When you choose to edit a file with 'Open + Save As' you first open the file you are asking to edit in whatever is a suitable editor on your computer.

Then, when you have made your changes you save the file to a so-called 'hot folder' on the Ensembling server. We spot the file arriving and automatically use it to supersede the version you originally opened. The file is then deleted from the hot folder.

So, superseding is simply a matter of saving the file, but you have to tell your computer where the folder is that you need to save in. You should only need to do this once. This is provided as an internet address (URL), username and password which you can get by clicking the "find out how here" link on the form.

The hot folder uses a method of saving files over the Internet called WebDAV (which Microsoft calls Web Folders). This is already built in to most computer operating systems and there are third-party applications available which also provide WebDAV services.

In Microsoft Windows, there are several possible ways to connect to the hot folder:

• The easiest way is to assign a drive letter on your computer (say "S:") to the hot folder, then you just save your files to S:.
  If you're happy to trust us, there is a batch file to download and run by clicking the button on the same form as the password.
  Otherwise here's the low down: in principle, doing the mapping is easy, but in true Microsoft fashion it doesn't quite work without changing your computer's registry settings as described in Microsoft's support page. Then you need to execute a shell command to associate the drive letter with the hot folder: open a Command Prompt window (it's on the Start menu somewhere, but Start, then Run and enter 'cmd' in the box usually also does this). Enter the following command:
    net use S: http://url /user:username /persistent:yes password
  substituting your desired drive letter, url, username and password respectively. Close the window. Then you will be able to save your files to S: (or whatever drive letter you chose) to supersede.
• You can also set up a drive letter by installing third party software. Webdrive is highly recommended, but is not free. An older version originally provided by Novell called Netdrive is also still available, free, but is no longer supported by anyone.
• You can also set up an entry in Network Places using the New Network Place wizard. However, this still requires the registry change above.

On MacOS X, on the Finder's Go menu, choose 'Connect to server'. When the dialogue pops up, enter the URL in the Server Address box and click Connect. It will then ask you for the username and password. Tick the box to remember the password or it will ask you every time you access it.

Then when you want to supersede just choose Save As in your editor and navigate to the network place (which will appear alongside your hard drives and be called supersede).

Among a variety of solutions, you could use davfs to make the hot folder available as if it were a local file system. You need to have root privileges to mount the file system, but any user should be able to use it once mounted to save changes to.

The hot folder is controlled so that you cannot read other people's files and they are only present in the hot folder for a few seconds (though we cannot actually remove your file until you close it in programs which lock it, like Microsoft Word). Also, any unexpected files are immediately deleted, which is why it is important to use the name provided.

We use an unencrypted connection to transfer your files (the hot folder address starts 'http://' not 'https://') so in principle someone could snoop on the traffic from your computer while you are uploading.

The password is also transmitted without encryption. This is not a problem, however, since only you can read the files you save (or, strictly speaking, anyone sharing the same external IP address as you, for example other computers sharing the same wireless router to comment to the internet). Having a password merely deters casual intruders; it does not need to be secure.

The Windows Registry change allows your computer to access the hot folder with the unencrypted password. This would also apply to other WebDAV (Web Folders) you might access in the future, so you need to be aware of this change. A site which needs serious security, however, would not use this authentication method in the first place.

Some system administrators have suppressed the Run button as a security measure. You can Save the file (anywhere) and it should then offer to let you Run it when it has downloaded (it will then usually ask again whether you really do want to run a downloaded program).

Internet Explorer may also be blocking downloads. While this is overkill for ordinary files, it is very sensible when the file being downloaded is a program as accidentally running an unknown program can harm your computer. It will pop up a yellow bar saying To help protect your security, Internet Explorer has blocked this site from downloading files to your computer. Click on the bar and choose Download File from the menu it pops up. The page will then refresh and you will have to repeat getting the file: choose

 

edit

then find out how here and then the Click here button again.