How to get here

 

While you have an editable job on the Main Form, add a FILELINK item by highlighting a row in the lower half of the Main Form, then:

 

Enter the code FILELINK and press Return, then Return again

OR

Press the Return key to select a product, and locate the FILELINK item in the list, select it and press Return

OR
Double-click on the row to select a product, and locate the FILELINK item in the list, double click it

 

 

OR

Edit an existing FILELINK item on a job by right clicking, and selecting "Edit Row".

 

 

Once you have added the FILELINK item to the job, you will reach this screen.

 


Consider using the "Attachments by ref" option from the Other Settings page of the Setup Wizard. This will copy any files you attach to a job, into a separate attachments folder at the path you specify.

Note that the attachments folder is separate to LabManager, so all your terminals and users will need to be able to access this path at exactly the same location.



 

A FILELINK item is simply a shortcut to a file somewhere on your computer or network. You can link to any file that you decide is useful to include with a job record, such as a scan, external notes or a 3D CAD/CAM model.

 

There are two considerations when linking to a file:

 

•

LabManager will need to use the software installed on your PC to open the file, so you must already have the ability to open that type of file from your LabManager computer, and the computer must already be configured to open files of this type in the way you need it to. (ie. the Windows file association has been correctly configured)

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For example, if you have no facility to view CAD/CAM models on your LabManager computer, you won't be able to view that file from a FILELINK item.

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Bear in mind that there are often simple 'viewer' applications available which are cut-down versions of full products to facilitate viewing/opening of files without the full features available of the main software. So, if you don't have Microsoft Word available on your LabManager computer, you can always install the free Microsoft Word Viewer to allow you to view Word documents, but not edit them.

 

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The link to the file is from the point of view of the computer that you added the link on.

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If you are using a networked LabManager and you add a FILELINK to a file on your personal hard drive, then other LabManager users on the network will probably not be able to view that file.

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If you need to link to a file and you use networked LabManager, we recommend you save the file on a network drive and link to it there.

 

 

 

To view a file that you've already linked to with a FILELINK item, right click the FILELINK item and choose "Edit row regardless of state".

 

 

When you add a FILELINK item to a job, or edit an existing FILELINK item on a job, you will be presented with this window:

 

 

 

Browse for file to link - Click this to bring up a file selector where you can browse to and select the file you wish to link.

 

Linked file name - The path (ie. the location) of the file, including the file name and extension. You must have a viewer installed for this type of file extension, and your Windows must be configured to use that software when opening that type of file.

 

 

 

Once a file has been linked, you can view it in future by right clicking the FILELINK and selecting "Edit row regardless of state" from the popup menu.

 

You cannot edit a FILELINK once it has been created, but you can delete the FILELINK and add a new one.