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Alfresco Share

Find everything you need to know for using Alfresco Share on a daily basis.

With Alfresco Share it’s simple to share information, run projects, and collaborate effectively by

  • Personalizing Alfresco Share with your own dashboard and user profile
  • Build a site for your team
  • Work with content and add it to your site
  • Add users to your site, set up meetings and use social media features

There are a set of video tutorials related to Alfresco Share, including a tour of the available features.

Alfresco Share content is stored in sites, and each individual site has its own dashboard made up of dashlets.

Signing in

To get started with Alfresco Share you first need to sign in.

  1. Enter the following on the sign in screen:

    Username: your user name

    Password: your password

    Note: You can get the sign in URL from your IT team. If you’ve downloaded Alfresco Share straight to your computer then the default url is 127.0.0.1:8080/share.

  2. Click Sign In.

    This opens your personal dashboard. You can now configure the dashboard so that it shows the information most important to you.

    Your Personal Dashboard

Alfresco Share toolbar

The toolbar is designed to help you to navigate Alfresco Share and to quickly find, create, and share content.

It’s always available at the top of the page, wherever you are in Share:

  • Home: Opens your user dashboard (or any screen that you have selected to be your home page).
  • My Files: Opens the My Files area where you can store your own personal content.
  • Shared Files: Opens the Shared Files area where you can quickly share content with other users without adding it to a site.
  • Sites: Options to open a recent or favorite site, create a site, view all the sites you’re a member of, or open the Site Finder page where you can search for sites and manage your site membership.
  • Tasks: Options to open the My Tasks page where you can manage your tasks, or view workflows that you’ve started.
  • People: Opens the People Finder page where you search for other users.
  • Repository: Opens the repository which shows all the content stored in Community Edition.
  • Admin Tools: System administrators only have this option which opens the Admin Tools.
  • Sites Manager: Only Alfresco administrators and Site administrators have this option which opens the Sites Manager. If you are an Alfresco administrator, you can access the Site Manager through the Admin Tools on the toolbar. If you are a Site administrator, you’ll have an additional Sites Manager option on the toolbar.
  • User menu: Click on your name to open the user menu. You can access your user profile, change your password, open the user help, and log out.
  • Search: Use the search box to find files, sites, and people.

User dashboard

Wherever you are in Alfresco Share, you can click Home or User Dashboard on your user menu to go to your dashboard.

The dashlets on this page give you a simple and up-to-date overview of what’s been going on in the sites you’re a member of.

Note: If you’ve set your home page then when you click Home that page will open.

You can customize your dashboard to display the information that interests you. Each dashlet you select is displayed on the dashboard.

The available dashlets are:

  • My Sites: Displays the sites that you belong to
  • My Activities: Tracks the most recent activities in your sites
  • My Tasks: Displays your tasks
  • My Documents: Tracks your content in all site libraries
  • My Profile: Displays a summary of your personal details
  • My Calendar: Displays upcoming events scheduled for your sites
  • Content I’m Editing: Displays the last three library items, blog posts (drafts, not published posts), wiki pages, and discussion forum posts that you edited
  • Web View: Display a website which you select by hovering over the dashlet on your dashboard
  • RSS Feed: Hover over the dashlet on your dashboard to select an RSS feed (displays the Alfresco website feed by default)
  • Alfresco Add-ons RSS Feed: Displays the latest news from the Alfresco Add-ons website by default
  • My Discussions: Displays the most recent topics created in the discussion forums of all sites you belong to
  • Site Search: Lets you quickly search all sites you belong to
  • Saved Search: Displays the results of a specific search that you configure
  • My Document Workspaces: Displays all Document Workspace sites that you belong to (Document Workspaces are created in Microsoft Word)
  • My Meeting Workspaces: Displays all Meeting Workspace sites that you belong to (Meeting Workspaces are created in Microsoft Outlook)

You can resize most dashlets.

To resize a dashlet click and drag on the bottom edge of the dashlet until it’s the height you want. This is saved between sessions.

Note: If you hover over a dashlet header then a Add Event icon icon appears. Click it for an explanation of what the dashlet does. This stays open until you close it or navigate away from the dashboard.

What can I do with my dashlets?

As well as giving you an overview of activity and information in Alfresco Share, the dashlets also give you links to various areas of Share and let you carry out a range of actions.

Note: When a user name, site name, or item appears as a link, you can click it to navigate to the related page.

Each dashlet has a unique role:

Dashlet Role/Function
My Sites Lists the sites you belong to.

Click Create Site to start a new site.

Click a site name to go to that site.

Use the filter to display all sites, recent sites, or just your favorite sites.

Mark a site as a favorite or revoke its “favorite site” status.

Click the Delete icon to delete the site and its contents. (Managers only)
My Activities Tracks the most recent activities in your sites.

Use the filters to specify the activities you want to see and for what time period.

Subscribe to the RSS feed to automatically receive activity updates.
My Tasks Displays your tasks.

Click Start Workflow to start a workflow for yourself or another user.

Click Active Tasks or Completed Tasks to view those tasks.

Click the View Task icon to view the details for a specific task.

Click the Edit Task icon or the task name to manage a task.
My Documents Tracks your content in all site libraries.

Use the filter to choose the information you want to see.

Select a view option: Simple or Detailed.

