Storing Documents in Folders

The ability to store documents in folders on disk, rather than in the database, is available for non-ASP clients. The Store Saved Documents in folders global policy was added to tell the system where documents are to be stored. Check the box for Store Saved Documents in folders and then enter a path in the Root Document Path field that appears. When the box is checked, instead of saving to the database, files are saved to the specified path.

The path is server-relative and can accept a network path; however, the path cannot be the Web server’s installation directory. The default installation directory, for example, is <SERVER>\AMSIWEB, and would not be a valid path. Please refer to the Installation Instructions located on your installation CD for more information about the Root Document Path.

Document Name

When viewing a Documents grid when the save-to-folders option is selected, the Document name indicates the relative path to the document. Documents upload to the various document options and are saved in system-created folders that are named based on application and document type. These examples show the folders for a document if the Root Document Path is \\Server\YourFolder\. eFinancials documents are stored in the folder, eFinDocs.

Examples:

\\Server\\YourFolder\eFinDocs\Vendor\JournalEntryID\
\\Server\\YourFolder\eFinDocs\Customer\JournalEntryID\
\\Server\\YourFolder\eFinDocs\AP\Vendor\PropertyID\
\\Server\\YourFolder\eFinDocs\AR\Customer\BillingID\

The filename of the document is a unique file name based on the uploaded document name and is generated by appending a sequence number. For example if the document is “PropertyID.pdf” and there is already a “PropertyID.pdf” in the folder, then the name will become “PropertyID2.pdf”. If there is already a PropertyID2.pdf, then PropertyID3.pdf will be used, etc.

Conversion Utility

A conversion utility menu item, Move Documents, is provided for each application to migrate previously-stored documents from the database to the file location specified, using the above naming conventions. It also provides a way to copy Documents in folders to the database. Note that the utility moves Documents from the database to the folders, but copies from folders to the database. Refer to Move Documents for more information.

Document Not Available

If the Document is no longer available, a message displays. When deleting the saved document record from the table, the Document is not deleted from the disk. This is because if the database record for the saved Document is copied using PropertyCompany Copy or by migrating the data to ePast or a similar function, then deleting the Document from one copy would cause it to be unavailable in the second copy.