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Creating a project

The first step in using IDEAS is to create a project. A project contains one or more datasets. Each dataset contains data in a table, together with metadata, and can also contain analysis results derived from that data.

Creating a new project

To create a new project, click on the Create New Project as shown below:

This brings up a panel where you provide the name of the project and select an organization. You can also choose to enter a short description and icon color.

Clicking Submit will open the project and shows a popup where you can designate how to share the project.

New projects will appear on the home page:

Project page

Clicking on a project takes you to the project home page, where you can:


In addition, the top panel allows you to add a description to your project using markdown syntax.

What goes in the project description?

Use the project description to capture information about the project that you would typically put in a lab notebook. For example, the scientific question being asked, the experimental strategy, etc.

Sharing Projects

You can share projects with other users inside and outside your organization, and you can control the access level.

A panel for designating sharing access and access levels can be found when (1) creating a new project or 2) clicking on the share icon on the project page as highlighted below.


Organization Access

The organization access panel is shown here:

You can designate access at two levels using the respective sections in the panel:

  • Access for all users in the organization

    Select from one of the following access levels to share access to all users in your organization:

    • Restricted: projects will be visible only to you and users granted individual access
    • Shared: projects can be accessed by all users in your organization
  • Organization users with access

    Share a project with specific users by selecting a user from the drop-down menu and their access level.

Access Levels

When selecting to share with either your entire organization or an individual user, you may choose to grant permission using the following access levels.

Access level User can view User can upload data/edit/create/run analyses User can share project
Viewer yes no no
Editor yes yes no
Admin yes yes yes

Note

Once a project is shared with you, it will appear on your projects dashboard where you can see your access level as illustrated below.

External Access

Projects can be shared outside your organization by providing external access. Enter the email address for those you want to invite. External users will be given View access.

Note

  • External access is currently limited to users who already have an IDEAS account!

Cloning Projects

You can clone (i.e., copy) a project, which will copy all data within that project to a new project. Clone a project from the Home Page by clicking the gear icon associated with the project you want to clone. In the example below, CX-Test2 will be cloned.

Use the Clone Project panel (see image below) to configure the following properties:

  • Name for the cloned project
  • Organization where the cloned project will be placed
  • (optional) Enter a description
  • (optional) Select an icon color for the cloned project

Key points for cloning projects:

  • You can clone a project regardless of your sharing access (you can clone projects whether you are the owner, editor or viewer).
  • The cloned project will take up space in your organization or in the organization you are cloning it into.
  • Once cloned, the cloned project is entirely separate from the original project (similar to when duplicating a folder on a computer). There is no syncing between them.
  • After cloning, the user who performs the cloning action becomes the owner of the cloned project.
  • Projects cannot be cloned across geographic regions (US, Europe, Japan).

Note

Cloning can take time! The process occurs in the background so you can leave the project or close the browser page as the cloning will continue in the background. Once the cloning is complete, you will receive a notification as shown in the example below.