WHAT!!! …did he say what I think he said…why he must be crazy…every office needs a file server…right?

Umm, wrong – at least not an in-house file server!

 While most offices do still and likely always will need a file server of some kind, it is time to start looking past the conventional idea of an in-house file server. Today you may find your office functions just fine – or even better – with an online file server.

 Should your office join the thousands of others that are realizing how easy and effective change can be in the cloud?  With advantages like no start up cost, no hardware costs, scalable usage and pay-as-you-go pricing, it is hard to beat an online file server like TrueShare – and with TrueShare’s exclusive Unlimited Users feature, the flexibility and value are unmatched.

 When you consider what you DON’T have to deal with if your use an online file server (Purchase the server, Set up the server, Configure the Server, Configure Users Computers, Protect the Server, Maintain the Server, Backup the Server, Setup remote access, etc.) – it is easy to see why so many companies are making the switch to storing their files in the cloud.

 The Cherry On Top of all this goodness is the fact that you can “test the water” before diving in head first.  It is very easy to begin using an online filer server without making changes to your current operations. Once you are convinced of the benefits, you can create a transition plan that will allow you to gradually replace your in-house file server – with no aches and no pains to your business.

One great aspect of TrueShare that I don’t think gets talked about enough is team collaboration.

That is what the TrueShare Unlimited Users feature is all about – Go TEAM!

As far as I know TrueShare is the only online file system that offers unlimited users – which is essential for doing business without constraints!

However, in this blog I’m talking about two other features that make teamwork so smooth in the TrueShare system – Workgroups and Forums.  These features work great as stand alone tools, or can be combined for seamless collaboration across your organization.

I’ll give you a brief explanation of each feature and then show you how to enhance your team collaboration with both features working together (check out our spotlight features or features page for a more in-depth look).

The Workgroups Advantage

Workgroups really takes advantage of the unlimited users feature of TrueShare.  A business that offers each employee, client, or all of the above a user account can easily use Workgroups to organize and delegate.   In fact, when you add a user to your TrueShare account, it automatically offers the option to include them in a workgroup from the start.

So why bother with Workgroups?  Like User Groups, which allows you to manage groups of user’s permissions as a single user, Workgroups allows you to manage user’s folder permissions just as effortlessly.  Once you add users to a workgroup, they then have access to workgroup specific folders with only the permissions you assign.  These specific folders can consist of both workgroup only folders which are only visible to users in the group, and public folders which are visible to all of your TrueShare users if assigned.  These folders allow for workgroups to collaborate on files away from other users or in conjunction with them, which is great for security and general organization.

Enhanced Communication via Forums

When conducting business across the country or even across the world, communication between teammates can get lost.  Emails get buried and phone calls get forgotten.  The easiest way to communicate about specific projects or files is through forums, which have been dominating web communication for over a decade.

The TrueShare forums act like any other forum site or application.  Users can create new forums, topics and posts, and utilize standard html text editing for custom formats.  The shining feature of forums, however, is the permissions and management system.  Within the forum editor you can assign forums to specific users, folders, workgroups, or user groups; you can manage active, inactive and locked forums, and monitor all posts and topics within each forum.

Now lets look at using Workgroups and Forums together for ultimate team collaboration.

Workgroups and Forums Team Up for Collaboration

With Workgroup organization and Forum communication used together in the TrueShare system, teams can collaborate more effectively than before.  When assigning users to a forum, one of the options is to assign a workgroup.  This allows users who are already collaborating on projects and files within their workgroup folders to communicate in their very own dedicated forums.  How could collaboration be any easier and well organized?

Even without the addition of other team facilitating features such as file versioning and folder syncing, Workgroups and Forums provide a superior collaboration experience for big and small businesses, and even students or families, one you can’t get with other file sharing and storing services.  So if you’re trying to organize groups online and are finding it difficult, or are just looking for a service that is dedicated to quality and a superior customer experience, check out the Forums and Workgroups features in the TrueShare online file system.  And look out for more blog topics on team collaboration in the future.

I find that when I am working on a file that follows me through the years or a piece of writing in general, I either end up losing original versions to the black hole on my hard drive, or a folder full of the same file with a different name.  I was recently working on my budget spreadsheet at home and realized that I had about 8 tabs in it with various versions of the data. A few examples of tab titles include old, current, 6/30/09, and others.  Sound familiar?  I think most people find themselves in this same type of situation but are at a loss of how to fix it. So the question is, how does someone go about organizing different versions of the same file, and what tools do they use?

In IT circles, file versioning has been around for quite awhile. Managing the various versions of code during development is a core challenge, one that forced companies early on to come up with a way to easily keep track of changing data.  The solution, of course, was file versioning.  So what is it? In short, every time you save a file that has been versioned, the previous version isn’t overwritten but moved to some other location and archived automatically. Any document or file that changes over time can benefit from versioning, and it saves people from doing the manual version of renaming original files with dates and numbers or using Save As features.

Tools for Quick and Easy File Versioning

Although it’s not as popular in a home or non-tech business setting, file versioning tools have found their way into the mainstream.  Many new operating systems now come with built in technology that provides a type of file versioning. TrueShare also provides versioning, allowing you to set the online file system to monitor any folders you choose. Whenever you upload a file to a folder in your TrueShare account with file versioning turned on, if that file has already been uploaded, the old version is archived and the newest is put in its place. And if you ever need to access an old version of the file, you can just click on the File Action Menu of the file in question and select Version History. All old versions of the file will be made available for you to download.

