Using Shared Categories

If other users have published categories in a shared folder on their computers or the network, you can access them for use with the Distribution Gallery. This is called subscribing to categories.

  To subscribe to a category, learn its name and location, then:

  1. Open the Distribution Gallery and choose Categories, then Subscribe.

    The Subscribe To A Category dialog opens.

  2. Click Add.

    The Browse For Folder dialog opens.

  3. Locate the target folder and click OK to add the new path to the Subscribe To A Category dialog box.

  4. Click OK to load all categories in the listed paths and close the Subscribe To A Category dialog box.

    All loaded categories are available for use as if they were on the local computer.

    Note:

    Shared categories can be used like local categories in most ways. However, they cannot be modified unless they also exist in a folder on the local computer. If several users copy a published category locally and then modify it, they can publish their own versions and overwrite each others’ changes. If you are publishing a category, you might want to make the shared folder read-only to avoid this problem.

  To edit or delete a path, or rearrange the path order:

  1. Open the Subscribe To A Category dialog as described in step 2 in the previous steps.

  2. Select the path to a target category.

  3. Click an action button: Edit, Delete, Move Up, or Move Down.

  4. When you are finished, click OK.

If you delete a path to a subscribed category, that category disappears from the Category pane of the Distribution Gallery. You can resubscribe to it at any time to use it again.