QUICK TUTORIAL

Need a quick overview on how to collaborate using InstaColl? Click on any of the links below:

• Share a PowerPoint Presentation
• Share a Word Document
• Share an Excel Spreadsheet
• Share your Screen

Or you can go through the detailed tutorial below:

TUTORIAL

This tutorial contains details on:

1. Control Center - The tool kit for managing collaboration within InstaColl
2. Modules - A detailed description of each functional module in InstaColl

CONTROL CENTER

The Control Center is a set of buttons that forms the nerve center of InstaColl and serves as the mechanism through which document control is managed inside a session.

Mastering the Control Center enables users to make the most of their InstaColl sessions by working at the collaboration level that is most suited for a particular InstaColl situation.

The Control Center appears either as an embedded panel or as a floating panel within InstaColl. Use the control center to start and terminate document sharing sessions and pass and revoke document control back and forth participants.

Control Center Summary

NOTE:  These controls are common in its functionality to all the modules (Share Presentation, Share Spreadsheets, Share Document and Screen Sharing).

TIP: Moving the mouse over a button will display its functionality in the display area next to the control center.

Depending on user privileges, the Control Center appears as a set of enabled or grayed out buttons to the participants. In general, this is decided on whether the user is:

• A Moderator - The person who has initiated the document sharing
• A Participant - The person who has been invited to the document sharing session 

Moderator Controls
The moderator has the following four Control Center buttons enabled:

A. Initiate

Clicking on the "green arrow" button initiates the document sharing. All present participants will join the session automatically and a short-hand document icon appears alongside the participant in the Participants panel to indicate the participant has joined the session. The participants will be able to view the document opened by the Initiator.

B. Transfer Control

Clicking on the "blue right-heading arrow" button allows the moderator to transfer control of the document to a participant. Clicking this button brings up a list of participants in the session and the moderator can select the user that he wishes to transfer control to. Once control is transferred to a user, s/he can make edit changes to a document or guide a presentation. The moderator can take back control at any point of time by clicking on the "revoke control button".

NOTE: This button transfers control to a user for just the shared document within a particular module. The overall session control still rests with the moderator. For instance, if at some point of time, a Word document and an Excel spreadsheet are being shared at the same time and the moderator transfers control of the Word document to another user, the control over the Excel document still rests with the moderator. Also, transferring control to a user does not grant him privileges to open and share a new document. To be able to do that, the moderator must use the administration controls menu item from the top menu (Tools->Administration Control)  and grant the privilege to initiate shared sessions to selected users.

C. Revoke Control

Clicking on the "red stop sign" button enables the moderator to revoke control from a user who currently has control. The Initiator of Share Presentations session can revoke the control from the participant who has the control in the session to regain control of the presentation slides.

D. Terminate

Clicking on the "red cross" button terminates the shared document session. Only the moderator/initiator can terminate a session. On terminating the session, all participants in the will be prompted that the session has been terminated and given the option of saving the shared file locally. When the participant leaves a session, the indicator icon alongside the participant's name in the Participants panel disappears.

Participant Controls

The invited participant has the following three Control Center buttons enabled:

A. Request Control

Clicking on the "golden bulb" button allows the participant to make a request to the moderator to present him with control. The moderator is notified of this control request through a pop-up on his screen and can choose to either accept or reject the request.

B. Give back Control

Clicking on the "green left-turning arrow" button allows a participant to return control of a document to the moderator.

C. Leave Session

Clicking on the "red cross" button enables a participant to leave a running session. In the event that the participant wishes to return to a session that he had left earlier, clicking on the "green arrow" button within that module enables her to rejoin a session. The green button is enabled for a participant until the moderator still has a document open for sharing within that module.

INSTACOLL MODULES

InstaColl has the following key modules:

1. Share Presentations
2. Share Documents
3. Share Spreadsheets
4. Screen Sharing
5. Text Chat

Except for the Text Chat, all the other modules are laid out as tabs in the main  user interface.

MODULE - Share Presentations

The Share Presentations module allows the moderator to share Power Point Presentations (PPT) and Power Point Slides (PPS) with other participants. The current version of InstaColl allows users to review presentations (with full animations) with remote participants but does not allow edit changes to the content within the Power Point presentation.

Note: To Initiate Share Presentations, the user should be the moderator of the meeting or the moderator should have assigned a participant the rights to initiate Share Presentations sessions. If the moderator or participant is allowed to initiate Share Presentations then the option in the Control Center menu will appear enabled.

In the context of the Share Presentations there are two roles that a participant can play:

1.Initiator (Moderator / Presenter with Admin Rights)
2. Viewer

The Initiator is allowed to perform the following operations:

1. Stop the session.
2. Transfer control to any of the viewers in the session.
3. Revoke control from any of the viewers in the session.
4. Accept control transfer request by any viewer in the session.
5. Toggle display to full screen mode.

The Viewer is allowed to perform the following operations:

1. Leave the session.
2. Join an ongoing session.
3. Request Control from the Initiator.
4. Give-back control to the Initiator.
5. Toggle display to full screen mode.

