Managing Libraries

As your GroupWise DMS system grows and evolves, you might need to perform the following activities:


Editing Library Properties

After creating a library, you can change some library properties. Other library properties cannot be changed.

  1. In ConsoleOne, browse to and right-click the Library object, then click Properties to display the library Identification page.


    Library Identification property page
  2. Change editable fields as needed. For information about individual fields, click Help.

  3. Click GroupWise > Storage Areas to display the Storage Areas page.


    Storage Areas property page

    All document storage areas associated with the library are listed, no matter where they are located. On this page, you can add, move, and delete document storage areas. See Managing Document Storage Areas.

  4. Click GroupWise > Rights to display the library Rights page.


    Library Rights property page

    Public library rights granted to all users are selected in the Public Rights box. The Individual and Distribution List Rights box shows any additional rights that have been granted to specific users. See Managing Library Access and Adding and Training Librarians.

  5. Click OK to save changes to the library properties.


Managing Document Storage Areas

For a review, see Document Storage Areas and Deciding Where to Store Documents .

Typically, the initial document storage area for a library is set up when the library is created. Thereafter, you can create additional document storage areas as the library grows. You can move a document storage area to a location where more storage is available. You can delete a document storage area if it is no longer used.


Adding a Document Storage Area

To help you plan where to create the new document storage area, see Deciding Where to Store Documents .

To create a new document storage area for a library:

  1. In ConsoleOne, browse to and right-click the Library object, then click Properties.

  2. Click GroupWise > Storage Areas to display the Storage Areas page.


    Storage Areas property page

    Existing document storage areas are listed.

  3. Click Add to create a new document storage area.


    Create Document Storage Area dialog box
  4. Provide a description for the document storage area.

  5. Specify the UNC path to the directory where you want to create the document storage area.

    If the directory does not exist, it will be created as the document storage area is set up.

    As an alternative, you can specify an AppleTalk zone to store documents on an Apple* computer, or you can specify a UNIX path to store documents on a UNIX server. On Linux, you can specify a Linux path. The POA that will service the library must have direct access to the location you specify.

  6. Click OK to create the new document storage area and add it to the list of storage areas for the library.

    If you have multiple document storage areas selected in the Storage Areas list, new and modified documents could be added to any one of them.

  7. If you want to stop storing documents in the previous document storage area, deselect it in the Storage Areas list.

  8. Click OK to save the document storage area information.


Moving a Document Storage Area

You might choose to move a document storage area if it is close to exceeding the available disk space at its current location and you do not want to create an additional document storage area.

To move a document storage area:

  1. Stop the POA that services the library. See Stopping the POA.

  2. Copy the document storage area directory and all of its contents to the desired location.

  3. Make sure that the POA will have access to the new location so that it can read and write documents in the document storage area.

  4. In ConsoleOne, browse to and right-click the Library object, then click Properties.

  5. Click GroupWise > Storage Areas to display the Storage Areas page.


    Storage Areas property page

    Existing document storage areas are listed.

  6. Select a document storage area, then click Edit.

  7. Provide the new location for the document storage area, then click OK twice to save the new document storage information.

  8. Restart the POA. See Starting the POA.


Deleting a Document Storage Area

When you delete a document storage area, any documents in the document storage area are moved to other valid document storage areas for the library. If you want to move documents to a specific location before deleting the document storage area, see Managing Groups of Documents.

To delete a document storage area:

  1. In ConsoleOne, browse to and right-click the Library object that owns the document storage area, then click Properties.

  2. Click GroupWise > Storage Areas to display the Storage Areas page.


    Storage Areas property page
  3. Select a document storage area, then click Delete.

  4. Click OK to close the Storage Areas page

If the above steps are not successful in deleting a document storage area, perhaps because one or more documents were in use during the deletion process, you can use the Analyze/Fix Library action of Mailbox/Library Maintenance, with the Remove Deleted Storage Areas and Move Documents First options selected, to finish cleaning up the deleted document storage area. For more information, see Maintaining Library Databases and Documents.


