VOW Helper

Reference for the VOW Helper desktop app. For install and usage walkthroughs see the VOW Helper guide.

File actions

Actions available on each checked-out file on the helper's home screen.

Action	Availability	Notes
Edit	Always	Opens the file in the OS-default application for its type (Word, Excel, image viewer, etc.).
Send back	Always	Uploads the current local contents to VOW, unlocks the attachment, and removes the local copy once the file is no longer open in an editor.
Discard	Always	Unlocks the attachment in VOW and deletes the local copy without uploading any changes.
Open folder	Group context menu	Opens the file's parent directory in your OS file manager. Useful for inserting related attachments into a report.
View in VOW	Group context menu	Opens the source record in VOW in your default browser.
Discard all	Group context menu	Bulk version of Discard — drops every checked-out file belonging to the group without uploading.

File statuses

A status badge on each file tells you where it is in the edit/send-back lifecycle.

Status	Meaning
Ready to edit	File is downloaded and idle. Click Edit to open it.
Downloading…	Helper is fetching the file from VOW.
Opening…	Helper is launching the OS-default application for the file.
Editing	The file is currently open in Word, Excel, or another editor.
Sending back…	Upload in progress.
Discarding…	Helper is unlocking the file on VOW and removing the local copy.
Close file to finish cleanup	A Send back or Discard succeeded but the local file can't be removed until your editor releases it.
Error	Something went wrong. Details are shown next to the status.

Unavailable attachments

When you open a record's details sheet, any supplementary attachment whose backing file is missing on the server is shown with a red File unavailable on server badge. The record card's related files link also gains a warning icon and a "— some unavailable" note. The download itself still succeeds; the affected attachments are simply omitted from the local Attachments folder. This usually means the underlying file was never fully uploaded or has been lost on the server — contact support if it persists.

Settings

Configuration fields on the helper's Settings page.

Connection

Setting	Notes
VOW server	Choose between the Live site, the Test system, or a Custom host. Most users should leave this on Live. Changing this invalidates any currently checked-out files.
Custom host	Shown when VOW server is set to Custom. Enter the host (and optional port) of your VOW instance, e.g. localhost:3000. Primarily intended for development use.
API key	Your personal VOW API key. Use Add / Change / Delete to manage it. Stored in your operating system's secure keychain.
Test connection	Confirms the helper can reach the server and authenticate with the configured API key.

File storage

Setting	Notes
Local file directory	Where checked-out files are stored on disk. Use the folder picker to change it. Avoid locations managed by file-sync services like OneDrive or iCloud Drive.
Auto-cleanup threshold	Number of days (1–30) before a stale local file is removed on startup. Default: 5.
Sync with filesystem	Reconciles the helper's internal list of checked-out files with what's actually on disk. Useful if you've moved or deleted files outside the helper.

App preferences

Setting	Notes
Theme	Light, Dark, or System (follows your OS theme).
Log verbosity	Controls how much detail is shown in the in-app log panel: Error, Warn, Info, Debug, Trace. All log levels are always written to the log file regardless.
Open logs	Opens the helper's log directory in your OS file manager.

Window behaviour

Behaviour	Notes
Close to tray	Closing the helper window hides it to the system tray. The app keeps running so edit links continue to work.
Single instance	Only one instance of the helper runs at a time. Launching the app again (or clicking an edit link) shows the existing window instead of starting a new process.
Quit	Use the tray icon menu's Quit item, or your OS's standard quit shortcut, to fully exit the helper.