87eae20de868054a5abeedeb78a24d3e296b87d5
dschmelt
  Tue May 21 15:09:55 2019 -0700
Adding notes about TinyURL enabling URL parameters #23030

diff --git src/hg/htdocs/goldenPath/help/hgSessionHelp.html src/hg/htdocs/goldenPath/help/hgSessionHelp.html
index a57f06c..aeb79db 100755
--- src/hg/htdocs/goldenPath/help/hgSessionHelp.html
+++ src/hg/htdocs/goldenPath/help/hgSessionHelp.html
@@ -1,700 +1,703 @@
 <!DOCTYPE html>
 <!--#set var="TITLE" value="Genome Browser Session Help" -->
 <!--#set var="ROOT" value="../.." -->
 
 <!-- Relative paths to support mirror sites with non-standard GB docs install -->
 <!--#include virtual="$ROOT/inc/gbPageStart.html" -->
 
 <h1>Sessions User's Guide</h1> 
 
 <h2>Contents</h2> 
 
 <h6><a href="#Introduction">Introduction</a></h6> 
 <h6><a href="#Example">Some simple examples</a></h6> 
 <h6><a href="#Create">Creating a session</a></h6>
 <h6><a href="#CreateVid">Creating a session &mdash; video demonstration</a></h6>
 <h6><a href="#Details">Session details</a></h6>     
 <h6><a href="#Share">Sharing a session</a></h6>
 <!--
   <ul>
     <li><a class="toc" href="#ShareOrNot">Shared vs. non-shared data</a></li>
     <li><a class="toc" href="#HowToShare">Sharing your session with others</a></li>
     <li><a class="toc" href="#Open">Opening a shared session</a></li>
   </ul>
 -->
 <h6><a href="#Edit">Editing an existing session</a></h6>
 <h6><a href="#CTs">Displaying your own tracks in a session</a></h6>
 <h6><a href="#Delete">Deleting a session</a></h6>
 <h6><a href="#Lifespan">Lifespan of a session</a></h6>
 <h6><a href="#Gallery">Session gallery</a></h6> 
 <h6><a href="#NAR">Help for Nucleic Acids Research submitters</a></h6>
 <hr>
 <p>
 <a href="../../contacts.html">Questions and feedback on this User's Guide are welcome.</a></p>
 <p>
 User questions and answers on Sessions and other topics are available in the 
 <a href="https://groups.google.com/a/soe.ucsc.edu/forum/#!forum/genome" target="_blank">Genome 
 Browser mailing list</a>.</p>
 
 <!-- ====Introduction======================== -->
 <a name="Introduction"></a> 
 <h2>Introduction</h2>
 <p>
 The <a href="../../cgi-bin/hgSession" target="_blank">Session</a> tool allows you to configure your 
 browser with specific track combinations, including <a href="hgTracksHelp.html#CustomTracks">custom 
 tracks</a>, and save the configuration options. Multiple sessions may be saved for future reference,
 for comparing different data sets, or for sharing with your colleagues. Saved sessions 
 <A href="#Lifespan">will not be expired</a>, however, we still recommend that you keep local 
 back-ups of your session contents and any associated custom tracks. <a href="#CTs">BLAT result 
 tracks persist</a> for at least 48 hours after the last time they are viewed. The creation date 
 of a session can be viewed in the Session Management menu. This date only reflects the initial 
 creation of the Session and is not updated when sessions are edited. Descriptive text can also be 
 added to a session in the <A href="#Details">Session Details</a> menu.</p> 
 <p>
 This feature may be accessed via the <strong>Session</strong> link in the top blue navigation bar in
 any assembly. To ensure privacy and security, you must <a href="../../cgi-bin/hgSession" 
 target="_blank">create an account</a> and <a href="../../cgi-bin/hgSession" target="_blank">log 
 in</a> before using the session manager.</p> 
 <p>
 Individual sessions may be designated as either <a href="#ShareOrNot"><em>shared</em> or 
 <em>non-shared</em></a> to protect the privacy of confidential data. To avoid having a new shared 
 session from someone else override your existing Genome Browser settings, you are encouraged to open
 a new web-browser instance or to save existing settings in a session before 
 <a href="#Open">loading</a> a new shared session.</p>
 <p>
 Note that not all of the Genome Browser <a href="../../mirror.html">mirror sites</a> have all of the
 session features enabled.</p> 
 <p>
 This User's Guide provides a few examples that introduce the features of the Session tool, followed 
 by detailed directions on creating, saving, modifying and sharing sessions.</p>
 
 <!-- ====Example======================== -->
 <a name="Example"></a>
 <h2>Some simple examples</h2> 
 <p>
 This section contains some example sessions that demonstrate the use of the Session tool. To enable 
 you to view these sessions, we have <a href="../../cgi-bin/hgSession" target="_blank">created a user
 account</a> with the name <em>Example</em>.  </P>
 
