Document Links Setup

Before you start using Clever Document Links it is recommended to complete the Document Links Setup Page.

When installing on a SaaS environment you will be automatically prompted to complete the setup on install of the app. Alternatively the setup can be accessed from either the Assisted Setup page of by searching for Document links Setup.

Once within the setup page you can access other setup pages related to Clever Document Links from the Setup action:

This will allow you to open the pages for creating Document Attributes, Document Types and Search Fields.

Please refer to the Default Configuration for more information.

 

Within the setup screen itself you can optionally enable some additional functionality for Clever Document Links:

The most important piece of setup is to  determine where you want to store your documents. Selecting the field File Storage you have two options.

  • Database - This option will store documents within your Business Central database.
  • SharePoint - This option will store document in an external SharePoint Repository

Consider the most appropriate location to store your documents. If you are expecting to use a small number of documents with Clever Document Links then storing within the Business Central database may be the best option, however it should be noted that may significantly increase the size of the Business Central database. if you are planning on storing larger number of documents and have a SharePoint instance available then this will generally be the best option. 

If you select Database then no further setup in regards to the file storage is required. If you select SharePoint then you will need to provide some information about your Microsoft SharePoint environment. 

All actions relating to the Microsoft SharePoint library can be found under the SharePoint group:

The SharePoint Setup Wizard will be run automatically on changing to SharePoint or you can run this manually be selecting the SharePoint Setup action:

You may want to run Test SharePoint Connection to confirm SharePoint Integration is successfully configured or if you are having problems using Clever Document Links with SharePoint:

Other options relating to File Storage include Update Archive Location:

Against each linked document which has been uploaded to Business Central, details will be held relating to where it is stored.  In cases where you would like to move the documents and need to update the file path location for document storage, you will need to run the Action Update Archive Location once you have manually moved all of the documents to the new location.  This can be used in cases where you are moving to a different SharePoint Site/Folder. See Migrating from Database to SharePoint Repositories for more information.

You may also want to migrate your file repository from Database to SharePoint. The File Storage field will firstly need to be changed to 'SharePoint'.  After completing the SharePoint Setup Wizard, you should then select the Migrate Archive action:

 

This will then move the documents into the SharePoint area defined automatically.  A confirmation message will be displayed once complete.

To facilitate finding files in both Business central and SharePoint it is strongly recommended that you configure Document Attributes. Document Attributes allow you to tag files with appropriate MetaData to allowing searching of your file Archive. To configure Document Attributes select the Document Attributes action:

See Document Attributes for more information.

The Preferences FastTab allows you to specify some initial settings for the Document Links File Drop FactBox. Choose the initial state for the Factbox. Options are:

  • Compressed (File List Hidden) - The File list will not be shown minimising the space taken by the factbox.
  • Expanded (File List Visible) - The file list will be displayed making meaning the link files can be more quickly seen.
Note: this setting only relates to the initial state of the factbox and can be changed on each page. The setting will be remembered by page/user combination.

If you want to use Optical Character recognition with lever Document Links then the The OCR Settings FastTab should be completed be entering an OCR Service User and Password for the OCR service. Populating these fields will enable Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central to read barcodes and find a record to match them within the database. See for OCR Setup more information.

Note: If you wish to use the OCR functionality, you will need to purchase the OCR Service separately.

In order to use OCR to automatically assign document to the correct records in Business central you should also review both Document Types and Search Fields if these have not be created by the default configuration.

To setup Document Types select the Document Types action:

To setup Search Fields select the Search Fields action:

See Document Link Search Fields for more information.