In addition to being able to type directly in the Catalyst environment, you can also upload many different types of files from your computer. You can display some files here, and you can list others as "hot links", meaning others can click on the link and go access the file you have uploaded from their computer.
You can load images or graphic files directly into Catalyst, so they display as part of the conference itself.
All other files you will upload as links in the Catalyst Environment.
The kinds of files you can upload as links include graphics, audio, video, PowerPoint, HTML, PDF, Word Documents -- almost anything you can imagine. The only limitation is that any person who opens a link you have placed in Catalyst must have the software to open it.
Viewing software is often available for free on the web. For example, Microsoft Downloads provide a free PowerPoint Viewer. Adobae provides a free viewer for PDF files. Real Audio provides a free version of their player. If you are uploading a file and think some of the participants in your conference do not have a viewer -- you might do the work and tell them how to get one.
Uploading, itself, is simple:
Just to the right of the posting box, you'll see two hot links. One
allows you to upload a file from Your Computer, the other allows you to
upload a file from Your Catalyst Directory. If
you click on the first hot link, this box appears: Simply click on the Browse button and track down the file you want to
upload on your computer. You can "Display a graphics file within
the response" with a .gif or .jpeg file. For all other files, you will select the "Display the file as a
link reading" option and give it the name you want to appear in the
Catalyst environment. If you don't enter a name, Catalyst will use the
file name itself. Be
sure to tell the other folks in your conference what the file containts
and what type of file it is, so they can know if they can open it on their
computer. USE simple file names here -- letters and numbers only, no "-"
or "_" or other characters. And keep the file names short. Sometimes
people have trouble accessing files in Catalyst with long or complicated
names. If you want to display an html file in your posting box, that's
even simpler -- just cut and paste the html coding into the posting box,
and select html from the options on how to post. Once you have uploaded something into Catalyst, it goes into your own
personal library here. That means you can access the same file in other
conferences, or conference items. To insert something you have already
uploaded into a conference, click on the second hot link opposite the
posting box. The following screen will open: Pick the file name from your personal
library, and insert it either as a graphic or html file, or as a link. 
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