 <!-- =====Example 1======================= -->
 <a name="Example1"></a> 
 <h3>Example 1</h3> 
 <p>
 This example shows the primate (chimp and rhesus) nets for chromosome 2 in the hg17 human assembly 
 &mdash; the primate chromosome that fused in humans. We first configured our browser view with the 
 desired settings, and then saved the session so that we could share it. We named our session 
 <code>hg17_chr2_primate</code>.</p> 
 <p>
 There are several ways for you to view this session:</p> 
 <uL> 
   <li>
   <strong>Manually load and open the session.</strong> Open the <A href="../../cgi-bin/hgSession" 
   target="_blank">Session</a> tool. In the <code>Session Management</code> section under the 
   <em>Load Settings</em> heading, enter this information:</p>
 <pre><code>user: Example
 session name: hg17_chr2_primate </code></pre>
   <p> 
   Click the <button>submit</button> button next to the session name box to load the session. To view 
   the session in the Genome Browser, click the <code>Genome Browser</code> link in the top blue 
   navigation bar.</li> 
   <li>
   <strong>Open a session link sent by email.</strong> After we created and saved this session, we 
   could have clicked the <em>Email</em> link to automatically send a message to one or more 
   recipients with the following contents and clickable link:</p>
   <pre><code>Here is a UCSC browser session I'd like to share with you: 
 <a href="http://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/hgTracks?hgS_doOtherUser=submit&hgS_otherUserName=Examples&hgS_otherUserSessionName=hg17_chr2_primate"
 target="_blank">http://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/hgTracks?hgS_doOtherUser=submit&hgS_otherUserName=Examples&hgS_otherUserSessionName=hg17_chr2_primate</a></code>. </pre>
   <p>
   By clicking this link, you can open the session in your browser.</li> 
   <li>
   <strong>Open a session from a local file.</strong> Alternatively, if we had saved the browser 
   settings to a local file, we could have simply provided the location of that file for you to load 
   into your browser to view our session. Click <A href="examples/session_example1.txt">here</a> to 
   see such a settings file. This method works best when the file is in a location that you can 
   access from your own computer or network. For this example, you can copy this file and paste it 
   into a file on your own machine, then load it into the Session tool.</li> 
   <li>
   <strong>Open a session from a URL.</strong> Because you do not have access to our file system 
   where this session file resides, it will be easier for you to load it using a URL. To do this, 
   open the <a href="../../cgi-bin/hgSession" target="_blank">Session</a> tool. In the <code>Session 
   Management</code> section under the <em>Load Settings</em> header, enter the URL where this file 
   is located:</p> 
   <pre><code>http://genome.ucsc.edu/goldenPath/help/examples/session_example1.txt</code></pre>
   <br>
   Then, click the <button>submit</button> button to load the session settings. To view the session in 
   the Genome Browser, press the <em>Browser</em> link in the <code>Updated Session</code> 
   section.</li> 
 </ul>
 
 <!-- =====Example 2======================= -->
 <a name="Example2"></a> 
 <h3>Example 2</h3> 
 <p>
 This example shows the Human Accelerated Region (HAR1) in the hg18 assembly. Eighteen differences 
 exist in a region of 118 bases between human and all other mammals extending back to the chicken. 
 The two sessions in this example show the same browser position at two levels of detail: Example 2a 
 is zoomed out; Example 2b is zoomed in.</p> 
 <p>
 To view these sessions in your browser, you can use any of the methods described in Example 1:</p> 
 <ul>
   <li>
   <strong>Manually load and open the session.</strong><br>
   <em>Example 2a:</em>
   <pre><code><strong>user:</strong> Example
 <strong>session name:</strong> hg18_HAR1</code></pre>
   <em>Example 2b:</em>
   <pre><code><strong>user:</strong> Example
 <strong>session name:</strong> hg18_HAR1_zoom </code></pre></li>
   <li>
   <strong>Open a session link sent by email.</strong><br>
   <em>Example 2a:</em> 
   <pre><code><a href="http://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/hgTracks?hgS_doOtherUser=submit&hgS_otherUserName=Example&hgS_otherUserSessionName=hg18_HAR1" 
   target="_blank">http://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/hgTracks?hgS_doOtherUser=submit&<br>hgS_otherUserName=Example&hgS_otherUserSessionName=hg18_HAR1</a></code></pre>
   <em>Example 2b:</em> 
   <pre><code><a href="http://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/hgTracks?hgS_doOtherUser=submit&hgS_otherUserName=Example&hgS_otherUserSessionName=hg18_HAR1_zoom" 
   target="_blank">http://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/hgTracks?hgS_doOtherUser=submit&<br>hgS_otherUserName=Example&hgS_otherUserSessionName=hg18_HAR1_zoom</a>.</code></pre></li>
   <li>
   <strong>Open a session from a local file.</strong><br> 
   <em>Example 2a:</em> Copy the contents of this <a href="examples/session_example2a.txt">file</a> 
   to a file on your own machine, then load it into the Session tool.<br> 
   <em>Example 2b:</em> Copy the contents of this <a href="examples/session_example2b.txt">file</a> 
   to a file on your own machine, then load it into the Session tool.</li></br>
   <li>
   <strong>Open a session from a URL.</strong><br> 
   <em>Example 2a:</em> Paste this URL into the Session tool: 
   <pre><code>http://genome.ucsc.edu/goldenPath/help/examples/session_example2a.txt</code></pre>
   <em>Example 2b:</em> Paste this URL into the Session tool: 
   <pre><code>http://genome.ucsc.edu/goldenPath/help/examples/session_example2b.txt</code></pre> 
 </ul>
 
