Document Management - Getting started

1What Document Management does #

Document Management keeps the files behind your records - supplier bills, agreements, delivery proofs, signed pay sheets, employee papers - on your own file server, and links them to the vouchers, ledger accounts, items and employees they belong to. The files stay on the server; the software keeps the folder tree, who may do what, and the links.

The chain is always the same:

Voucher Line Documents - files on a voucher's lines, carried into linked vouchers and shown on the System Print - is a feature of Document Management, bought on its own. Documents attached to whole vouchers and masters do not need it.

2Where to find help #

• On every screen: the Help panel on the right. It explains the screen step by step, every field, the keys, the rules, and ends with If something does not work - the messages that screen can show, why, and what to do. Press Dock to keep it open beside the work; the choice is remembered for you.
• The manual: at the foot of this page, every Document Management screen in detail. Use it to read ahead or to train somebody without opening the screens.
• The help search box: type a word - a message, a field, a button - and it finds the screen and the section that explain it.

3Where things are - the Document Management menu #

4The Documents Dashboard - where things stand #

Document Management > Documents Dashboard (under *Start here*) shows the module at a glance: the document stores set up; the number of files and the space they use; files added this month; files attached to no record; and what kinds of record the files are attached to.

• Every tile has a button that opens the page or report behind the figure, and every list has one at its head - the dashboard is where you start, the page is where you act.
• A figure that wants attention reads red; one that is as it should be reads green; a plain figure is just a fact.
• The figures are for the report option you signed in with (All, Branch or Group), shown at the top as *For*, up to today.
• It gives numbers for the whole store and never a file's name: who may see which folder is kept by the File Explorer.
• Cancelled entries are never counted.
• The page is read when it opens and on Refresh (F3); it does not refresh by itself. Nothing is changed there.
• The right. The dashboard has a user preference of its own: *User Can View Documents Dashboard* in User Manager > Preferences. It starts unticked for everyone; an administrator ticks it for whoever should see it. Administrators always hold it.

5First-day setup (administrator) #

Do these once, in this order. The Connections and Permissions screens open only for an administrator login (the admin, administrator, superadmin or sysadmin role); anyone else sees "You do not have permission to access this feature. Login with administrator privilege !".

1. Have your file server ready: an FTP, SFTP or FTPS account the server running InvoiceNET can reach, with a folder for the documents (for example /documents).
2. Open Connections and Add (F3) a connection (see Connections below). Save (F5). Its root appears in the explorer by itself.
3. If the server already holds documents, open File Explorer, pick the connection and press Register... to bring the existing tree into the store (see Bringing in an existing server).
4. In File Explorer, make the folder tree the way the business files things - by party, by year, by kind of document.
5. Create the user groups you want to grant by (Admin > User Groups) - granting a group scales better than granting user by user.
6. Open Permissions and grant each group or user what they need, folder by folder (see Permissions below). A user with no List permission on a folder does not see it at all.
7. Tell people where the Documents buttons are on their own screens (see Attaching a document to a record).

6Keys that work on every Document Management page #

On Connections, Enter moves to the next field and lands on Save at the end. Every save asks for a confirmation first, and after a save the record stays on screen in view mode.

7Connections - where the files live #

A connection tells Document Management where a remote file store is and how to sign in. The page opens ready to add; Find (F2) lists the saved connections, searchable by name, host or user. The header shows the Total Connections and the mode.

The fields

The password

• The password is encrypted on the server before it is stored, and a stored one is never sent back to the browser - the form only says whether one is stored (one is stored / none stored).
• When modifying, turn Change password on to type a new one; type it again in Re-check Password. If the two differ you see "Password mismatch".
• Leaving Change password off keeps the stored password. Turning it on and saving with both boxes blank clears it.

Deleting a connection

Delete removes a connection only while nothing is filed under it. Otherwise the answer is "Connection '...' still has ... folder/file entry(ies) in the document explorer - remove them there first." Clear its folders and files in the File Explorer, then delete. A connection cannot be renamed or deleted from the explorer tree either - those are done here.

