CABC Max Document Management V1.1

Transcription

1 CABC Max Document Management V1.1 Configuration Guide (Read this before you install Max Doc!) CABC Ltd 1999 Page 1

2 Introduction We have designed Max Doc to fit naturally into your Maximizer system. As a result we hope that if you are already familiar with Maximizer there is very little about the product that you could not use 'out of the box'. For more information about using Max Doc with Maximizer press F1 from any program screen or select the help file from the Start/Programs/Max Doc menu on your computer. Before you install Max Doc, however, we would like to explain the concept of the Max Doc Filestore and the extended template ownership so that you can decide how to configure your system most effectively. It will only take a few moments to configure these two parts of your system. However, configuring the Filestore has long-term consequences and it is important to get it right. When you've read about the filestore and the other configuration options you will find the installation instructions at the end of this document. The Max Doc Filestore First, a few words of background about how are stored in Maximizer: When OLE objects (like a Word Document) are saved in Maximizer there are two ways this can work: Either the are in the Maximizer database files. (That is, the document is saved directly into the Maximizer database - just like a Max Edit document. There is no traditional separate file); Or are linked into the database. This means the actual document file remains at its original folder location on your disk even though it looks as if it is in Maximizer. There are pro's and con's to each method and these are summarised in the table below. Max Doc uses both ways of working with Maximizer. In particular, the Max Doc Filestore offers a very seamless way to use linked giving many of the benefits of embedding without some of its drawbacks. You do not have to create a Max Doc Filestore. Review the table on the following pages to see if you will want to use a Max Doc Filestore. We feel it is particularly useful for network installations, especially if you plan to scan many large into your database. CABC Ltd 1999 Page 2

3 ASPECT OF USE Advantages of Disadvantages of Advantages of linked Disadvantages of linked How the Max Doc Filestore Compares Ease of Use File naming, locating and sharing Max Exchange (or how will this affect the size of my file?) There s no filepath to remember. Access to is easy from Maximizer client records. Documents can be given a friendly name. All are transferred by Max Exchange to remote Maximizer users. Non Maximizer users find it harder to share the files. The transfer by Max Exchange of can involve very large updates. This can be very slow on a dial-up link. Remote users may receive data they don t really need. Documents are more easily shared with non-maximizer users and between records in Maximizer. Documents can be given a friendly name Actual are not transferred by Max Exchange, only references to the document files. The can be accessed when required by dial-up networking or when in the office. Links can be broken when files are moved to new locations on your disk/network. Max Exchange users find it harder to access linked. The Filestore files are all in one place and the user does not define the location. Links are therefore less likely to get broken. If necessary, a non- Maximizer user can be given a filepath. The user never needs to think of a filepath. Using the Filestore is just like embedding, except that the file is not and can be found on the disk. Because the files are linked, they are not transferrd by Max Exchange. So the Filestore is a great place for very large like scanned images, faxes, and of secondary importance to remote users. CABC Ltd 1999 Page 3

4 ASPECT OF USE Advantages of Disadvantages of Advantages of linked Disadvantages of linked How the Max Doc Filestore Compares Adding Documents to Maximizer Deleting Documents in Maximizer Keeping Things Tidy Speed of access Content Searching Backups The original is created in the database or a copy can be sucked in. The document is deleted and the space freed. Files are quickly retrieved from the database. Can be performed with Maximizer s Search Documents command All your are in one place, backed up as one file. It is hard to find the big that are taking up all the space on your disk. The original is created wherever you like and remains there. Files are directly accessed. Only the titles can be searched using Maximizer. File content can be searched with Windows Find File. Documents are backed up individually as a part of your normal system backup Only the link is deleted from Maximizer. Big could be anywhere on your server; if you move or tidy them up you could break links in Maximizer without knowing If large numbers of are placed in a few folders, things can slow down. The original is created in the Filestore or a copy can be sucked in. At present only the link is deleted from Maximizer. You can find the big files that are eating your disk space and you can trace where they are linked to in your database. Max Doc distributes files evenly in its folder system to maintain a good response time when accessed, even if you have over 500,000 linked! At present Maximizer can search only the titles. File content can be searched with Windows Find File. All the are in one place (even if you have several Maximizer databases) and are backed up individually. CABC Ltd 1999 Page 4