 <!-- === Creating a Session ================ -->
 <a name="Create"></a>
 <h2>Creating a session</h2> 
 <p>
 It is easy to create a session to save or share. Simply configure the Genome Browser as you wish, 
 then navigate to the Session tool by clicking on the <strong>My Data</strong> pulldown in the top 
 blue navigation bar. Follow these steps to save your session:</p> 
 <ul> 
   <li>
   <strong>Log in to the Genome Browser.</strong> To ensure privacy and security, you must 
   <a href="../../cgi-bin/hgSession" target="_blank">create an account</a> and/or 
   <a href="../../cgi-bin/hgSession" target="_blank">log in</a> to use the Session tool. You will not
   have to repeat the login step unless you sign off from the Session tool or close your Genome 
   Browser.</li> 
   <li>
   <strong>Create a named session.</strong> Scroll down to the <code>Save Settings</code> section of
   the page. Type a name into the <code>Save current settings as named session</code> box. Choose
   whether or not you would like to <a href="#Share">share</a> your sessions with others. If the
   <code>allow this session to be loaded by others</code> box is checked, anyone will be able to view
   your Genome Browser settings (including your custom tracks) if you provide them with your user and
   session name. Note that your session is <em>not</em> automatically available to the general public
   if you choose this option: you must provide the user and session name to other individuals for
   them to view it. This helps to ensure the confidentiality of your private data. After naming the
   session and choosing your sharing option, click the <button>submit</button> button. Your session will
   then be listed by name under <em>My Sessions</em>.</li>
   <li>
   <strong>Save session settings to a file.</strong> Alternatively, you can create a file from your
   session settings that can be saved to your local machine or posted to a URL for
   <a href="#Open">access or sharing</a>. To do this, go to the <code>Save Settings</code> section.
   Type a name into the <code>Save current settings to a local file</code> box. Click the
   <button>submit</button> button to save or display the file. The session will be saved in plain text
   (ascii) format by default. To select a compressed format, select one of the options from the
   <code>file type returned</code> menu before clicking <button>submit</button>. If you simply wish to
   preview the contents of the file in your browser window, leave the file name blank and click
   <button>submit</button>.</li>
   </ul>
   <h3>How to backup text-based Custom Track data to a file</h3>
   <ul>
   <li>
   <strong>Save Custom Tracks.</strong>   Save a backup of your current browser sessions's custom
   tracks to your local machine. This backup is intended to be used to restore uploaded text-based
   custom tracks that would otherwise be lost in case of an
   unexpected system failure at UCSC. Saving your data is easy and ensures that your hard work
   is safe and recoverable. To download your custom track data, navigate to the <code>Save
   Settings</code> section. Click the <button>submit</button> button to the right of "backup custom
   tracks archive .tar.gz". For each genome assembly, the custom track names will be shown along
   with individual and total file size. To proceed, click the <button>create custom track backup
   archive</button> button. All of the custom track data for the active session will be archived and
   compressed. Large custom tracks may take several minutes to finish. To download the archive to
   your computer, type in a name for the downloaded archive file and click the <button>download
   backup archive</button> button. The file will have a ".tar.gz" extension. Note that Safari
   browsers will unzip the archive leaving you with a .tar file in your Downloads directory. Click
   the <button>return</button> button to return to the Session Management page. To save viewing
   settings like track visibilities, highlighting, and sequence positions, use the "Save session
   settings to a local file" feature mentioned above.</li>
   <li>
   <strong>Restore a Custom Track.</strong>
   The downloaded archive file cannot be directly reloaded into the system because it is compressed.
   To reload custom tracks, untar the downloaded .tar.gz file. The following example assumes you
   named your archive file 'someproject'. From the command-line, change into your Downloads
   directory, make a directory for your session, and uncompress your custom track archive.
   <pre><code>cd Downloads
 mkdir someproject
 cd someproject
 tar -xzf ../someproject.tar.gz</code></pre>
   If you use the Safari browser, your file will have been uncompressed automatically, leaving just
   .tar. If this is the case, use this command instead:<br>
   <pre><code>tar -xf ../someproject.tar</code></pre>
   The assembly directory contains .ct files, one for each custom track.
   To restore a single custom track, go to the <a href=../../cgi-bin/hgCustom>Custom Tracks tool</a>,
   select the correct genome database, and click the <button>add custom track</button> button.
   If you already have existing custom tracks, click the <button>add custom track</button> button, then
   click the <button>Choose File</button> button next to the top window near the
   "Paste URLs or data" text. A file selection box will open. Navigate to the directory where
   the desired custom track .ct file is, choose it, and click the <button>Submit</button> button.<br>
   <br>
   If an optional help text or HTML page was saved with the custom track, you will see a
   corresponding custom track .html file. You can restore this by selecting the <button>Choose
   File</button> button near the "Optional track documentation" text. A file selection box will
   open. Navigate to the directory where the .html file is located, choose it, and click the <button>
   Submit</button> button.</li>
   <li>
   <strong>Restore Multiple Custom Tracks.</strong> Restore all the custom tracks in an assembly
   directory by concatenating the .ct files together. From the command-line, change
   directory to your genome assembly and concatenate all of the .ct files into on hg38_all.ct
   file:
   <pre><code>cd hg38
 cat *.ct > hg38_all.ct</code></pre>
   Compress the concatenated file for faster upload, creating hg38_all.ct.gz with the following
   command:
   <pre><code>gzip hg38_all.ct</code></pre>
   Navigate to the <a href=../../cgi-bin/hgCustom>Custom Tracks tool </a> and select the big 
   concatenated compressed file (hg38_all.ct.gz in our example). Note that large custom track sets 
   may require a long time to upload. Once uploaded, click the <button>Go</button> button on the next page to view
   your custom tracks in the Browser. You will still be able to save and share your Sessions 
   online, which will include your Browser Settings and Custom Tracks. This feature is solely for 
   backing up Custom Tracks as files. 
   </li>
 </ul> 
 
