Opera Software ASA

The sections in this user guide are listed below. Select an arrow to view a topic, or select Expand All to view all topics at once.

While Opera Unite provides the base technology, Opera Unite applications provide the specific means to share or communicate. These are small, Web-based programs that run inside your browser for different purposes, ranging from social-networking tools for posting messages or holding chat sessions, to tools for sharing content, such as files or photos.

Opera Unite applications make it quick and easy to share content. There is no need to upload anything; you share the content sitting on your computer. And, you do not need to configure anything else, such as DNS services or complex access controls. For example, you can install the Media Player application on your home computer for your favorite songs. When you get to work, you can visit your Media Player application and listen to the songs directly from your home computer. No download, no fuss.

You can use multiple Opera Unite applications to share different content from your different computers. So, you can share a photo album of your team-building party using Photo Sharing on your work computer, and, separately, share the album from your last holiday using Photo Sharing on your home computer.

To choose from a selection of free Opera Unite applications, go to our Opera Unite Web site.

Also, when you enable Opera Unite, a few applications are preinstalled for you, including:

Opera Unite Home:

View all your applications and recent activity.

File Sharing:

Une méthode simple et sûre pour partager des fichiers, directement depuis votre ordinateur.

Fridge:

Découvrez les petits mots sympathiques que vos amis ont laissés sur votre ordinateur.

Photo Sharing:

Partagez vos photos personnelles avec des amis du monde entier sans avoir besoin de les mettre en ligne.

Media Player:

Accédez partout à l'intégralité de votre bibliothèque musicale.

Web Server:

Hébergez vos sites Web s'exécutant depuis votre ordinateur.

Messenger:

Communiquez en direct et en toute confidentialité avec vos amis grâce à My Opera.

En bref

• To run applications, you need an Opera browser version 10.10 or later from www.opera.com and an Opera account.
• To view or access most of your applications, your friends can use any browser.
• Operating systems: You can use those supported by the Opera browser; Windows, Mac, or UNIX/Linux.
• Applications are made by developers from all over the world. Some are made by Opera Software.

Pour activer Opera Unite pour la première fois :

1. From the menu, select "Enable Opera Unite". A welcome dialog displays.
2. Select "Next".
3. To use Opera Unite, you need to have an Opera account. This is an account that you use for My Opera, Dev Opera (Opera's developer-community resource site), or Opera Link. Your existing username cannot contain any symbols or spaces to work with Opera Unite.
   • If you already have an Opera account that does not contain symbols or spaces, select "I already have an account", if necessary, and type your existing username and password. Go to step 4.
   • If you do not have an account, or have one that contains symbols or spaces, select "I do not have an account", if necessary, and complete your details to create one.
     • Choose a unique and easy-to-remember username without any symbols or spaces. The username will become part of the link (Web address) for your Opera Unite applications, which your friends will use to access your content or communicate with you.
     • Select "Show" to read the terms and conditions, and check the box to indicate that you agree with them.
4. Choose a computer name from the drop-down menu. This name identifies the computer you are using, to distinguish it from other computers you may use. It also becomes part of the link for your Opera Unite applications. Choose an option that best describes how you use your computer, or write your own.
5. Select "Finish".
6. In the panel at the left, double-click an application that you want to use to install it.

Log in troubleshooting

Related topics

• See also: Sharing content and collaborating.
• If you want to use your own DNS server or static IP address, see the article "Setting up custom domains for Opera Unite" on dev.opera.com.

La disposition d'Opera Unite comprend les fonctions suivantes :

1. Panneau Unite

Use this panel for quick access to your Opera Unite applications. If the panel is not already displayed, from the menu, select Opera Unite > Manage Applications. Once you have opened the panel, you can toggle it by clicking the Panels button (5) or pressing F4.

Below each application in the panel, an activity status displays. For more information about activity, see the Monitor Opera Unite activity topic.

2. Opera Unite menu

Use this menu to enable and manage Opera Unite. For more information, see the Managing Opera Unite topic.

3. Sélecteur de panneau Opera Unite

This panel selector toggles the Unite panel (1).

4. Icône Opera Unite

When Opera Unite is enabled, this icon becomes bright green. This also displays Opera Unite menu (2).

