How To Use The Portal

Each content page on the Farmers Market Portal contains three areas, described below.

Resources

The top Resources area contains a list of links to relevant online material, with short descriptions for each link. Users are encouraged to submit suggestions for new links by emailing them to farmersmarkets@mt.gov.

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Discussion

The middle Discussion area includes different topics related to the subject of the page where users can comment and interact. Here are some tips to get you started:

• The three most recently added topics will display by default. To see additional topics and comments, click Load last article(s) at the bottom of the Discussion area.
  
• Click on a topic title to open only that topic, and its associated comments, on a separate page. This can make discussions easier to follow! From this view, to return to the full list of topics, use the main Farmers Market Portal menu.
• Comments are threaded, so that you can reply to another user's comment by clicking the ' Reply' link under each comment. Then type your reply, press the , and your new comment will appear threaded below the comment you replied to.
• If you simply type your comment in the box immediately below a topic and then press the , your comment will appear at the bottom of the comments for that topic.
• The first five comments will automatically display under each topic - to see all comments for a given topic, simply click Show More, or click on the topic title to open the topic detail page.
  

Users are also encouraged to submit new topics for discussion - email farmersmarkets@mt.gov and a website administrator will set up the new topic for you.

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File Exchange

The bottom File Exchange area includes an interface to allow you and other users to upload or download files.

To upload and share a new file, click on the Upload icon under Actions, then either drag-and-drop or browse to the file you want to upload.

To view/download a file, either a) click directly on its file name, or b) click anywhere else on its row to highlight the file, then click the Download icon .

There are also several tools to help you organize files:

• Click on the Create New Folder icon to create subfolder. You can then move or upload new files into the subfolder.
• Click to the checkbox to the left of a file to highlight it, then click on the File Properties icon to open the File Properties window shown below.
  
  Add Tags here to help sort files. Be sure to click the Save button on the bottom left of the window after making any changes.
• You can then click the Tags option in the left column of the File Exchange section to see a list of tags for the files in the current folder, as shown below.
  
• For additional assistance using the File Exchange, contact Montana Department of Agriculture Web Developer Ben Harris at Ben.Harrisk@mt.gov.

Questions, comments and suggestions about material on or for the portal can be emailed to Steph Hystad, Montana Department of Agriculture Business Development Specialist, at SHystad@mt.gov. Technical issues or questions can be directed to Montana Department of Agriculture Web Developer Ben Harris at Ben.Harris@mt.gov.