8Permissions - who may see and do what #

Document permissions are separate from the rights set in User Manager: they are held per connection, folder and file, for a user or for a user group.

Granting

1. Choose Permission for - User or User Group - then pick the user or the group.
2. The tree loads by itself, or press Load (F2). It opens collapsed so a large store loads quickly; expand what you need, or use Expand all / Collapse all.
3. Tick the boxes on each row. A row you changed is highlighted until it is saved.
4. Save (F5) and confirm. Only the rows you changed are written - "Saved ... node(s)." Nodes you never touched keep what they had.

Switching to another user or group with unsaved ticks asks first: Save & continue, Discard or Stay.

What each permission means

How ticks spread through the tree

• Ticking List on a node also ticks List on every folder above it up to the connection (the item would be unreachable otherwise) and on everything inside it. Unticking List clears it from everything inside but leaves the folders above alone.
• Every other permission spreads to the node's sub-folders and files only while Apply to sub-items is on. Turn it off to set one node at a time.
• Create Folder and Create File never spread onto files; Full Control spreads like the rest and turns on everything on each row it reaches.

A user's own rows and the rows of the groups they belong to are combined by the explorer. People see a change the next time their explorer loads - ask them to press F5.

9The File Explorer #

Folders are on the left, the contents of the chosen folder on the right. You only see what you have List permission on. Double-click a folder row (or press its Open button) to go in; Up climbs one level; the path of the current folder shows in the toolbar. Folders are read as you open them - the explorer starts with the connections, and the arrow beside a folder opens it and reads its sub-folders - so a large store opens at once; Refresh (F5) reads the connections and the open folders again.

The file list

• Columns: Name, Description, Type, Size, Creation Date & Time, Modified Date & Time, Remote and Actions (Open, Download, Rename, Delete on the row itself). The list sorts and filters like every other grid.
• Remote shows whether the item is really on the server: a tick when it was found at its path, a cross when the store has a record but the server does not have the file (deleted or moved outside the application - upload it again or delete the record), and dots while the check is running. The check runs by itself each time you open a folder.

Creating and changing

Opening a file

Open on a Word, Excel or PowerPoint file hands it to the Office program installed on your computer when the connection has a Public URL (nothing happens if Office is not installed - use Download instead). PDF files, images and text open in a new browser tab. Anything else downloads, so the browser's download bar can open it with its own program.

Moving and copying

• Select items and press Cut (to move) or Copy, open the destination folder, and press Paste.
• Both work only within one connection, and never into a folder's own sub-folders. A name that already exists in the destination is skipped with a message.
• A move keeps the same items (paths update themselves); a copy makes new ones, and a folder copies its whole contents - up to 5000 items in one paste.

The File Transfers queue

Uploads and downloads go through the File Transfers queue at the bottom: one row per file with a progress bar, one transfer after another. Cancel a running or waiting transfer, retry a failed or cancelled one, remove rows, or use Retry failed, Cancel all and Clear completed. An upload writes its record first and takes it back again if the transfer itself fails, so a failed upload leaves nothing half-done. The tree refreshes when the queue finishes.

Bringing in an existing server

Register... (administrators only) reads the server from a path you give - for example /documents - and records every folder and file it finds; anything already registered is skipped, and the answer says how many new items came in. Use it once after pointing a new connection at a server that already holds documents. The path must be a folder the store already knows (the connection's root is created with the connection).

10Attaching a document to a record #

1. Open the saved record and press its Documents button. The dialog lists what is already attached, each with its Note.
2. Attach document... opens the explorer as a picker. Browse, select files and press Add to selection (double-clicking a file adds it too) - you can collect files from several folders. The Selected Files list at the bottom shows what you have chosen; Clear all empties it.
3. Press OK (F5). The files join the list - "Attached ... document(s) - press Save to keep them." A file already attached is not added twice.
4. Type a Note on each if you wish - the note belongs to the link, not the file.
5. Save (F5) keeps the changes and closes the dialog. Close (Esc) closes it without saving.

