Working with documents in Xtendis 7

Working with Xtendis revolves around working with the documents that are stored in the system, as well as adding new documents.

This article provides an overview of what can be done when working with documents. More information can be found by following the links to the articles.

The following topics are described:

• Indexing
• Adding
• Viewing
• Properties
• Searching
• Moving
• Copying
• Deleting and restoring
• Exporting and sharing
• Notes
• Working with versions (check out and check in)
• Splitting and combining
• Removing pages from a PDF
• Rotating pages
• Signing
• Scanning

Info: Use the filter to show information for one topic only. All topics Indexing Adding documents Viewing documents Document properties Searching for documents Moving documents Copying documents Deleting and restoring documents Exporting and sharing documents Adding notes Working with versions (check out and check in) Splitting and combining documents Removing pages from a PDF Rotating pages Signing documents Scanning documents

Indexing documents

Before we talk about working with the actual documents, it is important to understand the process that is used for storing and finding documents in the system.

Any document in the system is added for a reason: it belongs to a particular customer, is part of a specific project, and so on.

Such information is added in the form of information known as 'properties' (sometimes also referred to as 'indexes' or 'metadata'). Think of a creation date, version number, document type, subject, note, signature, and so on. See also Properties later in this article.

Figure: Properties of a document.

Having this information in a document provides context and structure and makes it possible to easily find the document. The process of adding property values by the system is known as 'indexing'.

Indexing a document can be done when the document is added to the system, or at any time once it has been added.

Note: Documents have to be indexed to make them available for others. Documents that are not yet indexed are stored in a temporary archive.

For more information, see Indexing documents in Xtendis 7.

Adding documents

Any document of any type can be added and stored in Xtendis.

The following is a summary of the process, use it if you want to start quickly.

For detailed information about all processes, see Adding documents to Xtendis 7.

Tip: Another way of adding documents is by turning pages from a document in an image format such as TIF, PNG, or JPG that already exists in Xtendis into a separate document. For more information, see Editing document pages in Xtendis 7. Alternatively, existing documents can be duplicated by re-indexing them. See Re-indexing existing documents for more information.

Step 1. On the Dashboard, click Add.

Step 2. On the page that appears, click Select files. Browse to the folder where the documents that you want to upload are stored, select them, and click Open.

Step 3. Make sure that Upload with properties is enabled.

Step 4. In the list of properties that appears, fill out the fields as necessary.

Step 5. Click Index at the bottom of the list.

Viewing documents

When a document is added to the system, a preview of it is automatically generated so that the content of the document can be viewed.

Previews are available in the following formats:

• Images in JPG, PNG, TIF or other formats
• Adobe Acrobat files in PDF format

For documents for which no preview can be generated (such as a ZIP file), a file icon is shown. To see the content of these files, the files first have to be downloaded.

Viewing a document can be done by searching for the document using the Find option. The search results contain a preview window (also known as the 'document viewer').

Additional tools

The toolbar in the viewer contains tools for navigating or rotating the pages, printing the document, downloading it, and so on.

For more information, see Viewing documents in Xtendis 7.

Properties

Each document in Xtendis contains properties: values that describe the document's type, name, content, owner, the archive it belongs to, and so on.

You can use them to quickly look up information about a document such as when it was added to the system, who the owner is, and so on.

Properties are also used by the search function so that the documents can be quickly and easily found. Making sure that the search function is aware of all property values of a document is done by indexing a document.

Properties are shown throughout the application: from folder names on the Dashboard to the columns in the search results.

Viewing the full list of properties of a document can be done by using the Properties panel:

Step 1. Use the Find option to search for a document.

Step 2. Select the document so that it is outlined in blue.

Step 3. In the vertical toolbar to the right of the screen, click the Properties icon.

A panel appears showing all the properties and their values. The panel can be hidden or shown again by clicking the Document options icon.

For more information, see Working with properties in Xtendis 7.

Searching

One of the actions that you will perform most often in Xtendis is searching for the documents, dossiers, notes, or folders that you want to work with.

In general, searching can be done by doing one of the following:

• A quick search for quickly finding documents
• A standard search
• An advanced search
• Using folders or dossiers
• Using favorites
• Accessing recently viewed documents or dossiers
• Searching for text in a document

For detailed information, see Searching for documents in Xtendis 7.