 <!-- === Creating a session - Video Demonstration================ -->
 
 <a name="CreateVid"></a>
 <h2>Creating a session &mdash; video demonstration</h2>
 <p>
 <iframe width="560" height="350" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d5rHBLXwraM?rel=0" 
 frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" 
 allowfullscreen></iframe> </p>
 <p> Visit our <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQnUJepyNOw0p8s2otX4RYQ/videos"
 target="_blank">YouTube channel</a> for more videos.
 </p>
 
 
 
 <!-- =====Opening a Saved Session======================== -->
 <a name="Create"></a>
 <h2>Opening a saved session</h2> 
 <p>
 When you save a session, it is added to the <em>My Sessions</em> list on the Session page. Each 
 session entry is listed by name and offers the following options to open, share, and manipulate it: 
 <ul> 
   <li>
   <strong>Session name.</strong> Click the session name to view it in the Genome Browser.</li>  
   <li>
   <strong>View/edit details.</strong> Click the <button>details</button> button to edit the session
   description and view session details such as creation date/time, assemblies with custom tracks and
   more.</li> 
   <li>
   <strong>Delete the session.</strong> Click the <button>delete</button> button to permanently remove 
   this session from the list.</li>  
   <li>
   <strong>Share with others</strong>: Check this box to allow others to access this session. By 
   default, this option is unchecked, which limits access to only the session owner.</li> 
   <li>
   <strong>Post in public listing</strong>: Check this box to add your session to the list of 
   <a href="../../../cgi-bin/hgPublicSessions">Public Sessions</a>. Sessions in the listing will be 
   available to be loaded and viewed by the world.</li>  
   <li>
   <strong>Email.</strong> Click this link to <A href="#Share">email</a> this session to a 
   colleague.</li> 
 </ul>
 
 <!-- == Details ====================== -->
 <a name="Details"></a>
 <h2>Session details</h2>
 <p>
 Each session has an associated details page that you can click into from the 
 <a href="../../cgi-bin/hgSession" target="_blank">Session Management</a> menu. The Session Details 
 menu allows you to edit the Session Name, to add descriptive text and to change whether or not the 
 session is shared with others. Like the Session Management menu, if you click &quot;use&quot; that 
 session will be loaded as the current session and if you click &quot;delete&quot; the session will 
 be deleted. The &quot;Created on&quot; date reflects the date that the session was originally 
 created and will not be updated to reflect any edits.</p>
 
 <!-- ======Sharing a Session======================== -->
 <a name="Share"></a>
 <h2>Sharing a session</h2>
 
 <!-- =====Shared vs. Non-shared Data======================= -->
 <a name="ShareOrNot"></a>
 <h3>Shared vs. non-shared data</h3> 
 <p>
 When you create a session using the Session tool, you may designate it as either <em>shared</em> or 
 <em>non-shared</em>. By default, new sessions are created as shared and must be explicitly changed 
 to non-shared status.</p> 
 <p>
 Shared sessions can be opened by other Genome Browser users to whom you've provided one of the 
 following:</p> 
 <ul>
   <li>
   the user name and session name of the saved session</li>
   <li>
   access privileges to a local file that contains the saved session information</li>
   <li>
   the URL of a web-accessible session settings file</li>
 </ul>
 <p> 
 Sessions which you've added to the list of <a href="../../../cgi-bin/hgPublicSessions">Public 
 Sessions</a> will available to the world. Note that unless you've added them to this list of Public 
 Sessions, your shared sessions will not be available in a general way to other Genome Browser users;
 they will need at least one of these access methods.</p> 
 <p>
 If you choose to keep your session private, other users of the Genome Browser will not be able to 
 access your data or browser configuration. Any confidential data or locations of interest that you 
 are working with will be safe from viewing by others.</p> 
 <p>
 The most secure way to control your session is to save the settings to a local file, then deny 
 access to that file by others.</p>
 