5 If you ve decided to use the Max Doc Filestore read this The Max Doc Filestore is very easy to create as a part of your installation process or at any time afterwards by running the Max Doc Setup program. The most important step is before you start. Planning! You must give very careful consideration to the location of the Max Doc Filestore on your network server. You don t want to have to move the Filestore at a later date, as this can break all the links between the and your Maximizer databases. Preparation When installing on a network we recommend that you allocate a mapped drive letter for the Filestore on all PCs (e.g. X:\). You may find that putting this in a network login script is the easiest way to do this. Each PC does not have to use the same letter, since Maximizer resolves the filepath when the document is linked. However, using a common drive letter on all PC s will make things simpler to maintain and understand. Creating The Filestore When you have finished installing Max Doc on the first PC you intend to have it on, enter the path or drive letter you ve allocated and click the Create Filestore button. The setup utility will then create a large number of folders on this root. The next time you use the utility the option will no longer be available. Extended Template Ownership When you create templates in Maximizer these can normally be given an ownership that is either Public or Private. You may also be able to create that belong to a group such as the Sales Team. Max Doc extends this concept to Microsoft Word. The different ownership types are outlined below. As a part of your installation you will need to specify a path on your Network where your system wide templates will be stored. The table below explains the different types of ownership and where the are actually located. As a user of Max Doc you do not need to know where the templates are actually stored, since they are selected by name as in Maximizer s word processor. All folders except those for the System Public templates and for numbered templates are created automatically by Max Doc as and when required. CABC Ltd 1999 Page 5

6 Template Ownership Scope Actual File Location Public Available for use by any user in all the Maximizer Databases on your network. Max Doc System Public template folder (i.e. the path defined Private Db Public Db Private My Folder Numbered Available to you on all databases where your Maximizer Logon ID is valid. Database Public templates available to any user on a specific Maximizer database. Database Private templates available to your Maximizer ID on a specific Maximizer database. Anyone who has access to the folder on your network from any database. These require special configuration and are available with any of the scopes above. These special are automatically given names with sequence numbers (e.g. Quotation ). at setup). Sub-folders of the Public template folder, each named with the user s Maximizer ID A sub-folder (called Max Doc) of the Maximizer database folder. Sub-folders of the Database Public template folder, each named with the user s Maximizer ID Anywhere on your computer network in a folder of your choice - you can change the folder at any time A sub-folder of any of the above, created by you and called Numbered Once you have defined the System Public folder path you will be able to start using Max Doc. From within Word you can use the Max Doc Save As, New and Open menus to create, amend and delete templates in a similar fashion to those in Maximizer s own word processor. The only templates you cannot create in this way are Numbered templates. Numbered Templates Numbered templates are special template that are given a predefined name, and which are allocated sequential numbers as you create them on your network. Numbered templates are ideal for creating simple quotation, delivery notes, etc. When you create a numbered template, the number of the document will become a part of its title; it will also be available for merging in to the at the {RefNumber?} merge field. Configuring Numbered Templates You can create a numbered template with any of the Max Doc ownerships defined above. Simply put the files in a sub-folder of any of the Max Doc template folders called Numbered. Each template will normally consist of a set of three files. Thetemplate.DOC - The actual Word template file Thetemplate.REF - A file that defines how the template is numbered And Thetemplate.DAT - The file used to track the next number You must create the.doc and.ref files; Max Doc will take care of the.dat file. You can even share the.dat file between templates, so you could have a personal version of the corporate quote template which was numbered as part of the same sequence! Sequence numbers can only be a part of the same sequence provided users can access the next number file on the network. For a lap-top user who travels around this may not be possible. For this reason there are two fields that can be configured in the Max Doc Setup program to give each number a site/user reference. If these are set up they will prefix all numbers created on that PC. CABC Ltd 1999 Page 6

