Accessing 4th Court

Josh French
Josh French
  • Updated

This article explains how to log in, navigate departmental sites, and manage content on 4th Court. This guide covers the following:

  • How to reach 4th Court and sign in

  • How departmental SharePoint sites are organized

  • How to request Editor access and publish content

Refer to this article when you need to set up—or maintain—your department’s presence on 4th Court.

Logging In to 4th Court

URL: Browse to: https://4thcourt.joh.cam.ac.uk (bookmark this address for quick access).

Authentication: Use your University account to access (this will be CRSid@cam.ac.uk and your password).

Navigating the Homepage & Hubs

Once signed in, you’ll land on the 4th Court homepage, which features four main “hubs”. Each hub clusters related departmental sites:

    1. 4th Court (features curated content from across 4th Court)

    2. Working (includes HR, Finance etc)

    3. Living (includes Accommodation, Catering, IT & Digital Services, Maintenance, Porters etc)

    4. Academic Life (includes Academic Support Office, Library & Archive, Master's & President's Office etc)

Each department is assigned to one of these hubs, simply click the department name to be taken to its site.

Departmental Site Structure

Within a department’s site, you’ll typically see:

  1. Home Page: Contains an overview of your department, key contacts, and any high-priority announcements.

  2. News & Announcements: A web part that displays recently posted news items. Use this to broadcast updates relating to your department.

  3. Events & Calendar: Embedded calendar listing upcoming events (e.g., meetings, deadlines, social gatherings).

  4. Team Documents: These can only be seen by members of your department, linked to your Team.

  5. Shared Documents: These can be seen by anyone who can access 4th Court, used for any documents your department wants to share out to the college.

  6. Quick Links: Shortcut tiles to frequently used resources, these can include:

    • Room Booking

    • Duty Rotas

    • Booking Forms (e.g., catering orders, maintenance requests)

    • Training Materials (e.g., fire safety, GDPR refresher)

Becoming a SharePoint Editor

Every department should have at least one designated SharePoint Editor (ideally two) responsible for updating and maintaining content. If your department does not yet have an Editor:

  1. Email the Communications Team:

    • Address: communications@joh.cam.ac.uk

    • Subject: “Request for 4th Court Editor Access”

    • Body: Include your name, department, and a brief justification (e.g., “I will maintain our department’s news and document libraries.”)

  2. Communications Team Response:

    • They will assign Editor permissions to the specified account(s).

    • Editors will receive a confirmation email once permissions are granted.

Editing and Publishing Content

Once you have Editor permissions, you should first read the 4th Court content guidelines, then you can start editing content:

Edit Your Home Page

    • Navigate to your department site and click “Edit” in the top-right corner.

    • Make changes to web parts (e.g., update news, swap out hero images, adjust quick links).

Posting News & Announcements

  • In the News web part, click “Add” (or “+ New” → “News Post”).

  • Compose a headline, body text, and add any necessary images or links.

  • Set an expiration date if you want the post to disappear automatically after a certain time.

  • Click “Publish” to make it live.

Managing Document Libraries

    • From the left navigation, click “Documents” (or whichever library you need).

    • Use “Upload” to add new files or “New → Folder” to organize into subfolders.

    • To edit a document online, click the file name and choose “Open in Word/Excel/PowerPoint Online.”

Audience Targeting

    • If you only want an announcement to appear for specific groups (Staff, Fellows, Students), enable Audience Targeting on the News web part or individual news pages.

    • When editing the News web part properties, toggle “Enable audience targeting”, then specify the audiences.

Saving and Publishing

    • After making edits, click “Republish” (if you’re modifying an existing page) or “Publish” (for a new page).

    • Always preview before publishing to ensure the layout and audience targeting look correct.

Content Review & Maintenance

Quarterly/Annual Reviews

    • Each department should review its site content at least every six months.

    • Update or archive stale news, replace outdated documents, and refresh graphics.

Version History & Restoration

    • SharePoint automatically tracks version history. If you need to revert to an earlier draft, navigate to “Version History” from the ellipsis (…) next to a file/page.

Permissions Audit

    • Periodically check who has Editor access. Remove Editors who no longer require permissions, and add new ones if needed.

Common Troubleshooting

Issue: Unable to Publish News Post

    • Ensure you have Editor (or higher) permissions.

    • Check that you’ve provided required fields (headline, at least one image or text block).

    • Confirm that “Expire” date (if set) isn’t in the past.

Issue: Audience Targeting Not Working

  • Verify that you enabled “Enable audience targeting” both on the News web part and on the news item itself.

  • Check that the targeted group (e.g., “Fellows”) is set up correctly in SharePoint’s People and Groups.

 

Issue: File Permissions Seem Off

    • Document libraries inherit permissions from the site by default. If you customized library permissions, confirm that users/groups you expect have access.

    • For a Private Channel in Teams, make sure the channel members match your intended list.

If the issues persist, contact 4thcourt@joh.cam.ac.uk who will be able to advise you further.

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