• So I’ve installed FileRide. Now what?

  We’re glad you asked. First off, you can quickly learn the basics by clicking the question mark in the toolbar at the top.

  Then you may want to set up your profile. Do this:

  1. Click the monkey in the toolbar to go to your profile.
  2. Click the “edit” link in the top right corner of your profile to fill in some details about yourself.

  Then add a profile picture:

  1. Drag an image into FileRide. Just select and drag the file (JPEG, PNG, TIFF, etc.) from your hard drive onto the FileRide navigator pane – the section with the dark background on the right half of the main window – and then drop it. Alternatively, you can click the green plus icon in the horizontal toolbar at the top, choose “Add Files” and then select the file(s) to add from the standard file selector that appears.
  2. Once the image appears within FileRide (over that dark background) you can right-clickctrl-click the image and select “Set as Profile Picture“.

  Start a group chat:

  1. FileRide comes with a number of standard groups, links and pictures for demo purposes. Right-clickCtrl-click on one and select “Chat“.
  2. Write something and if you’re lucky (and moderately interesting) some people will chat with you.

  Meet new like-minded friends:

  The point of FileRide is that groups of people can meet through ANY file or link, not just the ones we provided. So now it’s up to you to add the links and files that you’re interested in!

  For example, if you have an MP3 of the song “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” by Radiohead* you can:

  1. Add it to FileRide by dragging and dropping it on the FileRide window.
  2. Right-clickCtrl-click the file in FileRide and proceed to “Chat” about or “Discuss” it.
  3. Say something and prepare to meet new Radiohead fans.

  This works for any type of file or link. Note that nobody can see what files you put into FileRide or access them in any way.

  Naturally, the more users we have, the more clusters of people form naturally around common interests, and the more like-minded people you can meet. So make sure you invite your friends to join the FileRide movement!

• What is the difference between the Smorgasbord, Microblog, chat, and status?

  Microblog is just for you to write messages, short or long, to let people know what you’re up to. If you know Twitter, this is basically the same thing.
  Smorgasbord is for you and your FileRide friends to post messages and links – like the “Wall” on FaceBook.
  Chat is for real-time text conversations between you and other users. When you initiate a chat with a friend it’s a one-on-one conversation. When you initiate a chat on a file, link, video or group, anyone with that item can follow and participate in the discussion. However, chat sessions are only stored temporarily, unlike Smorgasbord and Microblog entries, which are permanent (unless they get deleted by their authors or group administrators).

• How do I update my profile picture?

  It’s easy. Just drag an image into FileRide. Then, in the FileRide application, right-clickctrl-click the image and click “Set as Profile Picture“.

• How do I share photos?

  Drag them into FileRide and then, in FileRide, select the photos you wish to share and click “Share Photo“.

• Who can see my photos?

  Only your FileRide friends can see your shared photos. Nobody can see the photos you add to FileRide unless you share them as outlined above.

• How can I create a private group of my friends?

  Go to the Tools menu and click “Create Group”. That takes you to a form for creating a group. Fill in the name and city for the group. Select open entrance policy if anyone can join, or closed if you want control over who joins the group.
  Finally, pick a category and click “Create”. The group will appear in your FileRide account.
  To let your friends know about the group you can right-clickctrl-click the group in the right pane and click Post To→Friend→YourFriendsName. That will post a link to the group on your friend’s Smorgasbord.

• I just added some files. Why don’t they show up?

  Make sure you select the right type filter by clicking the appropriate icon in the vertical toolbar. There are separate sections for Users , Groups , Music , Photos , Video , Office , Links and YouTube videos . The FileRide icon on the top of the vertical toolbar lets you view all items without filtering by type. If you still don’t find it, try typing a few letters of the filename to activate the text filter.

  There are also three sort/filter modes, which you toggle using the icons at the bottom of the vertical toolbar. You can sort and filter based on recent activity , sort alphabetically/numerically , or sort by rating .

• I’m looking at some images I’ve just added to FileRide, but it’s only showing me the ones with a specific tag. How can I go back and see other images?

  If you have entered a search text (the search box in the upper right corner of FileRide) try clearing the search box by clicking it or by repeatedly pressing backspace.
  If you have added tags to your search filter (filtering tags will be shown as text labels at the top of the black area in FileRide) remove them by clicking on them or pressing backspace.

• When I view the many files I’ve added, they do not appear in the order of their number; e.g., 59 and 60 might be first, then 12-15, then 1-5, etc. What do I do?

  Make sure you select the alpha/numeric sort mode by clicking the icon at the bottom end of the vertical toolbar. In case the files are located in different folders the folder names will take precedence over the file names.

• It would be helpful to have a spinning wheel or hourglass or something to indicate the progress of an upload.

  Yes – we are working to add a progress indicator for individual files or sets of files.

• I was copying some URLs today when FileRide appeared and said I could post them just by clicking on the FileRide box. That was cool and easy. Now they are on my Profile page.

  Err… no. You added the links to your own private library of links (or YouTube videos, etc). If you want to post them – i.e. share them explicitly with others – you could either right-clickctrl-click on the link in the right pane of FileRide and choose Post To → Microblog (to post on your own Microblog, visible to all your friends/contacts), or Post To → Friend → SomeFriend to post it on your friend’s Smorgasbord.

• How do I tag and classify my files and links?

  Just select the files you want to tag, right-clickctrl-click and select “Tag”. A text box appears, enter the tag and press Return/Enter or press Esc to cancel.

• How can I remove a tag?

  If you want to remove the tag from a specific file or set of files. Just select the file(s) and then in the tag wheel (the round thing), right-clickctrl-click the tag you want to remove and click “Delete tag from selected items“.
  If you want to remove a tag completely from all items type a few letter of the tag and it should appear in the tag wheel. Right-clickCtrl-click the tag and click “Delete tag“.

• How do I search and filter items in FileRide?

  You can do it by combining different tools.

  1. Filtering by type of item (Music, Photos, Links, …) clicking the appropriate icon in the vertical toolbar.
  2. Search by item name by just typing on the keyboard.
  3. Search using different combinations of tags by clicking tags in the tag wheel.

  Here are a couple of examples, but you have to play around to get a feel for it.

  Say you want to find a photo named “summer 2008” (that you’ve already added to FileRide):

  1. Click the photos icon in the vertical toolbar.
  2. Type “summer” (it will end up in the search box in the upper right corner of FileRide)
  3. If there are too many items you could type a more specific search term or click a relevant tag in the tag wheel.

  Say you want to see all live songs by Bob Dylan (that you’ve already added to FileRide):

  1. Click the music icon in the vertical toolbar.
  2. Type “bob” and click “bob dylan” in the tag wheel.
  3. Type “li” and click “live” in the tag wheel.

Hopefully that will help get you started! If you have any comments or questions, please don’t hesitate to send us an email at feedback@fileride.com. Thanks!

* We know, we already used this example elsewhere on the website. Have a better suggestion? You can find us in the FileRide “Music” group