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CFDE Communication Management Help Overview Testing

We are using a number of services to communicate and share files:

Depending on your role and needs, you may find that the default settings for these services give you too many, or too few, notifications. On this page you will find instructions for altering common settings as well as links out to more detailed information.

If you are having problems accessing these services, please see the Onboarding Help

Table of Contents

GitHub Help

This page is for changing GitHub notification and other settings. For help with using GitHub, for e.g. opening issues or making pull requests, see the GitHub Usage Guide

Glossary

  • Organization: Our GitHub Organization is https://github.com/nih-cfde. This is the location on the web where you can access all of the CFDE github repositories. We also have an 'organization' repository, which is a folder that contains all the meta information about our Organization
  • Repository: Each repository or 'repo' is a self-contained collection of documents and code. There can be any number of repositories in our Organization, and anyone in our group can make a new repository. See the New Repository Guidelines for more info
  • Team: Each member of our Organization will be assigned to one or more Teams. The Team(s) you are in determine what repositories you have edit access for. By default everyone has at least read access to all CFDE repositories. Teams can also be tagged into conversations and have other useful features. Anyone in our group can make new teams.
  • Pull Request: A Pull Request or 'PR' is the main way to share your own edits to documents in a repository
  • Branch: Since many people might work on a document simultanously, when anyone makes an edit to a document GitHub makes that change on a different 'branch', so each person can make their own changes and then submit their version to the group for approval via a Pull Request
  • Commit: Essentially saving. When you are making changes to a document in your branch, you need to commit your changes before you leave the page. If you are making a lot of changes, you can do many commits and submit all the changes on your branch as one Pull Request.
  • Review Request: To ensure that errors aren't accidently introduced into important code and documents, all Pull Requests must be reviewed by at least one other person before they are merged into the official version
  • Merge: Once you have submitted a Pull Request, and it has been approved via review, you can merge your changes, at which point your version of the document is the version displayed in the repository
  • Issues: Issues are ways to make comments or requests in a repository

Changing Notifications

By default, your Github account will automatically 'watch' repositories and teams that you are added to, and by default it will email you notifications each time there is a PR, Commit, Review Request, Issue or Comment on any of those repositories, and also whenever a new repository is made in our Organization.

However, unless you are actively working in a repository, you probably don't need to be notified of every change. There are two places where you will need to change your settings to reduce the number of times GitHub contacts you.

Watching Settings

First, make sure you are only watching repos that you are actively interested in tracking. Since everyone in our Organization has at least read access to all our repos, you'll be watching all of them, regardless of how they relate to your role. You can see all the repos you are watching at this link: https://github.com/watching You should get something like this:

Watch List

For each repository in the list, decide how often you want to hear about it. There are four options: 'Not Watching', 'Releases Only', 'Watching' and 'Ignoring'

Watching Options

For repositories that you actively work in, and would like to be notified of things like PRs and conversations, choose 'Watching'. You can set what types of actions send you notifications using the Notification Settings instructions below.

For most other repositories, you will likely want to set them to 'Not Watching' or 'Releases Only'. Both of these options will only send you notifications if someone specifically invokes you or your team in a PR, comment, etc.

If you are sure you will never be interested in a repository, you can set it to 'Ignoring'. This will stop all notifications, even if people specifically mention you. As this is a collaborative project and your colleagues might request your input in places you didn't expect, we do not advise setting CFDE repos to 'Ignoring'.

Notification Settings

Once you have determined which repos you want to watch, you can change what triggers watching notifications, as well as edit the default behavior of watching everything. You edit these settings at: https://github.com/settings/notifications

Your current notification settings will look like this:

Notification Options

Automatic watching section To stop GitHub from automatically watching repos in the future, you should uncheck the 'Automatically watch repositories' box. You can also stop GitHub from automatically watching any new Teams.

Note that if you uncheck these boxes you will have to specifically turn on 'watching' for specific repos and teams you become interested in later (See Watching Repos and Teams below).

Participating section Here you can choose where you receive notifications for discussions you are actively participating in. This includes things like PRs or Issues you made, PRs or Issues your have reviewed or commented on, and other conversations where your name is mentioned. You can get them either only by email, only at your GitHub notifications page (https://github.com/notifications) or get them in both places.

