Introduction & Overview
WebAsyst™ Document Depot is an easy-to-use and powerful web based tool to store and share files and folders online. It allows you to upload and store any kind of documents, organize them in folders, and grant access rights to your co-workers, customers, friends, guests.

With Document Depot you can:
- Create online document storage, organize files in folders, and customize access rights for every folder
- Keep your Photo Album online, upload MP3 and videos, and have them always available to share with family, friends, and colleagues
- Create user groups and customize access rights for both individuals and groups
- Never lose precious memories
- Always protect and share valuable information
- Access documents from anywhere with just a web browser
How Document Depot can be used:
- Hosting
Sign up and use Document Depot on a monthly subscription basis on our WebAsyst Host Server (www.webasyst.net). This is an excellent solution for small to medium sized organizations and businesses with minimal internal IT capability.
- Download
If you are webmaster or software developer, you can download open source (PHP) and have it installed on your web server. It gives you certain advantages: full control of your database and permissions, ability to create as many working databases as you need etc.
How Document Depot can be accessed:
- Browser
Use standard browser to access Document Depot from anywhere.
- Windows Client
A special program which can be installed on your desktop computer.
Table Of Contents
Logging on
If you use Document Depot hosted on the WebAsyst server, please follow these steps:
- Open your browser and enter the address: http://www.webasyst.net/login.php. The WebAsyst Login page opens:
- Enter your Database Key, Login Name and Password which have been sent to you when you signed up for your account.
- Choose whether you want to use fast or secure (SSL) connection. Selecting SSL will provide extra protection of your data by using an encrypted connection to the WebAsyst server.
- Click Login button.
NOTE: If you purchased Document Depot open source and have it installed on your own web server, please contact your system administrator for login instructions.
Table Of Contents
Working with main window
Document Depot main screen displays a list of folders available for current user. Folders are sorted in hierarchical order. Each folder may contain as many subfolders as needed.
Files containing in selected folder are displayed next to the folder section area.
Main screen with Folders section open
|
 |
Main screen with Folders section closed
|

|
Table Of Contents
Add Folder
- Click Folder… button in the toolbar panel and select Add Folder menu item.

- In the Add Folder form select Parent Folder in which you want to create new subfolder.
NOTES:
- As a parent folder you can only select that folder where you have permission to add/modify folders. This permission is designated by F (Folder) symbol.
- To create root folder you must have special permission assigned by your account administrator (refer to Account Administrator User Guide).
- Enter Folder Name on the Folder tab.
- Click Users tab to customize personal user permissions.
- Turn ON needed checkboxes in Read, Write, Folder columns to provide users with personal access rights.

Read (R) – user can list and read files in this folder Write (W) – user can add/modify files in this folder Folder (F) – user can add/modify files, folders & permissions
NOTE: Parent folder access rights are inherited by default.
- Click Groups tab to customize group permissions. Use the same rules described above. To learn more refer to Sharing Folders section in this manual.
- Click Save button to save all changes.
Table Of Contents
Copy Folder
- Locate folder you want to copy and open it.
- Click Folder… button in the toolbar panel and select Copy Folder menu item.

- Choose where you wish to copy this folder and click Copy button.
NOTE: You may keep access rights of this folder unchanged or allow it to inherit access rights from the destination parent folder.
Table Of Contents
Move Folder
- Locate folder you want to move and open it.
- Click Folder… button in the toolbar panel and select Move Folder menu item.

- Choose where you wish to move this folder and click Move button.
NOTE: You may keep access rights of this folder unchanged or allow it to inherit access rights from the destination parent folder.
Table Of Contents
Modify Folder
- Locate folder you want to rename and open it.
- Click Folder… button in the toolbar panel and select Modify Folder menu item.

- Change folder name and user/group access rights as you need and click Save button.
NOTE: To modify folder you must have F (Folder) access rights in this folder.
Table Of Contents
Delete Folder
- Locate folder you want to delete and open it.
- Click Folder… button in the toolbar panel and select Delete Folder menu item.
- Confirm deleting.
NOTES:
- To delete folder you must have F (Folder) access rights in this folder and all included subfolders.
- Deleted folder is not physically deleted from the disk. Instead it is actually "marked as Deleted" and can be restored later from the Recycle Bin. Learn more about restoring deleted files and folders .
Table Of Contents
Sharing Folders
- Locate folder you want to share and open it.
- Click Folder… button in the toolbar panel and select Modify Folder menu item.
- Click Users tab to customize personal user permissions.
- Turn ON needed checkboxes in Read, Write, Folder columns to provide users with personal access rights:

