What Are Linked Attachments, and Why Won't Some Open?
Most attachments are stored inside ABM. Some, mostly added by older ABM programs and the scanner, are only a link to a file kept somewhere else: a folder on a shared drive, or on the computer they were attached from. ABM Service opens a linked file by reading it from that folder, so it can open only if that folder can be reached.
What is a linked attachment?
A linked attachment is a file that ABM keeps the location of, not the file itself. In the Attachments section of a call or customer, a linked file has a linked mark beside its name, and its details panel says Stored "As a link to" followed by the folder and file name. In the Full details view, its Stored column reads "Linked file". A file stored inside ABM reads "In ABM".
Linked files usually show "size unknown" in the panel and a dash under Size, because ABM does not keep their size.
You open, download and describe a linked file exactly like any other: Open, Download, Comment, Category and Memo all work the same, as long as its folder can be read. Files you attach in ABM Service are always stored in ABM, never as links.
What does "cannot open" mean on an attachment?
A cannot open mark beside a file's name means ABM Service already knows it cannot read the linked file, without trying. Its details panel says why, in a warning above Open, and Open and Download say the same reason instead of opening anything. The reasons are:
- "This file is kept on drive" and a letter, such as U:, "and ABM has not been told which shared folder" that letter "stands for. Your system administrator can set this up in Administration › Mapped drives." The file was attached through a drive letter on somebody's computer, and nobody has told ABM which shared folder that letter means.
- "This file is in a folder on the computer it was attached from, so it cannot be opened from here." The file was linked from a computer's own disk, such as its C: drive, which nobody else can reach.
- "This file cannot be opened: the place it was kept is not a valid location."
What if a linked file's folder cannot be reached when I open it?
Some problems only show when ABM Service tries to read the file. When you open a linked PDF or picture, the attachment viewer shows This file cannot be opened and one of these reasons:
- "This file is no longer where it was kept. It may have been moved or deleted."
- "ABM is not allowed to open the folder this file is kept in. Your system administrator can give ABM access to that folder."
- "The folder this file is kept in could not be reached. The computer it is on may be switched off — try again later."
In the ABM Service desktop app, the same reasons appear in the file's details panel, under Save changes, when a file that opens in its own program cannot be read.
In a browser, a linked Word document, spreadsheet or e-mail whose folder cannot be read gives no reason. Open and Download start a download that fails, your browser's own list of downloads shows it as failed, and the details panel says only that the file "is downloading". Try the same file in the ABM Service desktop app, which opens it or says why, or ask your system administrator.
Why does a linked file open in the desktop app but not in the browser?
The ABM Service desktop app reads linked files as you, from your own computer, so it can open a link through a drive letter your computer has, or a folder on your own computer, even when ABM has not been told what the letter means. In the browser, files are read by your company's ABM Service server, which can reach only shared folders on the network: a drive letter must first be set up by the system administrator, and a folder on one person's computer cannot be reached at all.
So a file marked cannot open in the browser may open in the desktop app on the computer it was attached from, or on any computer with the same drive letter.
Who can fix a linked attachment that will not open?
It depends on the reason the details panel or the viewer gives:
- A drive letter ABM has not been told about: ask your system administrator. Once they have told ABM which shared folder the letter stands for, every file on that drive opens.
- Not allowed to open the folder: ask your system administrator to give ABM access to it.
- Could not be reached: the computer or server holding the folder may be switched off or off the network. Try again later.
- No longer where it was kept, or a folder on the computer it was attached from: ABM Service cannot fix these. Find the file, then attach it again with Attach files, so that a copy is stored in ABM, and say in the old file's comment that it has moved.