User FAQ#
This page covers question concerning users of eLabFTW.
Login and Accounts#
How do I get access to my team?#
If an eLabFTW team for your group already exists, you can log into eLabFTW using the button “Login through your institution”. You will then be able to select a team you would like to join. This team’s Admin will then have to validate your account.
If no team for your group exists, please contact the adminitrator of the respective eLabFTW installation. If you are not sure who that is in your case, please feel free to contact us.
Why can’t I change my Account Details/ Password?#
Users logging in through an Institution via SAML/ Shibboleth use the account of their respective Identity Provider (IDP). eLabFTW is not authorized to make changes to account (especially not the password). This means currently no changes can happen from within eLabFTW. To change the password, please contact the IDP (or change your password in the UDE selfcare portal using your UDE login).
Cannot log in — Forbidden#
When you see the following error message
Forbidden
You don't have permission to access this resource.
upon visiting the eLabFTW instance, you might explicitly use HTTPS to connect to eLab. This is a security measure to ensure, that the data you send to the ELN are always encrypted.
Try adding https:// to the address. Example:
Instead of
elab-testing.escience.uni-due.de
use:
https://elab-testing.escience.uni-due.de
Experiment Visibility#
Who can see and edit my experiment?#
There are two permission types for an experiment in eLabFTW: read and write. Using default settings, read permissions—who is allowed to see the experiment—are set to Team, meaning all teams the user is assigned to can see this experiment. Write permissions—for actually changing content of the experiment—are by default granted only to the User and Admin. The permissions to change these visibility and writing parameters only belong to the creating user and cannot be transferred.
The default permissions for reading and writing can be changed by selecting the ‘Default visibility for new experiments’ or ‘Default write permission for new experiments’ in the user settings in the Miscellaneous section. Possible values are:
Everyone including anonymous users - Publicly visible
Everyone with an account - Everyone in your organisation
Only members of the team - Everyone in your team
Only owner and admins - Only the creating user themselves and the admins of their team
Only owner - Only the creating user him/herself Furthermore, default reading and writing permissions can be granted to specific teams or groups by selection from a list or even individual users by entering their user names.
Having read or write permissions for an experiment allows to search for it and see its content. To see such experiments on the overview page, you need to additionally set the scope in the experiment panel.
Why can’t I see other people’s experiments?#
You can set which experiments you want to see on the page under “Scope”. You can choose between Self, Team and Everything.
Can other users (or admins) change experiments that they have not created?#
A user that has write permission for an experiment can edit it, unless it has been locked (🔒).
Warning
Granting write-permissions also allows users to delete experiments (if this is permitted for users).
Admin users may have rights to delete experiments, even if users are not allowed to.
Editing Experiments#
Can multiple people write in the same experiment?#
Yes, but not concurrently in real time. All users that have access to an experiment can edit it, but if two user edit at the same time, changes might be overwritten. Overwritten changes of a certain number of characters (default of 50) can be restored from the revision history. To prevent simultaneous editing of the same experiment you can use the ‘exclusive edit mode’ to allow only one active user at the same time to edit the experiment. To prevent permanent overwriting changes you can lock (🔒) the experiment.
Is there a formula editor?#
Special characters—like ⊂, ⇒, ∫, or √42—can be added through the special character option of the editor (Look for the [Ω] button in the editor).
More sophisticated can be added by using LaTeX (eLabFTW uses a Mathjax dialect):
In-line math:
$f(X) = \sum_{x_i \in X} \frac{1}{{x_i}^2}$→ \( f(X) = \sum_{x_i \in X} \frac{1}{{x_i}^2} \)Block-math:
\[f(X) = \sum_{x_i \in X} \frac{1}{{x_i}^2}\]→
Can I embed a CSV or XLS table in my experiment?#
Tables can be imported by copying cells from a spreadsheet software and pasting them into the experiment text. This results in an HTML table, but will lose information like formulas and might not retain all formatting.
How can I restore older versions of my experiment?#
On the top right of the experiment page in view mode you can find the ‘more options’ tab (⋮). By clicking on this you can choose ‘See revisions’. On the revision page you will get a list of older versions of the experiment. Clicking on the ‘+’ of older versions will expand the experiments’ main text. To its right side you can ‘restore’ and switch to the experiments’ older version.
Such revisions are created after a certain number of characters are changed in the experiment text (default: 50), or after a fixed time (default: approximately 1 month). These values can be changed by a Sysadmin and might be different for your eLabFTW.
Organizing Experiments#
Is there an option to structure experiments into folders?#
In eLabFTW all experiments are shown on the same page, there is currently no way to structure this using folders. However, tags fulfill a similar purpose. On the experiment page you can filter for experiments that share a selected tag (or multiple tags) and save them as ‘favorite tags’ in the ‘toggle favorite tags’ menu on the left side.
For example you could use the tags cell culture and molecular cloning to find all respectively tagged experiments (additionally depending on your scope setting).
Can I tag multiple experiments at once?#
Yes, by checking them on the overview page or after search.
Can I tag all experiments in a certain time range/ from a specific user/ containing a given text?#
Yes, you can search by given paramters for any experiments, select them, and add tags as shown in Can I tag multiple experiments at once?.
