ElectroPlan in the Cloud
Options for operating ElectroPlan using various Cloud and On-Line Services …
Dropbox and Google Drive – store, access and share your ElectroPlan files directly from your on-line drive.
Click here for more details about ElectroPlan with Cloud Drives
These options have the following advantages …
- Share your work between computers.
- Share you work with colleagues.
- Ensure your ElectroPlan files are safe from computer malfunctions.
- Access your ElectroPlan files from any location..
ElectroPlan with Cloud Drives
Dropbox or Google Drive on Windows
Follow these steps to add access to Dropbox or Google Drive to your Windows Desktop ..
Download the Windows client software to your computer.
For Dropbox use this link … Download Dropbox or google “Dropbox on Windows” or similar.
For Google Drive use this link … Download Google Drive or google “Google Drive on Windows” or similar.
Once you have downloaded the client software and run the install process you should see Dropbox or Google Drive within Windows Explorer under Favorites. If you click the Dropbox or Google Drive entry under Favorites you will be taken to the drive contents under your Windows user login name.
There are two options to using ElectroPlan with Cloud Drives … “Live Mode” or “Backup Mode”
Live Mode
All ElectroPlan files are located on the Cloud Drive folder.
Typically the path to ElectroPlan as seen within the Windows files system is something like the paths below.
C:Users<UserLoginName>DropboxElectroplan
C:Users<UserLoginName>Google DriveElectroPlan
ElectroPlan is run from this location by creating a shortcut to the application file ElectroPlan.exe in the ElectroPlan folder, or you can use any other method within Windows for starting applications.
As ElectroPlan has started from the Cloud Drive Folder, all the file updates that occur as the system runs, are synced over the internet to your Cloud Storage.
To set this up you can either install ElectroPlan in the Cloud Drive Folder directly or copy the ElectroPlan folder and all sub-folders from the installation on your computer’s hard drive. Typically this will be the folder C:ElectroPlan. Once the files have been copied to the Cloud Storage be careful NOT to run ElectroPlan from this local hard drive again as the file content there will be more and more out of date as you work from the Cloud Storage Folder. Best to delete any shortcuts that point to that location and set up new ones for the new Cloud Storage Folder.
The response time for file based activity will vary according to your internet connection speed.
Backup Mode
All ElectroPlan files are located on your computer’s hard drive, ElectroPlan is run in the normal way from your hard drive exactly as per the standard install procedure.
When you have finished an ElectroPlan session the ElectroPlan folder and all sub-folders are copied to the Cloud Drive – effectively creating a backup of your ElectroPlan files in the Cloud.
For either mode your ElectroPlan files are available on line for you to access from another computer either directly (Live Mode) or after being copied from the Cloud Drive to the other computer’s hard drive (Backup Mode)
For information on how to copy files and folders using various copy methods, please consult Windows documentation on line. (Google “windows copy folders” or “xcopy” for a command line based option)
Updating to a new version of ElectroPlan
When new versions of ElectroPlan become available you can do the update in the normal way the only thing to be aware of is to navigate to the correct folder to install the upgrade.
At the third screen in the upgrade process (after the License Agreement) click the browse button and navigate to the Cloud Storage Folder. The path will be similar to that shown in the image with your login name and Dropbox or Google Drive.
For multi-user situations all users should be out of ElectroPlan when the update is done and should find that are on the latest version of ElectroPlan without having to to the upgrade on their computer.