 <!-- =====Sharing a Session with Others======================= -->
 <a name="HowToShare"></a>
 <h3>Sharing your session with others</h3> 
 <p>
 There are five ways to let others know about your saved sessions: 
 <ul> 
   <li>
   <strong>Save the session URL.</strong> Immediately upon saving a new session, the top of the page 
   offers a <code><strong>Browser</strong></code> hyperlink. Additionally, each session entry in the 
   <em>My Sessions</em> list has a <code>Browser</code> hyperlink. Click either <code>Browser</code>
   link to open the Genome Browser with the session loaded. You can obtain the URL of the Genome 
   Browser page by capturing the <code>Browser</code> hyperlink via right-click before you proceed 
   to the Browser graphical view. You can then store the URL, create a bookmark or share the link 
   with others.
   <p>The UCSC site and supported mirrors display short session links similar to the following:
   <code>http://genome.ucsc.edu/s/YourUserName/YourSessionName</code></p>
   <p>Previously, longer links were used:
   <code>http://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/hgTracks?hgS_doOtherUser=submit&hgS_otherUserName=YourUserName&hgS_otherUserSessionName=YourSessionName</code></p>
   <p>System administrators of mirrors can introduce Apache redirects from the shorter links
   that will redirect to the longer links and enable the links to display for new sessions by
   setting <code>hgSession.shortLink=on</code> in the mirror's configuration files. Both links
-  can still be used, where the longer links do have the benefit of being able to be modified,
-  such as including <code>&position=chr10:69,644,222-69,644,999</code> in this example:
+  can be modified to include <a href=../../FAQ/FAQlink.html#trackViz>URL parameters</a>, such as 
+  <code>position=chr10:69,644,222-69,644,999</code> in these examples:
   <pre><a href="http://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/hgTracks?hgS_doOtherUser=submit&hgS_otherUserName=view&hgS_otherUserSessionName=clinicalzoom&position=chr10:69,644,222-69,644,999"
-  target="_blank">http://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/hgTracks?hgS_doOtherUser=submit&hgS_otherUserName=view&hgS_otherUserSessionName=clinicalzoom&position=chr10:69,644,222-69,644,999</a></pre></p></li>
+  target="_blank">http://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/hgTracks?hgS_doOtherUser=submit&hgS_otherUserName=view&hgS_otherUserSessionName=clinicalzoom&position=chr10:69,644,222-69,644,999</a></pre>
+<pre><a href="http://genome.ucsc.edu/s/view/clinicalzoom?position=chr10:69,644,222-69,644,999"
+  target="_blank">http://genome.ucsc.edu/s/view/clinicalzoom?position=chr10:69,644,222-69,644,999</a></pre>
+</p></li>
   <li>
   <strong>Email a session link.</strong> Each session entry in the <em>My Sessions</em> list also 
   has an <code>Email</code> link. Click this link to automatically invoke your email tool with a 
   message containing the Genome Browser URL, which you can then send to others.</li>   
   <li>
   <strong>Share a session settings file.</strong> If you have saved your settings to a local file, 
   you can give others access to the file, or email the file to them as an attachment and instruct 
   them to load it using the Session tool.</li> 
   <li>
   <strong>Share a web URL.</strong> If you have saved your settings to a file on a web server, you 
   can provide a link like this to others: 
   <pre><code>http://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/hgSession?hgS_doLoadUrl=submit&hgS_loadUrlName=<em>MyUrl</em></code></pre>
   <p> 
   where <code><em>MyUrl</em></code> is the URL of your settings file, e.g., 
   <code>http://www.mysite.edu/~me/mySession.txt</code>. In this type of link, you may replace 
   &quot;<code>hgSession</code>&quot; with &quot;<code>hgTracks</code>&quot; to proceed directly to 
   the Genome Browser.</li> 
   <li>
   <strong>List it on the Public Sessions page.</strong> The 
   &quot;<a href="../../../cgi-bin/hgPublicSessions">Public Sessions</a>&quot; tool allows you to 
   post and share your exciting and interesting Browser snapshots with the world. After having saved 
   your session, you can add it to this public listing by checking the box in the column under 
   &quot;post in public listing?&quot;.</li>
 </ul>
 
