XCELSOFT OfficeX
 Users
World Wide Web Info Page

OfficeX provides an interface for multiple users over a network. The OfficeX Users displays all users currently assigned in the system based on a hierarchical group structure. Each group is, in essence, a special folder type that can have permissions assigned to it as well.

In addition to groups, you can define your own personal folders and drag and drop existing users into them. This way you can set up a concept of "private" or "personal" groups without interfering with the system's group structure. You can also make your "personal" group folders shared so that other users can see them.

The Users section of OfficeX is where you can create, modify, and view all users of the OfficeX environment. This is also the section where you can create new groups whether they be private or public groups. The below screen image shows what the Users Section of OfficeX looks like:

Screenshot of Users section

Users provides the following features:

  • Creation and modification of users.
  • Ability to customize Users folders to preference.

Closeup of Users folders

Users folders have the ability to view:

  • Public folders viewable by the entire intranet.
  • Private folders viewable by only the current user, with options to permit other user's access.
  • Other user's private folders, if access is permitted.

The right-hand side of the Users section displays a series of buttons that you can press to quickly filter only the selected user name. By default the last name is used to perform the filter, but you can simply click on the first name button to switch the filter to use the first name.

The OfficeX groups structure is similar to that of regular folders in that they can be hierarchical and they can have permissions assigned to them. Of course, like folders, they can contain documents of type users. Assigning users to multiple groups or changing the user’s group is as simple as dragging and dropping the user document from group to group.

Private folders can be defined in the Users section which will allow you to drag and drop users from any number of groups into your own "personal favorites" folder. Private groups are just as legitimate as "regular" groups and can be assigned in the permissions dialog window to other groups or as recipients in an envelope.

The preview bar window area at the bottom of the screen, conveniently shows the details of the user as well as indicating whether the user is currently logged in or not. It also shows the last modified date of the user information.

Each user information is considered to be another document in OfficeX. The user information dialog window will appear when you either double-click on an existing user or click on the "New User" toolbar button. The below screen image shows what the User Information dialog window looks like:

Screenshot of create New User screen

As shown above, you can even include the user’s picture as part of the user information. The pictures are downloaded and uploaded automatically to the PC when viewing the user information. Pictures can be of the following file formats: JPG, BMP, GIF. JPG files are recommended for their quality and their small file size.

The second tab of the dialog window displays telephone information of the user as well as a free-format text area as a comment area.

User documents (such as the one shown above) can be included as attachments to envelopes which can be sent to other users or groups of users.

One special feature built-in to OfficeX is the ability to send a real-time "sticky note" to users who are currently logged in. If the user is currently logged into OfficeX, you will be able to see a small icon in the preview bar indicating that they are logged in. You can then send a sticky note to that user which will pop up on their display with a small message you type.

The following screen shows how to direct a sticky note to a user that is logged in. You need to select the user in the Users Section and click on the right-mouse button in order to pull up the pop up menu. Select the "Send Sticky Note" menu option.

Screenshot of creating a sticky note

Once you’ve selected the desired user to send the note to, the following "sticky note" window will pop up on your screen allowing you to type in a short message to the destination user. The date and time as well as the "TO" user is displayed in the window. Click on the small icon on the upper-right corner of the window or press CTRL+ENTER to send the note sticky immediately.

Screenshot of a sticky note

When any user logs on to OfficeX in network mode, a small program called the OfficeX Listener runs on the local PC in the user’s Windows 95 tray area. The following screen shot shows how the listener appears in the user’s local PC:

Screenshot of OfficeX Listener

If you right-click on the small icon in the tray area, you can select "Show Listener" which will display the following window:

Screenshot of OfficeX Listener window

The above window simply displays the status of the OfficeX listener. The listener runs on the local user’s PC and waits or listens on a TCP/IP port for incoming real-time requests such as sticky notes. In the future, other requests such as e-mail notification, and others will be included in the listener.

Once the user sends the sticky note to the destination user, the receiving user’s computer will display the sticky note for the user to read immediately. It will indicate the date and time it was created as well as the user who sent the note.

Because sticky notes are sent through the OfficeX main server, OfficeX can control who can and cannot send sticky notes to particular users.

Back to Main OfficeX Page