Lectora Desktop: How to share files using the "My Library" with coworkers on a network.

Overview:

For Lectora Desktop, the "My Library" tab is a folder on your Windows PC.   For the current Lectora Desktop product, the folder is located at:

C:\ProgramData\ELB Learning\Lectora\MediaLib\Custom

We are going to create a folder in that location and link it to your Network Storage Drive.  We will use the Windows command "mklink" to make a link between that folder and your shared drive.

The command and steps will vary depending on which type of Network Storage drive you have.  The folder in "My Library" we are creating will be called "SharedMedia".   The commands below attempt to be as specific to each type of network storage, but you might need assistance from your IT person, especially if you do not have Administrator access on your Windows PC.

Instructions for OneDrive or SharePoint (synced via OneDrive client): 

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator

2. Use the following command:

mklink /D "C:\ProgramData\ELB Learning\Lectora\MediaLib\Custom\SharedMedia" "C:\Users\[USERNAME]\[ONEDRIVE FOLDER]\LectoraShared"

Replace [USERNAME] with your username. Replace [ONEDRIVE FOLDER] with your OneDrive folder name on your C: drive.   

3.  Exit and relaunch Lectora Desktop. Click My Library — you should see the SharedMedia folder. 

Note: There are other ways to connect to OneDrive or SharePoint.  This is the most reliable option since it's always a local path even if the machine is offline. 

Instructions for Google Drive for Desktop:

Google Drive usually shows as a drive letter (typically G: or similar).

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator

2. Use the following command:

mklink /D "C:\ProgramData\ELB Learning\Lectora\MediaLib\Custom\SharedMedia" "G:\My Drive\LectoraShared"

3.  Exit and relaunch Lectora Desktop. Click My Library — you should see the SharedMedia folder. 

Instructions for NAS/mapped network drive:

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator

2. Use the following command:

mklink /D "C:\ProgramData\ELB Learning\Lectora\MediaLib\Custom\SharedMedia" "\\NAS\share\LectoraMedia"

Note: Replace \\NAS\share with your actual UNC path (or a mapped drive letter like Z:\LectoraSharedMedia).

3.  Exit and relaunch Lectora Desktop. Click My Library — you should see the SharedMedia folder.

Instructions for generic Network storage Devices not listed above:

Use this if your storage isn't listed above and you have a UNC path or mapped drive letter. 

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator

2. Use the following command:

mklink /D "C:\ProgramData\ELB Learning\Lectora\MediaLib\Custom\SharedMedia" "\\server\sharename\folder"

Note: Replace \\server\sharename\folder with your actual UNC path (or a mapped drive letter like Z:\LectoraSharedMedia).

3.  Exit and relaunch Lectora Desktop. Click My Library — you should see the SharedMedia folder. 

One caveat for other users

This solves your local Lectora seeing shared content. Other users on the team will each need to create the same folder link on their own machines pointing to the same network location. The library path is per Windows PC, so each person will need to run these steps once.