Set up Sopycat for an office

The short version

1. Choose where the shared library will live.
2. Install Sopycat on each PC.
3. Enter the Office key on each PC.
4. Point every copy at the same library folder.
5. Fill in each person's name.
6. Decide whether you need regulated-office mode, and turn it on everywhere if so.
7. Turn on weekly backups on one PC.

Each step is explained below. For keys and office plans, see Buying and your key. You can set up the library and every PC during the free trial and enter the key later; reading confirmations, the Records page and regulated-office mode start working once the Office key is in.

1. Choose where the library lives

Pick a folder everyone can reach: a folder in your office OneDrive or Dropbox that each person syncs, or a folder on a network drive. Make a new, empty folder called something like "Sopycat library".

Think about who should see what. Anyone with access to the folder can open everything in it, including the untouched screen pictures behind any blurs. Set access in OneDrive, Dropbox or on the network drive, not in Sopycat. If some manuals are only for managers, keep them in a second library in a folder only managers can open.

If someone has already been using Sopycat on their own, you can start from their library instead. See Set up a shared library.

2. Install Sopycat on each PC

Download the installer from the download page and run it on each PC. It needs Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit and installs for the Windows user who runs it, so no administrator password is needed. If several people sign in to one PC with their own Windows accounts, each of them installs it.

Windows may show a "Windows protected your PC" message for a new app. See Install, update and uninstall for what to do.

Each installation has its own settings. Anything you choose in Settings, such as the recording keys, speech to text or the Office pack, has to be set on each PC.

3. Enter the Office key

Settings › Plan & License

An Office plan comes with one key for the whole office, and it works on one computer for each person you bought for. On each PC, open Settings › Plan & License, paste the key and choose Activate. The PC needs the internet for this. On a key for several people, Settings then shows how many of its computers are in use. If they are all taken, see Adding people later.

Reading confirmations, the Records page and regulated-office mode need an Office key, during the trial too. Everything else works on any key. See Office plan features.

4. Point everyone at the same folder

Settings › Library Location › Change…

The Welcome page on first start asks Where your library lives. Press Change… there and choose the shared folder. On a PC where Sopycat is already set up, go to Settings › Library Location › Change….

With a sync program, let it finish downloading the folder before you choose it. Check afterwards that everyone sees the same items.

5. Fill in each person's name

Settings › Name on Records

Type each person's real name, for example "Maria Lopez". It is used:

• on Follow along completions and reading confirmations in Records
• in the banner colleagues see while you are editing
• on items you delete, and on each save
• as the author of PDF comments
• with the Office plan, in the list of people colleagues pick from when they send a manual or add someone to a role. Sopycat notes the name in the library folder once a day: only the name and the day.

If the box is empty, Sopycat uses the Windows user name, which is often less clear. The first time someone uses Follow along without a name, Sopycat asks Who is doing this? and saves the answer here.

Also give each PC its own Windows computer name. Two PCs with the same name are treated as one when Sopycat checks who is editing.

6. Regulated‑office mode: on or off?

Settings › Regulated Office Mode › Regulated-office mode

Regulated-office mode is for offices that must keep a tight record and keep everything on their own computers. It needs an Office key. When it is on:

• Saving a manual as a web page is turned off.
• Automatic update checks are turned off. Check for updates by hand with Settings › App Updates › Check now.
• Every view, edit, export, backup, redaction, signature and record is written to the audit log.

With it off, the audit log still records redactions, signatures, publishing, reading confirmations, Follow along runs, deleting and restoring, and restoring a backup.

The mode is a setting on each PC. Switch it on for every PC that uses the library, or some actions will not be logged. While it is on, the web page choices stay in the menus, turned off and marked regulated mode. To read the log, press Show the audit log in the same section, or Save as CSV… to open it in Excel. The log lives in the library folder, so it covers every PC that uses it.

More on what leaves the PC is in What stays on your PC.

7. Set up backups

Settings › Backup & Restore › Back up automatically once a week

A sync program copies mistakes as quickly as it copies good work. If someone deletes a folder outside Sopycat, it disappears on every PC. Keep real backups as well:

1. Choose one PC that is on most days, such as the office manager's.
2. On that PC, open Settings › Backup & Restore and tick Back up automatically once a week.
3. Choose a folder that is not inside the shared library, ideally on another drive or somewhere your IT backs up.

Sopycat keeps the four newest weekly backups and deletes older ones. It only backs up while it is open on that PC. One PC is enough, because each backup holds the whole shared library. See Backups and Recently deleted.

Day to day

• If a colleague is editing something, you see their name in a banner. Choose Open read-only unless you have agreed otherwise.
• If Sopycat says an item was changed on another computer, choose Reload theirs or Keep yours as a copy. See Share a library with your office.
• Deleted items can be restored by anyone for 30 days from Recently deleted.
• Use Ask staff to confirm they read this… on important manuals and check the Records page for who has read and done what. Both need an Office key.