6.8 Conversion and compression

6.8.1 Converting document formats

6.8.2 Compressing documents

6.8.1 Converting document formats

As discussed in section 3.2 and section 6.1, users must have suitable applications installed on their local computer in order to view or edit most document formats. However, in many collaborative situations, users may be using a range of applications which makes sharing information difficult. A few simple options are available to work around such problems:

• decide on the project document format at the beginning of the project and make this recommendation known to every participant. For instance, if MS Word documents are to be shared, make the document standard the earliest version of the software which the participants are using. Those with more recent versions of the software can always save back to original versions.
• exchange information in format-independent Business Collaborator objects such as discussions. These are quick to create, easy to use and ideal to server as the electronic equivalent of memos.
• make a clear distinction between document authors, who need access to the appropriate software applications, and document readers/reviewers/consumers who simply need to be able to read, and possibly comment on, the document contents. Then the document authors may choose to edit their documents in their favourite word processing package but save the files to a non-proprietary format such as HTML for the consumers to read.
• It is often possible to use an application’s "Save As" facility to change the format in which the data is output. For example, MS Word documents can be converted to HTML, MS Excel spreadsheets can be saved as comma separated lists (which can be used to create a Business Collaborator database (see Section 8 ) and Visio diagrams can be saved as JPEG files which can be displayed directly by web browsers.
• Adobe PDF format can only be created by someone using the appropriate Adobe application but can be read by anyone using a freely downloadable viewer. This is an ideal format for publishing information to a wider audience on the Internet or within a workspace.
• Freely available viewers are also available for some Computer Aided Design packages, e.g. VoloView Express for AutoCAD drawing formats DWG, DWF and DXF.

If such measures are not sufficient to work around the problems you are having with conflicting document formats, your organisation may choose to install a server-side document conversion application. This will permit all users of the server to convert documents from their original format to one which your colleagues are able to read and edit more easily. The specific limitations of such an approach (including the formats of documents accepted) depends on the application selected.

Such applications can be integrated with your Business Collaborator server by your server administrator. Wherever server-side conversion is possible,  |  Convert  will appear for documents to which the action may be applied.

Note 1

There is likely to be some loss of formatting information in converting from the original document format. However, the benefits to other users of gaining access to your documents should by far outweigh any minor degradation of the document’s presentation.

Note 2

Conversion programs are not part of the Business Collaborator server software. They have to be installed separately by the server administrator. Thus, the conversion programs available on a Business Collaborator server are determined by its administrator.

6.8.2 Compressing documents

Compression of documents will reduce the amount of storage they require on the server. This may, for instance, be useful when downloading a particularly large file, such as a large AutoCAD file. It may also be necessary to reduce the amount of space that a workspace or folder takes up at the end of a project - when the documents are still required for archive purposes but not for day-to-day use.

"Archive" is described in section 6.5.2 allows you to download several documents at once automatically compresses the documents prior to compression. A Zip file containing 3 files will be smaller than the sum of its components. Thus archiving a single large file will create a smaller file which can then be downloaded in the usual way. When you create a compressed version of a file to be downloaded, the original, uncompressed document will not be affected and will still be on the server. Remember that Business Collaborator will write the archived file to your bag (see section 3.6.2) and so you will need to paste it back into a folder or workspace in order to download it. You should keep the folder tidy by deleting and destroying (see section 3.6.3) the zip file after you have downloaded it.

Once you have downloaded the compressed file, you will need an equivalent application on your local computer in order to uncompress and read the document. Applications which can uncompress Zip files are readily available, e.g. WinZip.

If you wish to compress the contents of an entire folder or workspace after a project has been completed, you should select all of the folders (or documents) to be compressed and click  Selected  |  Archive  . Then paste the zip file which is created into your workspace. Once you have zipped up all of the required documents, you can delete the uncompressed objects in the folder to reduce the amount of space which is being used. Be careful when deleting objects.

In order to read a particular document, a user will be required to either  |  Extract  the compressed file on the server or download it and then uncompress it on their local computer.

Warning 1

All event information will be lost when the documents are added to the zip file. Zip files only record folder structures and the documents they contain not metadata about document authors, who has read what documents or when the documents were last modified.

Warning 2

Only folders and documents can be archived. Objects such as Discussions and URLs (web links) cannot. Relational databases can be archived independently using a special action - see section 8.7.1.

Note 1

Compression programs are not part of the Business Collaborator server software. They have to be installed separately by the server administrator. Thus, the compression programs available on a Business Collaborator server are determined by its administrator.