Kerika: Getting Started

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Getting Started

Three things you need to understand about Kerika before you get started:

Kerika an application that you download and run on your computer: your project information, files, pictures, notes, etc. are all stored on your computer, not at our Web site.

When you share a project, each person on the team has a complete set of project files on their computers, which means everyone is self-sufficient, and there isn't any single point of failure for the team.

Because your files are stored on your computer, you cannot access them from another computer: you can set up several Kerika accounts on a single computer, or different accounts on different computers, but you cannot set up the same account on two different computers. (But Kerika makes it really easy to synchronize two computers!)

Kerika works with the concept of Collections, Projects and Idea Pages:

You can gather together related Projects in a Collection: Kerika comes with three called Work, School, and Play, but you can create as many as you like. Inside a Collection you can create a number of different Projects, each in its own Project Folder.

A Project consists of one or more Idea Pages on which you can sketch out a project, add documents, pictures, and Web links. Idea Pages can be nested inside each other to create sub-projects, and you can share items across multiple Projects. An easy way to set up a project quickly is to use a Template.

Pick a Collection for your new Project: you can use one of the three Collections that come with Kerika (Work, School and Play), or you can create a new collection.

Double-click on a Collection to add a new Project to it

To create a new Collection, go to the File menu and select New Collection
To use an existing Collection, simply double-click on the Collection on your home page:

When you inside a Collection, you can create a new Project by going to the File menu and selecting New Project Folder. If the Collection is empty, the Kerika Wizard will automatically guide you through the process of creating a new Project.

The Kerika Wizard will help you set up your new Project

Your new project will show up with a folder icon, like this:

Your new Project icon

Double-click on the icon to open your new project: once again the Kerika Wizard can help you get started with your new project. The wizard offers two choices -- adding a document to your new Project Folder, or using a Template. However, you don't have to use the Wizard: you can also just use the Project Tools to sketch out your new project free-style:

You can use the Project Tools to sketch out your new project free-style

And you can always add documents simply by dragging and dropping them off your computer's file folders, add Web links by dragging and dropping them off your browser, and add lines, arrows, labels and sticky notes using the Project Tools. A simple project might look like this:

A simple, plain page

By using the Inspector, you can quickly make it a lot more attractive:

A more attractive page

Once your project is set up, the next step will probably be to share it with others. Sharing a project takes just seconds: simply click on the Share Project button on the Toolbar,

Use the Share Project button to share your project

And enter the email addresses of the people you want to share the project with. Kerika takes care of the rest: it figures out whether the email addresses belong to people who are also using Kerika; if so, these people get a full set of project files. And the folks who are not Kerika subscribers can get their updates by email.

Want to learn more? Watch a demo on setting up a project.