What is Enfold Desktop?

Enfold Desktop is a Microsoft Windows Explorer integrated with Plone or Enfold Server. It is a commercial application sold by Enfold Systems, Inc.

Which versions of Plone will Enfold Desktop work with?

See the technical requirements for Enfold Desktop.

Which version of the Server Component product bundle should the system administrator install?

The 2.3 version applies to Plone installations based on 2.3 python. The 2.4 version applies to installations based on 2.4 python. Read more about installing Server Component.

How is Enfold Desktop made?

Enfold Desktop is a testament to the power of Python. It is built using API's from win32com COM bindings for Python. It uses an enhanced version of Greg Stein's davlib to communicate with Enfold Server. It leverages Zope's DAV support and extends it with the PropertySet product from Enfold Systems. Enfold Desktop is developed by Enfold Systems, Inc. Feature priorities are a result of requests from licensed organizations. It is developed by several Enfold Systems employees.

Can Enfold Desktop be used with other DAV servers?

Yes. Quite a few of Enfold Desktop's feature will not work (but will degrade gracefully) unless the DAV server provides the extended DAV namespaces that Enfold Desktop requires. It has been tested with mod_dav. Our primary target is Plone and Enfold Server.

Are there plans to port to OS X or Linux?

No. We welcome others to port Enfold Desktop to other platforms. All of the libraries we use on the server (PropertySets - for instance) are Open Source. So it would be possible to develop a Linux or OS X client. We are interested in offering Enfold Desktop on OS X platform but our focus is currently on Windows software. If you are interested in partnering with Enfold Systems to build an OS X version - please contact us at: [email protected]

Is Enfold Desktop production quality?

Yes. Thousands of hours of engineering and testing have gone into development of Enfold Desktop. As with all software, there could be bugs. Please join our mailing list and submit issues that you find.

Is Enfold Desktop localizable?

Yes, we currently have two translations and we look forward to more. If you would like to translate Enfold Desktop into your language, please contact us.

Is Windows Vista 64 bit version supported?

Read more about Enfold Desktop and Vista.

How do I remove the banner ads at the bottom?

The 4x version of Desktop comes in a free version with ads. When you obtain a subscription to Enfold Desktop, you install the license on your Plone server, and that allows people using Enfold Desktop who connect to the server no longer to see ads.

What products are compatible with ED?

Generally Enfold Desktop supports only the built in content types. If you add a new content type, you will not be able to add it using Enfold Desktop (these types probably won't even be visible to you when using Enfold Desktop.

How do I connect to a Session?

After you first configure a session, its state will be "disconnected." However, for the most part after you correctly login to a session once, the session will be connected (and should always be available unless there are network problems. The protocol underlying WEBDAV is meant to support collaboration and the synchronization of local versions with the version on the server.

How many sessions can I have running simultaneously?

Generally there is no a hard limit on the number of sessions you can configure. But no session can have the same URL associated with it. However, you could have two URLs pointing to the same Plone site.

Why does Desktop open Plone documents in MS Office instead of my text editor?

See Configuring Enfold Desktop to work with your editor.

Will Enfold Desktop cause Windows Explorer to slow down?

Not particularly. However, to prevent this possibility, it's a good idea to minimize switching between Enfold Desktop and browsing normal folders in Windows Explorer. Another idea is to keep two windows open--one exclusively for Enfold Desktop and another for other daily Windows tasks.

What is the Local folder in Enfold Desktop?

You can see all the files that have been checked out in the "Local Files" folder of Enfold Desktop. This will show you in standard windows explorer style view, all the files that you have checked out. You can edit these files as usual whilst in offline mode.

What is the Members folder at the root of my Enfold Desktop session?

If your site creates user folders for each user, then the user folder will appear as a folder inside the Members folder. But if your site does not do this, then in Enfold Desktop the Members folder will remain empty.

Does Enfold Desktop support versioning?

See Versioning and Enfold Desktop.

Are there any maximum sizes for uploading files in Desktop? What does this depend on?

Generally, there is no limit; it may depend more on network conditions and default Plone settings.

Is Zope External Editor compatible with Enfold Desktop?

Generally, the Site Administrator needs to enable Zope External Editor in Plone Site Setup. In the Desktop configuration screen in Plone Site Setup, there is an option External Editor Optimization. If you plan to use External Editor only, make sure that this box is not checked. Otherwise, you should leave this checked. If you are a user, you should install Zope External Editor first before installing Enfold Desktop. More information about the Zope External Editor is at http://www.enfoldsystems.com/software/server/docs/4.0/desktop.html#installing-zope-external-editor .

Enfold Desktop or Zope External Editor: Which to Use?

Zope External Editor is useful for non-Windows platforms and doesn't require having to check in content items. (When you close the item in the editing application, Zope external editor will prompt you to ask whether you are really finished). On the other hand, Enfold Desktop is much easier to install and use; it allows drag-and-dropping of multiple files onto the server.

What's the best way to add and edit Event types (i.e., .ics files)?

