Tips & Tricks: Attaching Files
Sharing and seeing: Learn to attach all your files
Have you ever received a file from your clients you wanted to share with everyone who uses Labnet? Perhaps the Dentist has sent you a digital photograph that shows exactly how to approach the case. This file, or any other type of electronic file, can be attached to any case in Labnet. This includes text documents, shade data, intra oral and other images, including video clips. You can even attach a URL (Internet address) to a case. All that’s required on the local computer is access to the central attachments folder and the correct software to open the file.
Getting Started
First, Labnet needs to know where the central attachments folder is located. If such a folder doesn’t exist, you can create one. A good place for the folder is in the same location on the network where the data file is. This ensures that all stations will have access to view the images.
To let Labnet know where that folder is, select File | Lab Setup | Stations. Click the Edit button, then scroll down to the section entitled “Select Letters/Prescriptions/Images.” Click the Select Letters/Presriptions/Images Folder button and navigate to the folder you created. the folder and the path will appread in the Stations Window. Click the OK button to save your selection.
Attach a Single File
To attach a file to a case, complete the following steps:
- Find the case in the Labnet Main Window.
- With the case displayed in the Main Window, click the Attached Files button.
- On the new window that appears, click the Add Attachment button (it has a green plus sign on it).
- Type a brief caption that describes the attachment.
- Click the Browse button and navigate to the file you wish to attach, or, if you know the exact path to the file, you can type it in. Be careful if you type it in—one tiny error will mean the attachment cannot be accessed.
- Click the Attach button.
Rapid File Attachment
This method is designed for attaching large numbers of files, such as scanned prescriptions, to a large number of cased quickly. It works by using a shortcut key (Ctrl-5) to repeatedly grab a file from the same location. Set your scanner software to save all scans to a specified location, and to give every scanned file the same name every time. Then scan your first prescription and attach it to the proper case as you normally would, setting it to delete the file in the original location as it attaches it to the Labnet case. Then, scan the next prescription, (which your scanner software will save to the same location with the same name as the first one). In Labnet, find the case for the new scan, and press Ctrl-5. Labnet will look for a file with the same name in the same location that was used in the first scan, and automatically attach it to the case on the screen. In this way, you’re able to scan a prescription, find or enter the case for it, and attach the scan simply by pressing Ctrl-5. You can repeat this for as many cases as you need.
Here are the steps in detail:
Setting Up the First Scan:
- Set your scanner software default to save each scan to the same location on your hard drive with the same name.
- Scan a prescription and bring the case the prescription is associated with to the Main Window in Labnet.
- With the appropriate case on the screen, select Attach Prescription from the Tools menu.
- Type a caption.
- Browse to the attachment.
- Click the Add Attachment button (it has a green plus sign on it). Labnet will now remember the path to the scan.
Subsequent cases:
- Scan next prescription.
- Locate and select the case in the Main Window.
- Press CTRL 5 (or select Tools | Attach Prescription). Labnet writes the word “Prescription” in the caption field automatically.
- Repeat steps 7 - 9 until all prescriptions are scanned and attached.
View Attachments
To view an attached file, bring up the case on the Main Window. You’ll notice that, if there are attachments connected to the case, there will be a blue dot by the Attachment Files button. Click on the Attachment Files to open the Attachment Window and double click an attachment from the list to open and view it. Labnet will try to open it using the proper program for the file, (for example, Word for Word Documents). If you have problems opening the file, check to ensure you have the correct program installed on your computer.
Special Options
Delete original after attaching
If this option is checked in the Add Attachments Window, this feature functions like “cut and paste.” The file you select is removed (cut) from the location you found it and is moved (pasted) into the Labnet Attachment folder.
If this option is left unchecked it functions like “copy and paste” so you have one file in the original location and one in the folder you created for Labnet to access.
Update All Stations
As you probably know, there are usually many stations codes being used in Labnet. If you want to update all your stations at once, you can use the Update All Stations button in the Stations Window. However, there is one situation in which this button will not work. If you have a copy of Labnet on the same computer where the Labnet Attachment folder resides, then the path on that computer’s station code is most likely going to differ from every other computer on the network. This is commonly the case if the computer is functioning as the server for your files. The other computers will access the folder through a network path (such as \\server\Labnet_data\attachements\) whereas, on the server, the folder will have a local path (such as C:/shared_files/Labnet_data/attachments). If you have a copy of Labnet you use on your server, check to make sure attachments work on it after you use Update All Stations function