5. Panels button

This button at the bottom, left corner of the Opera browser window toggles the panel or the panel selectors.

6. Opera Unite Home

This is your home page in Opera Unite and contains the following:

• A space to post a message that your friends will see
• A list of the applications you are hosting
• A link to your My Opera page
• A link to a list of applications your friends are running
• A sharing link that you can send to friends to access your Opera Unite Home
• Icons to send your sharing link via e-mail and common social networks
• Shoutbox for real-time messages across your applications
• A list of recent activity on your applications

When you start or install an application in Opera Unite, you are the application owner. As the owner, you can choose how to collaborate or what content you want to share, and with whom. Each application is different, but, in general, if the application accesses files on your hard drive, you select the content you want to share and select the appropriate privacy setting. To see how your friends will see it, click the Preview as Visitor button on the top, right of the page. To exit the preview, select the Exit Visitor Preview button.

To provide access to an application, send your friends a link for the application. Depending on the privacy option you selected, you can:

• Send the link in the Sharing box on the right. You can also use this link youself to access your content from another computer.
• Send the password with the sharing link, if the application is password protected.
• Send the single-click login, if the application is password protected and you want to provide access with one click, without the need to log in.

Do not send the Web address in the browser address field.

Share the link with social networks

Under the Sharing box, icons allow you to send the sharing link, and password if needed, by e-mail or via popular social networks and bookmarking destinations such as Facebook, Twitter, or Delicious.

When a friend shares with you, they will send you a link, and perhaps a password, for their application on their computer. For most applications, you do not need to be using the Opera browser to access a friend's application; you can use any modern Web browser.

In Shoutbox, you can type messages in real time to visitors of your applications, and visitors can also leave messages for you. There is only one Shoutbox, and this is shared among all your Opera Unite applications. For example, a message typed in Photo Sharing also appears in Media Player.

When someone sends you a message, you get a notification. An icon indicates which application the visitor is using. If you want to view that application, click the icon. To reply to the message, click the notification, and respond on the Shoutbox in your Opera Unite Home.

The Shoutbox keeps a history of up to 100 messages, including notification messages. When you close Opera or stop your Opera Unite Home, the history is cleared.

Opera Unite works with My Opera to help you share with your friends. When you add friends on My Opera, you can view a list of the applications your friends are running, and they can view a list of yours. They can, however, only access password-protected applications if you have given them the password. You can view this list in either Opera Unite or My Opera, as follows:

• Dans une application, cliquez sur le lien « Les applications de mes amis » situé à droite.
• On your friends' My Opera page, click the Unite tab.

If you do not want your applications listed for others to see, see the Control Opera Unite visibility topic.

It is your responsibility to comply with your local laws regarding file sharing and the different types of licenses that may apply. Illegal file sharing is illegal regardless of what application or service you are using. We respect artists and encourage our users to support them. Only share content if you have the right to do so. If we are made aware of any infringements, we have the right to prevent access and use of applications. For more details, please read the Terms of service.

You can share as much data as you wish, because you are sharing data that is stored on your computer, rather than uploading it to be stored elsewhere. The only considerations may be overall bandwidth capacity and how incoming traffic impacts the running of your computer when your friends access a lot of your content.

If you want to limit the amount of bandwidth that Opera Unite uses, see Manage Opera Unite traffic.

Opera Unite applications that access your file system provide privacy options to help you control access. For example, the File Sharing application offers the following options:

Password protected

This limits access to those with the password. You can use the automatically-generated password or change it. Do not use the same password as your My Opera account as this may provide access and control to your My Opera content. If you suspect that someone knows your My Opera login details, please contact the My Opera team immediately.

For easier access, you can use the single-click login. This is a single link that your visitors can use to access the application directly, without logging in. It combines the application Web address and a scrambled version of the password in a non-readable, non-recoverable format. This means that no one will be able to determine the password. Warning: Please be aware that anyone with this link can access your content, so caution your friends against forwarding the link to other people without your knowledge.

Public

This makes your content accessible by anyone who types in your Opera Unite link, visits your page in My Opera, or visits the My Opera page of one of your friends. This is therefore very public. Do not use this level of access if you are concerned about the privacy of your selected content.

