28 February 2024 - Collaboration and Digital TeachingBig heiBOX Update

The university sync and share service, heiBOX, is based on the software Seafile and enables users to safely synchronize, share and manage your files. Thanks to a major version upgrade from 7.1.22 to 10.0.12, the service has been improved with new functions and increased user-friendliness.

heibox logo

Efficient file management and seamless collaboration 

New features make it easier to manage files as well as optimize file sharing and collaborative editing with your team. An overview of the most important updates:

Data Exchange

In particular, there have been several functional enhancements and improvements to the share links:

  • Creation of QR codes for sharing and upload links 
  • New user-defined sharing authorizations offer more flexibility in managing the access rights of individual users through 
    • Support for creating multiple share links for files and folders   
    • Option for specifying an expiration date when creating share links
  • The following combinations are possible for individual sharing permissions (see screenshot): 
    1. Upload (files and folders can be uploaded to libraries and folders)
    2. Download (files and folders can be downloaded)
    3. Create (files and folders can be created)
    4. Modify (files and folders can be renamed and moved and files can be modified)
    5. Copy (files and folders can be copied into other libraries – copying within a library requires the "Modify" permission)
    6. Delete (files and folders can be deleted)
    7. Preview online (files can be shown in Seahub)
    8. Generate share link (possible for files and folders)
heibox update custom permissions
  • File tag visibility when accessed via share links 
  • Display of the table of contents for markdown share links
  • Share information is displayed when deleting folders, files, etc.
  • Files can be saved directly in your own heiBOX via the share link without being downloaded first (see screenshot)
heiBOX news article save

Multimedia

  • Display of password-protected PDFs
  • Enlarge or reduce PDFs on mobile devices with a finger gesture
  • Playback of more audio formats (.wav/.mp3) in the web interface

Group and Library management

  • Search for group members by group admins
  • Adding group members using contact email addresses
  • "Monitor and receive notifications" option for libraries 
    • Option to receive email notifications when documents in the library are changed

heiBOX is a secure, cost-free cloud and locally hosted service which can be used for collaboration within the University and with external cooperative partners. Detailed information about the new update can be found in the linked changelog.