Use the Connections Desktop Plug-ins for Windows

Use the plug-ins to share files and information between Windows applications and Connections or IBM SmartCloud.

The following features are available from Windows Explorer:

• Upload local files from Windows Explorer or from the desktop

• Share uploaded files with people, communities, or folders in Connections

• Work on files locally and publish them to Files, communities, Activities, or Wikis

• View people's contact details and get in touch with them (Not available on SmartCloud.)

• Pin, follow, or like files and folders

• View or contribute comments for a file

• Lock a file when editing it to prevent file conflicts

• View and restore files from the trash

• Share folders with Communities

• Use sync capabilities to keep local copies of files synchronized with exact copies on the server. (Not available on SmartCloud.)

• Use document management capabilities to upload, manage, organize, and collaborate on community files in libraries. To use this feature, Filenet Document Management capabilities must be deployed on your Connections server. (Not available on SmartCloud.)

Additional features available from Windows Explorer (Connections only):

• Upload local files to a linked library in Connections

• Add files to the local sync folder to keep them automatically synced with exact copies on the Connections server

The following features from Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint):

• Features added to Word:

  • Add a document to Files or Communities

  • Attach a document to an Activity or Wiki page

  • Publish a document to a Blog entry
  • Search for content in Connections

• Additional Word features (Connections only):

  • Add someone's profile information into a document

  • Add a bookmark from IBM Connections into a document

  • Add a URL from a document as a bookmark in Connections

• Features added to PowerPoint:

  • Add a presentation to Files or Communities

  • Attach a presentation to an Activity or Wiki page
  • Search for content in Connections

• Features added to Excel:

  • Add a spreadsheet to Files or Communities

  • Attach a spreadsheet to an Activity or Wiki page
  • Search for content in Connections

The following features are available from Microsoft Outlook:

• Add an email to Files or Communities

• Attach an email to an activity or wiki page
• Search for content in Connections

Outlook Social Connector features (Connections only):

• View social activities for email recipients and people in your network

• Invite people to the Connections network

• View IBM Connections Business Card for email senders and recipients in Outlook 2010

Limitations

Some features are not available when we are connecting to an IBM SmartCloud server. For example:

• Type-ahead is not available to assist you in finding a group name.

• Type-ahead is not available to assist you in entering the names of external users in the Add to File dialog and the Share dialog.

• If we are uploading a file or email to Activities, the option to create a new activity is not available.

If we previously installed any version of the Connections Plug-in for Microsoft Office and Windows, installing this plug-in silently removes the Microsoft Explorer features from the older plug-ins.

You have two options for installing the plug-in. Individual users can install the plug-in, or we can perform a silent installation to install the plug-in for a group of users.

• Connect to an IBM Connections site
  Provide information about IBM Connections servers or IBM SmartCloud server before we can share files and information between Windows and Connections or IBM SmartCloud.

• Share files with people outside of the organization
  Understand the options for sharing files with people outside of the organization.

• Use the Connections plug-in for Microsoft Office
  Use this plug-in to share files and information between IBM Connections and Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

• Use the Connections plug-in for Microsoft Outlook
  Use this plug-in to share files and information between IBM Connections or IBM SmartCloud and Microsoft Outlook.

• Use the plug-in for Windows Explorer
  Use this plug-in to upload and work with files in Connections from Windows Explorer.

• Set preferences for Connections plug-ins for Windows
  Set preferences for the Connections plug-ins for Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook, and Windows Explorer.

Parent topic:
Use plug-ins from IBM Connections in other products