Is the only way to access private shares for a user online, through the website? And am I right in thinking only public folders are accesible offline?
If you have permissions to the folder with the user that you are using, you should have access either way, online and offline.
Take a look at page 55 of the user manual for information about managing shares.
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/UM/ENG/4779-705103.pdf
