Managing documents in TeamForge

Common questions about documents in TeamForge.

• Why can't I edit a document when it opens in my browser?
  If you click on a document in SourceForge (for example, a Word doc), and it opens in your browser instead of launching a separate MS Word window, chances are you will not be able to edit this document. The reason for this is because your browser has either called one of the MS document viewers, which do not have native edit capabilities, or the browser has "swallowed" the running MS Word process and the document has written to your %TEMP% directory as a read-only file. You can either choose to download the file to your desktop and then click on it to edit, or configure your browser to not swallow the application (this is described in various MS KB articles).
• Can I force files to be downloaded, rather than opened in the browser?
  As of SourceForge 4.2, it is possible to configure the application to force your users to download files, instead of letting them open them within the browser.
• Why are some uploaded documents missing icons when displayed in SourceForge?
  SourceForge has a small internal mapping of which icon is associated with which mimetype(s). This mapping is necessarily small, as a complete mapping would be exceedingly large, and almost always out of date. You can examine the mimetype that SourceForge is receiving by examining the document's attributes using our SOAP API. You can also override this mimetype info via the API by uploading a new version of the document (which can be the exact same document contents).
• Can I link to documents outside of SourceForge?
  SourceForge has the concept of a "url doc" to support this very usage. When creating a document in SourceForge, simply choose this type from the Create screen and then enter the URL that references the document in the existing external system. This will create a "placeholder" document in SourceForge that can be associated to, reviewed, etc as if it were a normal document, while maintaining the document's actual contents in the external application.
• Can I lock a document in SourceForge?
  Absolutely, yes. You can specify a document as locked at any point in time (document create, document edit, etc). You can do this via the normal UI or via the SOAP API. Simply check the Lock document box while in Edit Document.
• Does SourceForge automatically resolve conflicts in documents made by multiple concurrent editors?
  If you store your documents in CVS, Subversion, or some other SCM tool, then that tool will handle conflict resolution per its normal means. However, if you are using the Document Manager component of SourceForge, then there is no automated means within the product to prevent another user from uploading a newer version of a given document that does not contain the changes you just uploaded. To prevent this, we recommend you use the document locking feature of SourceForge to prevent others from editing a document you are editing.
• Why can't I reply when someone comments on my review?
  By default, SourceForge doesn't add the review initiator to a review, which would be needed to facilitate this. To work around this, simply add yourself as an optional reviewer when creating the review. Alternatively, some customers have chosen to create a forum in SourceForge, and then include the forum's posting address in the review notes.
• What document types are supported in SourceForge?
  SourceForge supports all known and unknown document types. In fact, SourceForge makes absolutely no distinction on a file type when uploading a document. This means that you can even upload binary files (like a Zip archive) into the document manager. Note that while SourceForge will accept any incoming data stream as a document, it does use the mimetype sent by the browser to determine if it has the proper icon to display for the document.
• Why doesn"t an open review automatically close when a new version of the document is uploaded?
  SourceForge doesn"t automatically close a document review under any circumstances (new document version, review due date passes, etc). This was a conscious decision on our part in which it was decided that SourceForge cannot always be aware of the business rules or personnel availability at a customer. For example, SourceForge cannot know that the one person whose document review input is most needed is on vacation for the four days the document was under review. If SourceForge were to close the review, then it would disappear from the user"s My Page. Additionally, SourceForge cannot know that a new version of a document supersedes the prior versions (or that it doesn"t supersede it). You may be uploading a "draft" or "work-in-progress" of the new version as document review feedback is received and if SourceForge were to close the review at this point, you might have received feedback from less than 1 percent of the reviewers.