FAQ Help Handbook Your Account

Sharing the Books in Your Office

How two to five people in one office work in the same books at the same time — over the network cables and Wi-Fi you already have. Written for people who are not computer people.

Reading this on paper is a good idea: press Ctrl+P to print this page.

First, the one idea everything hangs on

Your office has a box — a router — that all the computers connect to. Some connect with a cable (called Cat 5 or Cat 6 — the kind of cable is not important). Some connect by Wi-Fi, which is the same connection through the air instead of a wire. Cable and Wi-Fi are two kinds of road to the same box. That whole setup — the box and the computers on it — is your office network. Its full name is a Local Area Network — “LAN” for short. (“Local” is the whole point: it’s yours, inside your building, and it works whether or not the internet is up. The internet itself is the WAN — the Wide Area Network — and office sharing doesn’t use it at all. The plain-English version of LAN, WAN & your browser is worth five minutes before you set anything up.)

Think of the box as the front-desk operator in a building. Every computer on the network has its own name (like OFFICE-PC) and its own extension number inside the building. When one computer wants to talk to another, the box carries the message. Nothing has to go out to the internet for office computers to talk to each other — the internet can be down and the office can still do its books.

In this setup, one computer holds the books (the “host”). Rental Books runs on that computer and listens for the others. Everybody else reaches it through the office box, using a web browser (Chrome or Edge), and signs in with their own name and password. The books themselves never leave the host computer. Only the host’s copy of Rental Books ever writes in them — that’s what makes it safe for several people to work at once.

Wait — a web browser? Isn’t that for the internet?

No — and this is the secret that makes everything else make sense. A browser (Chrome or Edge) is a visiting tool: you give it an address, it goes there and brings back the page. Give it an address across the ocean, you get a website. Give it an address in your own building — like OFFICE-PC:18723 — and it visits the computer in the next room, never touching the internet at all. Some addresses are twenty feet away. That’s all office sharing is.

Read this before installing anything on a second computer. Installing Rental Books on two computers does not connect them. Each install keeps its own separate set of books, and the first day both get used, the two sets quietly stop matching — different payments, different balances — with no button that merges them back together. Honest fine print: the program can stop two computers from opening the same shared book file at once (it does — that’s the safety rule in Part 1 of our Help FAQ), but it cannot know that two separate copies were both supposed to be “the company books.” That’s why sharing is built the way it is: one set of books, on one computer, and everybody else visits it — nobody else installs anything.

In the steps below, Maria is the person whose computer holds the books, and Tom is a teammate at another desk. Use your own names as you read.

Part 1 — Before anybody touches Rental Books: check the office itself

Do these four checks once, on setup day. Skipping them is how people end up “doing everything right” and still not connecting.

Check 1 — Is every computer on the SAME office box?

Two computers can only talk if they ride to the same box.

⚠️ If a computer is on a Wi-Fi name with “Guest” in it (like SmithOffice-Guest), it is on a separate visitors’ road that is deliberately blocked from the office computers. Change it to the regular office Wi-Fi before anything else.

Fell down here? Two pages exist for exactly this hole: Your Office Network, From Scratch (same-network tests, dead wall outlets, where everything plugs in) and Guest Wi-Fi & Passwords That Work (why guest Wi-Fi breaks office work, and how to spot it).

Check 2 — Tell Windows the office is a PRIVATE network

Windows asks, in effect: “Do you trust the other computers here?” If a computer answers Public, Windows hides it and blocks exactly the kind of talking this feature needs. Every office computer — the host most of all — must be set to Private. (Never do this on coffee-shop or airport Wi-Fi; there, Public is the safe answer. This setting is per-network, so changing it for the office does not change it anywhere else.)

Windows 11:

  1. Click Start (the Windows icon at the bottom), then Settings (the gear icon).
  2. Click Network & internet in the left-hand list.
  3. Click Wi-Fi if you connect by Wi-Fi, or Ethernet if you connect by cable.
  4. Click your connection — for Wi-Fi, the network name with “properties” after it; for Ethernet, the connection itself.
  5. Find Network profile type and choose Private network. You should see the choice change right away. There is no Save button.