Watching section Here you can choose where you receive notifications for discussions you are watching. This includes things like PRs or Issues on repositories you are watching. You can get them either only by email, only at your GitHub notifications page (https://github.com/notifications) or get them in both places.

Settings to try: Have 'Participating' notifications only emailed to you so you always see them right away, but have 'Watching' notifications only visible on the web, so you can look through them all once a week.

Vulnerability alerts section We suggest checking only the 'Web' option. Most of our repositories don't contain running code, and so won't have security alerts anyway.

Email notification preferences section Here, you can further customize what types of events trigger your alerts.

  • Comments on Issues and Pull Requests: Unchecking this box will stop general notifications about comments on Issues and PRs in your watched repos
  • Pull Request reviews: Unchecking this box will stop general notifications about new Review Requests on repos your watched repos
  • Pull Request pushes: Unchecking this box will stop general notifications about Merges in your watched repos
  • Include your own updates: Checking this box will cause GitHub to email you notifications about things you did. Unchecking this box will stop notifications about your own actions.

Unchecking all of these boxes would cause you to only get email alerts for conversations where you are specifically mentioned or actively participating.

For more information about notifications see the GitHub Notification About page or the GitHub Getting Started with Notifications page

Subscriptions

You can make more fine-grained changes to your notifications by subscribing, or unsubscribing, from specific conversations, PRs, issues, etc; regardless of whether you are watching the repo they happen in. For more information, see the Subscriptions help page from Github.

Watching Repos and Teams

If you have turned off auto-watching, you will need to manually start watching new repos that you would like to follow.

To watch a new repository:

To watch a new team:

  • Navigate to the nih-cfde Teams page: https://github.com/orgs/nih-cfde/teams
  • Click the name of the Team you are interested in (you may have to use the arrows on the right to uncollapse the team lists)
  • On the left side of the screen, click the Watch button and select 'Watching'
  • See the GitHub help for more info

If you did not find the solution to your problem on this page, please email the HelpDesk

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groups.io Help

We are using groups.io to manage our mailing lists. Our overall groups.io account is restricted access and can only be joined by filling out the onboarding form, however most mailing lists are unrestricted to members, and you can edit your subscriptions at any time. See the list of available mailing lists here.

Getting Mail

If you are not receiving or are only intermittedly receiving, mail, you may need to add [email protected] to your safe sender list in your email client’s contacts.

You should also check your subscription settings by:

  • Navigating to https://cfde.groups.io/g/General
  • Clicking on Your Groups at the top of the page and selecting the specific list you are having problems with
  • Clicking on Subscription near the top left of the screen
  • Ensuring that your 'Email Delivery' option is correct. Most users will want 'Individual Messages', 'Full Featured Digest', or 'Daily Summary', which will email you every message, messages in groups of 12, or a summary of all the days messages, respectively.

Managing Subscriptions

Join a mailing list

You can add yourself to a mailing list by:

  • Navigating to https://cfde.groups.io/g/General
  • Clicking on Subgroups on the left side of the screen
  • Scrolling down to Subgroups You Can Join'
  • Clicking the name of the mailing list you'd like to join
  • Clicking the Join This Group or Apply For Membership In This Group button near the bottom of the page. Groups with a Join This Group button will add you instantly. Apply For Membership In This Group groups are restricted and your request must be approved by a moderator.
Leave a mailing list

You can leave a mailing list by:

  • Navigating to https://cfde.groups.io/g/General
  • Clicking on Subgroups on the left side of the screen
  • Finding the list in 'Subgroups You Belong To'
  • Clicking the name of the mailing list you'd like to leave
  • Clicking on Subscription near the top right of the screen
  • Clicking on the Unsubscribe button at the bottom of the page
Changing your email frequency

You can alter your subscription to a mailing list you already receive by:

  • Navigating to https://cfde.groups.io/g/General
  • Clicking on Your Groups at the top of the page and selecting the specific list you are having problems with
  • Clicking on Subscription near the top right of the screen
  • Ensuring that your 'Email Delivery' option is correct. Most users will want 'Individual Messages', 'Full Featured Digest', or 'Daily Summary', which will email you every message, messages in groups of 12, or a summary of all the days messages, respectively.
Creating a new mailing list