Can I change how experiments are shown on the overview page? Can I get a tabular view of my experiments?#
There are two view modes (layouts) for eLabFTW, a single-column and multi-column (tabular) item list. They can be easily changed in the experiment overview to the left of ‘scope’ by clicking on the list&table symbol. Alternatively, you can change the display mode in addition to other parameters (number of items per page, order, sort) by navigating in the user menu to Settings/General/Display.
The default is a single column item list. In this view, long experiment names are easier to read and you can see the Experiments status, category, tags and starting date.
The tabular mode facilitates sorting and filtering. It shows columns for date, title, next step, category, status, tags, rating and owner.
How can I search for experiments which have two (or more) specific tags?#
This is possible in eLabFTW version 5.1.15 and later. In the experiment overview you can click on ‘Filter’, choose one or multiple tags in the ‘Tag’ field and run the search via ‘Go’. Alternatively, clicking on a single tag shown in an experiment will create a list of experiment having the same tag.
-specific-tags.gif)
Can I search for the content of experiments?#
Yes, by using the “Search query” field of the “Search” tab. For example typing ‘body:“antibody”’ will search for experiments with the term ‘antibody’ in its body.
Can I search for the content of attached files?#
No, attached files are not searchable.
Can I search for structural formula in my experiments?#
No, this is currently not possible. A possible workaround (for small cases) could be to use tags for specific structures.
Can I export all experiments at once?#
Yes, definitely. Navigate through via the user icon on the top right to “Export” and click on “Create new export”. Here you have the option to create a bulk export of Experiments, Templates, Resources and/or Resources categories. You can select multiple at once if you like. These export sources can be downloaded in different formats including ELN archive, JSON file, PDF document or ZIP archive.
Multimedia, Images, Imports#
Can I copy images from ChemDraw?#
eLabFTW comes with the molecule drawer ChemDoodle preinstalled. You can either import images of your molecule as an image file (we suggest svg), or export your molecule as a MOL file which can be imported using the open button as shown below:
Can I annotate images?#
Yes, but the current drawing software employed by eLabFTW is very limited. We recommend you annotate images using any graphics software available on your device (Gimp, Krita, Paint, Photoshop, …).
For photos taken with smartphones or tablets, you can usually use the editing software of the phone itself. If you want to retain an unedited version of the image, you should first create a copy of the un-annotated image and annotate the copy.
Why can’t I insert TIF(F) images into the text?#
TIFF files are not supported by most browsers and thus cannot be displayed e.g. by Chrome. To display these files in eLabFTW, please create a copy and convert them to either PNG or JPG.
Can I copy and paste images from other programs or websites?#
Yes, with supported file formats (jpeg, png, svg, gif). You can, for example, copy an image from a word document (using Ctrl-c) and paste it in the experiment (using Ctrl-v). Copying an image into the experiment text will automatically attach this file.
Additionally, after taking screenshots you can paste it into the experiment without saving it as a file first.
Warning
Warning Dragging an image from a website into the experiment text will only create a link to that file and NOT attach it. The image is neither attached, nor can it be changed (e.g. cropped). Further, should the image be removed or change its location, the experiment will contain a dead link.
Why are Adobe Illustrator files downloaded in pdf format?#
Recent versions of Adobe Illustrator produce AI files that are, by default, also valid PDF documents. This allows web browsers to render these files using their internal pdf viewer.
When using Firefox, downloading the file will change the file extension from *.ai to *.pdf. Chrome and derived browsers (e.g. Edge, Chromium, Opera) are not affected. They will preview the file as a pdf, but will not change the extension on download.
Note
The content of the file is unchanged: Just manually change the extension back to *.ai and Adobe Illustrator will be able to open the file.
Teams#
How do I see, which teams I am assigned to?#
In the user menu, select ‘My profile’. There, your teams and groups are listed in the profile info box. In the gif below, the user is part of the team ‘Alpha’.
Can I create my own team?#
Only Sysadmins can create new teams.
Can I leave my current team?#
Not on your own, but a Sysadmin Admin can remove you from a team.
Can I be part of multiple teams?#
Yes, but you will need to specify at login, which “hat you are currently wearing”, i.e. in which team you want to work.
How can I add a new user to my team as an Admin?#
Only Sysadmins can change teams for users. Newly registering users (who do not use Shibboleth) can select a team from the drop-down menu or be added by an Admin user.
Can I rename my Team?#
A Sysadmin can rename an existing Team.
Can I customize how eLabFTW looks?#
A Team Admin can modify the link text and link target of the “Documentation” link in the top bar. This can be used to show which team is currently selected.
Project Management and Collaboration#
Is there a way to manage projects in eLabFTW?#
Yes, via database items (and using a group for visibility) as described here.
Comments#
Do I get a notification when a comment is left under my experiment?#
Yes, an E-Mail notification is sent for each comment.
Can I comment on timestamped (finalized) experiments?#
Yes, comments are still possible on timestamped experiments.
Can comments be deleted?#
Yes, a user can delete (and edit) their own comments under experiments. Other people’s comment cannot be deleted.