Windows 10:

  1. Click Start, then Settings (the gear icon).
  2. Click Network & Internet.
  3. Click Wi-Fi or Ethernet, then click the name of the connection you’re using.
  4. Under Network profile, choose Private.

What you should see: the word Private selected. If you were ever asked, when first joining this network, “Do you want to allow your PC to be discoverable by other PCs and devices?” — Yes is the answer that means Private.

Check 3 — Learn the host computer’s name

The host’s name is how the other computers find it — like a person’s name instead of their phone number. Names survive the office box handing out new numbers (which it does sometimes when computers restart); numbers don’t.

  1. On the computer that will hold the books, click Start → Settings.
  2. Click System, then scroll down and click About.
  3. Look at the top of the page: Device name — for example OFFICE-PC. Write it down exactly, including any dashes.

What you should see: a name like OFFICE-PC or DESKTOP-K7P2X9. Ugly is fine. Exact is what matters.

Want to give it a better name? You can — names are changeable, and a good name (BOOKS-PC) beats a factory jumble. Why it matters and the exact steps: Naming the Books Computer. Pick it once, though: renaming later means redoing everyone’s shortcuts.

Check 4 — The host computer must not fall asleep on the job

If the host computer goes to sleep, every other person is locked out until it wakes up. The screen may turn off — that’s fine. The computer must not sleep while it’s plugged in.

Windows 11:

  1. Start → Settings → System → Power & battery.
  2. Open Screen, sleep, & hibernate timeouts (you may need to click it to unfold it).
  3. Set “Put my device to sleep after” for Plugged in to Never.

Windows 10:

  1. Start → Settings → System → Power & sleep.
  2. Under Sleep, set “When plugged in, PC goes to sleep after” to Never.

What you should see: the sleep choice says Never. Leave the screen choice however you like it.

Screen saver, screen off, sleep, hibernate — aren’t those all the same? They are not, and mixing them up is why this check confuses everybody. The four, in plain English: Screen Saver, Sleep & Hibernate.

Part 2 — The host: turn sharing on (Maria’s job, once)

Do this on the computer that holds the books. That computer should be one that stays in the office, stays plugged in, and is on whenever the office is working.

  1. Open Rental Books and open the set of books you want to share.
  2. Go to the Office Hosting screen and click Set up office sharing. The program walks you through three steps:
    • Step 1 — This computer. It re-checks Part 1 for you: private network, sleep setting, and whether Windows Firewall has the office door open. This is the Connection Doctor: green check marks mean done.
    • The Windows Firewall question. The first time, Windows may pop up a box saying it “blocked some features of this app.” Tick the box next to Private networks, then click Allow access. Windows may ask for an administrator password — that’s the password of whoever set the computer up, and it’s asked once, ever.
    • Step 2 — Your office connection. Type the name of the office Wi-Fi (from Part 1, Check 1) so it can be printed on the office card and put into invitation emails. Cabled offices can leave it as “Office network.”
    • Step 3 — Invite your people. Add each person’s name and email and click Send invitation. Rental Books opens your normal email program with the message already written; you just press Send. (No email? Use Copy the invitation words and paste them into a text or chat, or use the manual ways in Part 3.)
  3. At the end, the hosting screen shows: Sharing is ON for these books; the book’s address (for example OFFICE-PC:18723 — the number after the colon is that book’s own door number; a second set of books gets a different number and can be shared separately); an office code (the manual-join fallback); who is in the books right now; and a button to print the office card — one page with the connection name, the address, and the “if you’re stuck” steps from Part 6. Print it. Tape it near the coffee machine. You will thank yourself.

