Creating an iFolder

You can create an iFolder by converting an existing folder that satisfies the following guidelines:

If the folder does not exist, you can browse to a location and create the new folder as part of the process.

Within the iFolder, you can set up any subdirectory structure that suits your personal or corporate work habits. The subdirectory structure is constant across all member iFolders. Each workstation can specify a different parent directory for the shared iFolder.

You can create iFolders directly in your file manager and in the iFolders browser, which is available in the client application. Use the following methods to create an iFolder:


Creating iFolders in a File Manager

  1. Use the file manager to navigate to the folder you want to convert to an iFolder, then select the folder.

  2. Use one of the following methods:

    • Right-click the folder icon, then click Convert to an iFolder.
    • In the toolbar, click File > Convert to an iFolder.

    The folder icon Folder Icon changes to a folder with an overlay of the iFolder icon iFolder Icon.

  3. If the iFolder Created message appears, do one of the following:

    • Click Close to dismiss the message.
    • Select Do Not Show This Message Again to disable future notifications, then click Close to dismiss the message.

      If you later decide that you want to get Confirmation messages, go to iFolder Preferences, select Show Confirmation Dialog When Creating iFolders, then click OK.


Creating iFolders in the iFolders Browser

  1. In the Notification area, right-click the iFolder icon iFolder Application Icon, then click iFolders to open the iFolders browser.

  2. Click New.

  3. Specify the iFolder account you want to use for this iFolder.

    If you have multiple iFolder accounts, the default account is listed first. Use the drop-down list to select a different account.

  4. In the browser, navigate to the directory where you want to create an iFolder.

  5. Select the normal folder you want to make an iFolder, using one of these methods:

    • If the normal folder exists, select the folder, then click OK
    • If the normal folder does not exist, click Make New Folder to create it, select the newly created folder, then click OK.

  6. Click OK.

    The iFolder iFolder Application Icon appears in the iFolders list.

  7. If the iFolder Created message appears, do one of the following:

    • Click Close to dismiss the message.
    • Select Do Not Show This Message Again to disable future notifications, then click Close to dismiss the message.

      If you later decide that you want to get Confirmation messages, go to iFolder Preferences, select Show Confirmation Dialog When Creating iFolders, then click OK.


Creating iFolders on a FAT32 Mount Point (Linux)

On Linux, you can create and use iFolders on a mount point for a FAT32 file system. If you have a dual boot system, you can access the data in iFolders as normal folders from the system where the folder is not set up as an iFolder. If you set up the folder as an iFolder on both platforms, the data set is stored in two different iFolders on the server, which consumes double your allocated server disk resources.

Because the FAT32 file system does not support POSIX file system permissions, you must make sure the iFolder user is the owner of the mount point. Modify the /etc/fstab file to set the user ID (UID) parameter to the iFolder user who creates iFolders on that mount point.

  1. Log in to your computer as the root user.

  2. Create the directory where you want to mount the FAT32 file system. At a command prompt, enter

    mkdir /home/username/fsmount

    Replace username with the username of the user who plans to use the FAT32 drive for iFolders. Replace fsmount with the directory name you want to use as the mount point. For example, if the username is jsmith and the directory name is fat32mntpt for a FAT32 drive or partition, enter

    mkdir /home/jsmith/fat32mntpt

  3. Mount the FAT32 drive at the desired mount point. At a command prompt, enter

    mount -t vfat /dev/hda1 /home/username/fsmount

    Replace /dev/hda1 with the device or partition name of the non-Linux device. Replace username with the username of the iFolder user. Replace fsmount with the directory name you want to use as the mount point.

    Continuing the example, where the FAT32 file system (vfat) is on the hda4 device (/dev/hda4), the username is jsmith, and the mount point directory is /home/jsmith/fat32mntpt, enter

    mount -t vfat /dev/hda4 /home/jsmith/fat32mntpt

  4. Edit the /etc/fstab file by adding the uid=username parameter on the line that defines the FAT32 mount point.

    /dev/hda1 /home/username/fsmount vfat uid=username

    Continuing the example, modify /etc/fstab file by adding uid=jsmith to the mount point:

    /dev/hda4 /home/jsmith/fat32mntpt vfat uid=jsmith