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Please note : This help page is not for the latest version of Enterprise Architect. The latest help can be found here.

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Collaborations Window

The Collaborations window provides a simple yet comprehensive summary of the Review, Discussion, Comment and Chat messages sent and received in the model. It also provides the Model Mail facility. Each category of message is presented on a separate tab, showing details such as the name of the element under discussion, the date the message was posted, and in some cases the opening text of the post. You can perform operations either on individual items or on the list as a whole, and double-click on an item in one of the lists to display that item as the focus of the Collaborate window.

Access

Ribbon

Start > Collaborate > Discussions > Discussion History

Start > Collaborate > Discussions > Chat History

Start > Collaborate > Review > Review History

Start > Collaborate > Mail

Start > Desktop > Share > Collaborations > <appropriate tab>

Keyboard Shortcuts

Alt+2 > Collaborations > <appropriate tab>

Ctrl+Alt+9 > <appropriate tab>

The Reviews tab

The 'Reviews' tab shows the activity in Formal Reviews across the model, listing the items in which activity has occurred.

On this tab, apart from using the context menu options described in the General Features table, you can also double-click on an item both to open its Review discussion in the Collaborate window and, at the same time, to highlight the element under Review in the Browser window.

Note that where the 'Discussion' field shows a user name, it indicates that the posting was to add that user as an Approver (effectively, the user name is the text of the discussion). For further information on Review discussions, see the Reviews Help topic.

The Discussions tab

The 'Discussions' tab shows the Discussions that have been recorded on elements across the model, listing the elements under discussion and showing the text of the topic created against that element. Where there is more than one topic, the element is listed again for each topic. The tab does not list discussions concerning diagrams.

On this tab, apart from using the context menu options described in the General Features table, you can also double-click on an item both to open the Discussion topic in the Collaborate window and, at the same time, to highlight the element under discussion in the Browser window. Note that the timeframe in the Collaborate window must be able to accommodate the age of the posting; if you have listed Discussions from last month and the timeframe in the Collaborate window is three days, the Discussion topic will not display.

For further information on Discussions, see the Discussions Help topic.

The Comments tab

The 'Comments' tab lists the elements across the model against which comments have been posted, showing details of the element and the date on which the comment was posted.

On this tab, apart from using the context menu options described in the General Features table, you can also double-click on an item to open its comments in the Collaborate window. You can then add to or edit text in any comment posted on the element. You can also edit the comments in the preview pane, one of the features discussed in the General Features table.

For further information on comments, see the Comments Help topic.

The Chat tab

The 'Chat' tab lists Chat conversations that you have been a party to. These conversations can be between yourself and one other user, or you might have participated in a Chat with a group of users.

The tab defaults to the Summary, showing the last conversation you have had with each user or user group you have communicated with, and the last of your correspondents to send or receive a post in that conversation. A red arrow next to the users name indicates that the person sent you a message, and a green arrow indicates that you sent a message to that person - the icons are very visible and enable you to tell at a glance which conversations might require a response from you.

You can change the focus of the list by right-clicking on the panel and selecting the 'Visible Timeframe' option, then selecting to list all conversations from today, or from the last 7, 30 or 90 days. The tab then also shows the number of messages posted in each conversation - in the 'Total' column - and the names of the participants and the number of posts made by each person - in the 'Participants' column. You can also double-click on an item to display the complete conversation in the Collaborate window, as long as the window has been set to display posts from the appropriate number of days in the past.

For further information on Model Chats, see the Model Chat Help topic.

The Mail tab

The 'Mail' tab provides all of the intray facilities of the Model Mail feature, as described in the Model Mail Help topic. Sent messages are listed and displayed in a tab of the main work area.

General Features

When the Collaborations window displays, it lists the items in which activity has occurred in date/time order. On the 'Reviews', 'Discussions' and 'Comments' tabs the items for today are listed first, in the Today group, followed in sequence by the items active Yesterday, This Week, Last Week, This Month and Last Month. The 'Chat' tab by default only shows the last posts made by each of your correspondents in a conversation, but you can adjust the timeframe to show all Chats posted over that period, grouped under the same category headings.