Read (R) – user can list and read files in this folder Write (W) – user can add/modify files in this folder Folder (F) – user can add/modify files, folders & permissions
- Click Groups tab to customize group permissions. Use the same rules described above for customizing personal permissions.
- Click Save button to save all changes.
NOTES:
-
To modify folder, you must have F (Folder) access rights in this folder.
-
Combination of personal and group access rights is applied for each user, e.g. if user Ann belongs to a group which has R (Read) access rights in current folder, then Ann has an effective permission as in the table below:
Personal Permission
|
Group Permission
|
Effective Permission
|
-
|
R
|
R
|
RW
|
R
|
RW
|
RWF
|
R
|
RWF
|
Table Of Contents
Who else shares my folder?
You can determine if other users can share the folder which you have open. In the bottom of file list there is a line with your access rights information. Click [Shared] link to open detailed information about access rights in this folder.

NOTE: To be able to see detailed access rights information you must have special permission assigned by your account administrator (refer to Account Administrator User Guide).
Table Of Contents
Propagate Access Rights
When you modify folder access rights, you may wish to apply new permissions to all subfolders containing in the current folder. We call it propagating access rights.
- Locate folder and open it.
- Click Folder… button in the toolbar panel and select Propagate Access Rights menu item.
- Browse user and group access rights you want to propagate and click Propagate button below.
NOTES:
- You must have F (Folder) access rights to the folder where you want to run Propagate function.
- Current folder access rights will be propagated only to those subfolders, where you have F (Folder) access rights.
Table Of Contents
Upload files
- Open folder where you want to upload one or more files, click File… button in the Toolbar and select Add File(s) menu item

- In the Add File form click Browse… button to locate file on your computer you want to upload.
- Add optional annotation to this file in the Description box.

- Click Save button.
NOTE: You must have W (Write) or F (Folder) permissions in the folder where you want to add files.
Table Of Contents
Upload ZIP archive and extract files
You can upload ZIP archive and automatically uncompress it on the server side to restore full folder hierarchy contained in archive. This feature allows you to deploy a complex folder structure with a large number of files to your Document Depot in a minute.
-
Open folder where you want to upload ZIP archive and extract files (with optional subfolders), click File… button in the Toolbar and select Upload Archive menu item
-
In the Upload Archive form click Browse… button to locate ZIP file on your computer you want to upload.
-
Click Upload button.
Once your ZIP file has been successfully uploaded, new page opens with detailed statistics information on files and subfolders containing in the archive.

-
Enable Extract Subfolders checkbox if you want to reproduce archive folder structure in your Document Depot folder.
-
If you have images containing in your archive, click Create Thumbnails option to enable automatic thumbnail creation.
-
Click OK button.
NOTE: You must have W (Write) or F (Folder) permissions in the folder where you want to upload and extract archive. You must have F (Folder) permission to extract subfolders.
Table Of Contents
Compress files and download or save
You can create ZIP archive and compress selected files or folder (with optional subfolders) or entire Document Depot. You can then store created archive in any write-accessible folder or download archive to your local computer.
- Select files you want to add to archive.
NOTE: Skip this step if you need to archive folder or entire Document Depot.
- Click File… button in the Toolbar and select Compress and Download (Save)… menu item.
- Select either you want to compress selected files, folder or entire Document Depot.
.gif)
- Click Compress button.
- Once archive has been successfully created, choose what you want to do:
- Download – click Download button to open standard download dialog
- Save – select folder where you want to store archive and click Save button
.gif)
Table Of Contents
Email files as attachment
You can email files directly from the Document Depot without using your client mail program (e.g. Outlook Express or The Bat!).
- Select files you want to send as an attachment.
- Click File… button in the Toolbar and select Send Email… menu item.
- Choose Priority of your message, e.g. High, Normal, Low.
- Select recipients of your message. Just click a name in the "Not Included" list and press left arrow button to move selected name into "Included" list. You may select multiple names by holding Shift or Ctrl button when you click names in the list.
NOTE: "Not Included" list is populated from available WebAsyst Users and Contacts (WebAsyst Contact Manager application).
- You may add more recipients into To (more): field by direct typing of additional email address(es). Separate multiple email addresses with a semicolon “;” delimiter.
- Enter optional Subject and Message.
- Enable Compress attached files checkbox if you want attachments to be sent as one compressed ZIP archive. Specify filename used for this archive.
- Click Send… button.
Table Of Contents
Copy/Move/Delete files
- Select files you want to copy or move to another folder or delete.

