Action menu: Actions on a single object

Actions on a single object are invoked by selecting the action’s entry in the object’s action menu . Note that the action menu may also be invoked by a right mouse click anywhere on the object entry (pressing the Ctrl key along with the right mouse click produces the original browser menu, e.g. for “Save target as…”). Putting the cursor over the action menu icon dis­plays often used actions (Change Properties, Cut, Copy, Delete) as a horizontal iconized ac­tion menu.

Some of the entries in the action menu are specific for a particular type of object, e.g., the actions offered for a folder and a document are different.

Depending on what level of proficiency you have chosen for yourself, you may see fewer than the complete set of possible action menu entries for a given type of object. Further­more, BSCW does not show action menu entries that you cannot use, because you do not have the necessary access rights for a specific object or a complete folder or workspace.

Below we list most of the actions offered in action menus in the order in which they appear in an action menu.

o  General

o  Change

o  New

o  Access

o  Attach

o  Send to

o  Move

o  Link

General

  Open  opens and displays the object (folder, document, calendar etc.).

  Contents  shows an indented list, holding not only the objects directly contained in the folder, but also the contents of subfolders, sub-subfolders, etc.

  Information 

 Info  shows the info page of the object.

 History  shows all change events that took place since the creation of the object.

 Catch up  indicates that you have taken note of recent events which happened to the object. The corresponding event icons are removed.

 Event Options  lets you configure the events concerning the given object that you want to be informed of by, e.g., icons or the daily workspace activity report.

 Resubmit  lets you specify one or more dates when you want to receive an email reminder to attend to a document again.

 Document Events  shows the read, change and create events concerning the documents of the given workspace in form of a map.

 Export Events  produces the events of the given object as a comma separated file for further processing, e.g. with a suitable spreadsheet program.

  Change: This submenu summarizes all actions concerning changes of the given object. Different types of objects allow different change actions.

 Properties  lets you change all properties of the given object. This includes all speci­fi­ca­tions that you made while creating the object: name, description, tags, rating and attributes. As owner, you can also change the auto-versioning settings for folders and documents.

 Edit  lets you edit text documents and notes (plain text and HTML) directly on the BSCW server. Under certain conditions, Microsoft Office files can also be edited this way.

 Replace  uploads a file from your local computer system that replaces the current docu­ment. The replaced document is overwritten and no longer accessible.

 Version Control  imposes version control on a document. You may enter a description of the base version, initial version number and state. For documents already under ver­sion control, the change menu offers further actions like  Revise ,  Destroy Versions  which are treated in 5.3 Documents under version control.

 Rate  allows you to rate the quality of a document or an object referred to by an URL on a 5-point scale. A rating will replace your previous rating, if any. All ratings by the members of the workspace are displayed in the info page of the object. The median rating is displayed in iconized form in the ‘Rating’ column of the object’s entry.

 Edit Copy  generates a copy of a text or HTML document and lets you then edit the copy.

  New : This submenu exists only with container objects, i.e. objects which may contain other objects (folders, discussion forums etc.). It summarizes all actions which generate new ob­jects within the given container object. Which objects may be generated depends on the type of the given container object.

  Access : This submenu summarizes all actions which govern the access to the given object, i.e. who can do what with the given object.

 Invite Member  lets you invite a new member to a workspace or discussion forum.

 Public Access  turns the folder or discussion forum into a public workspace. For en­hanced control, you may specify the permitted actions (i.e. add document, folder, dis­cus­sion, note, URL) for anonymous access. For security rea­sons, the default is read-only ac­cess.

 Upload per Email  opens the given workspace for uploading documents per email.

 Set Lock  locks the given document to avoid inadvertent modification or deletion of the do­cu­ment. You should enter the reason for setting the lock. This text is displayed when the  icon in the ‘Share’ is clicked; at this occasion, you may unlock the do­cu­ment again; other members may also ‘steal’ the lock from you.

 Freeze  protects the given document from changes by other members of the work­space. Frozen documents can only be read by others. Freezing is only possible for own­ers.

 Add Role  lets you define a new role based on standard templates or action classes.

 Edit Role  lets you change the access rights of an existing role, given that you have the permission to do so.

 Assign Role  allows you to assign a new role and thus new access rights to another member, if you have the necessary permission.

  Attach : The actions of this submenu let you add other objects to the given object as attach­ments. So you may attach a note to a document or URL and attach a document or URL to a note. The attached note is generated when attached, the attached document is uploaded.

  Send to : This submenu summarizes all actions which transform the given object into another format or export it otherwise. The actions possible depend on the type of the object. Examples are the archiving of folders, the converting of documents or the preparation for printing folder listings or contact lists in PDF format.

Move

  Cut  transfers the object to your clipboard.

  Copy  transfers a copy of the object to your clipboard.

  Paste  transfers the current selection of objects from the clipboard to the object, in this case a folder, discussion forum or other container object.

  Delete  transfers the object to your trash.

  Link : This submenu summarizes all actions that generate a link to the given object and put into some other object. Links serve the purpose of having entries in different places of your fol­der hierarchy that all refer to the same object without the necessity to copy the object. De­stroy­ing a link does not destroy the object as long as there are other links, i.e. entries referring to the object.

 to Clipboard  creates a link to the current object in your clipboard, from where you may paste it to another folder (only for managers).

 as Bookmark  creates a link to the current object in your bookmarks.

 to Case  creates a link to the current object, in this case a folder, in your briefcase for data synchronization with your local computer.

 to Portal  generates a widget in your personal portal that corresponds to the current object. In the case of a folder or discussion forum, e.g., the widget shows the contents of the folder or discussion forum.