All mailing lists in the CFDE groups.io, including any private lists you may make, are bound by the CFDE Code of Conduct. To create a new mailing list:

  • Navigate to https://cfde.groups.io/g/General
  • Click on Subgroups on the left side of the screen
  • Click on the + Create Subgroup
  • For your 'Subgroup Email Address', choose something short but descriptive
  • Add a description to help other users decide whether they want to join your list
  • For 'Visibility', we recommend choosing 'Subgroup listed in parent group, messages viewable by parent group members'. This will keep your archive private to the CFDE, but allow members to search your archives without joining
  • Accept the warning about making messages private
  • Click on + Create Subgroup
  • Make an issue or PR to update https://github.com/nih-cfde/organization/blob/master/MailingLists.md
  • Consider advertising your new list by posting it in General on Slack or submitting it the 'Announcements' mailing list

If you did not find the solution to your problem on this page, please email the HelpDesk

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Google Drive Help

You will have access to two different CFDE drives.

  • CFDE Admin: Everyone has view access to this drive. It contains files related to maintaining the CFDE infrastructure and files that need to be locked from direct editing such as the contact list created by the onboarding form
  • CFDE Everyone: Everyone has edit access to this drive. It contains the bulk of CFDE files and is the main place for collaboration

All interactions in the CFDE Google Drives are bound by the CFDE Code of Conduct.

All documents in the CFDE Google Drive spaces are assumed to be under the CFDE License unless another license is specified in the document.

Accessing the drives

You must be logged into Google Drive using the email you specified in your onboarding form.

On the left side of the screen, you should see a button for Team Drives:

Shared Drives

You may need to click on the small arrow to see the list of drives you have access to:

Show Team Drives

Sharing Files

Both drives, and their contents, are viewable only by members who have completed the onboarding form. You can still send links to files, however in order to view the link, the recipient will need to log in using the email they specified in their onboarding form.

To copy the sharable link:

  • Right-click on the desired file and select Share OR click on the desired file and click the share button near the top right of the screen
  • Click 'WHO HAS ACCESS' in the bottom left corner of the dialogue box that appears

Link Sharing Off

  • Click the small arrow next to 'Link sharing off'

Link Sharing Off

  • Click the COPY button next to the URL

Link Sharing Off

If you did not find the solution to your problem on this page, or believe you have been assigned the wrong permissions, please email the HelpDesk

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Slack Help

Slack is a group chat system similar to a 90's online chat room. You can use it to talk, to share files, and even to voice chat; and it supports an unlimited number of private and public 'channels' as well as private instant messaging with any number of members. We have already installed a number of apps that allow you to do things like Doodle polls or displaying GitHub issues inside a channel, however members can install others as needed.

All interactions in the CFDE Slack, including inside of private messages and channels are bound by the CFDE Code of Conduct.

Channels

Joining Channels

By default, everyone is added to #general and #random, but you can join as many other open channels as you like. To see the current list of available channels and join some:

  • Click the word 'Channels' in the sidebar

Channels

  • Browse the list of channels under 'Channels you can join'

Browse

  • Click on any channel to preview the channel and see if it's what you want
  • Click Join Channel at the bottom of the screen to join
Leaving a Channel

As a member of our Slack community, you must be a part of #general, however you can freely leave and join others. To leave a channel:

  • Click the name of the channel in your sidebar to show the channel
  • Click the gear icon at the top of your window
  • Choose Leave #ChannelName It will be the last option in the dropdown menu
Adding a Channel

Members are welcome to add channels for topics not currently covered by other channels, and are not restricted to CFDE topics (i.e. a channel that's all cat pictures all the time is perfectly fine). However, all interactions in the CFDE Slack, including private messages and channels are bound by the CFDE Code of Conduct, and messages that constitute harassment of any kind will not be tolerated.

To create a new channel:

  • Click on the plus sign in a circle next to the word 'Channels' in the sidebar

Channels

  • Choose whether the channel is public or private. Public channels are listed in the directory and joinable by any member, Private channels are not listed in the directory and are invitation only. Channels for large working groups, general discussion, cat photos, etc, should generally be public. Channels for discussing the travel plans of your small working group, steering committees, etc should generally be private. (See Private messages vs Private Channels below for more info.)
  • Choose a short, but descriptive name
  • If your channel is public, be sure to give it a purpose (description) so people can tell what it's about
  • Invite people you think (or know) want to be a part of your channel
  • Click Create Channel

Getting someones attention

Typing a question intended for one person into #general or another busy channel will likely not result in a response. Luckily, there are several ways to get the attention of one person, a few people, or everyone, in a channel.