NOTE: Use checkbox next to the filename to select file(s). If you want to select all files in the list click topmost checkbox on the column title bar.
- Click File… button in the Toolbar and select menu item corresponding to the operation you want to perform: Copy File(s), Move File(s) or Delete File(s).
- Choose destination folder in To: pull down menu (if you Copy or Move).
- Click Copy (Move, Delete) button.
Table Of Contents
Edit file name and description
You can modify file name and/or file description if you have W (Write) access rights in this folder.
- Click on the properties icon (displayed in the rightmost column in the Grid view or next to the file name in List and Thumbnail view).
- In File Properties form click pen icon to open Edit File Properties form.

- Make changes.
- Click Save button.
NOTE: Type of file can not be changed even if you will edit file name extension, e.g. file “myfriend.gif” file will be treated as a GIF image even if you retype its name as “My friend John” without dot gif (.gif).
Table Of Contents
Restoring deleted files and folders
You can restore files and/or folders that you have previously deleted or you can permanently remove deleted files from the disk. All deleted files and folders are moved into Recycled Bin. To restore or remove files or folders:
-
Click Document in the main menu and select Services item.
NOTE: You can see Document / Services item in your main menu only if you have permission to access this screen. To setup permission to any screen in the system click Administrator / Users & Groups in the main menu or refer to your account administrator.
-
Click Recycled Bin tab.
-
Select files/folders you want to restore/remove.
-
Click Restore button if you want to restore selected objects. Select folder where you want to place restored objects and click Save button.
-
Click Delete button if you want to remove selected files/folders.
-
Confirm deleting.
Table Of Contents
Search files
- Enter keyword you are looking for in the Search box in the toolbar panel.
- Click Go button.
- All files where keyword is found either in filename of description will appear on the Search Result page:

You can type in multiple search terms. Use quote signs (“) to search exact phrase, e.g. “my document” will return all files which contain these two words (“my” and “document”) exactly in this order. If you don’t use quotes, search function returns results with all the keywords found independent on their position inside of filename or description.
Samples:
Search Terms |
Search Results |
John Smith report |
John_Smith_Timesheet_Dec2005.xls. Reported by J. Smith on January-10 2006. |
"John Smith report" |
John_Smith_report.doc. John Smith reported on January-10 2006. |
"John Smith" report |
John_Smith_Timesheet_Dec2005.xls. Reported by John Smith on January-10 2006. |
NOTE: Search Results list is fully operational. You can copy, move, delete, modify files directly from the Search Results list.
Table Of Contents
View options – change file list appearance
- Click View… button in the Toolbar panel
- Select one of the following options to customize file list appearance:
 |
Grid - tabular format where file attributes appear in different columns, e.g. file name, type, size etc… You can sort the list by any column clicking its title. |
 |
List – a convenient option to display large icon with file name and full content of document description at the same time. Sorting feature is also available in the list format. |
 |
Thumbnail List - displays thumbnail (small image) and file description. Great option for photo album where each picture has an annotation. |
 |
Thumbnail Tile - displays just thumbnails one by one. Perfect to browse large image collections. |
Table Of Contents
Customize view
Click View… button in the toolbar panel and select Customize View item to setup following options which affect the appearance of file list:
-
Columns to be displayed in the Grid format.
-
Display icons flag allows you to enable small images associated with file types in Grid and List view options.
-
Number of files to be shown on one page.
-
Number of characters that are visible in file description for List and Grid view options. This restriction might be useful in case of long descriptions to avoid distortion of the file list appearance.
You can control whether View format selected in one folder will be applied to this folder only or to all other folders also. For example, if you have different file types located in separate folders, you may wish to display folders with images in Thumbnail format, and view financial docs with annotations in List format.
To keep view format selection for each folder individually, click Apply selected view to current folder only option.
Table Of Contents
Thumbnails
When you upload graphic files (GIF, JPEG or PNG format) Document Depot can create thumbnails – small images – that are useful to browse large collections of graphic files on the same page.

