You can use your eDisk PUBLIC folder to share files with other eDisk members. You can also use eDisk to share files using a web-based interface. The web-based interface is simple to set up, and enables you to share files with people who are not registered on the Franklin & Marshall network.
The process makes use of your eDisk SITES folder, and the ability of a web browser to display the contents of a folder.
To begin, log into your eDisk account as you normally would, using your short username and unified password.
Next, double-click to open your SITES folder.
Within your Sites folder, create a new folder to hold the files you wish to share. You may name the folder whatever you wish, but we suggest that you give your folder a name that indicates its purpose.
In this example, we will name the folder myDownloads.
In an effort to eliminate any potential problems with downloading, we recommend the following naming convention for all the files you plan to share through your web download folder:
- Use short file names. Limit to 8 characters.
- Make sure the file name ends in a period and then add a three character extension. Use .doc for Word documents, .xls for Excel documents, and .ppt for Powerpoint documents. Other popular extensions include .gif and .jpg for pictures, and .pdf for Adobe Acrobat files.
- Do not use any special characters other than underscores ( _ ) .
- Do not use more than one period in the file name.
Once you have your files prepared, copy them to your newly created folder on eDisk to make them available for download. Now all you've got left to do is to tell people how to access your files. You do this by giving them a web address (URL). The format for the URL makes use of:
- The eDisk domain name
- Your LONG NAME (i.e., firstname.lastname)
- The name of the new folder you created within your Sites folder.
The format for the URL is:
http://edisk.fandm.edu/YourLongName/YourFolderName/
In this example, we are using the Long Name im.student and the downlod folder myDownloads. The corresponding URL is therefore:
http://edisk.fandm.edu/im.student/myDownloads/
When someone accesses your download URL using a web browser, an index of your folder's contents appears, i.e. a list of all the documents that you copied to your download folder.
The image to the left shows what the myDownloads folder looks like when it is accessed through the web.
To download a file, simply click once on its filename.
Written by Adrian Wilson '07