Working with attachments
Included with every subscription
An attachment is a file kept with a record, such as the instruction letter, the title search, the inspection photos or the report.
Attachments work the same way on jobs, quotes, sales, leases and requests, and on your practice's company files under Settings. It is the same panel each time, so what you learn here works on all of them. These lessons use a job. A quote has the same panel in its side strip, and Quote attachments and history shows it there.
From upload to edited and back
- Upload it. Drop the client's instruction letter onto the job's Attachments panel and save the job.
- Find it again. Open the Attachments tab, switch to folder view and read the preview without downloading anything.
- Organise it. Rename the file, move it into a folder, and tag it.
- Edit it. Click Edit document on a Word file. VOW Helper opens it in Word and locks it so nobody else edits it at the same time. Send back uploads your changes and unlocks it.
- Use the photos. Caption the inspection photos, tick the ones for the report, and set the hero image.
A file from upload to edited and back
Before you start
- Uploading needs Upload files to the system and, on a job, Attach documents to valuations. Saving a job needs Update valuations. If you do not have them, Set up users shows how an administrator gives them to you.
- Open a job from Valuations in the main menu. The lessons use Jane Citizen's job at 14 Oran Park Drive, Oran Park.
Where the panel lives
On a job the attachments panel is on the Attachments tab of the job form. You can move it to another tab or pin it, as Tabs describes. On a quote, a lease or a request the same panel opens from the folder button on the strip at the right edge of the form. On a sale it sits on the form itself.
Two views of the same files
The Switch to folder view button switches between flat view and folder view. On a job, a quote or a lease it sits at the bottom right of the panel. On a sale or a request it is an icon at the top of the panel. VOW remembers your choice, and every record opens its attachments in the view you last used.
| View | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Flat view | Every file as a card, with the drop zone above. On a job each card carries the photo controls Caption, Report and the hero image star. Use it to upload quickly and to work through the photos. |
| Folder view | A file manager with the folder tree on the left, the current folder in the middle, and a preview or the file's details on the right. Use it to organise files, to find one among many, and for everything the right-click menu offers. |
Locks
Opening a file for editing locks it. A locked file shows a dark overlay with a red lock, and the name of the person who has it. Nobody else can edit it, and nobody, including you, can rename or delete it until it is sent back or unlocked. You can always unlock a file you locked yourself. Unlocking someone else's needs Unlock files being edited by other users.
When attachments are saved
An upload or a deletion is not kept until you save the record it belongs to. This applies to a job, a quote, a lease and a request alike. Close the record without saving and the change is lost.
The lessons in order
- Upload files to a job
- Find and open a file
- Organise files
- Edit a file with VOW Helper
- Photos for the report
For every control in the panel, see Attachment panels. For every action on a file, see Managing attachments. Files your company uses on every job, such as a standard disclaimer, are kept once under Settings | Company files. See Company files.