 <!-- =====Opening a Shared Session======================= -->
 <a name="Open"></a>
 <h3>Opening a shared session</h3>
 <p>
 If you open a shared session while viewing the Genome Browser, it is possible to lose all of your 
 own browser settings. That is, the settings for the newly-opened session will take precedence over 
 your existing settings and will replace them. If you wish to preserve your original settings, you 
 should first save your own settings as a session before opening a new session, or open a new tab or 
 window in your internet browser before loading the new session.</p> 
 <p>
 There are four ways to open a shared session, depending on what information you have about the 
 session. The instructions below assume that you want to replace your current session the new 
 session. Be sure to preserve your original session first if you don't want to overwrite it.</p>
 <ul>
   <li>
   <strong>Open a session from an email link.</strong> If you receive an email message with a link to
   a colleague's shared session, simply click on the link to view the Genome Browser with the session
   settings.</li>
   <li>
   <strong>Open another user's session.</strong> If you know the name of another user's shared 
   session you can type in the user and session name in the &quot;Restore Settings&quot;
   section and click &quot;submit&quot; This will generate an &quot;Updated Session&quot; message and
   you can click on the Browser link to load the browser with the settings saved in this 
   session.</li>
   <li>
   <strong>Open a session from a settings file.</strong> Open the Session tool, then scroll down to 
   <em>Restore Settings</em> in the <em>Session Management</em> section.  
   Click <button>Choose File</button> to find the file on your computer. Click 
   <button>submit</button> to display the Genome Browser using these session settings.</li> 
   <li>
   <strong>Open a session specified by a URL.</strong> Open the Session tool, then scroll down to 
   <em>Restore Settings</em> in the <em>Session Management</em> section. Type in the URL in the 
   <code>Use settings from a URL</code> box, then click <button>submit</button> to display the Genome 
   Browser using the new session settings. 
   </li>
 </ul>
 
 <!-- =====Editing an Existing Session======================== -->
 <a name="Edit"></a>
 <h2>Editing an existing session</h2> 
 <p>
 It's easy to make changes to an existing session. Reconfigure the Genome Browser as you wish, then 
 resave the session with the same name. The Session tool will warn you that you are about to 
 overwrite an existing session.</p> 
 <p>
 You can also edit any descriptive text associated with your session as well as whether or not the 
 session can be shared in the <a href="#Details">Session Details</a> menu. Note that editing a 
 session will not alter the creation date listed in the <a href="../../cgi-bin/hgSession" 
 target="_blank">Session Management</a> menu.</p> 
 <p>
 If you previously shared this session with others, they will not see the changes until they 
 <a href="#Open">reload</a> your newly-edited session.</p> 
 
 <!-- =====Displaying Your Own Tracks in a Session======================== -->
 <a name="CTs"></a>
 <h2>Displaying your own tracks in a session</h2>
 <p> 
 In addition to displaying standard UCSC tracks in your session, you can also display the following 
 user-generated tracks:</p> 
 <ul> 
   <li>
   <a href="hgTracksHelp.html#CustomTracks">Custom Tracks</a></li> 
   <li>
   <a href="hgTracksHelp.html#GenomeGraphs">Genome Graph</a> tracks</li> 
 </ul> 
 <p>
 Before you create and save your session, be sure to upload your 
 <a href="../../cgi-bin/hgCustom" target="_blank">Custom Track</a> or 
 <a href="../../cgi-bin/hgGenome" target="_blank">Genome Graph</a> track. These user-generated tracks
 associated with a saved session will not expire. BLAT results always have a lifespan of 48 
 hours, even if they are part of a session. However, if you
  <a href="http://genome.ucsc.edu/goldenPath/newsarch.html#050417" target ="_blank">
 generate a custom track from your BLAT results</a>, they will be saved in your session. </p> 
 
 <!-- =====Deleting a Session======================== -->
 <a name="Delete"></a>
 <h2>Deleting a session</h2> 
 <p>
 In the <strong>Session Management</strong> section under <em>My Sessions</em>, press the 
 <button>delete</button> button next to the session name you would like to delete. This will permanently 
 delete all details of the session from the UCSC server. Any saved links to that session will no 
 longer work.</p> 
 <p>
 No other user can delete your saved sessions, even if you have provided access to your sessions to 
 them. Other users simply have a <em>copy</em> of your session.</p> 
 <p>
 Unlike most other browser preferences, the session settings are not saved in your Genome Browser 
 &quot;cart&quot;. Therefore, if you choose to reset the Genome Browser, it will <em>not</em> delete 
 your saved sessions.</p>
 
 <!-- =====Lifespan of a Session======================== -->
 <a name="Lifespan"></a>
 <h2>Lifespan of a session</h2> 
 <p> 
 Your saved sessions will not be expired and will available you (and others if you 
 <a href="#Share">share</a> them) until you <a href="#Delete">delete</a> them. We have discontinued 
 our previous policy of removing saved sessions and associated custom track data after four months. 
 However, note that the UCSC Genome Browser is not a data storage service; please keep a local backup
 of your session contents and custom track data.</p>
 
 <!-- =====Session Gallery======================== -->
 <a name="Gallery"></a>
 <h2>Session gallery</h2> 
 <p> 
 The <a href="sessions.html" target="_blank">Session Gallery</a> is a collection of track views that 
 help highlight viewing different topics in the browser. The sessions in the Session Gallery were 
 created in the browser and then saved to a local file, which was then uploaded to an online 
 location. This allows creating a single link, such as 
 http://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/hgTracks?hgS_doLoadUrl=submit&hgS_loadUrlName=U, where 
 <strong>U</strong> is the URL of the session file, e.g., http://www.mysite.edu/~me/mySession.txt, 
 enabling users to maintain external control of the content file for easy update.</p>
 