What you should see: the hosting screen says sharing is on and the Connection Doctor shows all green. If any line is red, the screen says in plain words what it is and shows a Fix button or the exact Part 1 check to redo. You never have to guess what a red light means.

Part 3 — Everybody else: get into the books (Tom’s job, once)

You need nothing installed on your computer. Pick ONE of these three ways.

Way 1 — The email link (easiest)

  1. Open the invitation email Maria sent and click the big Open the books link. ⚠️ Click it while you’re in the office (or after the Part 7 tunnel steps if you work from home). The link cannot reach the office from outside the office — that’s on purpose.
  2. The books’ sign-in page opens in your browser and already knows it’s you — the link carried your personal pass. Set your own password and confirm it. (Make it one you’ll remember; nobody at Rental Books can see it or get it back for you.)
  3. Answer one question: “Is this your own computer?” Yes → tick Keep me signed in on this computer; from now on your desktop icon takes you straight in for 30 days at a time, no password typing. No (shared computer) → leave it unticked; the books will ask for your password each time, so the next person at that desk can’t walk in as you.
  4. Click Put the Rental Books icon on my desktop. A window may ask you to confirm installing the app — click Install.

What you should see: a desktop icon named like the company (“Rental Books — ABC Rentals”). That icon is now your whole routine.

Way 2 — Type it yourself (the manual way)

Use the office card (Maria printed it) or the address Maria reads to you.

  1. Open Chrome or Edge.
  2. Click once in the long white bar at the very top of the window — the address bar. (⚠️ Not the big Google search box in the middle of the page. If the page has a colorful logo in the center, you’re looking at the search box — go higher, to the very top edge of the window.)
  3. Type the address exactly as printed, for example OFFICE-PC:18723. Do not put www. in front of it. Do not put spaces in it.
  4. Press Enter.
  5. Type the office code from the card, then sign in with your own name and password (set one on this first visit if you’re asked to), answer the “your own computer?” question from Way 1, step 3, and click the desktop icon button.

What you should see: the sign-in page shows the company name in big letters before you type any password. If the company name is wrong, you clicked the wrong book’s address — close the tab and use the other address from the card. Wrong door, wrong room; nothing is harmed by looking.

Way 3 — The join file (no email, nothing to type)

  1. Maria clicks Make a join file on the hosting screen and puts it on a USB stick (or in a folder the office already shares). The file is named for the company, like Open ABC Rentals Books.
  2. Plug in the stick, double-click that file.
  3. Your browser opens at the right book. Enter the office code from the printed card, sign in, and click the desktop icon button.

The join file holds only the book’s address — no book data, no password — so losing the stick is a nuisance, not a leak. Maria can also simply walk over and do the 2-minute setup at your desk; that’s a fully supported way, not cheating.

Every day after that

  1. Double-click your desktop icon.
  2. (If you’re not in a “keep me signed in” stretch, or you’re on a shared computer) type your password — the same one you made. You never make a new one unless you forget it.
  3. Work. Print to your own printer as usual.
  4. When you’re done, close the window or Sign out. Don’t look for an “Exit” — only the host computer can shut the books down for everybody, and you’re not it. That’s deliberate.

One more thing to know: Maria’s computer goes first. If you click your icon before the host is on and Rental Books is open there, you’ll get “can’t reach the books.” Wait for the host, then click again. Everything you already saved is always safe — a closed door is not lost work.

Part 4 — Two sets of books in one office

Nothing special. Each set of books is shared on its own, from its own hosting screen, with its own door number — so your icon for ABC Rentals can never open XYZ Homes. Two companies = two invitations = two icons, each named for its company. The host can share one set and keep another private on the same computer.

Part 5 — The host’s daily habits (30 seconds of honesty)

Part 6 — If it doesn’t work (read top to bottom; stop when it works)

“The page won’t open / can’t reach the books”

(The browser shows an error page, or spins forever.)

