The Social Pinpoint Learning Centre
Managing files has never been easier with SPP's File Manager. This tool allows you to upload, organize, and manage various file types—such as images, documents, and map layers—in one central location. Once uploaded, files can be reused across different tools and projects, saving you time and effort.
You can easily preview, download, copy, delete, or replace files, and edit file properties like names. The File Manager also offers basic image editing (resizing, cropping, filters), tagging for easy organization, and advanced search filters to help you quickly locate your files. Plus, you can track document downloads with built-in statistics.
Many tools on your site, such as the Image, Gallery, and Document Library tools, require files such as images, documents, or map layers to work. Below are the accepted file types that you can upload to your site.
.flv, .jpg, .gif, .jpeg, .ico, .docx, .xla, .png, .psd, .swf, .doc, .txt, .xls, .xlsx, .csv, .pdf, .tiff, .rtf, .m4a, .mov, .wmv, .mpeg, .mpg, .wav, .3gp, .avi, .m4v, .mp4, .mp3, .qt, .ppt, .pptx, .geojson, .svg, .webm, .ogg, .ogv, .zip.
To get started, you can access the File Manager via your Dashboard and select Files.
The
file manager lets you upload and manage a variety of file types and
store them in a centralized repository. Once uploaded, you can reuse
your files in multiple tools across pages and projects, so you don't
have to worry about uploading the same file more than once.
The file manager also lets you:
For most sites, individual files can be a maximum size of 20MB, but we strongly recommend keeping your files well below this size, especially image files which should always be reduced in size. Otherwise, you may limit the accessibility of our site and run into performance issues.
You can add up to 20 files at a time to the file manager, however, the combined file size cannot exceed 41MB in total.
File sets are folders where your files are grouped for organisation. This helps your files stay organized and control who has access to what files. Files are only accessible to a project's assigned site users to ensure privacy and confidentiality.
When you upload a new file, you'll be prompted to select a file set, typically associated with the project you're working on. A file set is automatically created when a new project is set up. Additionally, a ‘read-only’ file set called 'Citizen Submissions' is created for each project to store any files uploaded by participants, if relevant.
There are a couple of ways you can add files to the platform, see below for a tutorial on each of them.
To upload a file to the File Manager through the Dashboard:
To upload a file to the File Manager while in an editing session:
💡 User Tips
Files can be added directly to the File Manager from an external URL by clicking the 'More Options' link at the upper-right in the File Manager, next to the 'Upload Files' link, then click the 'Add remote file' option, and enter the URL of the file.
This function downloads the file from the URL directly into File Manager, saving your time by not having to first download it. However, please note this only creates a copy of the current file and is not a live link.
💡NOTE: The ‘Add incoming’ option located in this section is an internal function and is not available to the User.
Files can be removed from the File Manager if they are no longer needed.
Files can be downloaded from the File Manager to the Users computer or device to perform additional analysis or backup files as required.
Files can be updated across a Site by using the File Manager’s Replace function. This replaces all instances of the file everywhere it is used, saving the User from having to individually re-link the file to every place it is used.
Each time the replace function is used, a new version of the file is created in the file properties. To view file versions, navigate to the file’s properties and select Versions. To revert to a previous version, select the radio button next to the target filename. Refresh the page to reflect the change.
💡 User Tip
Replacing a file will maintain the total download count of the original file. This means replacing a file will continue to increment from the original download count allowing Users to track the total number of downloads across all versions.
Files can be copied within the File Manager. This can be useful prior to editing an image to ensure the original version remains intact.
Files can be easily searched in the File Manager by entering a few words into the Keywords field and selecting the Search button, or pressing the Enter key. This will return a filtered list of files that match the keyword search value.
To remove the keyword search filter, remove any values in the keywords field and select the Search button, or press the Enter key.
Advanced search operations can be performed by selecting the Advanced Search link at the top right of the File Manager. This will add a customisable search filter, and allow Users to choose a field from the dropdown menu to select the desired value to filter on.
