Problem connecting to a group reading plan, plus a grammar error in the error message

I've joined the Faithlife Group "Read Calvin's Institutes in 2015". I tried to Connect to the reading plans that Doc B created, but I get an error message when I try:

Also note that there's a grammatical error in the error message. It reads: "There was an error connected to your group reading plan. Please try again later." I think it meant to say "There was an error connecting to your group reading plan. Please try again later." Yes "connected to" makes grammatical sense (meaning "related to") but I think in the context, when I'm trying to "Connect" via the "Connect" button, it was trying to say there was an error with that connect process, thus "connecting to..." was meant.

EDIT: Now that I've clicked "OK" on those two error messages (and the third one after I tried to connect and got the same error message), I see that Doc B was probably at work on the reading plans and deleted those other three, because there's a new one now that I was able to connect to:

So maybe that's the explanation for the error message. Still, it could have been more informative: "The reading plan you are trying to connect to has been deleted." Try again later won't work in that case. Thanks!

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Comments

Doc B

Rosie, the groups in the box are mine. The bottom plan won't go away (see the other thread about that.) The other plan was put there by another group member. Are you able to see and/or connect to my three?

NB.Mick

I think the error message is just wrong. I got the same, but the Reading Plan was activated in my L6 nevertheless.

Yasmin Stephen

When I tried to connect via the sidebar (Rosie's first image) I got the error message; connecting via the Documents tab went through with no problems. (I'm referring to the three plans Doc B created; I didn't try the others.)

Simon’s Brother

I also got the error but the reading plan is showing up fine in Desktop Application.

Doc B

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/681250#Comment_681250

connecting via the Documents tab went through with no problems

I'm very glad to hear that it is (partly) working.

Matthew C Jones

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/681253#Comment_681253

I also got the error but the reading plan is showing up fine in Desktop Application.

The error message has shown up in other reading plan downloads. If you keep clicking it you may download multiple copies.

Dustin Masters (Work)

I'm investigating this issue. In the meantime, you can verify your connection status to group plans by checking the Documents tab on the group page. If the reading plan says "Connected" next to it, then you have joined the plan successfully.

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/681263#Comment_681263

Dustin, in spite of the errors, I do seem to have connected to the three "Book n" reading plans, as well as the other one called "Institutes of the Christian Religion I, i, 1-3" which is the only one I can see in the sidebar now.

But more weirdness. That latter one is the only one which shows up in my text, even though the other three are enabled in my Visual Filters menu:

The ones Doc B created (Book 1, Book 2, Book 3) do seem to be populated correctly, but there's no "Start Reading" flag for any of them in my text.

Actually, this appears to be a moving target. I can no longer see the "Institutes of the Christian Religion I, i, 1-3" reading plan anywhere in the Faithlife group, so the person who created it must have deleted it. But I still have it in my Documents menu:

It seems to be inconsistently titled: it shows up as "Read Institutes of the Christian Religion, Volumes 1 & 2 in one year" in my Documents menu and Visual Filters menu, but on the Faithlife sidebar it was called "Institutes of the Christian Religion I, i, 1-3" and in the text it shows up as "Institutes I, i, 1-3"

Doc B

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/681268#Comment_681268

I can no longer see the "Institutes of the Christian Religion I, i, 1-3" reading plan anywhere in the Faithlife group, so the person who created it must have deleted it.

Yes, I just checked and it is gone from the page.

The only three now showing up are the correct three (the 'End Collaboration' tip from another thread worked to delete the document with errors).

Simon’s Brother

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/681268#Comment_681268

I can no longer see the "Institutes of the Christian Religion I, i, 1-3" reading plan anywhere in the Faithlife group, so the person who created it must have deleted it.

This was created in error and Doc B was trying to remove it and seems to have now been successful with Dustin's help

Dustin Masters (Work)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/681258#Comment_681258

I also got the error but the reading plan is showing up fine in Desktop Application.

If you keep clicking it you may download multiple copies.

There is a subtle difference in how reading plans can be shared.

Collaborated plans - You can never download more than one copy of a reading plan collaborated with a group. There is only one reading plan on the server, but every user in the group is given permission to connect to and download that plan. Since there is only one reading plan, every user connected to the reading plan shares the same schedule. Almost all reading plans are shared with a group this way.

Published plans - Right now, only Logos staff can create published reading plans. DIY Bible Study is an example of a published reading plan. When you get a copy of this plan, you get an individual copy with a schedule that begins on the day you get the copy. In this case, clicking "Get Copy" will result in a new copy each time the button is clicked. This is a similar mechanism to starting a reading plan with a template, for example "10 Days on Patience".

I hope that clears up some confusion.

Dustin Masters (Work)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/681273#Comment_681273

I should also note - when someone clicks End Collaboration on a shared document, everyone who was connected gets a private copy of the document. This means if a user ends collaboration on a plan and shares a new one with the same title, everyone who was connected to the old plan will have a copy of that plan, and will need to connect to the newly collaborated plan.

You can check the status of your documents easily by using documents.logos.com.

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/681278#Comment_681278

I should also note - when someone clicks End Collaboration on a shared document, everyone who was connected gets a private copy of the document. This means if a user ends collaboration on a plan and shares a new one with the same title, everyone who was connected to the old plan will have a copy of that plan, and will need to connect to the newly collaborated plan.

You can check the status of your documents easily by using documents.logos.com.

OK, I see. So the fact that I still have a copy of this spurious "Read Institutes of the Christian Religion, Volumes 1 & 2 in one year" one means that Collaboration was ended on it and I'm left with a private copy and should just delete it?