 <!-- ====NAR Session Help================================ -->
 <a name="NAR"></a>
 <h2>Help for Nucleic Acids Research submitters</h2>
 <p>
 The Nucleic Acids Research (NAR) journal now requires manuscript submissions to contain a private
 Session link to your data in the UCSC Genome Browser that allows reviewers to access data. These
 instructions will show you how to upload, view, and share your data.</p>
 
 <!-- ====Uploading custom data=================== -->
 <a name="custom_data"></a>
 <h3>Viewing your data on the Genome Browser</h3>
 <p>
 You can view your own private data by uploading your annotation files to the Genome Browser as
 <em>custom tracks</em>; visit our <a href="customTrack.html">custom track help page</a> to learn
 more. To summarize the steps to upload your data, you will need to:</p>
 
 <ol>
   <li>
     Ensure the data file is <a href="customTrack.html#format">formatted correctly.</a></li>
   <li>
     Create a <a href="customTrack.html#TRACK">track line</a> for your custom track.</li>
   <li>
     <a href="customTrack.html#ADD_CT">Load the custom track</a> by adding your track line to our
     <a href="../../cgi-bin/hgCustom">Custom Tracks</a> page.</li>
   <li>
     View the data in the Genome Browser.</li>
 </ol>
 <!-- ====Custom track examples=================== -->
 <a name="custom_examples"></a>
 <h3>Custom track examples</h3>
 <p>
 Creating the track line may be the most challenging step since many configuration options exist. The
 track line begins with the <strong>track</strong> keyword, followed by one or more
 <a href="customTrack.html#TRACK">attribute=value</a> pairs where the order of the attributes does
 not matter. Here are some examples:</p>
 
 <h6>BAM custom track</h6>
 <p>
 The simplest example of a BAM custom track is the following track line:
 <pre><code>track name="My BAM" type=bam bigDataUrl=http://www.mysite.edu/~me/my_sorted.bam</code></pre></p>
 
 <p>
 In the example above, the <strong>name</strong> attribute defines the name of your custom track.
 The second attribute, <strong>type</strong>, is required for some data types, but not limited
 to: <a href="/FAQ/FAQformat.html#format5.1" target="_blank">BAM</a>, 
 <a href="/FAQ/FAQformat.html#format1.5" target="_blank">bigBed</a>, 
 <a href="/FAQ/FAQformat.html#format6" target="_blank">WIG</a>,
 <a href="/FAQ/FAQformat.html#format6.1" target="_blank">bigWig</a>, and
 <a href="/FAQ/FAQformat.html#format10.1" target="_blank">VCF</a> data types.
 The last attribute, <strong>bigDataUrl</strong>, is required for remotely hosted data types such
 as <a href="../help/bam.html" target="_blank">BAM</a>, 
 <a href="../help/cram.html" target="_blank">CRAM</a>,
 <a href="../help/bigBed.html" target="_blank">bigBed</a>,
 <a href="../help/bigWig.html" target="_blank">bigWig</a>, and
 <a href="../help/vcf.html" target="_blank">VCF</a>.</p>
 
 <p>
 Adding more <a href="customTrack.html#TRACK">attribute=value</a> pairs can further customize the
 display. Here is a custom track that uses the <strong>visibility</strong> and 
 <strong>description</strong> atrributes:
 <pre><code>track type=bam visibility=dense name="My BAM" description="Example from the ENCODE RNA-seq CSHL track" bigDataUrl=http://hgdownload.soe.ucsc.edu/goldenPath/hg19/encodeDCC/wgEncodeCshlLongRnaSeq/wgEncodeCshlLongRnaSeqA549CellPapAlnRep1.bam</code></pre></p>
 
 <p>
 There are also options to <a href="hgBamTrackHelp.html">configure the display</a> of your
 BAM files, such as a <em>density plot feature</em> that will dynamically process the underlying
 BAM into a wiggle signal.</p>
 
 <hr>
 
 <h6>bigWig custom track</h6>
 <p>
 A bigWig file is useful when trying to display dense, continuous data. Read more on the 
 <a href="bigWig.html">bigWig track format</a> help page. Here is an example bigWig track that is
 colored red, instead of the default black color, that can be pasted directly into  the
 <a href="../../cgi-bin/hgCustom">Custom Tracks Page</a>:
 <pre><code>track color=255,0,0 name="HeLa-S3 nucleus minus signal" description="RNA Subcellular CAGE Localization from ENCODE/RIKEN" type=bigWig visibility=full bigDataUrl=http://hgdownload.soe.ucsc.edu/goldenPath/hg19/encodeDCC/wgEncodeRikenCage/wgEncodeRikenCageHelas3NucleusPapMinusSignalRep1.bigWig</code></pre></p>
 
 <p>
 There are also options to <a href="hgWiggleTrackHelp.html">configure the display</a> of your wiggle
 tracks, such as changing the track height or type of graph.</p>
 
