WebDAV is a standard collaborative editing and file management protocol. Novell Vibe supports the use of WebDAV tools, and enables you to manage your Vibe files through WebDAV. Vibe utilizes WebDAV when editing attached files, and you can also set up WebDAV to view documents in a Vibe folder.
If you are using WebDAV on Windows 7, you or your Vibe administrator must ensure that your workstation meets all the necessary prerequisites in order to support WebDAV, as described in Configuring Vibe to Support WebDAV on Windows 7
in the Novell Vibe 3.3 Administration Guide.
If you cannot use WebDAV as described in the following sections, consult your Vibe administrator.
By default, Vibe uses WebDAV when editing files on the Vibe site. If you are working in a Windows environment with Microsoft Office, you can download and install the Novell Vibe Add-in for an even better user experience. After you download and install the Vibe Add-in, the Vibe Add-in is used to edit files rather than WebDAV. For more information about editing files when the Vibe Add-in is installed, see the Novell Vibe Add-In Quick Start.
You can use either of the following methods to edit files through WebDAV:
When you use the Edit-in-Place functionality to edit a Vibe file, as described in Editing Files
in the Novell Vibe 3.3 User Guide, Vibe uses WebDAV to retrieve, lock, modify, and unlock the file. No special setup or configuration is needed in Vibe to use WebDAV in this way.
NOTE:Edit-in-Place functionality is not supported on Mac when you use Microsoft Office as your document editor. To use Edit-in-Place functionality on Mac, you must use OpenOffice as your document editor.
You can obtain the WebDAV URL for individual files within Vibe, as described in Obtaining the WebDAV URL for a File
in the Novell Vibe 3.3 User Guide.
After you have obtained the WebDAV URL for the file, you can specify the URL in a document editor such as Microsoft Office to open the file. Refer to the documentation for your specific document editor for instructions on how to accomplish this.
When you use WebDAV on a Vibe folder, you can create a mapped drive to a Vibe folder, enabling users to browse and navigate the Vibe folder in a WebDAV interface. To manage your Vibe folders through a WebDAV interface, you must first configure the Vibe folder to support WebDAV, then create a mapped drive to the Vibe folder.
NOTE:Because of limitations with WebDAV on Mac, you cannot use WebDAV to view a Vibe folder in a Mac environment.
When you use WebDAV on a Vibe folder on Windows XP or Windows Vista, you must first install the Software Update for Web Folders (KB907306). For information on how to perform this installation, see Software Update for Web Folders
, and follow the provided instructions.
When a folder is configured to support WebDAV, Vibe requires that each file added to the folder have a unique name. This is because when you view a folder through WebDAV, you see only the files that are within the folder and not the entries that contain each file. Some folder types are configured to support WebDAV by default, and some are not.
Files folders and Photo Album folders are configured by default to support WebDAV, because they require that all files have a unique name.
All other types of Vibe folders, however, must be manually configured to support WebDAV. This is because Vibe allows you to add multiple files with the same name to a single folder, if each file is added as a separate entry.
To configure a folder to support WebDAV by requiring that all files uploaded to the folder have a unique name:
Navigate to the folder that you want to configure to support WebDAV.
Click > in the Action toolbar.
Toward the bottom of the page, select .
Click .
For information about what users experience when they try to add a file to a WebDAV-enabled folder when the file has the same name as a file that has already been added to the folder, see Adding Files to a Files Folder and Other WebDAV-Enabled Folders
in the Novell Vibe 3.3 User Guide.
After your Vibe folder has been configured to support WebDAV, as described in Configuring a Folder to Support WebDAV, you can view the Vibe folder in your Windows environment in either of the following ways:
If you are using Windows XP as your client operating system, creating a mapped drive to the Vibe folder as described in this section does not work. Instead, add the Vibe folder as a network place, as described in Adding a Vibe Folder as a Network Place.
Navigate to the folder where you want to create the mapped drive.
Click the link in the footer.
In the provided table, copy the WebDAV URL.
Map a drive to the folder.
You accomplish this by using the Map Network Drive feature for Windows.
Specify your Vibe credentials, then complete the setup process.
If you are using Windows Vista as your client operating system, adding a Vibe folder as a network place as described in this section does not work. Instead, create a mapped drive to the Vibe folder, as described in Creating a Mapped Drive to the Vibe Folder.
Navigate to the folder where you want to create the mapped drive.
Click the link in the footer.
In the provided table, copy the WebDAV URL.
Add the folder as a network place.
You accomplish this by using the My Network Places feature for Windows.
After your Vibe folder has been configured to support WebDAV, as described in Configuring a Folder to Support WebDAV, you can view the Vibe folder in your Linux environment.
Navigate to the folder where you want to create the mapped drive.
Click the link in the footer.
In the provided table, copy the WebDAV URL.
Use either Nautilus or Konqueror to access the Vibe folder.
For specific information on how to use Nautilus or Konqueror, consult your Linux documentation.
Specify your Vibe credentials, then complete the setup process.