Help

Registering/Logging In

What is ShareNow.com?

ShareNow.com is a second generation social networking and file sharing website that allows you to publicly or privately share files of any type with others. As well as comments and messages, interaction between users is also possible via Sharewalls where every user can post any of their files onto the Sharewall of another.

Can anyone sign up on ShareNow.com?

Yes! Anyone can sign up, but you must be at least 14 years of age to set up a profile.

What are the basic rules and regulations of ShareNow.com?

These are all clearly laid out in our terms & conditions here.

How do I create an account on ShareNow.com?

Simply fill in the fields on the registration page and then click Submit.

I've forgotten my username!

Don't worry - you can also log in using your registered email address.

What if I forget my password?

If you forget your password, click "Forgot your password?" on the login page and follow the simple directions which will result in your password being reset.

How do I change my password?

Click on the "Change Password" link in My Settings to change your password. You must confirm your existing password, then enter and confirm your new password.

What should I do when I get a 'username and password you specified are not valid' error message, even though I know the password is correct?

Please make sure that your caps lock key is on by mistake. If you're still having problems, just click "Forgot your password?" to reset your password.

It says my email address is already in use!

If you’ve never registered with that email address, please contact us at support@sharenow.com.

How do I change my email address?

You can change your email addresses via My Settings, Change Email.

What is the "keep me logged in" option on the login page?

ShareNow allows you to store your login information, making it easy to start using ShareNow.com each time you open your browser. If you check the "Keep Me Logged In" box, you will remain logged in to your account, even after closing your browser. When you want to actually logout of your account, you must click "Logout" in the top right corner of every page. For privacy and security reasons, this feature should only be used on a personal and secure computer of your own; it is important to leave the "Keep Me Logged In" box unchecked when logging in from a public access computer or any shared computer.

Getting around the site

What do all the icons mean along the left margin of the page?

These are different sections or pages within ShareNow that every user is given when they register their username.

[Home icon] This takes you to the user's homepage.
[i icon] This page is where text information is given about the user such as "About me", "Education", "Hobbies" etc.
[Control Panel] This is your dashboard where you can easily manage all aspects of your account.>br> [Media icon] This is the page where users display files of any type (photos, videos, documents etc), gallery-style, for others to view and download.
[Favorites icon] This page shows the user's favorite user and files.
[Friends icon] This shows the user's ShareNow friends.
[Comments icon] This is a chronological list of users' comments.
[Sharewalls icon] Every user has their own Sharewall; users can post any of their own files onto the Sharewall of other users.
[Blog] Your personal diary. Your world view.


Three other icons can be seen in the left margin of your own pages when you are logged in. They are:

[Mail icon] Shows your ShareNow message inbox and outbox (sent log).
[Customize icon] This allows customization of your profile page.
[your own icon] This appears in the top left of the screen, only when you are logged in, and shows your picture if your have uploaded one via the "Customize" page. Wherever you are in ShareNow, clicking this takes you back to your control panel.

What do the other icons mean?

[ShareNow.com icon] Top left of all pages - wherever you are in ShareNow, logged in or not, clicking this takes you back to the home page of ShareNow.com.
[Search box] Top right of every page - this allows you to search for users and content on ShareNow.com.
[online/offline icon] Top right margin - this tells you the online/offline status of the user.

Only when logged in:

[Upload icon] Top and center of every page - this allows you upload files and add them to your Media page.
[Mail icon] Top right margin - On your own homepage, it shows your ShareNow message inbox and outbox (sent log). This does the same job as the Mail icon in the left margin within your own pages, but this Mail icon allows you to access your ShareNow messages no matter where you are within the site. When on another user's homepage, this mail icon becomes a "Send Message" link when the user is already one of your Friends. When the user is not a friend, this mail icon becomes an "Add to Friends" icon. When clicked, it allows you to send the user a Friend Request message. [Favorite icon] - appears both in the header where it allows you to favorite a user while looking at their homepage. It also appears in content, allowing you to favorite files.

What are ShareNow's 'Lifestyles' all about?

These are the equivalent of channels within ShareNow where users with common genres or themes have been grouped to make browsing ShareNow easier and more fun. To access them, click the Lifestyle icon, top center of every page, or go to the site's homepage where they are prominently displayed.

Profiles

How do I start to customize my homepage?

