Instructions for Using Sharepoint

• Get login permissions (DOI employees: Contact Cathy Tate; non-DOI employees contact Dan Sullivan)
  
• Go to the NWQMC Sharepoint site
  
• 1. Find a document: On the main Sharepoint page, click on “2012 Conference Planning” (circled in red):
  
  
  
  
• 2. Check out the document for editing - There are 3 ways to check out a document.  After you have checked out a document, no one else can access the document for editing until you have checked it back in.  This prevents one user from overwriting another user’s revisions and allows Sharepoint to track updates.  [Note – DO NOT select “Edit…”; this allows you to download and make changes to the document locally, but does not save the changes or maintain version control]. 
  
  
• 2a. Check out method #1: Using the pull-down menu right of the file name:
  
  
  
• 2b. Check out method #2: check out the document by checking the box that appears to the left of the file name when you hover over the document name.  When the box is checked, a tool bar appears at the top of the page.  Click on “Check Out” on this tool bar.
  
  


• Whichever of these 2 method is used, when “Check Out’ is selected a pop-up menu appears.  Ensure that “Use my local drafts folder” is selected and click “OK”:
  
  
  
  
• The document will be filed in a temporary “SharePoint Drafts” folder in your “My Documents” directory.  Navigate to this folder, using your browser, and open the document.
  
  
  
  
• 2c. Check out method #3: simply click on the document name.  NOTE: If you are opening an Excel file, this opens to document for viewing, but not editing; for example:
  
  

• On this page, click on “Open in Excel”.  The following pop-up will appear (this popup appears immediately if opening a Word file).  Select “Check Out and Edit”.  The file will automatically open for editing.  [Note: the option “Use my local…” is selected by default.  If the file fails to open, you can find it in this folder, as described for the previous methods.]
  
  

• You can add a comment to the version of the document you just created.  This is not necessary, but can be used to help track the changes that were made.

• 3. Make changes to the document and check it back in – When you are finished with your revisions, save the document in the normal way, then click on the “X” icon in the upper right corner to close the document.  The following pop-up will appear.  Click on “Yes” to check in the document with the revisions you have made.
  
  
• Ensure that “Keep the document checked out…” is not selected (otherwise, no one else will be able to check it out) and click “OK”.
  
  
  
  
• 4. Ensure that your updates have been saved correctly - When you refresh the web page, you’ll see the information under “Modified” and “Modified By” has change.  If this has not happened, select the document and ensure that it has been checked in.
  
  
  
  
• You can review all edits to the document by hover over the name, clicking on the down-arrow, and selecting “Version History” from the drop-down menu:
  
  



• Here is an example of the history of edits to this document (note that no comments have been made on any version):