52. Share Your iDisk Public Folder with Others  BEFORE YOU BEGIN 45 Sign Up for .Mac 50 Connect to Your iDisk
 SEE ALSO 53 Password-Protect Your Public Folder
Although iDisk is most useful in keeping your Macs' files synchronized, that is not by a long shot its only function. Your iDisk can also be used as a quick way to share files with other userseven if they're not using Macs. The Public folder in your iDisk, like the Public folder in your Home folder on your local Mac, is accessible to anybody on the Internet. Anything you place into that folder can be accessed by Mac OS X users, Windows XP users (using the free iDisk Utility for Windows), Mac OS 9 users, or anybody with a web browser; all they have to know is your .Mac member name . | 1. | Place Files in Your Public Folder Open your iDisk (whether accessed remotely or using the local copy) in the Finder; drag files or folders into the Public folder inside your iDisk. If you're using a locally synchronized copy of your iDisk, this will be an almost instantaneous process (you will need to click the Sync button next to iDisk in the Finder's Sidebar to publish the files to the server, if you have chosen to sync your iDisk manually); if you're connecting to your iDisk remotely, it will take a few moments to copy the files to the server. 52. Share Your iDisk Public Folder With Others  | | 2. | Connect to Another User 's Public Folder If you know another .Mac user who has placed files in his iDisk's Public folder, you can access that folder directly knowing only the user's member name. Open the Go menu in the Finder; in the iDisk submenu, then select the Other User's Public Folder option. Enter the other user's .Mac member name in the dialog box that appears and click Connect. The other user's iDisk Public folder will appear in the left pane of your Finder window, as well as on your Desktop under the name <membername> -Public (where <membername> is the other user's .Mac member name).  NOTE If the other user has protected his Public folder with a password, another dialog box appears, prompting you for that password. Enter it and click OK . Depending on the other user's iDisk settings, you might be able to copy files into his Public folder by dragging them or delete files by  +dragging them; if the user has allowed Read only access to the Public folder, however, you will not be able to make any changes to the files in that user's Public folder. | | 3. | Windows: Download the iDisk Utility If you have a PC running Windows XP, you can access the files in a .Mac user's Public folder using the free iDisk Utility , available at the .Mac website. Go to http://www.mac.com using your Windows web browser, and log in using your .Mac account information; click the iDisk icon, and follow the links to the iDisk Utility . Download the ZIP archive for Windows and install the program. TIP If you're using Mac OS X version 10.1 or 10.2, you also must download the iDisk Utility before you can access other users' iDisks or Public folders. This functionality is built into Mac OS X Panther (version 10.3) and later, but earlier versions don't have it as part of the system. Download the Mac OS X version of the iDisk Utility if you have one of these older releases of Mac OS X. | | 4. | Windows XP: Connect to a .Mac User's Public Folder
Open the iDisk Utility and click the radio button next to the Public Folder icon. Type the .Mac user's member name whose Public folder you want to connect to in the Member Name box.
Click the Connect button; if a password is required to open the folder, enter it in the dialog box that appears and click OK .
The user's Public folder will be mounted as a network drive within Windows, accessible via the Windows Explorer or My Computer ; you can browse its contents and place files into it (if the owner has granted Read & Write access to others).
| | 5. | Mac OS 9: Connect to a .Mac User's Public Folder
To connect to another user's iDisk Public folder from a Mac OS 9 machine, open the Chooser (using the Apple menu) and click the AppleShare icon on the left. Click the Server IP Address button and then type idisk.mac.com in the Enter the Server Address field. Click Connect .
You are prompted to enter the person's .Mac member name; if the Public folder requires a password, type it in the Password field. If the folder doesn't require a password, type the word public instead. Click Connect to continue.
In the next dialog box, select the shared resource whose name matches the user's .Mac member name (it should be the only one available); when you click OK , the iDisk share will appear on your Desktop.
| | 6. | Other Operating Systems: Connect to a .Mac User's Public Folder
You can connect to a .Mac user's iDisk with other operating systems, too. In Windows 2000, select Map Network Drive from the Tools menu, then click Web folder or FTP site and enter the URL http://idisk.mac.com/< membername >-Public/ (where <membername> is the user's .Mac member name).
In Windows 98, open My Computer and double-click the Web Folders option. Then double-click Add Web Folder and enter the URL http://idisk.mac.com/< membername >-Public/ .
You can even connect to a user's Public folder using Linux or Unix if you have a WebDAV client (iDisk operates using WebDAV). Enter this URL when you are prompted for the server location by the client: http://idisk.mac.com/< membername >-Public/ .
| | 7. | Create a File Sharing Page
You can create a .Mac web page to share the contents of your iDisk Public folder with anybody who has a web browser. To do this, go to the .Mac website at http://www.mac.com and log in using your .Mac account information. Then click the HomePage icon. Create a new page using the File Sharing theme tab in the lower portion of the screen (see 47 Create a .Mac Web Page ). Customize the page as you would any other .Mac web page, giving it a proper descriptive name; then click Publish . The .Mac service will then give you the URL for your new File Sharing page.
Use this URL to open a web page that shows a listing of all the files and folders in your Public folder; give the URL to your friends so that they can access those same files. However, people don't even have to know the URL of your File Sharing page, as long as they know your .Mac member name: People can go directly to http://homepage.mac.com/< membername > (where <membername> is your .Mac member name). There will be a link at the top of the page to your File Sharing page, listed by the name that you gave it when you created it.
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