The Collaborations window automatically refreshes after a short interval, which you define. You might notice the window flicker when it refreshes.

The tabs default to displaying a number of columns, as shown in the earlier illustrations, but you can remove information you don't need by dragging column headings out, and add information by right-clicking on the heading row, selecting the 'Field Chooser' option and dragging additional column headings into place. You can also filter the display according to field value, and regroup the items by setting up a group and subgroup hierarchy in the Group Box. For more information on tailoring the headings and content, see the List Header Help topic.

Option

Description

See also

Review

Select this option to open the Collaborate window at the 'Review' tab and/or load the selected element as the element in focus. 

Reviews

Manage Reviews

Select this option to display the details of all reviews recorded in the model, in the Reviews view.

Reviews

Go to this Discussion

On the 'Reviews' tab, this option opens the Collaborate window at the 'Review' tab and/or loads the topic thread for the selected element.

Alternatively, click on the item and press the Spacebar.

Discuss

On the 'Discussions' tab, this option opens the 'Discuss' tab of the Collaborate window and/or displays the discussion topics for the selected element. Alternatively, click on the item and press the Enter key.

Discussions

Comment

On the 'Comments' tab, this option opens the 'Comment' tab of the Collaborate window and/or displays the Comments for the selected element.

Comments

Chat

On the 'Chat' tab, this option opens the 'Chat' tab of the Collaborate window and/or displays the topics for the selected Chat.

Model Chat

Edit Discussion

On the 'Discussions' tab, select this option to display the Discussion in the 'Discuss' tab of the Collaborate window. You can then set the priority or status, delete a post or add a further discussion topic or response.

Discussions

Properties

Select this option to display the properties of the selected element under discussion, in the 'Properties' dialog.

Properties Dialog

Find in Project Browser

This option locates and highlights the element in the Browser window.

Find in Diagrams

This option locates and selects the selected element in any diagram in which it has been used. If the element has been used in more than one diagram, the diagrams are listed in the 'Element Usage' dialog and you can select from that list. The empty dialog is also displayed if the element is not used in any diagram.

Show Element Use

Visible Timeframe

Select this option to display a short menu of numbers of days, from which you can select a value to list items recorded up to that many days in the past. You can therefore expand or reduce your list of posted messages.

Check for Update Every

This option displays a short menu of time options - 1, 2, 5 or 10 minutes - as the interval between automatic refreshes to pick up new postings. Click on the interval you want to apply.

On the 'Comments' tab, if you are working in a local or .eap file, this menu also has an 'Enabled' option that you select to allow refresh of the Comments list, or de-select to prevent refresh of the list.

Show by Status

On the 'Reviews' tab, select this option to list either all the Review comments (the 'All' sub-option) or only those against elements having a selected element status.

When you select the 'Configure' option, a dialog displays listing all the possible status values for the element. Click on the checkbox against each status value you want to filter the displayed items for. You can click on the Select All or Clear All buttons to select or clear all checkboxes and reset one or two of them.

When you have made your selection, click on the OK button to filter the elements under review.

Reviews

Filter Approvals

On the 'Reviews' tab, select this option to set or clear a filter on the list of Reviews according to the assignment of Approvers to the review items. Select:

  • Approvals Only - to list only items that have assigned Approvers
  • My Approvals - to list only items where you are an assigned Approver
  • Hide All Approvals - to hide all items that have assigned Approvers
  • No Filter - to remove the filter and list all items, with or without assigned Approvers

Show All Posts

On the 'Reviews' tab and 'Discussions' tab, select this option to show all Discussions posted, not just the most recent one.

Show Preview Pane

Select this option to open a pane on the left or right of the window, or at the bottom of the window, displaying the text of the currently-selected review topic, discussion thread, comment or chat message. As you click on different items in the window, the text in the pane immediately reflects the new selected item. You can also hide the preview pane if you no longer need it.

You can edit Comments that you have created previously, in the preview pane as well as in the Collaborate window.

Refresh

This option will refresh and redisplay the currently-selected tab of the Collaborations window. You can also press F5 to refresh the contents of the window.

Learn more