Watching a folder/document
You can watch for changes to
a document
or folder
using
on the menu.
When you turn a watch on,
every so often you will be sent an email summarising all the changes
made since the last time. Or if you choose the RSS feed option (see
below) you can obtain a link for your feed aggregator to keep track of
changes instead.
Changes to a folder include changes to the folder itself, to any
documents in that folder and changes to any folders in the folder you
are watching and any folders within those and so on.
What information can I get?
You have three choices:
- incremental: only changes that have happened since the last time you were sent an email for this watch are listed.
- accumulative: each email accumulates all of the changes made since you started the watch, so the most recent email offers a complete picture of the changes made.
- all: like accumulative, but lists all changes made, even those made before you started watching.
How often am I emailed?
You choose from the intervals offered. However, you won't be sent
an email if there aren't any changes (or any of the changes you have
expressed interest in).
I don't want to know about everything
Choose Only some events. This will reveal a list
of the available events which you can select
from. [all] and [none] are just
short cuts for ticking or unticking all of the boxes.
You have to choose at least one kind of event to watch for.
What order are changes shown in?
You can choose most recent first (in the order they were made) or
last (reverse order), and if you are asking for accumulative or all
changes, you can put changes you have already seen at the bottom even
when you're reviewing older changes first.
I don't want to get an email every time I make a change!
You won't unless you say otherwise. For changes you make, you can choose to be emailed
- Including your changes next time someone else makes a change but not for your changes alone.
- Just like any other changes, that is when the next email is scheduled
- Never. Even when you are sent an email listing changes, your own will not be included.
How do I turn it off?
Visit the page for the folder or document being watched. Click on
the Watching indicator 
next to the name of the document or folder, and choose Stop
watching.
next to the name of the document or folder, and choose Stop
watching.You can also make changes to the watch conditions and see when the
next check is due (when you will next be sent an email if there are
any relevant changes to tell you about).
How do I know what I'm watching?
Documents and folders you are watching show the Watching indicator
next to their
names. Click the indicator to see the watch details for the folder or
document on display, like how often changes are checked for.
next to their
names. Click the indicator to see the watch details for the folder or
document on display, like how often changes are checked for.Also, you can list all the folders and documents you are watching
using
on the menu.
How can I tell who else is watching?
Tbe form
(on the menu)
shows who is watching.
What's all this RSS feed business?
A RSS feed is a way of monitoring web pages for changes. You supply
a special link to an 'aggregator' which then monitors the page for
you. Because each page here represents a document or a folder and each
has its own RSS link, you can use this method to watch for changes instead of
receiving email (though some aggregators can also send you email
anyway).
Unlike most public feeds, the link you obtain for a page is
personal to you. Please don't publish it or forward it. To maintain
the project's privacy, it contains some cryptic text to prevent
outsiders guessing the feed address while not needing the aggregator
to know a password to to log in.
There are many feed aggregators. You probably already have at least
one.
- Many email clients have one built in: Mozilla Thunderbird and Microsoft Outlook for example both have one (not Outlook Express, by the way). You can drag the link off the web page into Thunderbird to subscribe in one easy gesture.
- There are numerous online feed aggregators - Google Reader which sits alongside Google's online mail, others like Feedly and you can also redirect feeds to numerous other destinations via IFTTT.
- Feed aggregators are built in to some browsers: Microsoft Internet Explorer has one, for example, and Mozilla Firefox calls theirs live bookmarks. The advantage here is you can just click on the RSS icon in the browser's address bar and the browser does the rest for you.
- There are numerous stand-alone software applications you can install on your own computer to monitor feeds.
If you choose the RSS feed option, you'll get the relevant link
when you click OK. Most browsers (not Google Chrome, unless you
install and add on) also show a RSS icon in the tool bar or address
bar which provides the same link.