Mark an item as a favorite or revoke its “favorite” status. (Detailed view only)

Like an item or unlike an item. (Detailed view only)

Click Comment to provide feedback. (Detailed view only)
My Profile Shows a summary of your personal details.

Click View Full Profile (or your name) to go to your user profile.
Web View Displays the website of your choice.

Click the configure icon to specify the website.

Click the dashlet title to open the website in a separate window.
RSS Feed Displays the Alfresco website feed by default.

Click the configure icon to change the RSS feed.
Alfresco Add-ons RSS Feed Displays the Newest Add-ons feed from the Alfresco Add-ons website by default.

Click the configure icon to change the RSS feed.
My Discussions Shows the most recent topics created in the discussion forums of your sites.

Use the filter to choose the information you want to see.
Site Search Lets you search all the sites you belong to.

Enter search criteria and click Search (or press ENTER).

Select the maximum number of results you want to display.
Saved Search Displays the results of a pre-configured search.

Click the configure icon to define the search.
My Document Workspaces Displays all Document Workspace sites that you belong to (Document Workspaces are created in Microsoft Word)

Delete a workspace if you have the correct permissions.
My Meeting Workspaces Displays all Meeting Workspace sites that you belong to (Meeting Workspaces are created in Microsoft Outlook)

Delete a workspace if you have the correct permissions.

Note: Each dashlet includes help text. Position your cursor in the dashlet header to reveal the help button, then click it to display the related text. The help stays open until you close it or navigate away from the dashboard.

Configuring the RSS feed dashlets

There are two RSS feed dashlets that you can include on your personal and site dashboards: RSS Feed and Alfresco Add-ons RSS Feed. On both dashlets you can edit the default URL to display any RSS feed.

  1. Click the Configure icon on the dashlet title.

  2. Specify the feed you want to subscribe to.

  3. Select the number of feed items you want to display.

  4. Select Open links in new window to have the target story display in a new window.

  5. Click OK.

Setting up the Web View dashlet

Set up the Web View dashlet to display websites.

Note: Some websites have restrictions that stop you from displaying them.

The dashboard must be customized to display the Web View dashlet.

  1. On the Web View dashlet, click the Configure icon.

  2. In the Link Title field, type the text you want to appear in the dashlet header.

    If you don’t specify a title the dashlet header displays the URL of the website you specify.

  3. In the URL field, type the website address.

    Note: Ensure the URL entered does not contain the JavaScript code if(self.parent.frames.length!=0)self.parent.location=document.location;. This or similar code causes the referenced website to open directly in the browser rather than in the Web View dashlet. This will lead to problems viewing the current dashboard (personal or site).

  4. Click OK.

Configuring the Saved Search dashlet

Configure the Saved Search dashlet to run a specific search each time the dashboard is loaded.

On the site dashboard, only a site manager can configure the Saved Search dashlet.

  1. Navigate to your personal dashboard or enter a site.

  2. On the Saved Search dashlet, click the Configure configure icon.

    The Enter Search Term dialog box opens.

  3. Type the search criteria.

    Note: Entering ban will search only for the word ban; it will not return results for banana. To return matches for a partial word, use a wildcard in your search criteria (example: ban*).

  4. Enter a title for the dashlet that represents the results that will be returned.

  5. Select the number of results you want to display.

  6. Click OK.

Viewing your user profile

Your user profile includes more information than just your contact details. Here you can see at a glance who you are following, who is following you, the sites you belong to, and the content you have recently added and modified.

  1. Open the user menu on the toolbar.

  2. Click My Profile.

    Tip: You can also access your user profile from the My Profile dashlet: click View Full Profile.

  3. Navigate your profile pages to view and manage your information:

    • Info: Displays your personal details, including contact information, company details, and a photo.
    • Sites: Lists the sites you’re a member of and lets you disable and enable activity feeds from those sites.
    • Content: Displays two lists detailing your recent activities: Recently added (last 5 pieces of content you added), Recently modified (last 5 pieces of content you edited).
    • I’m Following: Lists the people you are following.
    • Following Me: Lists the people who are following you.
    • Change Password: Lets you change your password.
    • Notifications: Lets you specify whether or not you want to receive email notifications.
    • Trashcan: Lets you find and recover deleted content.

What version of Alfresco Share am I using?

It’s easy to check which version of Alfresco Share you’re using.

Click the Alfresco logo at the bottom of Alfresco Share. A box opens showing which version of Share you’re working with.

Subscribing to an RSS feed

There are several places in Alfresco Share where you can subscribe to RSS feeds. These feeds let you automatically receive regular updates on various activities.

You can subscribe to an RSS Feed in the following places:

  • Wiki
  • Blog
  • Document Library
  • Links
  • Discussions forum
  • My Activities dashlet on your personal dashboard
  • Site Activities dashlet on the site dashboard

An RSS Feed button or icon shows you where the feeds are available.

  1. Click the RSS Feed RSS Feed button or icon next to a feed you want to subscribe to.

    This initiates the subscription process. What you see next depends on the browser you’re using.

  2. Choose to subscribe to the feed.

  3. Select where you want to store the feed, then subscribe to it.

    Note: RSS feeds credentials are stored by the browser you’re using and not Share. As such it’s recommended that you close your browser after logging out of Share and / or lock your computer while you’re away from it.

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