With TrueShare’s file versioning you can easily keep track of changing data while keeping your online and offline storage clean and organized.  You can even sync up folders between your hard drive and your TrueShare account with our Auto Tran feature.  Auto Tran will monitor changes in one folder and upload them to the other.  If the changes are a revised version of an already saved file then TrueShare file versioning kicks in and organizes it appropriately.  Using this method on the budget spreadsheet I mentioned earlier, I can now delete all of my extra tabs and extra file saves making my computer and TrueShare online file system clean and tidy while securing all of the data I care about.

If you are suffering from a similar situation of messy folders and lost file versions, give file versioning a shot.  And with TrueShare’s file versioning plus Auto Tran, you can store your files and all of their previous versions safely in “the cloud” automatically.  I especially recommend TrueShare file versioning to writers like me who need instant access to their hordes of rough drafts and revisions.

Tell us how you take advantage of TrueShare’s file versioning feature:

…and rightfully so.  With so many features and so much flexibility, TrueShare can bridge the gap between countries and continents across the globe.

As the TrueShare file storage and file sharing system grows in feature and function, so does our global user base.  On any given day TrueShare is accessed from as many as 50 countries, and in the last 6 months we have had users from over 140 countries and territories.

With cloud computing and TrueShare, the world is any business’s oyster.  Companies are finding that online collaboration with remote offices, sales forces, and even research teams across the world can be both simple and affordable with features such as TrueShare’s unlimited users.  Reporters can use automated online transfers to submit stories from the field, Universities can communicate and organize globally with students and faculty and both travelling business folks and vacationers alike can take advantage of TrueShare’s superior file sharing and storing capabilities.

Check out the top 10 countries using TrueShare.

Data provided from Google Analytics (October 27, 2009)

1. US
2. Australia
3. United Kingdom
4. Philippines
5. Canada
6. India
7. Ireland
8. Italy
9. Mexico
10. Israel

Imagine what a global presence can do for you!

As computer technology expands and grows, there seems to be a stream of new terminology to go with each forward stretch.  First ‘online’ was innovation, and then ‘cloud computing’ became the king of internet buzz words. But the one word I have been seeing most recently is ‘real time search.’  My first thought as I began to see this phrase used more often was how can a search be anything but a search?  A search is a search is a search.  But as I looked into the meaning of the term, I noticed that there actually is a difference, and it is quite a handy (and fun) tool to have around.

What is real time search and where did it come from?

Real time search is looking for material that is published in real time.  Ideally, this means there is no time delay between when the material is composed and when it is published, and ultimately when you discover it via a search.  There is some debate between what is considered real time-if taking a few minutes to compose something and hit the publish button counts, or if it must be pushed to the internet in a matter of seconds.  I personally believe in the 5 minute rule when it comes to real time.  After 5 minutes, any information or material ceases to be current.

The advent of real time searching is generally attributed to that ever so popular website called Twitter.  After all, what could be faster than typing a 140 character message in a box?  Not much, which is why Twitter practically invented real time material and real time search with their own Twitter Search engine.  This engine allows you to type in your search topic and be presented with the most recent tweets concerning that topic.  But just because Twitter invented real time search doesn’t mean tweets are the only real time material.  If you’re looking for a bigger selection of real time results, you’ll have to use a different search.

Real time search utilities

Beyond Twitter material such as tweets and twitpics, there is a wealth of additional real time content such as recently published blogs, Facebook status’, Digg articles, news articles, FriendFeeds, videos, and much more.  As a result, many new real time search services have been created to aggregate these content sources.  Here are a couple of them:

• Collecta – Its best feature is the preview pane to the right that displays any result you click on with a ‘share result’ option for each. It also offers an API for application development.
• CrowdEye – Pulls only from Twitter, but separates tweeted links from actual tweets which is very useful. It also allows you to easily retweet any result, and displays the tweet volume of the topic you searched.
• OneRiot – Deals with mostly article links, shoving tweets kind of to the side. But it does offer the option to sort by ‘Pulse’ or ‘Realtime.’ It also offers an API for application development.
• Scoopler – Pulls up your live search results and a popular tab that highlights content from the topic you searched.

All of these sites not only pull up real time search results, but update them as you are looking so you don’t have to refresh the page to get more recent ones.  The one that does this the best in my opinion is Collecta.

Big Search engines and real time

Recently the search giants Google and Bing have acknowledged the significance of real time search with their own strategic offerings.  Real time searching is powerful and relevant.  After all, how could something that happens in real time not be relevant? And what company doesn’t want to know the hottest topics for this week, this day, or even this minute?

Bing made the first move coming out with BingTweets.  While it is a step in the right direction, they have yet to incorporate other real time material, and also have yet to combine this new real time search with the regular one in a seamless manor.  Google has also caught on, introducing Hot Trends to its giant search empire.  Apparently, if you search a topic that is in its Hot Trends, it will pop up with a graph at the bottom of your results showing the popularity and other stats (I have not been able to get this feature to show up yet).

It seems that real time search has become less a thing of the future and more a thing of right now! Ok that was cheesy, but it’s true.  This is a technology that will stick with us just as cloud computing and the concept of being online has.  So until big search companies catch up with this real time trend, I suggest using some of the great sites listed above for your real time searching needs.