File Manager
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It is a common practice in the engineering industry, especially the AEC industry to store design files in shared network folders so that multiple people may access them from the shared location and relationship between files can also be maintained. However, the accessibility of such shared folders is confined to the boundaries of their local area networks. But, in a typical construction project, people from many organizations needs access to such central repositories of files. 

Many businesses work around this using FTP servers, between which files are moved when required. However, this is an error prone and inefficient way of working with files as large files may take very long time and lot of bandwidth for transfers; also, manual intervention is required for moving files between different stake holders at appropriate time. Failing this will give access to the wrong versions of designs to people, leading to catastrophic errors in construction or manufacturing.

Since moving such legacy repositories of files to WRENCH is  an arduous process,  a file explorer in WRENCH is introduced using which users can be given controlled access to file repositories from across different geographies.

Opening the file manager

File Manager can be opened from the Modules section On the Global menu.

To open file manager

Searching for folders

Facility to search for folders is available in the folder section of the file manager.

To search for folders

  1. Click the Search icon. Search field is enabled.
  2. On the search field enter the folder name

Figure: Searching for folders

  1. Click on the Search button or press the Enter key to start the search.

If the matching folder exists, that folder is selected and highlighted.

Figure: Displaying matching folders

  1. Click the up arrow and down arrow to move between matching folders.
  2. Click the x icon to clear the search criteria.

Facility to display the files in sub-folders is also available.

To display files in sub folders 

  1. Click the checkbox next to Show files in Subfolders.
  2. Select a the parent folder.

Files in the sub folders of a parent folder are displayed.


Figure: Displaying files in sub folders

Option to search for files based on content is also available.

On the drop-down box next to In, if the option Content is selected, system displays the file containing the value entered in Search For field.

On the drop-down box next to In, if the option File Name is selected, system displays the files with the name as specified in Search For field.

Operations from the file manager

Different operations can be carried out on files in the file manager. All the operations can be carried out only on files that are not added to WRENCH.

Figure: File manager operations

Searching files

Search facility in File manager can be used to search the files based on file properties and file contents. If the Configured Drive/Folder is Indexed in ‘Windows Search’ and is available to WRENCH Server machine, users can search for file content by typing in the search field.

To search for files

Sharing files

Share option in the file manager helps in sharing large file through a hyperlink sent through an email. 

To share a file

Operations

In certain scenarios, the users of SmartProject may need to add new documents, replace current revision documents, replace older revisions of documents, or import associated files (Spector, related files, comments, Client comments) from their local system or the server. Single or multiple files can be selected and added to WRENCH. Files once added cannot be added again. 

On placing the mouse pointer over the option Operations, a pop-up menu is displayed. 

Figure: Operations Menu

The following operations can be carried out from the menu.

  1. Create Documents
  2. Replace Documents
  3. Templates For
  1. For Creating documents
  2. For Replacing current revision documents
  3. For Replacing old revision documents
  4. For Adding attachments
  5. Manage Templates
  1. Import Template

These options are explained in the following sections.

Creating Documents

Using this option, a selected document can be added to SmartProject

To add files to SmartProject

Replacing Documents

Using this option files of existing documents can be replaced. On clicking this option after selecting the documents, the Bulk Upload Document window is displayed. For more information on working with bulk document upload window refer Bulk Update of Documents.

Creating Templates

Templates can be generated for creating documents, replacing documents, replacing old revisions of documents, adding attachments, and managing templates. On placing the mouse pointer over the option Templates For, a pop-up menu with different options is displayed.

Figure: Creating Templates

The option in this menu is explained in the following section.

For Creating Documents: Using this option template for adding documents to SmartProject can be generated and documents can be added using the template. On clicking, this option Download Template wizard is displayed. Here different options for generating an import template is available.

Figure: Downloading Template

For Replacing Documents: Using this option a template that can be used for replacing the documents can be generated.

For Replacing old revision documents: Using this option a template that can be used to replace old revisions of existing documents can be generated. On clicking this option, the following template is generated.

Figure: Template for replacing old revisions

On the template enter values for the following columns.

After entering values in different columns save the file.

For Adding attachments: Using this option an excel template for importing attachments against specified documents in SmartProject can be generated. The generated template is shown in the following figure.

Figure: Template for adding attachments

On the template enter values for the following columns.

After entering values in different columns save the file.

Manage Templates: Using this option custom template that can be used for the ‘Creating Document’ option can be generated. On clicking this option Document Templates-Import window is displayed.

Figure: Document Template for Import

On the window options to create a template, edit a template, remove a template and publish a template is available.

Importing Using Excel

Different option to import the values in generated excel template is available here. On placing the mouse pointer over this option, a pop-up menu is displayed.

Figure: Importing using excel

Different options in the menu are described in the following section.

Bulk Operations Log

The bulk operations provide the status of the import processes.

Figure: Bulk Operations log window

Replacing files

File in the file manager can be replaced with a new version when required. This operation is not available for file that are added to Wrench.

To replace files

Downloading files

Files in the file manager except files added to WRENCH can be downloaded.

To download files