To add a new Opera Unite application, in the Unite panel, select Add > New Opera Unite application. This displays the online catalog on the unite.opera.com Web site. You can either select a new application or add another instance of an application you already run, for example, if you want to share two different photo albums.

You can also upgrade existing applications on this site. Select "Install Application" and the "Upgrade existing Opera Unite application" will be pre-selected if an upgrade exists. Select "OK" to upgrade.

Important: To ensure security of your content and protect your privacy, only install new applications from the Opera Unite site, as these are reviewed by Opera.

Starting an application means that friends can access your content, or you can collaborate with others. In the panel, highlight the application and select the Start button. Once an application is running, this button changes to "Stop". To open the settings page, select the Open button.

To delete an application, in the Unite panel, right-click it and select "Delete". You can also drag applications to "Trash". To completely delete the application, empty the Trash by right-clicking the Trash icon and seleting "Empty Trash".

If an application accesses your file system, you specify a folder from which to share content. If you use more than a few Opera Unite applications, it may be a good idea to create a special folder for each one, so that you can more easily control what you are sharing. This might help to avoid accidentally sharing content you did not intend to share. Take care with your selection and be aware that your friends can access all sub-folders and documents within the folder you specify.

To change the application folder or file path, in the Unite panel, right-click the application, select "Properties" and choose a new folder or filepath. Be aware that if you change this it may disconnect anyone accessing your content at the time.

If you run more than a few applications on a few computers, it may also be a good idea to keep track of your usernames, computer names, and application names to avoid confusion.

To add new folders or separator lines to organize your applications in the panel, select Add > New Folder or New Separator.

To disable Opera Unite, from the menu, select Opera Unite > Configure and select "Disable Opera Unite". Disabling Opera Unite means that your friends will not be able to access your content in any application.

To enable Opera Unite, from the menu, select "Enable Opera Unite" and log in. If this is your first time logging in, see the Getting started with Opera Unite topic.

There are several different ways to monitor activity on your applications, explained below.

Activity status

The activity status in the panel indicates the number of people accessing your applications. "No activity" means that no one is accessing your application. If the application is greyed out and does not display an activity status, it is not running.

Recent activity

Recent activity is displayed for all your applications on Opera Unite Home. This lists activity that has recently occurred in your applications, such as files that were accessed, photos that were viewed or downloaded, or notes that were posted on your Fridge. Select "View all" to view a list of all activity.

Activity Feed tab

The Activity Feed tab shows a complete list of all activity that has occurred in the application. Select a specific activity to see what the visitor did, for example, to play the song they played or view the file they viewed.

Afficher l'état

From the menu, select Opera Unite > Show Status. This displays a dialog that tells you:

• If the Opera Unite server is running as expected or experiencing problems
• How many applications you are running
• How much data you have uploaded and downloaded during the session
• How many users are currently connected to your computer via Opera Unite
• Whether direct connection is possible

If you are sharing a lot of content, heavy traffic may impact your computer performance. If you move to a mobile connection, you may also want to control the connection to minimize costs or network usage. To monitor activity, see the Monitor Opera Unite activity topic.

To control the connection, you can either:

• Stop individual applications — In the Unite panel, highlight the application and select "Stop".
• Limit the upload speed — From the menu, select Opera Unite > Configure > Advanced Settings. In the Upload Speed section, specify how many kilobytes Opera Unite loads per second.
• Disable Opera Unite — From the menu, select Opera Unite > Configure > Disable Opera Unite. This stops all applications that are currently running.

The computer name identifies the computer you are using to distinguish it from other computers you may also use. The name becomes part of the link for your Opera Unite applications. You can change it; however, the links for all your applications change, and single-click logins will no longer work. If you do need to change the computer name for some reason, from the menu, select Opera Unite > Configure and in the computer name field, select a different name.

This enables or disables the detection functionality to find other Opera Unite users within your immediate vicinity. If enabled, a list of others using Opera Unite will display in this menu. When you select a name, you can view the person's Opera Unite Home page. When a new Opera Unite user joins the local network, an attention state identifier, in the form of a brown dot, displays on the Opera Unite icon on the status bar.

