Sharing club documents

Use Documents to share files with members, with staff, or with anyone who visits your website.

Fill in the Upload document form: a Title, an optional Description, the visibility, an optional Tag (a label you can search by, not a folder), and the file. The file can be a PDF, a Word file (.docx), an Excel file (.xlsx) or a PNG, JPG, GIF or WebP picture, up to 10 MB. Older Word and Excel files (.doc and .xls) and files that can run macros (.docm and .xlsm) aren't accepted: in Word or Excel, choose Save As and pick the .docx or .xlsx format first. A file whose name says .docx or .xlsx but that isn't really one is turned down with a message saying so. Review the visibility before you upload, because the document is available to that group as soon as it is saved. To replace an outdated file, upload the new one and delete the old one, so there are not several versions with similar names.

The library lists every document with its visibility, file name, size and date. Search by title, description, file name or tag, or filter by visibility. Select a file name to download it. Delete document removes the file for everyone, members included, and cannot be undone, so keep a copy of anything you are required to retain. A file that was shared with anyone can keep opening for a few minutes after you delete it, because browsers hold on to recent downloads.

Each document has one of four visibility settings:

• Public (all members): shown to members and former members once they sign in, in the portal and in your website's Documents section. Despite the name, it is not for the general public: a visitor who isn't signed in doesn't see it.

• Members: shown in the member portal to signed-in members.

• Staff only: shown only to people who have a staff account (manager, treasurer, or admin).

• Anyone, no sign-in needed: shown in your website's Documents section to everyone, including visitors who aren't signed in, and anyone who has the link can download it. Members see it in the portal too.

The difference between Public (all members) and Anyone, no sign-in needed is the sign-in. With the first, a person has to be a signed-in member (or former member or staff) to open the file. With the second, nobody has to sign in, and search engines may find the file once your website links to it. Choose it only for files you are happy for the whole world to see, such as a fee schedule, a pool rules flyer or a form to print. Don't use it for anything with a member's name, address or phone number on it.

"Staff only" means every staff account, not a smaller group such as the board. If a file should be seen by only a few people, share it outside the club document library.

A document shared with anyone has a Public link under its file name in the library. To use it somewhere other than the Documents section, such as a button or link in the text of a page, right-click Public link, copy the link address, and paste it where you want it. The link keeps working for as long as the document is shared with anyone; if you delete the document, or it stops being shared with anyone, the link shows a "not found" page. To change a document's visibility, upload it again with the new setting and delete the old one.

Members find available documents in the portal. People on your waitlist can sign in too, but they don't see any members' documents, on the website or in the portal, until they become members; they do see the ones shared with anyone. Former members still see them. Remove access to a document when it should no longer be available, but keep required historical records according to club policy. See Your club's website.

Until a document is shared, the member's Documents page says "The club hasn't shared any documents yet" and that documents will show up there, with a Contact us button.