  1. Is the host computer on, awake, with Rental Books open and sharing on? (Part 2.) This is the cause most of the time.
  2. Are you on the right office connection? Wi-Fi: the name from Part 1, not the Guest one. Cable: is the cable actually plugged in at both ends? (Look at the little lights where it plugs in — dark usually means unplugged or a dead jack.)
  3. Did you click the link / type the address from inside the office? From home it cannot work until Part 7 is set up.
  4. Typing by hand? Check the address again: top bar, no www., no spaces, colon and number included.
  5. On the host, open the hosting screen and click Check my setup. Fix whatever line is red — the screen explains it in plain words.
  6. Still nothing, but another office computer works fine? Then this one computer (or its wall jack) is on a different network than the office box. That’s a building-wiring thing, not a you thing: the office’s network person needs to put that jack/computer on the office network.

“It worked yesterday, not today”

  1. Host restarted (update, power blink)? Open Rental Books on the host.
  2. Somebody changed the Wi-Fi password, or the host’s network was set back to Public? Redo Part 1, Checks 1–2 on the host.
  3. Your icon broke but the address typed by hand works? Delete the icon and re-do Part 3’s icon button — the icon remembers an address that changed.

“It opens, but my code/password is refused”

  1. Office code: it’s on the printed card / hosting screen, and Maria can show a fresh one. Codes get refused after too many wrong tries on purpose — wait ten minutes.
  2. Password: it’s your own, case-sensitive. Forgotten it? Maria (the admin, at the host computer) can reset it from the Users screen; you’ll pick a new one at your next sign-in.

“It’s slow”

  1. Someone running a huge report makes everyone wait a few seconds — normal, pour coffee.
  2. Weak Wi-Fi at your desk? A cable, if there’s a jack, is the permanent fix.
  3. The host computer itself is old and busy with everything else? The host does all the work for everybody; give the job to the strongest, least-busy computer in the office.

Golden rule: nobody should ever “fix” a connection problem by moving, copying, or emailing the books file itself. The book stays on the host. Always. Two people writing in the same book file at the same time is exactly how book files get damaged — the office-sharing setup exists so that can’t happen. If you’re ever told to copy the book to make sharing work, stop and email us instead.

Part 7 — Working from somewhere else (the tunnel)

The books’ door faces inside the office only. To work from home, you do not move the door — you build a private tunnel into the office, using a ready-made tunnel program (these steps use Tailscale, a well-known free one; Rental Books does not run its own tunnel service).

  1. On the host computer: install the tunnel app from its official site, sign in, and leave it running. The hosting screen’s “Working from somewhere else?” page shows the host’s tunnel address (it looks different from the office address — that’s expected).
  2. On your home computer: install the same app, and sign in with the account Maria invited (she sends the tunnel invitation from inside the tunnel app — a different invitation from your Rental Books one; your office needs both).
  3. At home, use the home link from Maria’s “somewhere else” page (it carries the tunnel address), and put a second icon on your home desktop named like the company plus “(Home).” In the office you use the office icon; at home, the home icon. Same books, same sign-in — two roads in.
  4. Home speed = your home internet speed. Typing and reports feel normal; huge reports take a breath longer.

⚠️ Never let anyone “just open a port on the router” or use a website that promises to put your books on the internet for free. That hangs the books’ door on the street with a toy lock. The tunnel is the only approved way in from outside.

Words we used, in plain English

Still stuck? Email us at [email protected] and tell us which Part and which step you’re on — we’ll pick it up from there. Back to Help & Support.

Go deeper: the plain-English networking library

Most of what goes wrong in an office isn’t the program — it’s the network nobody explained. We wrote the explanations down. Start anywhere; each page stands on its own.

LAN, WAN & Your Browser · Your Office Network, From Scratch · Guest Wi-Fi & Passwords That Work · Naming the Books Computer · Screen Saver, Sleep & Hibernate · People, Logins & Permissions · Getting a Printer On Your Network · Getting Your Laptop to Print · Internet to the Garage & Far Rooms

Open the Networking Library