Using ShareNow's powerful yet simple-to-use customization tools, it's easy to customize your homepage to fit your particular style or promote yourself or brand. Whether you want to showcase a new song, debut your own videos or just post pictures, you can add whatever you want to your homepage and then organize the layout in the way that you want it to be displayed. Once you have logged in, the customize icon appears as the bottom icon along the left margin. Clicking it takes you to the customization section that gives the following buttons:

Custom home - you can choose your homepage layout (one or two columns), and select media to appear on your homepage from files you have already uploaded to your Media page.
My profile - you can upload your picture, add a homepage title, add a message of the day and decide (by clicking on or off) what information appears in the header of your homepage.
Text colors - using a color palette, you can choose the colour of the Title Bar, the Text, the Links, the Rollover and the Letterbox.
BG colors - using a color palette, you can choose the background colour of the Page Header, the Page Body and the Page Background.
BG image - you can upload images to appear in the Header, the Body and the Page Background and position to wherever you want them to appear within each of the three sections of the page.

Can I add HTML to my homepage?

Yes you can! When you are logged in, an "Edit" button appears on your homepage. Clicking it takes you into the homepage edit mode where three more buttons then appear:

Text - clicking this brings up a text box into which you can paste text and choose its font size.
HTML - clicking this brings up an Edit HTML box into which you can paste HTML code. This is how you would embed the code for a video or a widget. Sharenow allows all types of HTML including iFrames but not HTML forms and Javascript. Specifically, < script >, < form >, < input > and < button > tags are removed from the input stream before the data is stored, for security reasons.
Preview - allows you to preview what you have pasted before it goes live.

How do I position files or widgets that I have added to my homepage?

When you are logged in, clicking the "Edit" button on your homepage takes you into the homepage edit mode where anything (files, widgets, text boxes) that has been added to your homepage appears as a separate draggable item. Simply drag each item to the desired position within the page. You can choose between a one-column and a two-column display via the "Custom home" button within your customize pages.

Can I have more than one profile?

Yes! ShareNow.com allows its users to keep multiple profiles and manage them from one account (with a single email address). For example, you can use one profile for business, one for family and another for friends. To create a second profile, go to "My Settings" and then "Create New Profile". You will then see a form similar to the original registration page, although this one does not ask for your email address or password. This can also be done via your control panel.

How do I switch between my profiles?

Go to "My Settings" and then "Switch Profile". You will then see all the profiles that you have created in this account and which one is currently active. To make a different one active, click on the "Use This Profile" button next to it. It will show that is now the active profile by displaying the message, "This profile is currently active". This can also be done via your control panel.

How do I change details about my profile?

Go to "My Settings" and then "Edit Current Profile" where you will be able to change some of your details including your username. Note: to login you will still need to use your original username and password.

How does ShareNow define "Online" and "Offline"?

"Online" in ShareNow does not just mean "logged in" - it means "logged in and recently active on the site". So it is possible to be logged in but to appear to others as "Offline".

Can I control who can see when I am online?

Yes you can, via My Settings, Online Status and Icon Settings. In the Online Status Settings at the top of the page, you can make your Online/Offline visibility status set to Public, Friends or Private.

How do I make my picture appear in the header of my homepage?

From your own homepage, click on the Customize button in the left margin, then click on the "My Profile" button. From there, a browse button will appear, allowing you to upload your photo.

How do I change my Homepage Title and Message of the Day?

From your own homepage, click on the Customize button in the left margin, then click on the "My Profile" button. From there, you can add or edit your Homepage Title and Message of the Day.

Do I have to display all this information in my header?

It's up to you whether you display all of it or none of it. From your own homepage, click on the Customize button in the left margin, then click on the "My Profile" button. From there, at the bottom of the page, using check boxes, you can decide what information is displayed in your header and what is not, namely your: Username, Message of the Day, City, Country, Comments counter, Profile picture.

Content

What types of files can I upload?

You can upload pictures, videos, music files, documents, programs, anything!

How do I upload content?

When logged in, click the Upload icon at the top and center of every page. This will bring up a form with a browse button which allows you to select the local file you want to upload; give it a title, description and tags; allow users to download it or not (i.e. view only); and decide to whom the file will be visible i.e. to Public, Friends, Groups, Private. Note: If the file is not given Public Permission, then it will not show up in searches to anybody - not even those who have been given permission to see it. It will, of course, be visible to them within the user's Media page.

What is tagging and how do tags work?

Tagging is when you assign keyword descriptions to your content which enables keyword-based searching. In ShareNow, you can assign tags to your content, your profile and your ShareWalls.

Is tagging mandatory?

We recommend that you don't hold back on your tagging so that you and your content can be easily found by others.

What if I don't want people to see my content?

If you don't want your content to be publicly viewable, just upload your content as Private. It will then not appear in search results or your Media page when viewed by others. Rest assured. the only way others can see it is when you send them the direct link URL for it.

Where does my uploaded content get displayed on the ShareNow.com website?

It appears on your Media page. Depending on the permission you gave it when you uploaded it, other users will be able to see it there too and download it, and find it within their searches.

How do I make changes to my content after I have uploaded it?

You can edit the file's Description, Permissions and Tags at any time by simply opening the file, clicking on the Edit button within the relevant tab.