Managing Library Access

Access to libraries is controlled by the rights users have to the Library object. By default, when a new library is created, all of the following rights are granted:

Public Right Description

Add

Allows users to add new documents to the library.

Change

Allows users to make changes to existing documents in the library.

Delete

Allows users to delete documents, regardless of who created them or has rights to the documents. However, to be able to delete a document, users must also have rights to locate and modify the document (View and Change rights), in addition to the Delete right.

View

By itself, this right allows searching, viewing, or copying documents, but does not permit editing them. Copies can be edited, because a copy is saved as a separate document. Therefore, editing a copy will not affect the original document or any of its versions.

Designate Official Version

Allows any version of a document to be designated as the official version. The official version, which is not necessarily the most recently-edited version, is the one located in searches.

The official version is usually determined by the creator or author of the document. However, the official version can be designated by the last user to edit the document (if the user has this right). A user also needs the Change right to the document to be able to designate an official version.

Reset In-Use Flag

The In-Use flag protects against data loss by preventing multiple users from concurrently opening the same document. The purpose of the Reset In-Use Flag right is to allow a user or librarian to reset a document's status when the document is in use by someone else or when it is erroneously flagged as in use.

In the GroupWise client the document properties Status field displays the current In-Use flag setting for a document. The Status field is automatically set to In Use when a document is opened and reset to Available when a document is closed. There can also be other values, such as Checked Out. A document cannot be checked out when its status is In Use.

There are a variety of reasons for which you might want to restrict certain library rights, including:

To restrict public rights while granting individual rights:

  1. In ConsoleOne, browse to and right-click the Library object, then click Properties.

  2. Click GroupWise > Rights to display the Rights page.

  3. In the Public Rights box, deselect the rights that you want to remove from all users.

  4. Click Add, then browse to and select the users who need to have rights to the library.

    If the number is large, you might find it easier to create a distribution list for users who need rights. Then you can select one distribution list rather than multiple users. See Creating and Managing Distribution Lists

  5. In the Individual or Distribution List Rights box, select the users or distribution lists to grant rights to.

  6. Below the list, select the rights that you want to grant.


    Rights property page with two users selected to receive the Reset In-Use flag

    In the first example, only two users are granted the Reset In-Use Flag right.


    Rights property page with the Engineers group selected to receive rights to the Development library

    In the second example, only members of the Engineers group are granted any rights to the Development Library.

  7. Click OK to save the updated library rights information.


Adding and Training Librarians

When you first create a library, you might for convenience assign yourself as the initial librarian. As library activity increases you can add librarians, and if desired, remove yourself as a librarian.


Understanding the Role of the Librarian

Keep in mind the following when assigning librarians:


Librarian Identity

Any GroupWise user with access to a library can be a librarian for the library. You can have multiple librarians for a single library. You can also assign a single user as a librarian for multiple libraries. Because being a librarian entails additional functions and rights in the library, you should choose responsible users as librarians.


Librarian Functions

A librarian can perform the following actions:

  • Check out a document without a copy.
  • Modify the properties of any document in the library.
  • Copy documents to another library.
  • Delete both documents and properties.
  • Reset a document's status (change the In-Use flag).
  • View all activity log records of any document in the library.
  • Restore document BLOBs from backup.
  • Perform mass operations, such as moving, deleting, archiving, and changing properties.
  • Perform searches (but not full-text searches) on documents that are not available for searching by regular users.
  • Use GroupWise third-party APIs to generate reports on all library documents.

All operations available to a normal user are also available to a librarian, as long as the security requirement discussed under Librarian Rights is not compromised. The intention is that librarians will be able to modify their own documents and document properties.

All actions taken by a librarian are written to a document's activity log.

Unless the librarian's own GroupWise user ID is in the Author or Security fields, a librarian cannot perform the following functions:

  • Open a document
  • View a document
  • Save a document
  • Check out a document with a copy

To help new librarians get started, you should explain these librarian functions to them. You can also refer new librarians to the "librarian users" topic in the GroupWise client help.


