Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Top Five Reasons to use the Transporter with your account

We introduced the beta version of our MDO Transporter a a couple of months ago yet many of you haven't tried it yet for uploading and downloading files.  So, to try and encourage you to take the leap here is our top five list of reasons to use the Transporter.

1. It's fast!  Really, it's the fastest way we have to transfer files to and from your account.  It uses My Docs code on both ends which avoids many of the headaches involved with browser based uploads.

2. It uses intelligent file compression during uploads and downloads - once again making it Really Fast!

3. Cross Platform support.  Because the Transporter is a Java Webstart application it can be run on any flavor of Windows or Mac OS.  If you or your customers use Macs the Transporter is definitely something you should consider.

4. You can launch it from here or download it to your desktop from here.  If you download to your desktop it can be launched from there whenever you need to move files.  

5. Did I mention it was really fast at transferring files?  

Please give it a try and let us know what you think.  


Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Using a My Docs Online WebDAV server to synchronize OmniFocus with your iPhone



OmniFocus provides professional grade task management software for Mac users. With the introduction of the new iPhone version of OmniFocus it is now possible to synchronize your OmniFocus tasks through either MobileMe or through the use of a WebDAV server. If you have an existing My Docs Online account you can use it to process your synchronizations. If you don't yet have a My Docs Online account you can click here for a free seven day trial of the service which will allow you to test the synchronization process. Should you decide to purchase the annual fee for the account would be $34.95.

Once you have your My Docs Online account set up it is fairly simple to configure OmniFocus to work with our WebDAV servers. On the desktop side just launch OmniFocus and from the menu bar click OmniFocus, Preferences. From the preference window click the sync button at the top. Then select the advanced button and enter the following location address: https://webfolders.mydocsonline.com. Please refer to the graphic below for an example.

Once you have the address entered click the sync button and you'll be asked for your My Docs Online login ID and password, following which the synchronization will be initiated.

Step two is to configure the OmniFocus app on your iPhone. You'll first need to purchase and install the app from the iTunes store. Once the application has been installed go ahead and launch it and then tap the "Settings" icon. On the ensuing Settings page scroll down to the Syncronization section and enter the same URL, https://webfolders.mydocsonline.com. Please see the image below as an example.


Once again you'll need to enter your My Docs Online login ID and password here after you've entered the WebDAV server address.

Please review the instructions from OmniFocus for complete details on how the synchronization works. For the time being the only version of OmniFocus that supports the iPhone syncronization is version 1.1, which they refer to as a "sneaky peak" version.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

My Docs now has users in 163 different countries


I was just looking at our latest numbers from Google Analytics and saw, buried among the reams of data, that we have users in 163 different countries. Of course the vast majority of our users are located in the English speaking countries but it is really cool to have users in so many different countries. Thanks to each and every one of you for helping to spread the word about My Docs Online!

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Webfolders2 problem resolved

The problem we've experienced for the past couple of days involving the webfolders2 server has been resolved.  There should no longer be any problem creating new folders or moving files between folders using the webfolders2 server.  Thanks to everyone for their patience while we worked through the solution.  

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Webfolders problem on Webfolders2.mydocsonline.com

We are currently experiencing a problem with our webfolders2.mydocsonline.com WebDAV server.   If you are connected to that server you'll get errors when trying to drag and drop between folders within your account.  You may also experience errors when trying to create new folders.

We are working on this problem now and should have a solution shortly.  In the near term you can still create folders and move files through the web interface (www.mydocsonline.com).   You can also reset your webfolders connection to webfolders.mydocsonline.com.  Servers using that domain are not experiencing the problem.

We'll post a note as soon as this problem is resolved.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Reinstalling Webfolders on an XP Computer

It is not uncommon for the web folders / WebDAV support in Windows XP to just stop working for no apparent reason.
 
As a last-ditch solution you can usually reinstall the original Web Folders support by finding and executing webfldrs.msi with specific options.
 
webfldrs.msi is probably in one of your system directories. It is easiest to search for it (remember to set advanced search options to include system and hidden folders). When you find the program (it's a normal Microsoft install package) launch it, then do these steps:
 
Click "Select Reinstall Mode"
  • Uncheck "Repair all detected reinstall problems".
  • Check "Force all files to be reinstalled, regardless of checksum or version".
  • Check "Verify that required user registry entries are present".
  • Check "Verify that required machine registry entries are present".
  • Check "Validate shortcuts".
  • Press OK
Click REINSTALL

Normally no reboot is required. Now the web folder client should have been restored as it was shipped.
 
If you previously installed Software Update for Web Folders (KB907306) from the Microsoft site, you may have to install it again.
 

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Uploading Keynote Files to your account


Unlike PowerPoint, Apple's Keynote uses XML and folders called "bundles" to package multiple files and folders into a presentation.

As a result, when uploading or downloading you are actually uploading and downloading a folder structure, and a lot of files.

To make things trickier, OSX and Safari understand the special nature of Keynote "bundles". The Finder will treat the folder bundle as a presentation, and if you try to upload one to My Docs Online via Safari, it will be grayed out (you can't select it for upload).

If you use FireFox, you can select the "presentation" but it won't upload, because it isn't really a file.

However, if you use the Transporter to upload the presentation it will upload the entire bundle (all folders and files).

Then, when you want to download the presentation to another Mac, use the Transporter again to "download folder" and the result will be a working Keynote presentation.

For more detail about the technical aspects of Keynote, see this very technical piece:

http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2004/01/07/keynote.html