Search filters that can be applied in the File Manager are as follows:
Users can add multiple search filters by selecting the Advanced Search function again. Where more than one filter is applied, the search results will reflect all of the conditions used in the filter query.
To remove a search filter, select the ‘Θ’ icon located to the right of the filter.
Files can also be sorted by selecting on the column heading of the files table. This will sort the files in ascending order (smallest to largest or ‘a-z’). Selecting the column heading a second time will sort the files in descending order (largest to smallest to or ‘z -a’). Selecting the column a third time will reset the order to its original position.
When you would like to link files via the file manager without using any of the content blocks like the Image Gallery or Document Library, you can still link them via the Call to Action, Button or even Text.
1. Navigate to the block or text where you want to add the link.
2. Select and highlight the text you want to link to the file.
3. Click on the link option and then select the File Manager button (🗋).
4. Choose the file you want to link.
5. The text should now appear as a hyperlink to the document.
1. Edit the Block you are using to link the files
2. Look for the File Manager(🗋) Option on the Block when linking the File.
3. Select the File from the file manager or upload a new one if needed.
4. The button will now redirect to the file once clicked.
💡NOTE: Always link the files using the file manager rather than directly using a URL. By linking through the file manager, you ensure that downloads are accurately tracked and included in your reports.
The properties of a file (e.g. meta-data about the file) can be viewed by selecting the file thumbnail in the File Manager and following the Properties link from the dropdown menu.
This will open a pop-up window containing three functions as follows:
💡 User Tip
The name of a file can be edited in the File Manager by opening the file’s properties and selecting the filename link from the ‘Details’ section.
Selecting the thumbnail of an image file and following the ‘View’ link from the dropdown menu will display the full-size image.
To save time in performing actions such as downloading, deleting, etc. within the File Manager, bulk operations can be performed simultaneously on multiple files.
To perform bulk operations select the ⬜ icon that appears in the first column of the files table to the left of all target files. Then select the Items selected link at the top left of the File Manager and choose from one of the following available options:
Social Pinpoint has a built-in image editor that can be used to perform basic editing operations such as rotating, resizing and cropping.
To access the image editor, select the thumbnail image of the target image file in the File Manager and select the Edit link from the dropdown menu. This will open a new window with the image editor containing the following functions:
File sets are folders where your files are grouped for organisation. File sets are automatically created when a new project is made.
Users are prompted to select a file set after uploading a file, the list will only include file sets they have access to.
📝 NOTE: Files that are only associated to the file set of a private project will only be visible by community members who have access to that private project.
To view or change the file set associated with a file:
💡 User Tip
Files may belong to more than one File Set so avoid uploading the same file more than once to reduce your data storage requirements.
Site Administrators can view all file sets of a Site from the file sets view of the File Manager. To view all file sets of a Site as a Site Administrator:
Alternatively, files in file sets can be viewed by using the Advanced Search in the File Manager through filtering by Projects.
Site Administrators also have the ability to manually add ‘non-project’ file sets to help them organise files used on a Site that are not used in projects (e.g. assets used on the Homepage or other Site Sub-pages).
To create a new file set as a Site Administrator:
The download metrics provide information about files you post on your project and the number of times they were downloaded from the site. You can read more about this by Going to the Overview reports article > Go to Key Actions and look for Downloads.
💡 User Tip: The download are being tracked using a specific link for the file not the actual link from the URL, so be user to link files via the file manager not the URL:
To further elevate and innovate our focus on creating the best-in-class software solution dedicated to community engagement, we have decided to rebrand The HiVE as Social Pinpoint with an exciting update to the Social Pinpoint brand to match!
Community engagement is an ongoing process of collaboration and co-learning. When we evaluate our community engagement initiatives, we give ourselves the opportunity to measure our deeper impact and make improvements for future projects.
With the right action plan in place, we can ensure we are connecting with our community on an appropriate level to enhance public decision-making.
