You should magically have a new shortcut on your desktop labeled “Butler Willow.afploc.” Double click on it to access the Willow share on Butler. When the dialog appears to enter your login info, feel free to tick the box to remember your password in the keychain so you don’t have to type it each time.
Remember: your username will be your full name without a space (for example: philcollins). If you’ve forgotten your password, we can reset it for you.
Alternatively, if don’t see that shortcut on your desktop, you can always access the server the “old fashioned” way by going to the Finder, clicking on the Go menu, selecting “connect to server” and entering afp://192.168.3.33 and hitting “connect.” Note that using this method will also show those of you who have access to other shares to those restricted folders as well. While those of you without access to those restricted folders may see them, you’ll get an error if you try to connect to a folder you don’t have access to.
Note: for either of the above methods, you either have to be in the office or connected to VPN.
If you’re out and about, you can also access your files through a web browser by going to Https://butler.willowmarketing.com:9991. This method does not require VPN.
Once logged in, select File Station and you’ll be able to see all the files you have access to.
Ready to get fancy? This new server has a lot of features including the ability to take files with you on the go with your mobile phone. Of particular interest may be the DS Files app, which allows you to access all the server files from your phone. Here’s a link to the app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ds-file/id416751772. For you Android folks: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.synology.DSfile&hl=en_US.
When launching it, enter “willowmarketing” as the address and then enter your username and password. Select HTTPS and click remember me.
One of my favorite features is the ability to share large files with folks outside of the network similar to how you’d use Dropbox, OneDrive or Google Drive. Here’s how to do it with the new server.
First, log into the web interface as discussed above (Https://butler.willowmarketing.com:9991). Once logged in, find the file (or folder) you want to share and right-click on it and choose “Share.”
Follow the prompts and you can copy the sharing URL to send to your intended recipient.
As an added bonus, you can password protect the link and setup a time for which it’s valid.
There are other features like the ability to request large files and sync items to your local computer for offline access like Dropbox or OneDrive, but I won’t get into those unless someone has a specific need.
Wait! What about just clicking on the server in the Finder sidebar? Well, you can, but with some caveats. First, this method won’t work when you’re connected via VPN. It just won’t show up. Moreover, when connecting using this method, you connect using a protocol (SMB) that’s not as friendly to certain characters like / ? < > \ : * | “. If those are used in the file or folder name or anywhere in the path leading up to it, whacky things happen and you won’t be able to see the files properly.