The following is a brief overview of each method (click an image for a larger view):

Quick search If you know what document to look for and you know some of its details such as its relation name or (part of) the subject or its content, you can enter this in the search box on the Dashboard. Make sure to also choose the archive in which you want to search. Tip: Click the Filter icon to include certain properties, the time period, owner, and/or status. To perform the search, press Enter while the cursor is in the search box. A new page appears on which the search results are shown. Note that different tabs are used for showing the results for documents (in blue), dossiers (in green), and notes (in yellow). The total number of found documents is shown next to the title of each tab. When nothing was found, a notification is shown for that tab. The results for documents are shown first.	Figure: The search box on the Dashboard.  Figure: The search results for documents (top) and dossiers (bottom).
Standard search To perform a more elaborate search, the standard search is typically used. This is accessed via the Find option in the Dashboard toolbar. Choose what you want to find (a document, dossier, note, or deleted document), in which archive you want to search, and any property values that the document, dossier, or note should contain. When clicking Find, the search is performed and the results are shown on the same page. When needed, the search parameters can be adjusted on the left side of the screen and another search can be performed.	Figure: The Find button on the Dashboard. Figure: Using the standard search option.
Advanced search Advanced searches make it possible to search for documents or dossiers using complex searches that include parameters such as 'equals', 'greater than', and so on. This way, you can finely search for something by specifically including or excluding documents or dossiers. When clicking Find, the search is performed and the results are shown on the same page. When needed, you can adjust the search parameters on the left side of the screen to perform another search.	Figure: The Advanced search page.
Using folders or dossiers A quick way of accessing specific documents is by opening a folder or dossier in which these documents are automatically gathered. A typical folder in Xtendis is based on a search query that is part of that folder. When opening the folder, the content that is found is shown. This makes the search results more efficient, meaning that you do not have to manually create the search each time you need it. Example: You could create a search folder in which all documents are shown that are about to expire within the next month so that you can undertake action in time. Dossiers group together documents that are related to each other, such as an employee, or a project. Dossiers also hold specific properties such as the date of birth of an employee or the type of employment. Documents that are added to the dossier automatically inherit these properties.
Using Favorites Dossiers or documents that you use frequently can be marked as favorite. They then appear in the list of favorites on the Dashboard so that you can quickly and easily access them without having to use the search function. Marking a document or dossier as favorite is done by clicking its star icon.
Accessing recently viewed documents or dossiers Documents or dossiers which you know you have viewed recently can be easily accessed from the Dashboard by clicking Recent.
Searching for text in a document	When viewing a document in TIF-format, a search can be done for text within the document. Do this by clicking the 'Find in document icon' in the vertical toolbar, entering a search term and clicking Find. The pages on which the text is found are shown as a link. Click a link to navigate to that page.

Moving documents

Documents in the system may at some point need to be moved to the trash can or a different location such as a dossier or folder.

Each method is explained below.

Moving to the trash can

The steps for moving a document to the trash can are explained in the section Deleting and restoring below.

Moving to a dossier

In this method, an existing document is directly added to a dossier.

For more methods, see Working with dossiers in Xtendis 7.

Step 1. Make sure that the dossier to add the document to exists. If not, create this first.

Step 2. Use the Find option to search for the documents that you want to add.

Note: Make sure to search in an archive that supports dossiers.

Step 3. Select the documents that you want to add by selecting their check boxes.

The Actions button appears.

Step 4. Click the Actions button and from the menu that appears, choose Move to dossier.

Note: This option only appears when the archive that is searched in supports dossiers.

The Select a dossier panel appears.

Step 5. Use the panel to search for the dossier to add the documents to (see Working with dossiers in Xtendis 7 for steps about how to use the panel). When clicking Select, the documents are added to the dossier.

Moving to a folder

Note: This method is typically used by power users who can create a Regular folder which is not based on a search query. All other users will use folders known as Search folders. In these folders, the documents are automatically added based on a search query when the folder is opened. When you do not work with Regular folders, you can skip this section.

Step 1. Make sure that the folder to add the document to exists. If not, create this first.

Step 2. Use the Find option to search for the documents that you want to move to the folder.

Step 3. Use one of the following options:

Option 1. Move one or multiple documents by using the Action button In the search results, select the check boxes for the documents you want to move. The Actions button appears. Click the Actions button and from the menu that appears, choose Move to folder. Troubleshooting: The option does not appear in the menu Make sure that at least one folder exists in the Archive. After doing so, you may have to log out and log in again before the option appears in the menu.

Option 2. Move a single document Select a document so that it is outlined in blue, click the Action icon in the vertical toolbar on the right and from the menu that appears, choose Add to folder.

A dialog appears asking in which folder the documents should be moved to.

Step 4. Choose the folder from the list and click OK.

The documents are moved to the folder.