Using Outlook to create/edit ics files is not recommended. In general you cannot use Outlook files to create/edit events because Enfold Desktop requires that you close the application first before you can publish them. For this reason, you probably should not use Outlook to edit an existing event from Enfold Desktop. That is often inconvenient for the user. Alternatively you could use another application like Mozilla Thunderbird to create/edit the .ics file.

Actually, if you are creating an ics file from scratch, it may be easier just to edit it completely within Plone. On the other hand, you can manually save individual events using Outlook's Save As menu item. Also, if you had already a large number of ics files in a folder which were created with Outlook, you could easily drag-and-drop them into a Plone events folder.

Does Enfold Desktop prevent me from adding content types into a directory when it is not allowed by Plone?

Generally Enfold Desktop will show whatever content types can be added into a certain directory (but it will not show custom content types provided by third party products).

Does it support uploads of Office 2007 documents (with the .docx file extension)?

A file is a file is a file. You can upload a file with any extension you wish. Whether a person will be able to view or edit it is another matter.

How do I rename a file or Plone document using Enfold Desktop?

You rename something in Enfold Desktop in much the same way as you would in Windows. However, keep in mind that Plone items have Name, Title and Description, so you might need to rename all three. A faster way to do this is to right-click the file and choose Properties. This lets you view and edit all three properties at once. Generally, if you create a content item on Enfold Desktop, the name should end with the appropriate file extension. See guidelines for naming content items.

Why doesn't a particular content item appear in my Plone Folder in Enfold Desktop?

The most common reason for this (besides not refreshing the view) is that this content item is not one of the built-in content types which come with Plone by default.

Will Enfold Desktop let me edit new content types provided by third party Plone products?

Enfold Desktop supports only the built-in content types. If your site has a third party product installed with another content type, this will not be supported. It will not work.

If I see Edit in Desktop on the bottom of a web page, does that mean I have the ability to edit the file?

Generally yes.

How can I influence Enfold Desktops behavior? It's made from Python - right?!

A plugin system is available for system integrators - please contact [email protected] for details. We are soliciting feedback from community members and partners on new features. Also, you can extend it from Actions in the Plone management screens by using desktop_action as the category. (See also Adding a Desktop Action).

How can I edit a file without an extension?

Enfold Desktop tries a best effort to interrogate the item; if it returns a recognizable content type with a handler in Windows, Enfold Desktop will use that application to open the file.

Why can I drag and drop some files into Applications like Microsoft Word, but not other files?

Only files that have been locally checked out can generally be dropped directly into applications.

Are content rules supported in Enfold Desktop?

Yes.

How can I tell which files are "checked out" ?

Currently you can go to the local files folder to see the content that has been checked out. Also files in the Enfold Desktop view will show a status in the local modifications column. We also use icon overlays to indicate if there is a conflict or an item needs to be checked in.

I have Enfold Desktop as admin, and I uploaded 3 images to a folder. The folder is published. Why would Enfold Desktop not show the workflow state for these three images?

In Plone's default configuration, files and images do not have workflow states. That means they are automatically published when you drop them inside a published folder.

If the workflow state is empty in Windows Explorer and the properties menu, can I assume that these objects will usually be published?

Yes, by default, some content types do not have workflow states (this can be changed). That means they are automatically published once you put them inside a folder.

How do I activate my Enfold Desktop site license?

See activating your Enfold Desktop site license.

What's the difference between the free version and the paid version?

The free version comes with a discreet advertisement at the bottom about Enfold Systems or Plone-related things. The paid subscription removes this banner ad and allows an organization to obtain support for one year. (For a list of support plans for Enfold Desktop, see http://www.enfoldsystems.com/software/subscriptions).

I paid for a license. How do I cause the ad banner to be removed?

After you pay for a license, Enfold will provide instructions about how to configure Server Component so that Desktop users will no longer see the ad banner.

If I buy a license for Enfold Desktop, how many servers can I use it for?

The license is per server, so purchasing one license will only allow you to install it on 1 Plone server. Once you have applied the license to the Plone server, users of Enfold Desktop connecting to that server will no longer see a banner ad.

Does the Server Component product bundle use a different license?

Most are under LGPL or ZPL. The server products for Enfold Desktop are platform agnostic. We invite people to enhance our server components and use them as a basis to build other platform user interfaces - specifically Linux and OS X.

Is Enfold Desktop open source?

No. There are no plans on open sourcing all of Enfold Desktop. If you are interested in a visible source license of Enfold Desktop for your deployment you may contact [email protected]. The software's direction is to be a black box that consultants can customize without using the source code.

Is Enfold Desktop GPL compatible?

No. We like the GPL but it has no place in the client software. All of our open source technologies we use in Enfold Desktop are BSD or ZPL. Our server components are orthogonal to Plone - they are completely independent and do not constitute a derived work. They do not "link" to Plone or other GPL software. Rather GPL software can use the server components - which does not change our license.

Can I redistribute Enfold Desktop?

NO, you may only make copies of the software for use within your organization and in accordance with the terms of the EULA.