How sharing works
There is no Sopycat server. A shared library is simply the library folder, kept somewhere every PC can reach:
- a folder in OneDrive, Dropbox or Google Drive that everyone syncs, or
- a folder on a network drive or shared server.
Each person's Sopycat opens that same folder. Everything in the library is shared: manuals, documents, folders, labels, Recently deleted, form profiles, the Records of who completed or read what, and the audit log.
Some things stay on each PC: your settings, your name, saved signatures and stamps, unsaved PDF edits, and the "Pick up where you left off" list.
Set up a shared library
- Pick the shared place. If one person already has a library, move it there: close Sopycat, copy their library folder into the shared place, and check it arrived whole. See Move your library somewhere else.
- On that person's PC, open Settings › Library Location › Change… and choose the folder in its new place.
- On every other PC, do the same: Change… and choose that same folder. With a sync program, wait until it has finished downloading the folder first.
- On every PC, fill in Settings › Name on Records. This is the name colleagues see when you are editing, and the name on records and deletions. If it is empty, the Windows user name is used.
Change… only points Sopycat at a folder. It never moves or merges libraries. If two people already have their own libraries, pick one to share, then bring the other person's items in with a backup: make a backup on their PC, then restore it on a PC that uses the shared folder. See Restore from a backup.
Setting up a whole office? See Set up Sopycat for an office for a checklist.
When someone else is editing
When you open an item for editing, Sopycat leaves a note in its folder saying who you are, which computer you are on and since when. Other computers check for it every 15 seconds and whenever their window comes to the front.
If a colleague has the item open, you see an amber banner naming them and their computer, for example: Maria Lopez (FRONT-DESK) is editing this. Changes you save may clash. It offers two buttons:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Open read-only | You can read the item but not change it. The banner adds "You are reading it without editing." This is the safe choice. |
| Edit anyway | You can edit as normal. Your colleague is not told. If both of you save, the second save is stopped and that person sees the banner described below, so neither version is silently lost. |
Each editor starts a little differently:
- PDF editor: opens read-only by default. Press Edit anyway if you really need to change it.
- Manual editor: only warns. You can keep editing, or press Open read-only to stop the steps from being changed.
- Word and text editor: Open read-only closes the editor. If you have typed something that is not saved, it asks first.
The note clears when your colleague stops typing for 30 seconds, closes the item or quits Sopycat. If their PC crashed or went to sleep, Sopycat ignores the note after about 90 seconds.
"This was changed on another computer"
Before saving, Sopycat checks that nobody else saved the item since you opened it. If someone did, your save is stopped and a red banner says the item was changed on another computer, by whom and how long ago. Nothing is lost: your changes stay on screen, marked unsaved. Choose one:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Reload theirs | Loads the other person's version. Your unsaved changes are dropped. |
| Keep yours as a copy | Saves your version as a new item, with "(your copy)" added to the title. Theirs stays as it is. Compare the two and merge by hand. |
In the manual editor and the Word editor, the copy includes what you typed but had not saved. In the PDF editor, the copy is made from the version you opened, so edits you had not saved must be done again in the copy.
"Two computers saved this at the same time"
A sync program can be slow to pass on a change. If two people save the same item before their PCs catch up, OneDrive, Dropbox or Google Drive keeps both, as a second file with the computer's or person's name added. Sopycat recognizes these copies and shows an amber banner with Compare and pick.
- Press Compare and pick.
- The window Which version should stay? shows the versions side by side: who saved each one, when, and on which computer, with the summary and step titles. Steps that appear in only one version are marked "(only here)".
- Press Keep the current version or Keep this version under the one you want.
The versions you did not keep are not thrown away. They go into the item's earlier versions, so you can still copy something across from them.
If you see "That copy is no longer there", another computer has already sorted it out. Close the item and open it again.
Ask staff to confirm they read a manual
In a shared library you can publish a manual and ask each person to confirm they have read it. Open the manual, then ⋯ › Ask staff to confirm they read this…, and press Publish. You can add a due date and a line for the banner.
Everyone whose Sopycat uses the same library sees a banner on that manual with an I have read this button. Their confirmation is logged under the name in their Settings. If you change the manual and publish again, everyone is asked again. To see who has confirmed, open ⋯ › Who has read and done this… or the Records page.
Update a shared library to Sopycat 3.0
Sopycat 3.0 keeps the library folder tidier: what you save goes in a Saved files folder, and Sopycat's own files go in a hidden folder called Library data. A library made with an earlier version is moved over the first time 3.0 opens it, but not when other computers use it. Sopycat before 3.0 cannot read the new layout, so on those computers the library would look empty.
- Update Sopycat to 3.0 on every computer that opens the shared library.
- On any one of them, open Manuals or Documents. It asks Tidy this library’s folder?
- Press Tidy the folder. Sopycat restarts and moves everything before anything else opens. Unsaved PDF edits are kept, as they are when Sopycat updates. The other computers carry on in the new layout.
Until then, press Not now and everything keeps working as before. The question comes back the next time Sopycat starts.
Sopycat asks the same question if an older Sopycat on another computer saves into the library after it was tidied. What that computer saved stays where it can still find it until you press Tidy the folder.
Who edits and who reads
More › Your library › People
With the Office plan, the library keeps a people list: each name with Edits or Reads. A name matches what that person typed in Settings › Name on Records, ignoring case. Someone listed as a reader opens every manual and document without editing, with a quiet line at the top saying why and a link to the list. Anyone who is not on the list edits as before.
The list keeps people from changing a manual by accident. It is not a lock: anyone with the folder can change the list, and the audit log notes who did.
The Your library page
More › Your library, or Settings › Library Location › Your library
One page shows the state of the library folder, read from the folder itself:
- Where it lives: the folder, whether it is shared through OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive or a network drive, how many manuals, documents and folders it holds, and who you are on this computer.
- People: everyone seen in the folder, from saves, edit notes, records, deletions and the audit log, with their computers, when they were last seen, what they are editing now and their role. With the Office plan, everyone who opens the library is listed too, by the name in their Settings › Name on Records, even before they have saved anything. For someone who has left, press Take off: they leave the list, and come back if they open the library again.
- Right now: who is editing what, items two computers saved at the same time (with Settle it, which opens the item and its Compare and pick), and what other computers saved in the last day.
- Waiting on confirmation (Office plan): each published manual with who has confirmed and, when the people list has names, who is still missing. The Records page shows the same.
The page looks again every 15 seconds while it is open. Nothing on it leaves this computer.
Things to know
- The banners are only as quick as the sync program. If it is slow, a banner can arrive late.
- Keep the clocks on everyone's PCs right, within about a minute of each other. Windows does this by itself when "Set time automatically" is on.
- Give each PC its own computer name. Two PCs with the same name are treated as one.
- Anyone who can open the shared folder can open everything in it. Control who has access through OneDrive, Dropbox or the network drive's own sharing settings.
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