GPtip42day - Size of Note field

I'll bet everyone has been wondering what the maximum note size is that can be entered into a note field.  From our friend and GP developer extraordinaire, Mr. David Musgrave, the maximum number of characters a note field will hold is 32,000. 

Now, if we just had a character counter on that note field David!

gptip42day - The Ubiquitous Note Field, Part 2

Today, we look at how to attach documents in our Note window.  Open a Note window -

Click on the paper clip to open the OLE (Object Linking & Embedding) container -

Click on Edit to insert an object -

Select ' Insert New Object' -

Note that in this window, you have a number of options.  You can Create New.  When you select this option, a drop-down box opens to allow you to select from a dozen or so types of objects, such as a Word document, Excel document, Excel Chart, etc.

You can also Create from File.  This is probably what you'll use most as you can just browse to find the document you want to insert.

Once you've selected the file to insert, you can either have the file show as a link in the OLE container or have the actual document contents show there.  If you choose 'Link', you can also have the link appear as an icon, like the Acrobat Reader icon in the example above and you can change the icon to any of a number of pre-defined icons by clicking on 'Change Icon'.

Once you've made your selections in this window, click OK, then in the Note window, click 'Attach'.  Your document is now attached in the Note field.  Anyone who has access to the window in which the note is attached, and has the correct viewer (such as Adobe in this case) on their workstation, can view the note and the attached document.

I'll reiterate that Notes and attached documents are not secure - anyone who can view them can modify or delete them so make sure all users in your system understand this.

gptip42day - The Ubiquitous Note Field, Part 1

I am frequently puzzled that most users, especially accounting staff, don't make better use of the Note fields that are available in every window in GP.  One would think accountants, with their need to document transactions for subsequent review and audit, would make the Note fields their best friends.  Perhaps users just don't get trained properly on the benefits of using Note fields, so here we go -

Use the Note window to create, display, or modify a note for a window or a field.  Record-level notes apply to the specific transaction, will change with each transaction, and are always found next to a field in the transaction.  Window-level notes are specific to the transaction window, do not change with each transaction, and are always found at the bottom of the window.  A window-level note is used to describe something about the use of the window itself.

Note buttons show whether a note is attached to a window or record. If a note is attached, the "page" will appear to have lines of text in it. If no note is attached, the "page" will appear to be blank.

As you can see, a note in this general journal entry would have been perfect to document this transaction.  Instead of entering 'See Wendy P. for detail' in the Reference field, the person entering this transaction could have attached a complete description of the transaction and even supporting documentation in the Note next to the Journal Entry field, eliminating the need for a subsequent reviewer to 'See Wendy P.' unless further discussion was necessary.

To view a note, just click on the Note icon

These are the fields within the Note -

Note ID

Displays the window name or record ID to which this note is attached.

Last Changed

Displays the date and time when this note was created or last modified. This field will be updated each time a user changes the note.

Attachment icon button

Opens a window where you can add an attachment. Attachments are available only for record-level notes, not window-level notes.

You can attach links to documents or images within the Note window. For example, you can attach customer payment overdue notices to a customer note, or attach an image of an inventoried item to an item note.

If an attachment is linked to the note, the "paper clip" on the button will appear to contain a note. If an attachment isn't linked to the note, the paper clip will appear empty.

Attachments are stored in the location specified in the OLEPath= line of the Dex.ini file. (Note - if the OLEPath in the Dex.ini file has not been defined, the paper clip icon will not appear in the Note window - see your IT personnel if this is the case.  The OLEPath should be a shared directory so all users can view the notes.)

Attach button

Attaches the note you have written to a window or field.

Delete button

Removes a note attached to a window or field.

A couple of things to be aware of regarding Notes -

1.  Never store sensitive or confidential information in Note fields.  There is no security on Notes.  If a user can view the window, they can view the notes and attached documents.

2.  Notes can be modified or deleted by any user who has access to the transaction or inquiry window where the Note resides.

Stayed tuned for Part 2 on Notes tomorrow.  We'll cover in detail attaching documents to the Note field.