The following functions are available in the Share Presentations toolbar:

• Import Presentation
• Save
• Show Full Screen
• Previous Slide
• Next Slide

Click on the icon  to select a presentation from your PC.

Note: The import icon will be enabled for participant who has the presentation control.

Browse to the location of the file in the file system and select the presentation file with .ppt / .pps as extension. Click on Open button to import the presentation slides.

Step 2: Sharing the Presentation

Once the document is loaded in InstaColl, the presentation is taken into full-screen mode and the moderator can use the floating tool bar to move through the presentation. All animations are reproduced inside InstaColl and changes are reflected almost immediately to other users (no waiting for screen refreshes).

As in all modules, the Control Center can be used to pass control back and forth between participants if multiple presenters are mandated during a presentation.

This floating tool bar appears during full screen mode.The tool bar has the following buttons:

Next and Previous Slide/Animation

Next  :   The next slide/animation can be viewed by using this feature. 

Previous   :  The previous slide/animation can be viewed by using this feature.

The display size can be toggled between full screen and normal modes by using the toggle button as follows:

Show Full Screen :  The presentations can be viewed in full screen by using this feature.

Back to Normal mode : The presentations can be viewed in normal screen by using                      this feature.

Step 3: Save Presentation 

Once the presentation has been completed, both participants can save the PPT locally using the button for  saving -    .

This mechanism allows people to bypass the task of e-mailing a presentation to a participant at the end of the presentation.

MODULE - Share Documents

The Share Documents module is a productive way of sharing and collaborating on text, (txt), Rich Text (rtf) and Word (doc) documents instantly with multiple users. The Share Documents module allows the actual document content to be instantaneously shared with participants and collaboratively make additions and edit changes to the same.

Note: All documents shared in this module are by default converted to RTF (Rich Text Format). Occasionally, this causes formatting issues with Word documents that contain formatting elements that are not supported by RTF editors - these include some types of tables, nested bullets and numbering and header/footer information. However, these are not deal-breakers in any sense - just ignore these formatting corruptions during the session and when you are done with the review/edit cycle, save the document back into Word (doc) format - in most instances, the original formatting will be restored.

Working with Documents

Share Documents has the following standard document editing functionality exposed via toolbar buttons:

• Open a New document
• Open File
• Save
• Bold
• Italic
• Underline
• Align Left
• Align Center
• Align Right
• Cut
• Copy
• Paste
• Bullet
• Font
• Find

Share Documents has four menus:

• InstaColl
• Edit
• Format
• Tools

The Edit and Format menus are related to editing and formatting of the content in the document editing area. The elements here are the same as in a standalone rich text editor.

Edit Menu has menu items for Cut, Copy, Paste, Find operations.

Format Menu allows text-formatting operations like - Font, Bullet, Align Left, Align Right, and Align Center.

The participants of the Share Documents session can edit the same document iteratively by passing edit-control back and forth through the Control Center.

Changes made by the different participants are color coded for better readability - each participant is assigned a specific color (in the participants panel) and all changes made by that person are made in the assigned color.

The participant is automatically asked to publish changes during the following scenarios:

1.When a new or existing document is opened.

2.At session termination, the moderator is prompted to publish changes so that the participants can save the latest changes of the document before the session terminates.

At any point of time in the collaboration session, the moderator can revoke, use the mouse to select a specific  participant from the participant panel and clicks on 'Discard Changes' button - all changes made by that participant would be rolled back.

Step 4: Save Document 
Once the document co-editing session has been completed, both participants can save the document locally using the standard save button.

This mechanism allows people to bypass the task of e-mailing a co-edited document to participants at the end of the collaboration session.
control_center

MODULE - Share Spreadsheets

The Share Spreadsheets module allows the moderator to share Microsoft Excel spreadsheets  with other participants.

Note: To Initiate Share Spreadsheets, the user should be the moderator of the meeting or the moderator should have assigned a participant the rights to initiate Share Spreadsheets sessions. If the moderator or participant is allowed to initiate Share Spreadsheets  then the option in the Control Center menu will appear enabled.

In the context of the Share Spreadsheets  there are two roles that a participant can play:

1. Initiator (Moderator / Presenter with Admin Rights)
2.  Viewer

The Initiator is allowed to perform the following operations:

1. Stop the session.
2. Transfer control to any of the viewers in the session.
3. Revoke control from any of the viewers in the session.
4. Accept control transfer request by any viewer in the session.
5. Synchronize content to ensure that all users have the same data view.

The Viewer is allowed to perform the following operations:

1. Leave the session.
2. Join an ongoing session.
3. Request Control from the Initiator.
4. Give-back control to the Initiator.

Working With Spreadsheets
The following features are available in the Share Spreadsheets module:

1. New:  To create a new spreadsheet document.  

2. Open:  To open an existing spreadsheet document from your PC.

3. Save As: To save the spreadsheet after the session has been completed.

4. Synchronize: All data changes made within any cell are automatically propagated across users - these include changes in values and formatting changes. However, certain specific actions - such as creating a new graph, inserting a new image or worksheet etc are not propagated. At these points, the presenter has the option to synchronize the data available to all the users.  Clicking on this item pushes across all the data contained in the presenter's spreadsheet document and ensures that all users have the same view. Only the presenter has the option to synchronize the data.

