Online Documents

Online Documents

1. Online documents are documents like reports and spreadsheets that are held on a server and can be accessed from anywhere. They can be accessed and edited by more than one person at a time - as long as they have an Internet connection.

2. Compressing Files

   • Online documents often start life as local client files which are then uploaded over the Internet to be stored on the cloud. Storing documents is an example of Infrastructure As A Service (IAAS). For more information about IAAS, see the Cloud Computing page. These client files may contain lots of graphics and images which make the document very big. In order to allow quick UPLOADS to the server, or DOWNLOADS from the server, these documents must be COMPRESSED. Files that are compressed have the file extension .zip For example I might compress a WORD document called Pupil Report.docx This will then create a document called Pupil Report.zip This zip file will be smaller than the original. Video files are extremely large. In order to increase upload speeds, these files can be compressed.

3. Advantages of Online Documents

   • 1. Collaborative working - more than one person can work on a single document. 2. Available anytime, anywhere - as long as there is an internet connection. 3. Access via different types of device - PC, Tablet, Smart Phone. 4. Access on different operating systems - Windows and MAC. 5. Automatic backups. 6. Auto-save - you never lose work.

4. Controls Over Online Documents

   • Version Control
     • You want to know which document is the most up to date. This is often a problem if different people contribute to a document by emailing a central person with their contributions. Online documents help with this by only having one document that many people can contribute to. However, you might not want 2 people editing the same section at the same time because they will over-write each other's work. One way of stopping this is for a document to be LOCKED to other users when one person is working on it. It can only be unlocked when the first person logs off the document. Another method is for the software to give the document a version number. If the latest document becomes corrupted (damaged) you can roll back to a previous document without losing too much work.
   • File Permissions
     • File permissions can be set on folders and documents to restrict access to documents. Read-only access: People with this access right can view documents but can't change them or delete them. They can't save to a folder with this permission Read/Write access: This allows users to open and read a document. They can also make changes to documents Full Control: Users can open, read, and change a document. They can also add documents, delete documents and archive documents. Full control is normally only given to system administrators.