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Using the Attachments Section

The Attachments section holds the files kept with a call or a customer: PDFs, photos, e-mails, spreadsheets and scanned documents. It is the same section on the call screen and on the customer screen. Open it from the Attachments heading in the sections sidebar on the left of either screen.

Where do I find the attachments for a call or a customer?​

Open the call or the customer, then select All attachments under the Attachments heading in the sections sidebar on the left of the screen. The Attachments section opens in place of the form, listing every file kept with that call or customer.

  1. Open the call from the Calls list, or the customer from the Customers list.
  2. Point at the sections sidebar on the left so it opens. To keep it open, select Sections at its top, the button named Keep the sidebar open.
  3. Select All attachments under Attachments, or one of the categories listed under it.

On the customer screen the Attachments heading sits between Service and History. On the call screen it is the last heading, under Customer.

The number beside All attachments is how many files the call or customer has. It is there as soon as the screen opens, so you can see whether there are any files without opening the section. While the files are still being read, or if they could not be read, All attachments shows no number and no categories are listed under it.

What do the items under Attachments in the sections sidebar mean?​

Under the Attachments heading in the sections sidebar of the call screen or customer screen, each item is a way into the same list of files:

  • All attachments, with a count: every file.
  • One item for each category this call or customer has files in, in alphabetical order, each with its count. A category nobody has used on this record is not listed, so the list stays short even when your company has many categories.
  • No category, with a count, when any file has no category.

Selecting a category opens the Attachments section showing only that category's files, and the section's title becomes the category's name. Selecting All attachments shows them all again.

Every item is also a place to drop files: drag files from your computer onto a category and they are attached in that category. The categories themselves are your company's list, which the system administrator looks after: only they see Manage categories… at the end of the group, which opens that list.

What is on the Attachments section?​

The Attachments section of the call screen or customer screen has, from the top:

  • The title and count, such as "All attachments 12 files", or "3 files of 12" when the sidebar item or a search is narrowing the list.
  • The search box, "Search name, comment, memo, category".
  • Drop files here, or and the Attach files button, for adding files.
  • Group, with By category, By date added, By type and Ungrouped.
  • View, with Normal, Thumbnails and Full details.
  • The upload tray, only while files are on their way or one was refused.
  • The list of files: each file's picture or type, its name, comment, category, size and when it was added. A file kept on a shared drive is marked linked, or cannot open when ABM Service already knows it cannot be read.

Select a file to open its details panel beside the list. Double-click a file to open it, or press Enter on a marked file in the Normal and Full details views.

What does the details panel of an attachment show?​

Selecting a file in the Attachments section opens its details panel on the right of the call screen or customer screen. The panel shows, from the top:

  • The file's picture, or its type when it has none, then its type and size, and its name.
  • Open and Download. For a PDF or a picture, a small button beside Open opens it in a new tab (a new window in the ABM Service desktop app).
  • Comment, Category and Memo, which you can change, with Save changes.
  • What ABM Service knows about the file: Added (when, and by whom), Last edited (only if it has been changed since), Added from (for example "the web", "the engineer's phone" or "the scanner"), Stored ("In ABM", or "As a link to" a folder) and File, its name.

Select the cross at the panel's top, named Close the details, to close the panel. Escape (Esc) closes it too, except while you are typing in Comment or Memo or choosing a Category, where it belongs to that box. Closing the panel also lets go of the file, so no file is marked in the list afterwards.

How is the Attachments section different on the call screen and the customer screen?​

The Attachments section works the same way on both screens, with three differences:

  • Whose files. The customer screen lists the files kept with the customer. The call screen lists the files kept with the call itself. It does not list files kept with one of the call's visits, and it does not list the customer's files: open the customer to see those.
  • Your view is remembered separately. The view, the grouping and the columns you arrange are remembered once for the customer screen, used for every customer, and once for the call screen, used for every call. So customers can open as thumbnails while calls open as a list.
  • Where the heading sits. On the customer screen the Attachments heading is between Service and History in the sections sidebar; on the call screen it is the last heading.

Everything else, from attaching to opening, describing and searching, is the same. A file you attach on the call screen belongs to the call, and one you attach on the customer screen belongs to the customer.

Why can't I open Attachments on a new call or a new customer?​

A call or customer that has not been saved yet has nowhere to keep files, so its Attachments items are greyed out. Pointing at All attachments says why: "after the call is saved" on a new call, or "once the customer is saved" on a new customer. Save the call or customer, and the Attachments section opens as usual.

If the section says The files could not be loaded, with a reason, select Try again beside it. While the files are on their way it says Loading the files….

What can't I do with attachments in ABM Service?​

The Attachments section of the call screen and customer screen does not let you:

  • Delete a file. There is no delete in this version.
  • Move a file to another call or customer.
  • Rename a file, except an older file whose name comes from its comment: changing that file's Comment in its details panel renames it.
  • Paste a file or a screenshot, or take a photo from inside ABM Service. Save it as a file first, then use Attach files or drag it in.
  • Scan a paper document, or keep several versions of one file.
  • Add or rename categories. Only the system administrator can.