 <!-- ====Creating a session====================== -->
 <a name="NAR_session"></a>
 <h3>Creating a session for NAR publications</h3>
 <p>
   After creating your custom tracks and viewing your data on the Genome Browser, you can save all of
   your tracks and settings to a snapshot of the Genome Browser called a <em>session</em>. You can
   easily save a session by following these five steps:</p>
 <ol>
   <li>
     <strong>Configure the Genome Browser to your preference</strong><br>
     Make sure the display of your custom tracks is to your liking on the Genome Browser.</li>
   <li>
     <strong>Navigate to the sessions page</strong><br>
     Once you are satisfied with the display, go to the 
     <a href="../../cgi-bin/hgSession">My Sessions</a> page by either:
     <ul>
       <li>
         Going to <em><strong>My Data</strong></em> -&gt; <em><strong>My Sessions</strong></em> from
         the navigation bar.</li>
       <li>
         Using the &quot;<em><strong>s</strong> then <strong>s</strong></em>&quot; keyboard shortcut
         when viewing the main page of the <a href="../../cgi-bin/hgTracks">Genome Browser</a>.</li>
     </ul></li>
   <li>
     <strong>Login to the UCSC Genome Browser</strong><br>
     You must sign in to be able to save named sessions which will then be displayed with Browser
     and Email links.</li>
   <li>
     <strong>Save your session</strong><br>
     Go to the <strong>Save Settings</strong> section and in the
     <em>Save current settings as named session</em> text box, enter a name for your session. When
     saving the session, be sure to have the
     &quot;<em>allow this session to be loaded by others</em>&quot; option checked and then click
     <em><strong>submit</strong></em>.</li>
   <li>
     <strong>Edit the session description</strong><br>
     Once the session is created, you can click the <em><strong>details</strong></em> button to add
     a description to the session. If you eventually make a Public Session, and provide a detailed
     description, anyone can find it by searching for terms you share. For example, navigate to the
     <a href="../../cgi-bin/hgPublicSessions">Public Sessions</a> page and search &quot;NAR&quot; to
     see some example sessions.</li>
 </ol>
 
 <!-- ====Sharing the session===================== -->
 <a name="NAR_sharing"></a>
 <h3>Sharing your session link</h3>
 <p>
 After saving your session, you will now be able to share your session link with others. There are
 three different ways that you can share your session: </p>
 
 <ol>
   <li>
     Immediately after creating a new session, the top of the page offers a <em>Browser</em>
     hyperlink that will allow you to view the newly saved session. You can right-click the
     <em><strong>Browser</strong></em> link to save the URL.</li>
   <li>
     Alternatively, you can right-click the session name and then click <em>Copy Link Address</em> to
     save the session URL.</li>
   <li>
     Adding your session to the <a href="../../cgi-bin/hgPublicSessions">Public Sessions</a> page
     will provide a useful way of sharing your session with the world in the long run. You can add
     your session to our Public Sessions by selecting the
     &quot;<em>post in public listing?</em>&quot; checkbox.</li>
 </ol>
 
 <h6>Editing the session URL</h6>
 <p>
 You can edit URLs to directly go to different parts of the Genome Browser such as by changing
 <strong>hgSession</strong> to <strong>hgTracks</strong>, e.g.,
 <pre><code>http://genome.ucsc.edu/cgi-bin/<strong>hgTracks</strong>?hgS_doOtherUser=submit&hgS_otherUserName=brianlee&hgS_otherUserSessionName=hg19.rela</code></pre></p>
 
 <p>
 Having <strong>hgTracks</strong> in the session URL will take the viewer to the main page of the 
 Genome Browser instead of the sessions page.</p>
 
 <!-- ====Creating a hub========================== -->
 <a name="NAR_hub"></a>
 <h3>Using track hubs to organize custom tracks</h3>
 <p>
 Creating a track hub allows you to group and organize your annotation tracks, but is limited to
 <a href="hgTrackHubHelp.html#Setup">compressed binary indexed formats</a> that can be remotely
 hosted. This will require the use of a web-accessible location to load the track hub in the UCSC
 Genome Browser. If your institution does not provide web space for you, you can look into hosting
 your binary files at a couple different web hosting services, such as
 <a href="http://www.cyverse.org/">CyVerse</a> or <a href="https://figshare.com/">figshare</a>. If
 you would like to learn more about using track hubs, please read our
 <a href="hgTrackHubHelp.html">Track Hub help page</a>.</p>
 
 <!-- ====Genome Browser inquiries================ --> 
 <h3>Genome Browser inquiries</h3> 
 <p>
 If you have any questions regarding the creation of your custom track or session, please feel free
 to <a href="../../contacts.html">contact us</a>. Before submitting a question, we strongly encourage
 you to search our
 <a href="https://groups.google.com/a/soe.ucsc.edu/forum/#!forum/genome">mailing list archives</a>,
 our <a href="../../FAQ">website</a>, and our 
 <a href="http://genomewiki.soe.ucsc.edu/index.php/Main_Page">wiki</a> for the answer. 
 
 <!--#include virtual="$ROOT/inc/gbPageEnd.html" -->