Basic Lesson 8: Subscriptions and Searching

Wondering what your colleagues have been working on?  Have you ever misplaced a file?  With subscriptions and searching, you can stay on top of new information in Workspace using subscriptions and easily find information with searching.

In this video, you’ll learn how to stay informed about changes to information in Workspace and how to search for items using basic and advanced search techniques.

Subscriptions allow you to be notified of changes to a particular item in Workspace.  By Subscribing to an item, you are notified if something changes.  For example, if you are subscribed to a Workspace calendar, you will be notified when new events are added to the calendar.  Workspace subscriptions allow you to subscribe to an item in Workspace: folders, documents, calendars, task lists, and more.

You also customize your subscription.  You choose to receive notifications by email or on My Page or both.  You choose how often to receive email updates.  And if you’d like others to receive the same notifications, you can even subscribe others.

I will subscribe to the workspace workshops calendar.  First, navigate to the calendar.  In the command bar, under Inform, click Subscribe.  Complete this form.  When you’re finished, click Start my subscription.  When the calendar is next modified, I will receive a notification. 

Workspace’s search feature enables you to find information quickly and easily.  The search bar is available on almost every page in Workspace.  To perform a simple search, type a word into the search box and click Go.  You can even narrow your search here, by selecting the type of item you’re searching for or when the item was last modified.

Let’s say you’re interested in finding out who else works with English-language learners at WCER.  You can use the simple search.  Type “English language learn*” into the search box and select User from the type drop-down menu.  Then click Go.  The results you see show which other Workspace users have self-identified as working with English-language learners.

If you are searching for a common term or receive too many results after performing a simple search, you can use the advanced search.  To access the advanced search, click advanced search.  This search allows you to be quite specific about your search: clicking on the arrows will expand or collapse the search fields.  You can be as specific as you need.  For example, let’s say you’re looking for a spreadsheet that your coworker worked on last week.  First, you would specify the location.  Then you would specify the item type.  Next you would specify when the document was last modified and by whom.  Then, click search.  Remember, the results you see are limited to items to which you have access.  For more information about access, view lesson 4.

Now that you’re familiar with subscriptions and searching, navigate back to workspace and subscribe to the Workspace Workshop calendar.  You might want to try a few searches as well.  When you’re finished, view the next video on version control.