7 The configuration of the template is defined in the Ref. This is a text file that uses the Windows.INI file format and can be created using the Windows Notepad utility. The file must be in the same folder as the document template and have the same name but with a.ref extension. An Example Numbered Template Configuration File [Config] ' Instructions: ' This file should be configured to your particular ' needs and placed in the same folder as your numbered document template ' The file must have the same name as the numbered document and the ' extension.def ' eg for Word Document called MyQuoteTemplate.doc ' this file is called MyQuoteTemplate.def ' ' Important: ' ' You must follow the configuration instructions given ' below before using the program. (You may find you do not ' wish to alter the current configuration, but you need ' to check first). ' The text To be used in the document description in Maximizer - Keep it short! Description=CABC Quotation ' Path of the file that will contain the next sequence number ' This file can be shared between templates if the number series ' is also shared. The Path must be valid from all workstations. ' if undefinded the file will be <Document name>.dat eg ' MyQuoteTemplate.DAT RefNoFile= ' The following section configures the serial number format. ' NumberFormat sets the format of the numeric part of ' the number (e.g. whether zero-packing is needed or not) ' and LowestNumber sets the starting number. NumberFormat= LowestNumber=1000 ' The name of a Word macro to run after the document has been created ' (The macro can be in your template document) Macro= CABC Ltd 1999 Page 7

8 Max Doc Installation Max Doc must be installed on a PC where Maximizer Enterprise 4.0 or Maximizer 5.0 is already present, along with Microsoft Word 97 or Word Max Doc 1.1 Also Supports faxing with Microsoft Fax, Winfax Pro 9.0 and Fax Now! 5/2000. Some other systems are supported see the help files for further details. Setup Max Doc is packaged with a standard Windows SETUP program. If Maximizer is open on your PC please close it down, and close any Visual Basic applications that are open. From the Windows Explorer select and run the file A:\SETUP.EXE. The Max Doc Setup program window will be displayed with standard dialogues for setting up the application (e.g. you will be asked to select the path where Max Doc is to be installed). The set-up program will then load the application software onto your PC. Template and File-viewer options After the program files have been installed, the Max Doc template for Microsoft Word will be installed, and Setup program will guide you through the following configuration options: 1) Disabling the standard Maximizer Word template. You may keep Maximizer s Word template available as well as Max Doc, or you can choose to have it disabled (by being renamed). If, on a later occasion, you want to reinstate the original Maximizer integration, you can do this by renaming the file MaxWin97.old in your 'Microsoft Office\Office\Startup' folder to MaxWin97.dot. 2) Enabling ImageVision as the file viewer for scanned. 3) Enabling ImageVision as the file viewer for scanned picture images. Where the file viewer options are concerned, it is advisable to accept the default options, since the setup program will have checked whether there is already a suitable viewer on your system (e.g. the Imaging viewer by Wang, which may be available on Windows NT). If there is one installed already, there is no need to replace it with the ImageVision viewer. Once you have confirmed your choices, the Max Doc set-up utility will be displayed. Here you are asked to define a path for your system public templates (i.e. those that are used on the whole of your system). This is a mandatory configuration option and Max Doc will not work correctly until this path has been defined. At this point you may also define a path for and create your linked filestore. Before proceeding with this, you should have read the preceding pages of this guide. The installation of Max Doc is now complete. When you restart Maximizer, you will find a Max Doc button on your custom toolbar in Maximizer, and new entries in the File and Tools menus in Microsoft Word. If you do not see the icon in Maximizer, go to the View > Toolbars menu and check the properties of the Custom Toolbar. This toolbar should be set as Visible. Max Doc Help file When using Max Doc, press F1 for Help you can also open the help file from the Windows Start/Programs/Max Doc menu. CABC Ltd 1999 Page 8