Annotation Channels

Channels in Polarity provide a way to organize Entities and Annotations into logical groups.

Clicking on a Channel name on this page allows you to view all entities and annotations associated with that Channel.

Navigating to Channels

To navigate to the Channels page:

1. Right click on the Polarity icon in the system tray / macOs menu bar

2. Click the Configure Polarity button.

3. Select Channels from under the Advanced Settings menu.

Alternatively, Channels can be accessed via the Subscriptions page of the Overlay Window.

Each Channel is contained in a separate row and organized in a table format. In each Channel row there is information about that Channel.

• Who created that Channel and when

• Number of users subscribed to the Channel

• Number of users that have pinned the Channel

• Channel ID Number

• Channel Color

• Whether you are subscribed to the Channel or not 

Subscribing to Channels

Polarity only returns Annotation information for Entities that are in Channels you are subscribed to. 

You can subscribe or unsubscribe to different Channels to customize the information you receive.  You can subscribe to a Channel by clicking the toggle under the Subscribed column and set it to On . 

All Channels that you are subscribed to will have the toggle set to On.

Unsubscribing from Channels

To unsubscribe from a Channel, click the appropriate toggle under the Subscribed column of the Channel and set it to Off.

Creating a Channel

To create a Channel, click on the Add Channel button in the top right of the Channels page.

This opens up the Create Channel form

Filling out the Create Channel Form

The only required field in the Create Channel dialog is the Channel Name. All other fields are optional but will help provide contextual information to other members of your team. To create a Channel follow the below steps:

1. Set Privacy Level:

   1. Public - Anyone in your organization can view and subscribe to this Channel 

   2. Private - Only users/groups you subscribe can view/annotate in this Channel

2. Enter Channel Name - The Channel Name is used to identify the Channel. The Channel Name is required and cannot include spaces or other special characters except for periods, underscores, hyphens and forward slashes. Channel Names should be descriptive and short.

3. Enter Description - A description for your Channel to help other Polarity users determine whether or not they should subscribe to the Channel.

4. Select Options for Subscribing Other Users - Clicking on the Show additional options button below the description field reveals additional options for subscribing other users to a newly created Channel. 

   1. The options are:

      1. Don't Subscribe Other Users

      2. Subscribe All Users

      3. Subscribe Specific Users

Once all of the information has been entered click on the Save button in the bottom right of the window to create the Channel.

When a Channel is created it is set to Public by default, and all Polarity users can access it.

Channel Quick Create

As you are adding annotations to Polarity through the annotation window, you can quickly create a Channel right from the annotation window.

To do this, type the name of the Channel you want to create into the Channels section in the annotation window.

Once you select "Click here to create new public Channel named [Name of Channel] ", the new Channel will be created. You will be auto-subscribed to the Channel you created. 

Since this method creates a new public Channel, all users will have access to the newly created Channel, but they won't be automatically subscribed to it.

Editing a Channel

Only the creator of a Channel, a Channel Manager, or a Polarity Administrator can edit a Channel.

To edit a Channel:

1. Locate the Channel you wish to edit 

2. Click on its settings button located in the Actions column. 

3. On the new page that opens, click on the Edit button that is next to the Channel name at the top.

From here you can change the Channel name, provide a new description or edit the existing one.

Polarity remembers the last Channel that you annotated against. This means that the last Channel you annotated against will be the default Channel for your next annotation.

A Channel deleted from the Channel page can be restored by an administrator (i.e., the deletion is a soft delete)

For more information about how Channels can be restored and hard deleted please see Admin Tasks.

Sorting and Filtering Channels

Sorting Channels

You have the ability to sort Channels in order to find the ones that are the most pertinent to your workflow.

You can sort Channels by:

• Created On - Sorts in chronological order from when the Channel was created

• Channel Name - Sorts in alphabetical order

• Number of Subscribed Users - Sorts based on the number of users that are using that Channel.

• Number of Writers - Sorts based on the number of users that have pinned the Channel in the apply tag window.

Filtering Channels

You can filter Channels by name using the filter Channel text input. You can also quickly filter Channels to view:

• Channels I Created - Filter down the Channels to just the ones you have created

• My Subscribed Channels - Filter just the Channels you are currently subscribed to

Channel Colors

Channel colors can be customized to your preference.  You can choose any color from the color picker to represent that Channel.  This helps to identify more important Channels versus ones that might be informational.

For example, a Channel consisting of information on your co-workers might be informational, so you set it to a gray color.  However, a Channel with active threats might be set to red to make it standout in the Polarity Overlay.