Copying

When an existing document needs to be added to another archive or to another dossier in the same archive, it can be copied.

This creates a duplicate version of the document which can then be made part of another archive or dossier.

Step 1. Use the Find option to find the document that you want to duplicate.

Step 2. Select the document or dossier so that it is outlined in blue.

Step 3. In the vertical toolbar on the right, click the Action icon and from the menu that appears, choose Copy document.

The Copy document panel appears.

Step 3. In the Copy document panel, fill out all the relevant fields.

Notes: The archive in which the document is going to be stored is automatically entered in the Archive field at the top. Which archive this is can be set in your personal settings. Which properties are shown in the panel depends on the archive that is chosen. When the selected archive supports dossiers, a Select dossier field is shown with which the document can be added to a dossier. For more information, see Working with dossiers in Xtendis 7. Properties that are mandatory to fill out are marked with a red line. Re-use properties of already indexed documents by clicking the Magic wand icon at the bottom of the panel. Click Edit layout... at the bottom of the panel to manage the properties by doing one of the following. When done, click Save. Select a check box to show the property and clear it to hide it. Drag a property higher or lower in the list to change the order. Click Restore default to restore the property settings to their default settings. Click the Pin icon for a field (when available) to pin the entered value. The value is then maintained in the field until it is manually removed. This can be helpful when running multiple index actions with the same values in specific fields. (The use of pins can be enabled and disabled in your personal settings.) If the Security zone field is left empty the document is automatically placed in the Standard Security zone. (In specific cases, business rules or the linked index can be used to automatically fill the security zone based on an attribute. Contact Support for details.)

Step 4. Click Create Copy to start the process.

The document is added to the archive.

Notes: When the document is stored in another archive, its original version (when available) is not copied. When the document is stored in the same archive as the original document, the result depends on how the system is set up by the system administrator: Referencing is enabled. A new document with its own properties is created, but the pages in the document are referenced to the pages in the original document. This means that when the pages in the re-indexed document are edited, the pages in the original (referenced) document also change. After all, they are the same pages. Referencing is disabled. A new document with its own properties and pages is created. When editing the pages in the re-indexed document, the pages in the original document are not affected.

Step 5. (Optional) If the intention was to add the document to a Dossier, do so now. For details, see Working with dossiers in Xtendis 7.

Deleting and restoring

Documents that are not needed anymore can be moved to the trash can. Once placed in the trash can, the document can be permanently deleted or restored again to its original location.

Notes: These actions can only be performed when you have been given sufficient access rights. Documents in the trash can are automatically deleted after a period of time (by default after 14 days).

Moving a document to the trash can

Step 1. Use the Find option to search for a document.

Step 2. Select the document so that it is outlined in blue.

Step 3. In the vertical toolbar to the right of the screen, click the Actions icon.

Step 4. From the menu that appears, choose Move to trash can.

A message appears asking to confirm the action.

Step 5. Confirm that you want to move the document to the trash can.

At this point, the document still exists in the system and can be restored when needed or it can be permanently deleted.

Restoring a document or permanently deleting it

Step 1. Use the Find option to search for a deleted document by choosing Deleted documents.

Step 2. Select the documents that you want to restore or permanently delete by selecting their check box.

The Actions button appears.

Step 3. Click the actions button and from the menu that appears, choose Delete or Restore.

A message appears asking to confirm the action.

Step 4. Click Yes to confirm the action or No to cancel the action.

Exporting and sharing

Sometimes documents in Xtendis need to be shared with other people or worked on in some way outside of Xtendis.

This can be done in the following ways:

• Downloading it to your local system.
• Attaching the document to an e-mail.
• Printing the document.
• Sharing the document digitally.

For detailed information about how to do this, see Exporting documents from Xtendis 7 (downloading, printing, e-mailing, sharing).

Adding notes

Working within a company is teamwork and when a document needs clarification or the next steps in the workflow need to be discussed or clarified, communicating this within your team can be done by adding notes to a document.

This way, a discussion or time line can be created which gives context about the state that the document is in (such as 'on hold' when waiting for an invoice to be payed).

Step 1. Use the Find option to search for the document to which you want to see, add, or edit notes.

Step 2. Select the document so that it is outlined in blue.

Tip: You can also directly search for notes, as explained in Searching for notes in Xtendis 7.

The Notes icon in the vertical toolbar on the right side of the screen gives access to the Notes functionality.

If any notes already exist for that document, the total number of notes is displayed as a badge for the icon.

Step 3. Click the Notes icon.

The Notes panel appears.

