments on a file or directory to which you have read access. Set up a notification for a Read Event to learn when someone has viewed your document.
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How can I tell if someone has added a new document to a shared folder to which I have access?
You can tell if someone has added a document to a shared folder by setting up subscriptions. A subscription is a request to receive an email notification when someone views, changes or comments on a file or directory to which you have read access. Set up a notification for a Change Event to learn when someone has viewed your document.
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How much space do I have?
University of Chicago students, staff and faculty have one gigabyte of WebShare storage.
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How can I check my quota?
The bottom gray bar of the Directory window displays the current directory's quota and size information.
- Total Size is the sum of the size of all files and the size of all subdirectories, including each subdirectory's contents.
- Quota is the maximum amount that you can save in the current directory.
- Available is the difference between the total size and the quota (i.e., how much space remains available for you to use for saving files and directories within the current directory).
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How do I prevent someone who has write permissions to my file from making changes while I'm editing a document?
You can lock a file or directory to prevent other users with write permission from editing it or saving changes to it. Lock a file or directory by clicking the Lock
button for that file or directory. You can unlock the file or directory by click the Lock button again.
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How can I create and secure a drop box?
A drop box is a directory to which others can upload files, but they cannot see the contents. See the Create a drop box procedure for instructions.
Note: Faculty should use Chalk to create a drop box for a course.
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Can I undelete something?
When you delete a file, WebShare doesn't immediate delete it, but instead moves it into your Trash folder. If you delete a file by accident, you can move or copy the file out of your trash to recover it. See the Recovering a Deleted File procedure for instructions.
Emptying your trash permanent deletes the files in your Trash folder.
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Is the site secure?
All files are encrypted when they are uploaded or downloaded, making WebShare somewhat more secure than email (which transmits messages between machines in readable "clear" text). Like email, however, if someone gets access to your machine while you are logged in, they will be able to access and read everything to which you have access.
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Can I set up a web page here?
You can create a publicly viewable web page by uploading an HTML page to your public folder. However, we do not support or recommend WebShare for web pages at this time. If you want to set up a personal home page, you can do so on home.uchicago.edu.
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How can my organization get a site?
At this time, WebShare is available for personal use only. We hope to offer organizational space in the near future.
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How is it different from a Windows file share?
WebShare allows you to easily give permission for individuals and groups to view your files and directories. WebShare also allows you to share a file with someone outside of your division or even outside the University of Chicago.
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Can I mount this as a regular file share instead of over the web?
You can use the information below to mount WebShare as a network drive on your computer, but note that you will typically see poorer performance than you would on a "real" network drive, so NSIT does not recommend it.
Windows: You can mount WebShare on your computer by adding https://webshare.uchicago.edu/users/"your CNetID" to your Network Places.
Macs: You can mount WebShare on your computer by adding https://webshare.uchicago.edu/users/"your CNetID" under "Connect to Server.."
For detailed instructions, view the "Enabling WebDAV Support" topic in the WebShare online help.
Last updated: 7/17/08