- Visibility checkboxes can be applied before a document is uploaded. This saves you time having to manually set the visibility checkboxes after each upload.
- Document folders can be applied before a document is uploaded. This saves you time having to manually set the document folders after each upload.
- A select all option has been added to the work order documents screen. Now the entire set of documents can be quickly deleted or moved into a folder.
- And the most exciting feature of all. If you use Chrome, Internet Explorer 10, or Firefox (sorry IE 8 and IE 9 users), you can drag/drop files onto a work order document upload screen and have them immediately upload to the work order. This eliminates the have to choose each file from your file system for upload. A great time saver!
Let’s explore the new functionality. The screenshots below are taken from Chrome so we can effectively show the drag/drop features.
When you navigate to a work order you will see a new button labeled Enhanced Upload (BETA). In case you have issues with the new functionality the old method is still there. Once this new feature has stabilized, we will remove the old button.
When you click the button, you will see a dialog overlay the screen.
Uploading files is a two-step process. Choose the options that should be applied to newly uploaded files (step 1), then choose the file to upload (step 2). In this example, we chose the document to be customer visible and filed into Folder 2. Once you have the proper options selected, click the folder icon to open the file chooser (green arrow).
Choose a file, hit Ok, and the file uploads immediately. Upload more files and/or hit Finished when you are done.
Our document upload is complete. Notice the select all checkbox above the Select option in the list of documents. Also notice the customer visibility checkbox is selected and the document has been filed in the proper folder.
If you upload a zipped document, be sure to choose the ‘Expand zipped uploads’ option before the zip file is uploaded. Visibility options and folder settings will be applied to each document in the zip file.
Let’s take a look at how drag/drop works. Although not required, I like to arrange my windows beforehand. If you are running Windows 7, press the Windows key and a right or left arrow. The current window you are on will snap to the edge of the screen.
Below have my file explorer snapped to the left and my browser snapped to the right.
Notice I have the file upload dialog active in the browser. I can now simply select my files and drag/drop them into the browser.
I release the mouse and my files upload. Magic!
Remember this only works in modern browsers (Chrome, IE10+, Firefox). If you are using IE 8 or 9, drag/drop is not supported in these so you have to use the standard file upload dialog as before.
I would love to hear your feedback on this as well as ideas on how it could be improved even better! Email me at jlivermore@bigwavesoftware.com.