How do I work with Folders?

When you upload files, they all initially appear in your Media page, unfoldered. You can then create folders and add files to folders as you wish. When you put a file in a folder, the original unfoldered file remains where it is because what actually appears in the folder is a copy of that file, not the file itself. Therefore, files can appear in more than one folder. To find out which folder(s) a file belongs to, just click on the Permissions tab where the folders that the file is in, are listed. To add a file to a folder, first select the file by clicking the check icon to the bottom left of the file's thumbnail. Then click the "Folder" button. The list of folders then appears. Select the folder you want to add this file to and click submit. In this way, many files can be added (or removed, using the "Remove" button) simultaneously.

Where do I find folders within the Media page?

You can see the folders by clicking on the Folders tab within the Media page.

How do I create a new folder?

From your Media page, click on the Folders tab, then click the "Create" button. Simply type the desired folder name and click Submit.

How do I rate content?

With the file open, simply click on the stars to the right of the thumbnail image ("Rating:")

How do I favorite content?

With the file open, simply click on the heart with a plus sign icon. This icon also shows on the Media page to the left of every thumbnail so favoriting can be done from there as well.

How does the search facility work?

ShareNow searches through the content Title, Description and Tags as well as usernames. If more than one word is searched for, ShareNow will find content that includes those words in any order i.e. it is not an "exact phrase" search. In the results, a summary is given that shows the number of files, usernames and sharewalls found, that fit the search terms. Also, the tabulated search results themselves can be sorted according to various columns, by clicking on the column headings.

Interacting with Others

How can I send a message to another user?

In ShareNow.com, you can only send messages to those users who are already Friends. To send a message to a friend, you have to first be logged in. Then simply click the "Send Message" link in the header of the homepage of the friend you want to send a message to. Alternatively, from within your own mail system (from the Mail icon in the left margin of your own homepage), click the Create button and type the name of the user in the "Friend Name:" field, Then give the subject, type the message and click Send.

How will the user know I have sent them a message?

The person you send the message to will be notified the next time they log in by means of an alert message on their homepage and your message will be waiting for them in their inbox.

How do I restore deleted messages?

Unfortunately you cannot restore deleted messages.

How do you make someone become one of your Friends?

When on their homepage, in the right margin of their header, there will be a Mail link called "Add to Friends". As soon as this has been accepted by the user, you will be able to send messages to them.

What is the difference between Messages and Comments?

Messages are sent through ShareNow's message system, whereas Comments are simply added to users' homepages and their content, shown in chronological order.

I have so many friends now, can I organize them at all?

Yes you can! Similar to the way you use folders in your Media page, in your Friends page you can create groups and add or remove friends from them as you wish. For more information, see "How do I work with Folders?" above.

What are Sharewalls?

ShareWalls encourage interaction between users because they allow rich media e.g. videos, pictures, audio files, and presentations, to be sent from one user to another and then viewed publicly (although they can be made private or only visible to friends in "My Settings"). Sharewalls can also be used professionally for contests, competitions, auditions and casting calls. For some tips on what you can do with Sharewalls, see More serious stuff, lets discuss sharewalls....

How do I create a Sharewall of my own?

Click on your Sharewall icon in the left margin of your homepage. Then click the "Create" button and give the Sharewall a name, description and tags. You will then be asked to decide who can post files to your Sharewall i.e. Public, Friends, Groups or Hidden, and then finally, you can upload an image to represent yur new Sharewall if you wish. (A default image is used if you do not upload an image of your own).

How do I submit my content to another user's Sharewall?

Click on the Sharewall icon of another user, then click on the Sharewall you want to post some of your content to and click on the "Post" button. A form will appear which lists all your content in the right column, with a text box in the left column. Select the file or files (by holding down the shift key), add some text if you wish and then click "Submit". The file you have posted onto that user's Sharewall will appear there along with other files posted by other users, in chronological order.

Are there any other settings I should know about in My Settings?

The Icon Privacy Settings page is the heart of ShareNow's advanced privacy and permission management system. They allow you to decide who has access to your Homepage, Info page, Media page, Favorites, Friends, Comments and Sharewalls. The available settings are: Public, Friends, Private and Off.

The Email Notification Settings allow you to decide whether you want to receive e-mails from ShareNow (such as updates and technical notices to alert you of scheduled maintenance and planned down time) and from ShareNow's partners.

You can invite your friends to join ShareNow, one by one, using the Invite Friends To Sharenow page by simply typing their email address into the form and clicking "Invite".

On the same page, you can also invite your entire address book in one go using the facility that allows you to import your contacts from your Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo accounts.

More questions? If your question isn't answered here, please e-mail us with as much information as possible and we will get back to you as soon as possible.