How To Attach Files To Records
Storing additional information about your accounts
is easily accomplished by attaching files to records.
Any type of file can be attached to an account. As
long as Windows is set up to handle that file type,
you can instantly display any kind of original information
about an account.
Files can be attached to Transactions, Contacts or
Attachments.
Files are attached to Transactions using the Attachment
field in the Transaction form. You may want to store
scanned original invoices, MS Excel spreadsheets or
any other appropriate file type associated with a
transaction.
Files are attached to Contacts using the Attachment
field in the Contact form. This provides an efficient way
to pass messages around your office or to track details
of specific incidents occurring with a file. A Contact
attachment is typically used for information related only
to that particular Contact. Attaching information to a
Contact keeps the information "private." (Perhaps you
don't want to put it in the Debtor's notes because it is
not globally useful.) If a Contact in your WIP List
( Work In Progress/ To Do list) has an attachment, the
attachment opens when you select the Contact
in the WIP List. The debtor's record is displayed as
well.
Files are attached to Attachments using the File field on
the Attachment form. You may attach any documents
that are related to a Debtor, such as credit reports,
scanned insurance papers or auditing information. This
information is readily available and close at hand whenever
it is needed.
Attachment Field
The File field in the Attachment form and the Attachment
fields in the Transaction and Contact forms display the
filename of the attachment that is being stored. These
fields are empty when no attachment exists.
To the right of the Attachment or File field there are four
buttons. Use these buttons to do the following.
- Open a file
- Print a file
- Delete a file
- Select a file from the Attach folder (or elsewhere, if applicable)
Open A File
If the Attachment field already contains the name of
an attached file, select the button with the small folder
icon to open the file. Collect! will instruct Windows to
launch the appropriate program to display the file. For
example, *.docs, *.html pages, *.xls spreadsheets,
or even *.pngs can be opened, if your system is set up
to recognize these file types.
If you put a URL in this field, Collect! will use
your web browser to go to the web site when you select
the OPEN button.
If the Attachment field is empty, select the Open button
to create an attachment, and the Text Editor will start.
Enter text as needed and then press F8 to Save and Exit.
When the Text Editor opens, notice the title bar of the
window. It contains the complete path of the new file,
ending in the attachment file's name. Collect! gives your
file a name that contains the debtor File Number, a dot,
and a sequential number indicating the number of
attachments that have been created for this debtor.
Each debtor can have up to 999 of these attachment files.
They are stored in the CV11\bin\global\masterdb\attach\
folder of your CV11 application, in a debtor folder named
with the debtor File Number or a client folder named
with the client Number.
For example, a debtor with File Number 1400
might have her first attachment stored in the following way.
C:\CV11\bin\global\masterdb\attach\debtor\1000\1400\1400.1
File Path
Let's examine the whole path name of an attachment file.
Let's suppose you have created an attachment file for a
debtor whose File Number is 1424. When you open the
Text Editor, you will see, in the title bar the path and file
name.
C:\CV11\bin\global\masterdb\attach\debtor\1000\1424\1424.1
Now, let's suppose you create an attachment file for a debtor
whose File Number is 5689. When you open the Text Editor,
you will see, in the title bar the following.
C:\CV11\bin\global\masterdb\attach\debtor\5000\5689\5689.1
This is the way Collect! names attachment files that you
create with the Text Editor. They are ASCII text files. In
the database directory, either DEMODB or MASTERDB, there is an
Attach folder. In the Attach\debtor folder, there is a folder for
every thousand debtor File Numbers, i.e., 1000, 2000, and
so on.
In these folders, there is a separate folder for each debtor
who has attachments. When you create an attachment for
the first time for a debtor, Collect! creates a folder just for
this debtor. It is named after the debtor's File Number,
i.e. 1424, 5689 as we saw above.
Each file that you create and save is stored in the directory
with the name of the debtor File Number. All attachments for
the particular debtor will contain his File Number, followed by
a dot, followed by a sequential number, indicating the number
of documents created in the Text Editor for this debtor and
stored.
Print A File
To Print the displayed file select the button with the small
printer icon. This will prompt you to print to your system's
default printer.
Delete A File
To delete the file select the button with the stylized X on it.
This prompts you to delete the file.
Select An Existing File
To attach an existing file to your Transaction, Contact or
Attachment, select the magnifying glass button. This feature
lets you attach any kind of file to your record. As long as
Windows knows how to display the file type, you can attach
it. For example, *.docs, *.html pages, *.xls spreadsheets,
or even *.pngs can be displayed instantly, with original
information about a Debtor, a Transaction or a Contact.
The Attachment fields in the Contact and Transaction forms
have space for a filename up to 62 characters. Collect!
lets you select attachment files from anywhere in your system.
They are copied by default to a global folder so that they are
accessible from anywhere to all of your users.
You can set your global path preferences from
the System Setup menu accessible from System, Preferences.
Select Database Preferences.
Viewing Attachments
If there is a filename in the Attachment field, select it to
open it or select the Open button. If the file is a text file
created in Collect!, the Text Editor will open to display
the file. Otherwise, Windows will open the appropriate
program, such as MS Excel or MS Word, to view the file.
Attaching Scanned Or Imported Documents To Accounts
Any number of scanned images such as, pictures, word
processing documents, invoices, credit bureau reports,
email or any other document that you can display in
Windows can be attached to an account and recalled
instantly. A high performance scanner can be used to
automate the process of attaching these files to accounts.
Please refer to How To Store Scanned Documents In Accounts.
The Collect! import/export module can be used to attach
credit reports or other query results in ASCII text format.
Collect! can read this information during an Import and
attach it to the appropriate accounts. Please refer to
How To Attach Credit Reports To Debtor Accounts.
Printing Attachments In Reports
You can print attachments in reports and letters using
the @File command in your report templates. However,
this will work only if the attachment file you are printing
is an ASCII text file. Please refer to
How To Print A File In A Report.
Summary
Attachments provide a flexible way to store additional
information about your accounts. Files of any type can
be stored as long as Windows can display them. Files
can be attached to Transactions, Contacts or
Attachments. Files attached to Transactions and Contacts
must be in the Attach folder of the database you are
working in. Files attached to Attachments can be anywhere
in your system or network.
There are many special uses of this feature and links
to additional topics are listed below.
See Also
- How to Store Scanned Documents in Accounts
- Attached Documents
|
Was this page helpful? Do you have any comments on this document? Can we make it better? If so how may we improve this page.
Please click this link to send us your comments: helpinfo@collect.org