5. Refresh: This feature is used to refresh the spreadsheet by a participant individually if the view of the local spreadsheet appears overlapped or haphazard.

Step 1: Share Spreadsheets
The moderator can use the Control Center to initiate a "Share Spreadsheets" session. All the participants will join the session automatically and the Share Spreadsheets indicator icon appears alongside the participant in the Participants panel. The participants will be able to view the separate InstaColl Spreadsheets (Excel sheets) opened by the moderator.

Once all users join the session, they are presented with the familiar Excel user interface. The Control Center appears as a floating panel that can be dragged any where and repositioned.

Step 2: Making Changes
The moderator can select to share a new spreadsheet document or open an existing spreadsheet document - Data is automatically published to all the participants when the moderator makes any edit changes. 

Note: The last change made to any cell is captured as a comment that is automatically added to that individual cell.

As in all modules, the moderator can use the Control Center to pass control back and forth between users to make iterative edit changes.

Step 3: Save Spreadsheet
Once the spreadsheet  co-editing session has been completed, both participants can save the document locally using the standard save button.

This mechanism allows people to bypass the task of e-mailing a co-edited spreadsheet document to participants at the end of the collaboration session.

MODULE - Screen Sharing

The Screen Sharing module allows the moderator and participants to share and view applications running on each other's workstations. It is recommended that this module be used in two specific situations:

1. When any of the users does not have a Microsoft Office application installed on his system - which prevents users from having a document sharing session.
2. When a non-Microsoft Office document or any other specific application needs to be shared - for business purposes such as software walkthroughs, customer support etc.

Working With Screen Sharing
There are two types of sharing modes:

1. Desktop Share

Entire desktop of the initiator is shared with participants.

1. Share Recorded File

A previously existing *.avi file can be shared with participants.

Note: To Initiate a Desktop or Share Recorded File, the user should be the moderator of the session or the moderator should have assigned a participant the rights to initiate Screen Sharing through the Tools - > Administration Controls menu item. If the moderator or participant is allowed to initiate Screen Sharing then the option in the Control Center menu will be enabled.

In the context of the Screen Sharing there are two roles that a participant can play:

1. Initiator
2. Viewer

The Initiator is allowed to perform the following operations:

1. Terminate the session
2. Transfer control to any of the viewers in the session.
3. Revoke control from any of the viewers in the session.
4. Accept control transfer request by any viewer in the session.

The Viewer is allowed to perform the following operations:

1. Leave the session.
2. Join an ongoing session.
3. Request Control from the initiator.
4. Give-back control to the initiator.
5. Toggle to full screen mode.

1. High Color (default)
2. True Color
3. 8 Bit Color

Note: The screen sharing module works on a shared-display perceptual collaboration module that most other web conferencing companies use as a default. This mode of sharing typically requires large bandwidth connectivity since large amounts of captured screen data and changes are transferred between the participants. Choosing a higher color depth (True Color) will result in a better quality of screen capture but will also result in larger amounts of data being transferred over the Internet possibly introducing latencies and delays between users

The changes done on the presenter's desktop at are seen by the other participants in near real-time. As in other modules, the presenter has the option to pass control back and forth between participants using the Control Center.

1. Select "Start Recording" menu item in the menu.
2. On selecting the menu item, a popup appears.
3. Enter the location on the local system where the file is to be saved.
4. Enter the name of the file and click OK to start the recording.

To stop the recording at any time, select the "Stop Recording" menu item in the menu.

To play the recorded files in a subsequent InstaColl session, select the  'Share Recorded File' sharing mode option.

Resume and Pause options

While sharing his desktop or recorded file, the presenter has the option to pause the screen sharing at any point of time by selecting 'Pause' from the InstaColl menu.

He can resume the screen sharing or shared recorded file by selecting 'Resume' from the  'InstaColl' Menu. 

Step 3: Mark up/Annotations during Screen Sharing
The presenter can mark up and annotate his screen to draw attention to specific areas on his desktop. To use the annotation feature perform the following steps:

Step 1: Initiate a Desktop Share session.

Step 2: Enable Annotation Mode.

Click on the InstaColl Annotation icon in the system tray as shown below to enable the annotation mode. In this mode only the annotation tools (accessible by right-clicking anywhere on the desktop) can be used by the user.

Step 3: Use Annotation Tools.

Step 4: Close Annotation Mode.

Right clicking anywhere on the desktop and select the menu item  "Close Annotations".

Step 4: Terminating Screen Sharing
The presenter can terminate the screen sharing session at any time by clicking on the red cross button in the Control Center.

Note: InstaColl also provides a powerful mechanism through which a user can provide remote support to a customer or colleague with a single click within InstaColl. To do this, select a participant, say a customer, from the Participants Panel, right-click with the mouse on his name and in the menu that appears, select "Request Desktop Control". On this, the customer is provided with a pop-up requesting him for permission to let the presenter initiate a desktop sharing session on the customer's desktop and take control of it. The presenter can thereafter provide any support needed. The customer can revoke control at any point of time through the Control Center and also has over-riding mouse control.