Sharing files between school and home

                Do you ever start working on a test, or a new unit plan, at school, and then want to continue using it at home?  Or vice versa.

                Some of us email documents – or spreadsheets, or PowerPoint presentations –  back and forth (as attachments).  But there is another way using Edline.  This might be handy if you are having trouble with your email account.

                After you’ve logged into Edline, look for My File Locker, in the top left corner of the screen.

                When you click on “My File Locker,” you’ll get to the usual Edline screen where you can “Add a document,” just like you do for many other Edline functions.  Click on Add, then give the document a title.  Scroll down to “Import an existing file” and click on Browse.  Find the file on your computer and click on “Import.,” You’ll see the file name showing (so if you picked the wrong one, you can delete and start over).  If this is the right file, click  on “Save and return.” 

                You’ll see that the file (as the document name you used, not the file name) is displayed. 

                Later, when you’re at the other computer you want to work on, you can go to “My File Locker” and click on the document to work on it.

                One of the tiresome features of Edline is that it doesn’t like Office 2007 documents/spreadsheets/PowerPoints.  This is true here, too.  When you try to open the file, if it’s in the Office 2007 format, you’ll get an error message (even though both computers have Office 2007 on them).  But all is not lost; simply save the document and then open it, which will work just fine.  Or you can just save all your documents/spreadsheets, etc. as “Word 1997-2003 document,” which you have to do if you plan to post it on Edline, anyway. 

                This is also a handy way for students to transfer files without having to go into their personal email accounts, where they then have to read and forward the 42 joke chain-letters they’ve just received…