Setting preferences for HCL Connections plug-ins for Microsoft™ Windows™

Set preferences for the HCL Connections plug-ins for Microsoft™ Office, Microsoft™ Outlook, and Microsoft™ Windows™ Explorer.

Setting preferences

Open a document in any Microsoft™ Office application or from Microsoft™ Outlook, click the HCL Connections tab, and then click Preferences. Or from Microsoft™ Windows™ Explorer, right-click HCL Connections, and then click Preferences.

Note: Windows 11 users can find the HCL Connections context menu under the Show More Options menu.
Table 1. General preferences

General preferences
Preference Description
Email settings Select Use Mail application and specify an email provider, such as HCL Notes. This is the email that the plug-in uses for notifications. Select Use mailto: protocol to use the default email.
Show Desktop icon Places an icon for the plug-in on your desktop.
Show Windows™ Explorer Context Menu Extension This controls whether the HCL Connections context menu displays when you right-click a desktop file.
Reset all prompts Selecting this button resets all confirmation prompts where ‘Do not show this again’ has been checked in the past. These prompts will now be shown in the future.
Enable beta features Check this box if you want to enable beta features for the plug-in. This will give you access to features in a pre-release state. You may need to log in again before you can see new features.
Note: Beta features are generally not documented or fully supported and are intended to give you a preview of what is coming in a future release.
Table 2. Connections site preferences

Connections site preferences
Preference Description
Display name The name of the server.
Server URL The URL for the Connections server you are connecting to.
User name The user name that you use to log in to Connections.

The User name field is disabled for authentication types that do not use credentials or that have users enter their credentials in a browser window.
Password The password that you use to log in to Connections.

The Password field is disabled for authentication types that do not use credentials or that have users enter their credentials in a browser window.
Authentication type By default, the plug-in authenticates with the HCL Connections server using basic authentication. If your administrator implemented an alternate authentication mechanism in the environment in which the HCL Connections server is running, you might be instructed to edit the authentication settings.

If you are connecting to a Connections Multi-tenant server, select the OAuth authentication type (OAuth is only supported for multi-tenant servers).
Table 3. Downloaded files preferences

Downloaded files preferences
Preference Description
Alert me when I save a draft When this option is enabled, a message notifies you when you save a draft.
Enable automatic deletion of drafts When this option is enabled, unpublished drafts are deleting on the schedule you specify.
Ignore local changes made to files with these extensions Specify extensions for types of files you do not want to save as drafts. Be sure to specify extensions using the format .<extension_name>. For example, .exe.
Table 4. File locking
Preference Description
Automatic file locking This preference manage the file locking behavior of the system when opening and publshing Connections files. The following options are available to choose from:
  • Promp me to lock when opening a Connections file and to unlock when publishing changes
  • Always lock Connections files when opening and unlock when publishing changes
  • Never prompt or lock files for me
Note: These preferences do not apply to files in the sync folder.
Table 5. My File Settings
File Settings Description
Temp file location Set the location used for new temporary files.
External sharing preferences (Connections Multi-tenant only) New content added to connections via the plug-in follows one of these 3 options:
  • Allow all new content to be shared with people outside this organization, except for folders added to a folder that denies outside access - This setting will share your content outside your organization, except in folders that have been setup to disallow this sharing.
  • Only allow outside access to new content if created in a folder permitting outside access - New content cannot be shared outside your organization unless added to a folder setup to allow this sharing.
  • Do not normally allow outside access for new content but ask me about new content added to a folder permitting outside access - New content cannot be shared outside your organization unless added to a folder setup to allow this sharing, in which case you will be prompted.
Sync folder sharing preferences (Connections Multi-tenant only) New sync folder content will always use the setting chosen in the External sharing preferences without prompting. For content added outside of the sync folder, you can choose to always be prompted or never prompted.