17
Sharing workbooks

This chapter explains how to share workbooks with other Discoverer users, and contains the following topics:

• "About sharing workbooks"

• "How to share a workbook with multiple Discoverer users"

• "How to share multiple workbooks with a single Discoverer user"

About sharing workbooks

Discoverer makes it easy for you to share workbooks with other users. For example, you might have created a workbook for analyzing web site traffic and want your colleagues to be able to analyze the data

When you share one of your Discoverer workbooks, you give other Discoverer users read-only access to that workbook. Read-only access enables Discoverer Plus and Discoverer Viewer users to:

• view the shared workbook

• analyze the shared workbook

• print the shared workbook

• save their own private copy of the shared workbook - the original workbook can only be amended by the originator (in Discoverer Plus only)

When you share worksheets, you are sharing the query definition, not the query data itself. The query data that users can access is dependent on users' database access privileges.

Discoverer users can only access worksheets containing data to which they have database access privileges. In other words, if you share a workbook with multiple users, each user will only see the worksheets containing data to which they have database access.

When you share a workbook, you explicitly specify the Discoverer users that have access to that workbook. Only the users that you specify will have access to the workbooks that you choose to share with them. If you want to share results with all users, you can use the Public user option.

When sharing workbooks with other Discoverer users, you can grant access rights in two ways:

• Share one workbook with multiple users - use this option when you have a small number of workbooks that you want to share with a larger number of Discoverer users (for more information, see "How to share a workbook with multiple Discoverer users").

• Share multiple workbooks with one user - use this option when you have a large number of workbooks that you want to share with a small number of Discoverer users (for more information, see "How to share multiple workbooks with a single Discoverer user").

  Note: You can combine these two sharing methods to share your workbooks most effectively.

Notes:

• Even if you share a workbook with other users, you are the only person that can modify the original workbook. Similarly, you cannot save changes to workbooks that other Discoverer users share with you.

• Discoverer Plus users that you share a workbook with can save changes to their own private copy of the workbook.

How to share a workbook with multiple Discoverer users

Often, you will want to share a single workbook with multiple Discoverer users. For example, you might have scheduled a weekly report that you want to provide to colleagues in your department.

To share a workbook with multiple Discoverer users:

1. Choose File | Manage Workbooks | Sharing to display the Share Workbooks dialog.

2. Display the "Share Workbook dialog: Workbook -> User tab".

   
   
   Text description of the illustration share1.gif

3. Use the Workbook drop down list to specify which workbook you want to share.

   Note: The Workbook drop down list only displays workbooks that you have created.

4. To the share the specified workbook, move the users from the Available list to the Shared list.

   Hint: You can select more than one user by pressing the Ctrl key and clicking another user.

5. Click OK to share the workbook with the Discoverer users that you specified and close the Share Workbooks dialog.

   The users specified will be able to access the workbook when they next connect to Discoverer.

Notes

• To prevent a particular user having access to a shared workbook, move the user from the Shared list to the Available list.

How to share multiple workbooks with a single Discoverer user

Often, you will want to share multiple workbooks with a single Discoverer user. For example, you might have created a set of reports that you want to provide to a single colleague in another department.

To share multiple workbooks with a single Discoverer user:

1. Choose File | Manage Workbooks | Sharing to display the Share Workbooks dialog.

2. Display the "Share Workbook dialog: User -> Workbook tab".

   
   
   Text description of the illustration share2.gif

3. Use the User drop down list to select the user that you want to share the workbooks with.

4. To share workbooks with the specified user, move the workbooks from the Available list to the Shared list.

   Hint: You can select more than one workbook by pressing the Ctrl key and clicking another workbook.

5. Click OK to share the selected workbooks with Discoverer user and close the Share Workbooks dialog.

   When the user that you selected next connects to Discoverer, they will have access to the workbooks that you specified.

Notes

• To prevent users having access to a shared workbook, move the workbook from the Shared list to the Available list.