SharePoint Explorer

The SharePoint Explorer lets you integrate files from a Microsoft SharePoint server into your projects. SharePoint is software that allows organizations to collaborate, share files, and publish information to the Web. See SharePoint Integration and www.sharepoint.microsoft.com.

How to Open This Explorer

Select View > SharePoint Explorer.

What You Can Do in This Explorer

Following are the primary tasks that you can perform in the SharePoint Explorer.

• Connect to SharePoint Server From the SharePoint Explorer in Flare, you can connect to a specific SharePoint server. You can then use that window pane to access the files on that server. See Connecting to a SharePoint Server.
• Open and Edit Files You can open a file from the SharePoint Explorer by simply double-clicking it. When you do this, you are opening the actual file existing on the SharePoint site. If it is a file type not supported in Flare, you will be directed to open the file in its default application. See Opening SharePoint Files.

• Check Out Files You can check out SharePoint files from the Flare interface. Checking out a file simply means to activate a "flag" on the SharePoint site indicating that you want to access the file and prevent others from editing it and conflicting with your changes. See Checking Out SharePoint Files.

  If necessary, you can also undo any check outs. See Undoing a Check-Out of SharePoint Files.

• Check In Files When you are finished working on a SharePoint file that you checked out, you can check it back in so that others can edit it. See Checking In SharePoint Files.

• Copy and Map Files You can right-click on any files in the SharePoint Explorer and copy them to your Flare project. When you do this, you can map the copied files in your project to the source files on the SharePoint server. See Copying and Mapping SharePoint Files.

  This is a different process than that of importing files, which you can do elsewhere in Flare. Files that are brought into a project using a traditional import process can be connected to the source file, but only in one direction (i.e., files can be updated from the source to the imported file in the project). On the other hand, files that are copied from the SharePoint Explorer can be connected via mappings to the source files in two directions (i.e., files can be updated from the source to the copied file or from the copied file to the source).

Buttons and Sections

	Lets you connect to a SharePoint server.
	Shows or hides the folders that the files are stored in.
	Shows or hides the files. If you click this button when the "Show Folders" button is selected, the area splits into two halves. The folder is shown on the left side, and the files and subfolders within it are shown on the right.
	Collapses the folders.
	If the "Show Files" button is the only one selected, you can click this button to move up one folder level.
	Opens the selected item.
	Opens the Properties dialog for the selected item.
[Preview Bar]	This is the area at the bottom of the window pane. When you click on a file, this bar shows an icon, as well as the name of the file.

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