Librarian Rights

In addition to the six public rights, libraries also have a Manage right. When you grant the Manage right to a GroupWise user, you designate that user as a librarian. The Manage right gives the librarian full access to the properties of every document in the library. However, the Manage right does not grant the librarian direct access to the content of any document.

Because a librarian has full access to document properties, the librarian could add his or her own personal GroupWise user ID to the Author or Security field of a document, thus gaining access to the document's content. However, a high-priority e-mail notification would automatically be sent to the original person listed in the Author field informing him or her of the action by the librarian. Therefore, document privacy is maintained.

The following table lists the various librarian functions, and whether an e-mail notification is sent if the function is performed.

Librarian Function Notification?

Modify the Author or Security fields

High-priority e-mail to the author

Copy a document

High-priority e-mail to the author

Delete a document

High-priority e-mail to the author

Replace a document with a copy from backup

High-priority e-mail to the author

Perform a mass document operation (copy, move, delete, or archive documents; modify document properties)

Mass operation e-mails

Reset a document's status (In-Use flag)

None

Check out a document without a copy

None

View the activity log of any document

None

Generate reports on any documents (using GroupWise third-party APIs)

None

Note that mass operation notifications do not specify what action was taken by the librarian; they only specify that an action was taken.

The following table lists the document property fields which the librarian has rights to modify, and whether an e-mail notification is sent if the field is modified.

Property Field Notification?

Subject

No

Author

Yes

Security (sharing list)

Yes

Document Type

No

Version Description

No

Custom Fields

No

File Extension

No

Official Version

No

Current Version

No

If you remove the Manage right from a user, you will need to manually un-check any rights that the user gained from being made a librarian that the user did not previously have.


Setting Up a Librarian GroupWise Account (Optional)

The Manage right will always be in effect for those users who have been assigned as librarians. However, there might be times librarians will want to act on their own accord without the possibility of seeing or modifying documents that belong to other users.

To allow users assigned as librarians to act as normal GroupWise users, you could create a single librarian account for a library and have users who need to perform librarian tasks log in using the librarian GroupWise account and password instead of their own.

If users assigned as librarians log in under a librarian GroupWise account, they will not have access to any documents they would normally have access to under their own accounts, except by altering the Author or Security fields.


Assigning Librarians

To add librarians to a library:

  1. In ConsoleOne, browse to and right-click the Library object, then click Properties.

  2. Click GroupWise > Rights to display the Rights page.

  3. Click Add, browse to and select the users that you want to assign as librarians, then click OK to return to the Rights page.


    Rights property page
  4. In the Individual or Distribution List Rights box, select the librarian users, select Manage (Librarian), then click OK to save the library rights changes.


Maintaining Library Databases

The Mailbox/Library Maintenance feature of ConsoleOne offers database maintenance features to keep your library and document databases in good condition. See Maintaining Library Databases and Documents. It also helps you manage the disk space occupied by library and document databases and document storage areas. See Reducing the Size of Libraries and Document Storage Areas.

When document creators or authors are removed from your GroupWise system, orphaned documents might be left behind. See Handling Orphaned Documents.

To supplement your library maintenance procedures, you should back up your libraries and documents regularly. See Backing Up a Library and Its Documents.


Moving a Library

You cannot move a Library object from one location to another in the eDirectory tree. To accomplish the equivalent, you would need to create a new library in the desired location, use a mass move operation in the GroupWise client to move the library's documents from the old library into the new library, and then delete the old library.

As an alternative to moving the library, you could move just its document storage areas. See Moving a Document Storage Area.


Deleting a Library

You should not delete a library until you make sure that all documents still in the library are no longer needed.

  1. In ConsoleOne, browse to and right-click the Post Office object that owns the library to delete, then click Properties.

  2. Click GroupWise > Libraries to display the Libraries page.


    Libraries property page
  3. Select the library to delete, then click Delete.

    All document storages areas and documents are deleted along with the library.

  4. Click OK to close the Libraries page and complete the deletion of the library.