Question

Use Drag and Drop to get Document Attachments out of IFS

  • 20 October 2021
  • 7 replies
  • 252 views
J
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We are running IFS Apps10 UPD10 (soon to be UPD13).

Users are asking if it is possible to use drag and drop to get document attachments out of IFS and onto their desktop.  We know how to use drag and drop to add documents, but can’t get it to work to access documents.

What they want - when in a customer order (or purchase order or business opportunity or . . . ), be able to open the Attachments pane, click on Documents, select a document listed, and then drag/drop it onto their desktop.

Is this possible?

 

7 replies

william.klotz
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Hi @jhooperyan ,

 

We are using IFS Application 10 Update 8 and dragging a document from the attachment window to the desktop does not work.  I do not think IFS supports dragging a file from IFS to the desktop.   As an alternative you could RMB on the attached file from the attachment window and choose File Operations then clicking on Copy File To and selecting the desktop as the destination.

 

 

Regards,

William Klotz

Mathias Dahl
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To add to what @william.klotz says, you can also select all documents, then transfer them to Document Revisions and then do Copy File To from there.

You cannot drag and drop the files to the desktop.

Out of curiosity, what do they do with the files once they end up on the desktop? If they want to send/mail them, perhaps they should do that directly from IFS instead?

 

/Mathias
J
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@Mathias Dahl - we use the drag and drop to add all the times, this is why they are expecting drag and drop to get files out.  We have standalone supplier quote tools that have an “export/import” process to share files between individuals.  So there is no “Open” function for these files.  They need to download the file, then import into the tool.  After they update the info, they do a new export and then load back into IFS.

Mathias Dahl
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@jhooperyan - Thanks for explaining. It sounds like that process should have benefitted from some automation in general. Like, you do some custom operation in IFS and that does all those manual steps for you.

Given that those standalone tools can be automated in some way, a document macro might help you to “start” them and/or doing the import/export task there. The user could then “view” the document in Docman, which would trigger the macro, doing whatever it needs to do.

 

/Mathias
J
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@Mathias Dahl  - unfortunately the current tools do not support automation. 

And the NEW tools integration option require me to develop an interface that can call an API and open a screen to run the API, then when the user hits done - process the incoming JSON.  Or continue in standalone mode with a different import/export on a website.

I’m going to be using Boomi and Boomi Flow to build the integrations (new tools) we need into Business Opportunity and Estimate - but we are probably still a few years about before the new tools have all the functionality the current tools do.  And this is a good part of our business - so users are dealing with this every day.

J
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@Mathias Dahl - I will mention the other issue we occasionally have with the current process is when we have really large files.  The automatic open sometimes gets “stuck.”  That’s another case where they download and drag/drop would be useful.  One challenge I have is “View” is very visible.  “Copy To” is buried and doesn’t clearly communicate “how to download this file to a local location” so my team does not need to do any training on the view option, but Copy To - multiple reminders (they can’t find it and they forget what it’s called).

Mathias Dahl
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Hi again. About large files getting stuck: how large are they and do you have an idea if it's actually the download that gets stuck, or if it's when the file is being opened?

If we could DND the files the exact same download would happen by the way. In a sense it would be exactly like Copy File To without asking the user.

I think you should consider creating a macro for View. The macro could move the file to the desktop instead of opening the file. Of course it might interfere with a "normal" view that a user want to do, but that could be handled. For example, the macro could ask the user if they want to open the file or not, or perhaps with some logic figure out what the user want to do in some way.

Just an idea.

Good luck!

 

/Mathias

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