Creating thumbnails feature is enabled by default. To disable (re-enable) thumbnails:
- Click Document in the main menu and select Services item.
NOTE: You can see Document / Services item in your main menu only if you have permission to access this screen. To setup permission to any screen in the system click Administrator / Users & Groups in the main menu or refer to your account administrator.
- Click Thumbnail tab.
- Click Disable Thumbnails button. Once thumbnails are disabled, this button will change its name to Enable Thumbnails. Click it to re-enable thumbnails and create new thumbnails for all images in Document Depot.
Table Of Contents
File Check In/Check Out and Version Control
Version Control function significantly enhances your capabilities while you collaboratively work on document editing.
When a user checks the file out, it changes the status of the file on the server to read-only for other users. User can download then checked out file to her local computer for editing. Other users would be able to download the file for viewing, but would be unable to upload the file back up into the system (check it in). If they wish to make modifications to the file, they would have to wait until the initial user has checked the file back in, then the next user must download the file, make their modifications and re-upload. Each version of the file may have a user-supplied description line, the date last modified and the last author’s name that accessed the file.
Version Control function can be enabled/disabled on your discretion.
You need Version Control if you want:
- To allow multiple users to work on the same files and avoid collisions
- Keep all previous versions of file safety on your disk and track changes
- Avoid filename duplicates in the same folder
You don’t need Version Control if you want to use Document Depot as simple file storage and sharing system where multiple users rarely work with the same files.
Table Of Contents
Enable/Disable Version Control
Version Control is enabled by default. To disable (re-enable) Version Control function:
- Click Document in the main menu and select Services item.
NOTE: You can see Document / Services item in your main menu only if you have permission to access this screen. To setup permission to any screen in the system click Administrator / Users & Groups in the main menu or refer to your account administrator.
- Click Version Control tab.
- Click Disable Version Control button. Once the function is disabled, this button will change its name to Enable Version Control. Click it to enable the function again.
When you click Enable Version Control button, Document Depot scans all your folders looking for filename duplicates located in the same folders. If filename duplicates are found, then enabling version control function is prohibited and you get a list of filename duplicates. You must either rename or delete duplicates and then try to enable Version Control function again.
Table Of Contents
Checking files In/Out
Every time you upload new file it obtains Checked-In status. Checked-In files can be replaced by any user who has W (Write) or F (Folder) access rights in this folder.
When a user checks the file out, it changes the status of the file on the server to Checked-Out, e.g. Read-Only for other users. Other users would be able to download the file for viewing, but would be unable to upload the file back into the folder (check it in).
To check out files, select them in the list, click File… button in the toolbar and select Check Out menu item. Checked out files are designated by the small “lock” icon in the file list:

To check files back in, select files, click File… button in the toolbar and select Check In menu item.
NOTE:
- If you have W (Write) access rights in the folder, you won’t be able to check in files that have been previously checked out by other users.
- If you have F (Folder) access rights in the folder, you will be able to update, delete or re-check in/out files that have been previously checked out by other users.
Table Of Contents
File Version History
With Version Control function enabled, all previous versions of file stay in the system. Most recent version of file appears in the main list when you open a folder. To access previous versions of file click File Properties icon located in the rightmost column in the Grid view or next to the file name in the List view.

File Properties page contains current version information as well as all previous versions of file in the Version History section. To download any previous version of file, just click it in the Version History list.
NOTE: Previous versions of file are read-only and can not be modified or deleted unless you delete the file itself.
Table Of Contents
Document Depot Windows Client
WebAsyst Windows Client program is an alternative way (in contrast to web-browser client) to access WebAsyst from your desktop computer. WebAsyst Document Depot Windows Client features standard GUI interface, uses SOAP+XML to communicate to WebAsyst Server and provides faster access than browser client.
Main window of the Document Depot Windows client looks pretty much like a regular Windows folder:

WebAsyst Windows Client is:
Table Of Contents
WebAsyst Windows Client installation and logging on
To install WebAsyst Windows Client on your computer, please go to the Download section of our site: http://www.webasyst.net/downloads.php. Download and run installation program.
Once you have successfully completed installation and run WebAsyst Windows Client on your computer, the Login form opens.
To Login to Your Account on the WebAsyst.net Server:
- Leave default host address in the Host field: www.webasyst.net
- Enter your Database Key, Login Name and Password as specified in your signup email notification.
- Select SSL if you wish to use secured connection.
- Click Login button.
|
 |
To Login to WebAsyst Installed on Your Web Server:
If you have purchased WebAsyst Open Sources and installed WebAsyst Server on your local network, you must setup Host address of your WebAsyst Server. To do so, follow these steps:
- Click Host Setup button in the Login form.
- Click New button in the WebAsyst Host List form.
- In the Host name field in WebAsyst Host Settings form enter a reference which will appear in the Host menu in Login form (e.g. My WebAsyst Server).
- In the Host address field of the WebAsyst Host Settings form, enter URL of the computer in your network or the Internet address where you have WebAsyst Server installed, e.g. http://yourdomainname.com/webasyst
NOTE: To enter correct address of WebAsyst host computer, please check with your system administrator.
Table Of Contents
Upload and download files in a batch mode
With WebAsyst Windows Client you can download multiple files from your Document Depot folder to your local computer using simple “drag-and-drop” technique.
To download multiple files, just select them from your Document Depot folder and drag them to your desktop or any local folder. To upload multiple files from local computer to Document Depot, use the same method in reverse.

NOTE: To select multiple files in your Document Depot folder, just hold SHIFT or CTRL key and click files you want to select with your mouse.
Table Of Contents
|