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 Vista/XP, Windows Server 2003/2000 or Windows 98/95.  Office Center also works well on Novell and 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 (XP Screens).
   Office Center should only be installed on the computer that will act as the server. All other machines should run Office Center through the network. Do not install Office Center on every computer on the network. The server does not need to be a dedicated server, it will run fine in a “peer to peer” 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) access for ALL users who will use the Office Center program. You can do this by going to “My Computer”, double click drive (c:) and right clicking on the “oc” folder. Pick the “Sharing” option from the menu. If you are using XP, 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 2000 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 XP, be sure to check the box that says :“Allow users to change my files”.
    
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 “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 Vista/XP/2000 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. If you are using Windows XP, once you have mapped the network drive, it will open a window showing the files on that drive. You can simply “right click” on the file marked OCW or OCW.exe 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 TC or TC.exe 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:\ocw.exe”, and “f:\tc.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 Vista/XP and Windows 2003 Server network, 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.