Computing  File Distribution

Instructions for creating or forwarding files to departmental mailing lists

Don't!

Instead

Send everyone a link to your file

This document is for Windows (and Netscape users) only

Method One - Using the web server The preferred method

Assuming everything has been set up for you^** do the following:

1. Save the attachment you wish to forward (or create a new file to send).
   • In Netscape Messenger, right click on the attachment.
   • Choose Save Link As - a save dialog box will pop up.
   • Select the 'P:' drive and then the folder 'public_html' and then the folder 'files' below that.
   • Rename the file if you need to. Click on the Save button.
2. Assuming you now have a file in p:\public_html\files compose a new email.
3. The email can contain whatever text you want and should contain a line similar to:

       http://www.physiol.ox.ac.uk/~abc/files/example.doc
       

   where '~abc' is a tilde followed by your Physiology network username, and 'example.doc' is the name of your file. Note that file names with spaces in them will not work - you should rename the file by, for example, replacing spaces with underscore _ characters. If you quote http://www.physiol.ox.ac.uk/~abc/files/ without the file name then people get a list of files to choose from.
4. The line above will be clickable by the receipients of your email. You may try it yourself by typing the link text in the 'location' box of a web browser.

The public_html folder is special - the rest of the P: drive is not accessible. The security of this method can be greater than sending emails - internal emails are sent on a round trip via OUCS, a restricted web page is local only. People can refer back to the file at any time as long as it is still on the web server in p:\public_html\files.

^** The computing staff would have to do the following in preparation:

• Create a public_html directory in the user's home directory with the correct file permissions.
• Create a files directory below p:\public_html.
• Create a .htaccess file in p:\public_html\files to restrict access to Physiology only or the University only.
• Make the .htaccess file non-deleteable.

Method Two - Using a shared disk Alternative method

The N: drive has a folder called files which is available for file sharing. To prevent build up of files here, it is cleared out once a week.

1. Save the attachment you wish to forward (or create a new file to send).
   • In Netscape Messenger, right click on the attachment.
   • Choose Save Link As - a save dialog box will pop up.
   • Select the 'N:' drive, then the folder 'files'.
   • Rename the file if you need to. Click on the Save button.
2. Assuming you now have a file in N:\files compose a new email.
3. The email can contain whatever text you want and should contain a line similar to:

       N:\files\example.doc
       

   where 'example.doc' is the name of your file.
4. The line above will not be clickable by the receipients of your email. They will have to use Windows to navigate to the folder.

Disadvantage: The N: drive is only available to people reading mail on departmental PCs. It is not available to those members of the department who may be in college or at home. It is not available to users of Apple computers and Unix workstations. The latter cannot read Word documents anyway.