Using Cognidox via a WebDAV interface

This section describes how to use Cognidox via a WebDAV interface for many typical documentation management tasks.

WebDAV stands for (Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning) and is an extension to the HTTP protocol. It enables traditional file management tasks to be performed remotely on web server files and directories. Using the WebDAV interface provided by Cognidox you can view documents and add new drafts and issues of documents as if the files were stored in a local directory.

Note:

Using Cognidox via the WebDAV interface is a very useful way to quickly add documents, but you do lose the opportunity to add any revision history information about the new versions of the documents you are adding to Cognidox. Therefore, it should not be used as the main interface to Cognidox.

WebDAV may not be accessible if you access Cognidox with a single sign-on process like Office 365 or Google.

The WebDAV URL for Cognidox is the URL that must be provided for WebDAV clients.

To find the WebDAV URL for Cognidox:

  1. Display the homepage and choose > Manage Cognidox.

  2. Display the About tab.

    The WebDAV section provides a UNC address for Windows users to use in Windows File Explorer, and a web address for Mac and Linux users, or for use in WebDAV client tools.

Instructions for setting up the WebDAV interface to Cognidox depend on which OS you are using.

Note:

WebDAV may not be accessible if you access Cognidox with a single sign-on process like Office 365 or Google.

  1. Cut and paste the UNC path from the Cognidox About page into Windows File Explorer’s location bar and press [Enter]:

  2. If asked, enter your Cognidox username and password.
  3. If you logged in successfully, the top-level Cognidox WebDAV view is displayed.

To make a permanently accessible connection:

  1. Pin the WebDAV location to the Quick access list, or drag and drop the location onto your desktop to make a shortcut.

Accessing Cognidox via WebDAV from Linux depends on the available software.

  • KDE users can simply enter a URL such as the following into Konqueror and get access:

    webdav://Cognidox.company.com/dav

  • Gnome users can connect to Cognidox using Nautilus with the following URL:

    dav://Cognidox.company.com/dav
    or by choosing File > Connect to Server

Mac OS X users can connect to Cognidox using the Finder:

  1. Choose Go > Connect to Server.

  2. Enter the following Server Address:

    http://Cognidox.company.com/dav

Once you have accessed the interface, as described in Connecting to the WebDAV interface, a window is displayed, showing you a file and directory view of the documents on Cognidox. For example:

The window displays four folders:

  • All Part Numbers; This folder provides access to all the documents in Cognidox, based on their part number. For instance, document XX-123456-TC is available in \All Part Numbers\12\34\56\XX-123456-TC\. Because the part number of a document doesn’t change over its lifetime, the all part numbers path to a document always remains the same, even if the document is renamed or changes category.
  • Briefcase; This folder provides access to all the documents in your briefcase and compartments.
  • Categories; This folder contains a hierarchical view of all the categories that you would see from Cognidox using your web browser. Clicking on the categories folder to descend through the category structure and see the documents in each category. If you have rights to create categories in Cognidox, you can create new categories under this folder.
  • My CognidoxDocuments; this folder contains all the documents which are owned by you. If you do not own any documents then this folder will not be displayed. (For more information about owning documents, refer to Setting and changing document owners.)

To view a document from the WebDAV interface to Cognidox, browse through the all documents or categories folders until you reach the document of interest. Each document is contained in a separate folder containing:

  • the latest and approved versions of the document (master and viewable formats), named both by version and with LATEST and APPROVED aliases.
  • a folder called All Versions, containing all the previous versions of the document (master and viewable formats).
  • a folder called Add Draft and a folder called Add Issue. You can use these folders to add new drafts or issues of the document. (Refer to The following methods are available for adding new document drafts and issues: for more information.)

For example:

Note:

The LATEST and APPROVED alias files will only be visible if the Cognidox administrator has enabled them through the system workflow options.

The following methods are available for adding new document drafts and issues:

To add a new draft or issue of a document via the WebDAV interface:

  1. Navigate to the folder containing the document you want to update.
  2. Navigate to and open the Add Draft or Add Issue folder of the document.
  3. Copy the new version of the document into the folder.

The new version of the document will be copied over to Cognidox and the version history of the document updated. After a short pause, the draft you have added will be moved up one level to become the latest version of the document. If the document can be converted to PDF a PDF version will also be placed at this level.

If using a recent version of Microsoft Office, it is possible to directly edit and save new drafts of documents by double-clicking the LATEST alias of a document, editing the document and using the save function within Office. Only the LATEST alias master file is editable; all other files in WebDAV are read-only.

Note: This feature is based on Office's WebDAV behaviour. Cognidox Ltd does not support other applications such as LibreOffice or iWorks, which have their own WebDAV save behaviour.