Using the NI Community

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Using Documents in the NI Community

What are documents?

Documents are a form of content that capture static information to be shared with others. The content can be edited at any time and be collaborated on by multiple users. Typically, the tone is formal and the content is technical in nature. Comments from other users can be added after the document is published.

 

Within the NI Community, you'll find such documents as:

 

How are documents categorized?

Documents can be found in several different categories in the community:

 

How do I create a document?

  1. Go to the appropriate area in which you want to create a new document
    • Note: Some areas require special permissions for documents to be created
  2. Click the Create button
  3. Choose a template and then click start
    • Note: You cannot change the template for a document once it has been applied.
  4. Enter a subject and write your document
  5. Apply the other settings and options as applicable.
  6. Click a Save option
    • Note: If you save a draft, it will be available in the Documents Dashboard and editable by other users.

If you are creating an Example Program document, please refer to the full instructions here: Example Programs Submission Process.

What are labels?

Labels are used within the community to help categorize content based on the subject. Users can choose from a list of pre-defined labels which will be required before the author is able to publish the document.

 

What are contributors?

Contributors can be users who contributed to the document, or editors who reviewed or refined it. You can manually add users that helped contribute to the content by searching for their username. You can also promote a user to co-publisher to distinguish this user from the other contributors. A co-publisher is essentially the same as the original author of a document, and can edit and publish restricted or blocked documents.

 

What is a teaser?

A teaser is only required for documents featured within a category. A teaser should be a short summary of the content of the document.

 

How do I add tags?

After your document is published, you are able to add any applicable tags. On the published document page, click on the Add Tags link to add a list of comma separated tags.

 

How do I edit a document?

Published documents can be edited and collaborated on by any community user. To edit a document, click on the Edit button on the document page. The same options are available as were seen when creating the document. Before you save your work, add a revision note that explains your changes. When done, choose a save option.

 

What is considered a minor edit?

Trivial changes such as typos and formatting fixes can be considered a minor edit. Users that are subscribed to documents can choose to not be notified of minor edits.

 

How can I control who can edit my document?

Published documents can be edited and collaborated on by any community user. However, in some areas of the community, such as Example Programs, a document can be restricted or blocked from future edits.

 

  • Restrict Edits - anyone can edit the document, but only the document author or co-publisher can publish the changes. This is set on a document-by-document basis.
  • Block Edits - only the document author or co-publisher can edit and publish changes to the document. This is set on a document-by-document basis.

You can enable these options by clicking on Document Options > Restrict Edits or > Block Edits.

 

How can I be notified when a user edits one of my documents?

When you create a new document, you are automatically subscribed to receive notifications for edits or comments on the document. You can find your subscriptions under My Settings > Subscriptions.

If there is a document for which you would like to receive notifications for, click on Document Options > Subscribe.

 

How can I revert edits that were made to a document?

To revert to a previous version of a document, click on Document Options > Document History. You will be taken to a page which features all of the revisions that have been made to a document. Choose the publish button for the version you would like to be live.

 

Contributors