The option to use UPnP, which stands for Universal Plug and Play, allows you to share your data using direct connections to your computer, if available. This is enabled by default and can make loading speeds for your applications faster, as they will bypass the proxy server. However, as it is up to each application to load content using the direct connection, it may not always run applications faster.

UPnP has no authentication mechanism, and assumes that local systems and their users are completely trustworthy. If you are unsure about using UPnP, or do not wish to use it, disable it. From the menu, select Opera Unite > Configure > Advanced Settings and unchecking "Use UPnP port forwarding from my router". If you do not want to use UPnP but still want to allow a direct connection, you can manually forward port 8840 from your router.

If you receive unwanted direct traffic on the default port, or if you want to avoid port collisions with other Opera Unite instances running on the local network, specify the port Opera listens on. From the menu, select Opera Unite > Customize > Advanced Settings > Default port and select the desired port. Opera Unite will automatically find an available port if the selected port is unavailable.

If you want to limit the amount of bandwidth that Opera Unite uses, for example, when too many people are trying to download your content at once, which impairs the running of your computer, change the upload speed. From the menu, select Opera Unite > Customize > Advanced Settings > Upload speed and change the default setting of "Unlimited" to the number of kilobytes you want Opera Unite to load per second.

If you want to control what information is available publically about the applications you are running, you can change the default visibility settings. You can change these settings globally, which affects all applications, or per application.

Options de visibilité globale

These options set the visibility of all of your applications to other Opera Unite users, on local networks and to search engines. To set these options, from the menu select Opera Unite > Customize > Advanced Settings.

Make Opera Unite home visible to search engines

This setting does not strictly affect all applications globally however there is a global impact. Your Opera Unite Home displays a list of the applications you are running, which can be indexed by search engines. Use this setting to allow or prevent this list from being published in a public search engine directory that everyone can see.

Allow my applications to be visible on Opera Unite Web pages

On each application page there are sections listing "My friends' applications". Use this setting to allow or prevent all your applications from displaying on the application pages of other Opera Unite users. Be aware that this option allows or prevents applications from being listed only and is not related to access.

Allow my applications to be visible inside a local network

When you enable this setting, Opera Unite will try to find other computers running Opera Unite applications in your local network. This is useful if, for example, you run several computers at home in a local network, as they will communicate to each other quickly and automatically.

Individual visibility options

To set specific, individual visibility options for an application, in the Unite panel, right-click the application and select Properties > Advanced Settings. Choose from the following visibility options:

Make application visible to search engines

Use this option to allow or prevent this application from being published in a public search engine directory that everyone can see.

Make application visible on Opera Unite Web pages

Use this setting to allow or prevent this application from displaying on the application pages of other Opera Unite users. Be aware that this option allows or prevents applications from being listed only and is not related to access.

Make application visible inside the local network

When you enable this setting, Opera Unite will allow this application to be identified by other computers running Opera Unite in your local network.

Opera Unite uses the HTTP protocol for data sharing. This is the standard way that browsers get content on the Web, so your data is accessible to any Web browser. Opera Unite runs in a "secured sandbox", where only the files or folders you select can be accessed; nothing else on your computer is accessible to anyone else. You grant access to specified files, such as a directory of data you want to share, without allowing access to anything outside the specified area. This is a common feature in Web servers, and keeping data secure has been well-understood for a long time.

Opera's outstanding record of maintaining a secure browser, combined with our extensive testing throughout the development of this product over a long time, makes us confident of its security. If you do have any concerns, you may wish to follow the tips in our Security and Privacy tutorial.

As with all products exposed to the Web, you should always keep your Opera browser up to date. As well as Opera Unite, the Opera browser version 10.10 and later includes an auto-update feature, making it easy to ensure you have the latest and most secure version of Opera running at all times.

If you share data with the privacy setting of Public, then it is open to search engines to index. If you do not want your data indexed, see the steps in Control Opera Unite visibility.

The basic idea behind Opera Unite is to allow you to share content or collaborate directly from your computer. Any content you share is not stored anywhere else; it is accessed from your computer and remains under your control. Opera does not keep any record of content you share, and does not have any rights to it.

The Terms and Conditions you agree to when you create an account are there to ensure a good online experience for all, including security and privacy.