NB.Mick

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/681273#Comment_681273

Collaborated plans - You can never download more than one copy of a reading plan collaborated with a group. There is only one reading plan on the server, but every user in the group is given permission to connect to and download that plan. Since there is only one reading plan, every user connected to the reading plan shares the same schedule. Almost all reading plans are shared with a group this way.

Dustin,

thanks for explaining so far. In light of this and the current thread https://community.logos.com/forums/t/98639.aspx some things are still not settled for me.

I always thought collaboration meant that several people could edit a document. It seems that (at least for custom plans) no one can edit those - is this correct? If so: A bug? The current design? the current partial implementation of a larger design?

And why can't we normal users publish reading plans like we pulish all other sharable Logos documents? Again: A bug? The current design? the current partial implementation of a larger design?

Dustin Masters (Work)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/681279#Comment_681279

OK, I see. So the fact that I still have a copy of this spurious "Read Institutes of the Christian Religion, Volumes 1 & 2 in one year" one means that Collaboration was ended on it and I'm left with a private copy and should just delete it?

Yes.

Dustin Masters (Work)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/681288#Comment_681288

I always thought collaboration meant that several people could edit a document. It seems that (at least for custom plans) no one can edit those - is this correct? If so: A bug? The current design? the current partial implementation of a larger design?

By design. For reading plans, nobody can edit the plan once it has been collaborated. The intended purpose is that all users connected to that plan follow the same schedule, and if a user was able to edit the plan, they might accidentally change settings on the plan, which everyone would then download. This restriction only applies to reading plans - other collaborated documents can be modified by anyone connected to them.

And why can't we normal users publish reading plans like we pulish all other sharable Logos documents? Again: A bug? The current design? the current partial implementation of a larger design?

Also by design. The current implementation is not ready for everyone to use. Publishing does not (yet) work on all kinds of reading plans, so enabling the publish feature for it right now would be buggy. I don't know if or when this would be available for everyone to use in the future.

NB.Mick

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/681291#Comment_681291

Thanks, that clarifies what we've been seeing.

Doc B

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/681291#Comment_681291

For reading plans, nobody can edit the plan once it has been collaborated.

Velly intellesting.

It would probably be very helpful to have a type of reading plan that could be modified by the creator, and everyone subscribed would get the changes. I'm thinking of pastors who have published plans for their congregations, etc.

The intended purpose is that all users connected to that plan follow the same schedule, and if a user was able to edit the plan, they might accidentally change settings on the plan, which everyone would then download.

This is a valid reason, and I see the logic. However, as an unintended consequence, this means that accidentally hitting the Done button instead of the Add Session button (and they are very, very close together) means the plan cannot then be re-entered so it can be completed, and errors can't be fixed. (Most common source of error...the auto-advance-by-one-day feature means a lot of weekday plans end up with a Saturday reading by mistake...for example.)

I hope there is a way to take both into consideration in the future.

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/681304#Comment_681304

For reading plans, nobody can edit the plan once it has been collaborated.

Velly intellesting.

It would probably be very helpful to have a type of reading plan that could be modified by the creator, and everyone subscribed would get the changes. I'm thinking of pastors who have published plans for their congregations, etc.

[Y]

Agreed. There might be some reason what the creator of the plan wants to delay the start date of it. Everyone was sick with the flu around New Year's so the group has decided to wait a week to begin, for example. Or the creator might discover an error that needs to be fixed. Reading Plans should be editable by the creator even if they've already been shared.

Also I hope in the future there might be a way to share reading plans that anyone could use to start reading and following that plan starting at any time they choose. Yes, I know the intended purpose was to share with a group who are all reading the book together. But as you must know by now, "intended purpose" in software is little more than a hint or suggestion. Users will come up with all kinds of other ways that they want to use the features, and a robustly designed feature should be able to expand to accommodate other uses.

Dustin Masters (Work)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/681304#Comment_681304

, this means that accidentally hitting the Done button instead of the Add Session button (and they are very, very close together) means the plan cannot then be re-entered so it can be completed, and errors can't be fixed.

I'm not sure I follow. Until the plan has been collaborated, you should still be able to edit it. If you collaborate a plan and want to change it later, you can end collaboration on the plan, make changes, and collaborate it again.

Doc B

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/681307#Comment_681307

Until the plan has been collaborated, you should still be able to edit it. If you collaborate a plan and want to change it later, you can end collaboration on the plan, make changes, and collaborate it again.

This would all be true if there was a manual, etc., etc. (See my sig for more details on this.)

When I hit Done, it collaborated. Earlier, when I clicked End Collaboration, it deleted a plan. In fact, it may have been you, in another thread, that taught me that trick.

???

Doc B

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/681308#Comment_681308

In fact, it may have been you, in another thread, that taught me that trick.

Yep. I think you were right about the UI not being straightforward.

Dustin Masters (Work)

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/681308#Comment_681308

When I hit Done, it collaborated.

Oh, I see what's going on now. Logos 6 is automatically collaborating the plan when you click Done. The only way to edit it past this point is to end collaboration via the Groups Tool in Logos 6, or by using Faithlife or documents.logos.com.

Earlier, when I clicked End Collaboration, it deleted a plan.

End Collaboration does not delete a document. It will remove its association with the group and disconnect anyone who is connected to it. It will no longer appear in the group documents list, because it is no longer a group document. The document still exists, though. It just belongs to whoever originally collaborated the document to the group.

For group documents, Delete will disconnect you and not create a private copy. Normally, when a user is disconnected from a collaborated document, they get a copy of it. Clicking Delete on a group document does not affect the group document in any way.

Doc B

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/681320#Comment_681320

I'm afraid I'll understand wimmin before I'll understand Logos.

In any case, I've succeeded in completing all four plans. We'll see how they work.