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Using UK Cloud

What is UK Cloud?

UK Cloud is a place for rebels to create, store, and share documents securely with one another. With it you can collaboratively edit office documents so it is a great replacement for tools such as Google Docs.

It can also be used for a number of other things. For example, with UK Cloud you can:

  • Manage a shared calendar for your XR group
  • Create a Kanban board for managing projects
  • Create polls and forums

Important: Individual users have no personal storage area in UK Cloud. Instead all files are the property of an XR group.

Getting access

Important: You should have already completed the steps outlined on the READ THIS FIRST page before attempting to access UK Cloud. Otherwise you will not have an account to log in to.

To access UK Cloud you can:

  • Click on the UK Cloud icon on the Hub homepage. It will look like this:

You will then see a screen that looks like this:

loginpage.png

Enter

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  • Log usernamein. andThe passwordsimplest (sameway asto fordo thethis Hub)is andby hitclicking Log in with XR UK Hub.

Note: We recommend adding UK Cloud to your browser's bookmarks/favourites so it's easier to find in future.

Note: MattermostUK isCloud can also availablebe asaccessed via an app so you can install it to your smartphone or tablet. Please read this documentguide for instructions on how to do this.

Landing page

Once you have logged in you will see a screen that looks similar to this:

We will refer to the parts of the screen circled in red throughout the rest of the document by referring to them by number in red font (e.g. 6).

Basic tasks

How to find files

On the landing page you should see a number of folders that you have access to (13). This will include public folders that everyone can see (e.g. Library) as well as folders that are private to your XR groups.

To find a file simply click on the folders to navigate between them until you are in the right one. You can always go back the landing page by clicking 1 or using the breadcrumbs (12).

How to upload a file

To upload a file:

  1. Click the 71b85c41d18e3c6a53509c26f79bb15105f6912e.png button at the top of the screen
  2. Select Upload File
  3. Choose the file to copy to UK Cloud

Important: Although we do our best to keep the data in these tools reasonably secure, you must not post incriminating material of any kind here. By doing so you risk the authorities taking down the server, which would upset our communications severely. Not only would you risk your own arrest, but the arrest of the system administrators.

How to delete a file

To delete a file click on the three dots to the right of the file and select Delete File.

How to edit office documents

It is very easy to edit office documents (e.g. spreadsheets and presentations). Simply click on the document and it should be opened in your browser for you to edit. It even works collaboratively so other people should be able to work on the document at the same time as you.

For more information on how to use the different editors please refer to the ONLYOFFICE user guides.

How to access UK Cloud's other tools

You can access the other tools that UK Cloud provides by clicking on the relevant tabs at the top of the screen. The other tools are:

  • Calendar (3)
  • Deck (4)
  • Polls (5)
  • Forms (6)

Advanced tasks

How to add a Google Doc to UK Cloud

Obviously the ideal is to move the document from Google Docs to the Library - download it from Google, upload it to your shared Library area, and then delete it from Google Docs. The Library is the shared part of the UK Cloud.

However it may be desirable to leave the document in Google's care and simply have a link to it in the Library. In this case:

dbe5683556eb512439484b07351b46dd4bb97e42.png

And that's it. Your link will appear in the list of files, with a globe icon to indicate it is an external link:

3e88745ef0d27c59633432c58b0029765b28460f.png

How to share a document with another Rebel

If you know that the user has access to the file - all users can access everything in the Library, and people in your group can access anything under your group folder - then get a 'Direct Link':

  1. Find the file in UKCLoud. Don't open it, click on the file's sharing icon (14). This will open the sharing tab of the file info pane on the right.
  2. At the top of the Info pane is a thumbnail preview of the file (if one is available) or a file-type icon, under that is the filename and a list of existing shares, and near the bottom is "Internal link" with a little icon 0120b331d21f266a386a9bccbaaec82557da8999.png
  3. Click the 0120b331d21f266a386a9bccbaaec82557da8999.png icon and a link will be copied to your clipboard ready for you to use. This link will continue to work even if the file is updated, renamed or moved - so long as the person clicking the link has access to the file.

If the user doesn't have access to the file then you will need to share with a named user, or make a public share link as below.

How to share a file or folder

To open the sharing tab for a file or folder, click on the icon on the right of the file name. This may be a sharing icon 489f81ca9a861cfe3de08e7dd8d99eb808806d0d.png, a link icon 84ef6f82449a986153cf33245862d1287d2108d3.png or the icon of the person who has shared it with you.

There are 3 types of sharing on UK Cloud:

We suggest that most shares are done by a "role" login (a login and email that is attached to a role rather than an individual), because if someone leaves UK Cloud, their files and shares may become unavailable.

How to create and edit text files

To create a text file:

  1. Navigate to the folder you want to create the file in.
  2. Click the 71b85c41d18e3c6a53509c26f79bb15105f6912e.png button at the top of the screen and then click New text document.
  3. Enter the name for this document (e.g. minutes.md).

The empty file will now open in your browser for you to edit. You can click on the icons at the top of the page to do things like create headings and lists and make text bold or italic. If you prefer you can also use Markdown syntax to add formatting. This is very similar to what you can do in Mattermost and the UK Forums.

The file will be automatically saved when you close it.

How to undelete a file

dc5292c52997e3c677c1383d22796ab10bba3295_2_936x750.jpeg

  1. If you want to find that Deleted File, click 'Deleted Files', bottom left of UK Cloud screen, and search the resulting Deleted Files List for the lost File.
  2. You may have to put the File Name into Search to help, as the Deleted File List may be long.
  3. Also, if it is a recently deleted File, then ensure the List displays Recent First (toggle the up/down arrow).
  4. Find the File, click 'Restore' and the File will be returned to its Folder.

How to change the order of the header icons

In the browser view of UK Cloud there is a row of icons at the left hand end of the yellow header bar:

As the screen width is reduced the icons flip from the right into a three dots drop-down menu.

4964150410e553b7825e144485830302e63264d0.png

The default order of the icons is: Files | Activity | Calendar | Deck | Polls | Forms | UK Hub | UK Forum | Mattermost | UK Website

You can customise the order to suit your requirements:

7259681d11699aadf001fb0fe6244d31c6fbcb75.png

  1. Click on your Avatar in the top right of the header and select Settings. f6a1b5c7e681097cf468b5c09153064d73d431aa_2_444x375.png

  2. In the left hand pane select App Order. Uncheck any you don't want displayed and drag the remaining ones into the order you want.

Click away to something else and your ordering will be saved.

Further information

Why don't we have personal storage space?

Everyone’s Cloud account has 0 bytes of storage in their personal folder. This is for security reasons - if everyone had personal space, there would be nothing to stop someone uploading illegal material to their (fake) account, then reporting it to the police so they raid XR and shut down the servers.

Everyone has access to the read-only Library, and people in an XR group which has requested storage have full read-write access to their group’s storage (where we trust other members of the group would spot suspect files, and remove them).