Installing Office Center On A Network
 

Office Center is fully network compatible. It is specifically designed to let you share information with others on your network. The following network instructions assume that you are using Windows 10/8/7/Vista or Windows Server 2016/2012/2008.   Newer Versions of Office Center will run on all Windows 64 bit and 32 bit operating systems.  Office Center also works well on Linux network servers. Please read and follow these five instructions carefully and do them in order, step by step, to ensure a problem free network installation.

1. Install Office Center on the Server only 
   Office Center should only be installed on the computer that will act as the server machine. All other client machines should run Office Center through the network. Do not install Office Center on every client computer on the network. The server does not need to be a dedicated server, it will run fine in any “peer to peer” networked environment. We prefer that you let Office Center install itself to the normal “OC” directory on the server. If you relocate the default directory, it may complicate the installation of any future updates.
    
2. Sharing the Office Center Folder For ALL users. You must share the “oc” folder (Office Center installation folder) on the server’s hard drive and you must also grant users the ability for others to change your files. You must give full control (read, write & create) or (view and edit) access for ALL users who will use the Office Center program.  You can do this by opening up File Explorer (small yellow folder on your bottom toolbar) and clicking on "This PC" (Windows 10) or “Computer” in Windows 7 on the left side of the File Explorer screen.  Double click drive (C:) in the right hand panel and then right click on the “oc” folder.  Pick the “Give Access To” option from the menu.   If you're using Windows 10-7 with an established homegroup, you can choose to share the folder with the Homegroup (view and edit).  If you wish to share it with everyone, pick the "specific users" option.  Pull down the pulldown and select "Everyone" and pick "add".  Click on everyone in the box below and check the read/write option for everyone.   Pick the "Share" option.  If you are using Vista, check both boxes to share the files and to allow others to change these files also. Be certain you grant “Full Access” to all users on other types of servers. You must grant full control access for each user who will use Office Center or it will not run properly on client machines. If you are using Windows 2016 as a server, be sure to set the security tab to allow full control for each user who will access Office Center.  If you are using Homegroup sharing in Windows 10, be sure to share give your Homegroup both view *and* edit priviledges.
    
3. For Office Center to work properly on a client machine, you must map a network drive to the OC directory on the server. If you do not map a drive to the server in before setting up a shortcut, you will not be able to access modules once you enter Office Center from client machines.
   You can map a network drive by going to a client machine and right clicking on the "This PC"/“My Computer” icon on the opening screen (or under the start menu) and selecting “Map A Network Drive” from the pulldown menu. Select the drive letter and path to use when connecting to the server. Make sure you check the box that says “Reconnect At Logon" and press "Finish". The browse option under Windows 10/8/7/Vista will allow you to search for the shared folder without knowing the name of the server.
    
4. Setting up a shortcut on the client machine. Once you have mapped the network drive, it will open a window on the client machine showing the files on that mapped drive. You can simply “right click” on the file marked OCW32 or OCW32.exe (it may be called OC or OCW.EXE on older versions of Office Center) and “Send” it to your “Desktop (create shortcut). If you need a shortcut to the timeclock program on this work station, right click on the file marked TC32 or TC32.exe (TC or TC.EXE on older versions) and send it to the desktop as a shortcut as well. You can also create a shortcut on the client machine of any operating system by right clicking on the desktop, picking “new” and select “shortcut”. When it asks for the path to the shortcut, enter “f:\ocw32.exe”, and “f:\tc32.exe” assuming you mapped the F: drive to the OC folder on the server.
    
5. The Office Center program needs to know it’s being run in a network environment.
   To tell Office Center it is running on a network, go to the opening screen of Office Center and select “System Settings” and “General System Settings” from the top menu. You should see the screen similar to the one on the right. Make sure there is a check mark in the “Network and Record and File Locking” option. If you do not check this option, the program will try to repair indexes every time a second person enters the program.
    
6. Network configuration questions, i.e. “How do I set up my network” or “How do I share my hard disk?” are beyond the scope of our normal toll free technical support. Although we do run Office Center at our offices on a Windows 10/8/7/Vista and Windows 2016, 2012 Server networks, we are by no means experts at configuring the wide variety of networking packages available. Networking questions are better asked of a local networking expert. A qualified technician should be able to set up and configure a typical small network in a reasonable time frame. Due to the large number of Office Center users and volume of questions we typically receive, it isn’t feasible for us to spend an hour setting up a network. If for some reason you need special assistance from us, please call in advance to arrange a convenient time.