Call Outs

If you want one, or a few, people to answer a question publically you can ask with a callout in a channel. For example, to ask the 2-3 people who might know: "When is the next Project Management meeting?", you can use the @ to have each person you list get a notification directing them to your message like this:

callouts

  • If you want everyone who is currently online in that channel to get a notification use @here
  • For everyone in the channel, even if they aren't online use @channel

Private messages

If you want one or a few people to answer a question privately, you can start a private message. Slack calls these Direct messages To start a new Direct message:

  • Click on the plus sign in a circle next to the word 'Direct Messages' in the sidebar
  • Type the name(s) of who you would like to chat with
  • Click Go

Once you have at least one message in your direct message history with someone, they will appear as a shortcut under 'Direct Messages'. Only your ~10 most recent private message groups will display here, however the hidden ones still exist. You can get back to any of your direct message histories by following the steps to start a new private message.

Private messages vs Private Channels

Private messages are different from private channels. In a private channel anyone in that channel can invite others, it is private in that you need an invitation to join, not that no one else can ever see it. Anyone joining a channel can see it's entire history. Private channels can also have an unlimited number of members (up to everyone in the CFDE).

In a private message, (Direct message) no one can leave or join the message group, and the maximum number of members is eight. If you are in a private message, you will see that the gear icon does an option to 'Invite another member' to your private message, however if you do that, it just starts a new private session with your new group. The added member cannot see the history of the original group.

Threads

Slack supports chat threading. This allows you to continue conversations in a busy Channel without all the replies getting jumbled together. To start a new thread:

  • Choose a message in the main chat window that you'd like to continue talking about
  • Hover over the message with your cursor

Start a thread

- On the right hand side, click the speech bubble icon labeled 'Start a thread' - This will split your chat window and put your message directly after the reply

Start a thread

- In busy channels where the original message quickly scrolls off the screen, you can easily track replies to your threads by clicking on 'Threads' at the top of the sidebar

Start a thread

Search

Slack supports global search of your messages, so you don't have to remember what channel you read that important thing in. To search, type your query in the search bar in the top right corner. It doesn't matter what channel you are in when you start your search.

  • To confine your search to one channel, include the channel name, e.g. to find where someone mentioned the meeting in the PM channel search: #project-management meeting
  • To search all public channels (regardless of whether you are a member) as well as all private channels and private messages that include you, just search your word, e.g. meeting
  • To search only public and private channels that you are a member of and your private messages, do the above search and then filter the results by checking the 'Only search my channels' box

filter

  • You can also filter your results by person, channel, and date range

Apps

There are several apps installed on Slack, and you can always install others. To use an app, start by typeing / All apps are invoked using the forward slash and then typing an appropriate command. When you type /, Slack knows you're trying to call an app and offers you auto-complete suggestions. Most apps respond to help, so if you're unsure how to use an app, typing /AppName help will generally bring up the options. One useful app is 'remind', which can be used to send yourself, or a channel, some reminder at a specific time. To remind all the project managers that there is a meeting every Wednesday at 2pm, you would type:

/remind #project-management Project Managers Meeting Wednesdays at 2pm

And Slack would begin sending a channel notification to the #project-management channel just before their meetings.

Reactions

Sometimes you want to react to a message in Slack without having to type words. You can react to any slack message with emoji, similar to the way you can 'heart' tweets on Twitter or 'like' posts on Facebook. To add your reaction, hover your cursor over the message you want to react to, then click on the smiley that appears on the right side of the message. You can then choose from a huge array of emoji to express your feelings about the post.

If you did not find the solution to your problem on this page, please email the HelpDesk

Notifications

By default, you will only be notified when someone specifies your name as in @Amanda Charbonneau or notifies an entire channel, as in @here or @channel

You can alter your notifications per channel by:

  • Open the channel
  • Click the gear icon near the top of the app screen
  • Select Notification preferences
  • Choose your settings

For more fine grained notification changes, see the Slack help

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