From then on the files open from the record: Open and Download work as in the explorer, and Download needs Download permission on the file. Remove detaches the link only (on Save) - the file stays in the store.

• On the voucher screen, the voucher's status can forbid attaching - for example a cancelled voucher. You then see "The voucher's status does not allow attaching documents. Change the status permissions in Voucher Manager and try again."
• A file that is still attached to a record cannot be deleted from the store: "'...' is attached to ... and can't be deleted - detach it first (see its Links)." A folder holding such a file is refused the same way.
• When a record that has files attached is deleted, its links go with it; the files stay in the store.
• In the step information of a workflow the instruction documents open read-only - attaching and removing is done on the step itself.

Files on a voucher line

A line of a sale, purchase or stock voucher can carry its own files - a drawing for an item, a test certificate, a photo of the damage. The voucher type needs the Documents column switched on in Voucher Manager > Col properties.

1. Add or modify the voucher and open the line in the line panel. Press Attach... in the Documents field - or simply press F7: a line with no file yet opens this Documents window first (once per line) - attach, upload or open files there, then OK (F5); Back (Esc) saves the line without.
2. Attach from Document Management... opens the File Explorer as a picker - pick one or more files from any folders.
3. Or press Upload files... and choose one or more files on your computer (Ctrl or Shift picks several): a folder tree then asks which Document Management folder they go into - open a folder with its arrow, pick it, OK (F5) or Enter; it opens where you worked last. New folder (F3) there creates a folder inside the selected one (Create Folder right) and selects it, so the files go straight into it. The files upload one after another and are all attached. A name already in the folder is refused rather than replaced.
4. Press OK (F5), then save the voucher. The grid's Documents column shows how many files the line has; click it to open them.

A voucher made from a linked transaction - a delivery note from a sales order - takes each source line's files onto its line. On the System Print each line's Documents cell shows its pictures (JPG, PNG, BMP, GIF, TIFF) - at stamp size (25 x 30 mm) unless Voucher Manager > System Print > Pictures attached to the lines sets another size - and lists every file, one per line, as a link. Clicked on a computer with the InvoiceNET agent 1.3.0 or later, the link opens the file in its own program; *open in browser* under it opens the file in any browser. The links need no sign-in and work for 30 days after printing (print again for new ones), so anyone holding the printed voucher can open its files while they last - share the PDF as you would the files. Deleting a voucher removes its links; the files stay in Document Management.

Open on a document - on a line, in a voucher's Documents or in the File Explorer - opens it with its own program on this computer (the photo viewer, the PDF reader, Word, Excel...) when the InvoiceNET agent is running here: the same small program that prints silently, version 1.2.0 or later, paired in Settings > Local Printing. A web page cannot start a program by itself. Without the agent, a pdf or a picture opens in a new tab (allow pop-ups for this site) and any other file is downloaded - open it from the browser's download bar. The agent will not open programs or scripts (.exe, .bat, .ps1 and the like).

11Who sees what #

Deleting a user or a user group that still has document permissions is refused by the database - remove their rows on Permissions first. Deleting a folder or file removes its permission rows by itself.

12Moving from the desktop #

• The web screens work on the same document store as the desktop application: the same connections, folder tree, permissions and links. A file attached on either side is the same record.
• Connection passwords are encrypted with the desktop's own method, so the desktop explorer keeps reading connections saved on the web.
• The Remote column is the desktop's tick and cross, and New File keeps the desktop's key, F4.
• The desktop's edit-and-save-back of Office files becomes download, edit, Replace... - a web page cannot start a program and wait for it.
• Permissions ticks spread the way they did on the desktop, and switching user with unsaved ticks asks to save first, as it did there.

13If something does not work #