Step 4. Do one of the following:

• Add your message in the text box. Optionally click the Emoji icon to add an emoji. Tag other users that exist in the system by typing @ followed by their user name. When done, click Save to post the message.
• Remove one of your messages by hovering the mouse pointer over it and clicking the trash can icon.

For more information, see Working with document notes in Xtendis 7.

Working with versions (check out and check in)

Typically, a document in Xtendis is stored in Adobe PDF format or image format (such as TIF, PNG, or JPG) and cannot be changed.

In certain setups though, Microsoft Word and Excel documents can have their original version of the document stored. When this is the case, the original document can be downloaded, edited in some way, and uploaded as a new version.

This process is known as 'checking out' and 'checking in' a document.

When a document contains an original document, this document can be checked out by clicking the Actions icon in the vertical toolbar to the right and choosing Check out.

The edited version can be uploaded by using the Check in new version option of the Add button while having the original document selected in the search results.

For an explanation of the full process, see Working with document versions in Xtendis 7 (document check out and check in).

Note: An alternative and better way of checking in a new version is using Xtendis for Microsoft Office. This is a plug-in which adds functionality to Microsoft Word and Excel for working with documents in Xtendis.

Splitting and combining documents

When working with documents in image formats such as TIF, PNG, or JPG, you may find that they sometimes need to be split into separate documents (such as scanned invoices or e-mail conversations), or that separate documents need to be combined. Various tools for accomplishing this are available.

Splitting documents

Splitting documents can be done by doing one of the following:

• By using the tools in the preview window of a document. By using the cut, copy, and paste tools in the toolbar when previewing a document, documents can be split into separate documents. For full details, see Editing document pages in Xtendis 7.
• By splitting documents that have not yet been indexed. For full details, see Indexing documents in Xtendis 7.

Combining documents

Combining documents can be done by doing one of the following:

• By using the tools in the preview window of a document. By using the cut, copy, and paste tools in the toolbar when previewing a document, pages from one document can be combined with another document. For full details, see Editing document pages in Xtendis 7.

• By using the Combine versions option in the Find option:

Step 1. Perform a search using the Find option.

Step 2. Select multiple documents in the search results and from the Actions menu choose Combine versions.

A message appears asking to confirm the action.

Step 3. Click Yes.

Removing pages from a PDF

Info: This option requires Xtendis 7.3.13 or higher (see how to check the version of Xtendis you are using).

When a document is imported into PDF format, there may be a need to remove one or more pages from it.

Important: Be sure to store an original file when needed to rely on the original source file in case of legal procedures.

Step 1. Use the Find option to search for the PDF from which you want to remove pages.

Step 2. Select the document so that it is outlined in blue.

Step 3. In the vertical toolbar to the right of the screen, click the Actions icon.

Step 4. From the menu that appears, choose Cut or remove pages.

The Cut or remove pages panel appears.

Step 5. Enter the page number of a page, or for more pages by entering a page range and click OK.

The selected pages are removed.

Rotating pages

Documents in PDF format, or image formats such as TIF, PNG, JPG, can sometimes contain pages that need to be rotated, such as after scanning in documents.

Rotating these pages so that they can be viewed correctly can be done by using the Rotate tool in the toolbar of the Preview window.

For details, see Viewing documents in Xtendis 7.

Signing documents

In certain workflows, documents such as contracts may need to be digitally signed. Sending out a request to have a document signed can be done from within Xtendis. To make sure that only the person who needs to sign the document can see and sign the document, various security steps are in place around this process.

In short, the process is as follows:

1. The document is shared with someone outside of Xtendis. As part of this step, the option 'Request signature' is enabled.
2. The recipient receives an e-mail with the request to sign the document and with instructions to request a verification code to permit to view and sign the document.
3. The recipient generates the code, accesses the document and signs it.
4. After approval, a confirmation e-mail is sent to the person who submitted the request and to the person who signed the document.
5. All signatures on the document are immutably recorded as document properties and can be viewed in the properties panel.

For a detailed description, see Having a document digitally signed in Xtendis 7.

Scanning documents

Physical documents (such as incoming mail) can be easily scanned and added to Xtendis by using WoodWing DataEntry.

To make sure that each document ends up in the correct location in Xtendis, a sheet with a QR-code can be generated and included in the scan.

The QR code is generated based on the properties that the document should have (such as the archive it should be in, who the owner should be, and so on). During the scan, the system analyzes the QR-code and assigns the properties in the code to the document.

This feature is available by clicking the three dots of the Add button on the Dashboard, and from the menu that appears, choosing New QR-code.

If you are interested in using this functionality, contact WoodWing.