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MyFiles/OurFiles FAQs

• Why do I frequently get a warning when I first log on to my computer that a connection cannot be established to MyFiles?
• My file is marked as "read only". How did this happen?
• I am being prompted to select which file I want to keep. How did this happen?
• Is MyFiles a backup system?
• On my windows computer, I keep getting a message popping up from my system tray that says my connection to the M drive is not available. What does this mean?
• I want to redirect my My Documents folder to my MyFiles space. How do I do that?
• Can I change the default location where files created by Microsoft Office Applications are saved?
• Why do some files appear blue and others appear black in the list of files?

Why do I frequently get a warning when I first log on to my computer that a connection cannot be established to MyFiles?

If you do not have a network connection at the time you log on to your computer, and you configured your connection to MyFiles to automatically appear when you first log on to your computer, an error will appear indicating that your MyFiles space could not be reached. You will automatically get access to this space once you have established a network connection. This most often appears when you are using a wireless network. In this instance, you do not have a network connection until after your logon process is complete.

My file is marked as "read only". How did this happen?

If you have a laptop computer that you use with a docking station, you need to close any files that you are working on prior to docking or undocking your computer. Failure to do this can lead to files being set to "read-only" mode. If you find yourself in this situation, save the file with a different name, make sure you have a connection to the Dartmouth network, then the file with the new name then select to Save it as the old name.

I am being prompted to select which file I want to keep. How did this happen?

The most common reason for this happening is that you were working on a document when not connected to the Dartmouth network. Before reconnecting to the network so those changes could be synced to the MyFiles or OurFiles location, the document was modified on another machine. When you then try to sync the copy that you have on your machine with the copy that is on the server, the system recognizes that the one on the server is not the same version as the one that was originally used on your machine. The system is prompting you to decide which one you want to keep.

Is MyFiles a backup system?

Only those files that you drag to your MyFiles space will be available to you for recovery, or if you are a Windows users and redirect your My Documents folder to your MyFiles space (see below). Any files on your computer that were not on your MyFiles space will not be available to you for restore.

On my windows computer, I keep getting a message popping up from my system tray that says my connection to the M drive is not available. What does this mean?

This is typically a very transient issue. When the pop up goes away the connection has been re-established. This will have no effect on your ability to access your files as they are synchronized between my computer and the M drive.

I want to redirect my My Documents folder to my MyFiles space. How do I do that?

Windows users can point their My Documents folder to their space on the MyFiles server. Doing this will ensure that any files stored in their My Documents folder will be stored on the MyFiles server and backed up. If you do this, and you're not connected to the network, you can still work on your files if you selected the "available offline" setting noted below. Then, the next time your computer is connected to the network, the files on your computer will synchronize with the files stored in your MyFiles space.

Important: If you are sychronizing files between your computer and your space on MyFiles, make sure that you close any files that you are working on before disconnecting from the network. (This includes undocking a laptop computer.) This ensures that the latest version of the document is stored in MyFiles. If you do not do this, the next time you connect to the network you'll be prompted to select which version of the document is the latest one.

Windows 7 Users:

1. First, create a folder named My Documents at the top level of your MyFiles space.
   Note: If you have multiple computers and plan to move "My Documents" folders from several computers to your MyFiles space, you can create folder names to reflect which computer they came from (e.g. "My Documents on T420" or "My Documents on X301").
2. Next, click the Start button then click Computer from the list that appears.
3. Double click the C:drive to open it.
4. Double click Users, then your login name.
5. Right click My Documents and select Properties from the menu that appears.
6. Select the Location tab.
7. Enter \\myfiles.dartmouth.edu\<sharename>\<NetID>\My Documents; if you are a student, enter \\dartfiles.dartmouth.edu\<sharename>\<NetID>\My Documents, in the box that appears in the middle of the window, then click Apply.You will be prompted to move all the files from the current location to the new one. Click Yes.
8. Depending upon the size of your My Documents folder, this may take some time. Do NOT work on files in your My Documents folder during this move process. Once your My Documents folder is finished copying, click OK in the My Documents Properties window.
9. Next, click the Start button then click Computer from the list that appears. From the list that appears on the left, find the M: drive then double click to open it.
10. Right click My Documents which appears in the M drive. Select Always available offline.

Windows XP Users:

1. First, create a folder named My Documents at the top level of your MyFiles space.
   Note: If you have multiple computers and plan to move "My Documents" folders from several computers to your MyFiles space, you can create folder names to reflect which computer they came from (e.g. "My Documents on T420" or "My Documents on X301").
2. Next, click the Start button then right click My Documents or right click the My Documents icon on your desktop.
3. From the menu that appears click Properties.
4. Click the Target.
5. Enter \\myfiles.dartmouth.edu\<sharename>\<NetID>\My Documents; if you are a student, enter \\dartfiles.dartmouth.edu\<sharename>\<NetID>\My Documents, in the Target field.
6. Click Apply.
7. In the Move Documents box, click Yes to move your documents from your local hard drive to the MyFiles location on the server. When complete, click OK.
8. Once your My Documents folder is finished copying, click the Start button then right click My Documents.
9. From the menu that appears, select Make available offline.
10. Click Next then place a check in the Automatically synchronize the Offline Files when I log on and log off my computer.
11. Click Next then click Finish then OK.

IMPORTANT: Moving your My documents folder to your MyFiles space means that you no longer have to back up your My documents folder. However, there are other files that users typically back up that are not located in the My Documents folder. This includes bookmarks for your web browsers, files on your desktop and archive files for your Blitz account.

Can I change the default location where files created by Microsoft Office Applications are saved?

Windows Users: By default, Word, Excel and PowerPoint save documents in the My Documents folder - where ever that is located. If you followed the steps above to redirect your My Documents folder to your MyFiles space, you do NOT need to change the default save location. However, if you want the default save location for your Microsoft Office applications to be your MyFiles space, but NOT have all files in your My Documents folder changed to MyFiles follow the directions below:

1. With the Microsoft application running, from the File ribbon, select Options.
2. In the Options window, select Save from the left navigation column.
3. In the Save documents section, modify the default file location or browse to the path where you want documents to be saved.

Macintosh Users: By default, Word, Excel and PowerPoint save documents in the Documents folder, located in the user's home directory. To change the default folder:

1. With the application running, click the application name in the menu bar (i.e. for Excel click the Excel menu option), then select Preferences...
2. In the Preferences window, select General.
3. In the Preferred file location field, click Select to navigate to the MyFiles folder location you would like. Click OK.

Why do some files appear blue and others appear black in the list of files?

Functionally, there is no difference between these two files. The blue files are ones that the system has compressed; the black ones are not compressed. If you double click a blue file to open it, it will automatically decompress and function exactly as the files that were never compressed.