In traversing different options I have noticed attachments are here, except they seem to be a cloud only solution?
@lubos I do understand it’s probably not a priority, but is it on the roadmap to include a local version of documents for desktop (and I assume) server versions? One of the things I love about (desktop) manager is that it ISN’T cloud based. I realise it means backups are my problem, but I’m happy with that (I have solutions in place). My only issue is the reliance on cloud and cloud storage.
I like to encourage people to use Backup button in Manager. This will produce small .manager file which contains all accounting data. You can have over 1,000 invoices and your backup file (compressed) should be still under 1 MB.
If attachments are stored locally, how would the backup work? I mean single scanned purchase invoice could take 1 MB itself. The same amount of space thousands of transactions entered within Manager would occupy. You can imagine your backup file could quickly go from 1 MB to hundreds of MBs in short period of time. And it’s all because you are suddenly attaching scanned documents.
Basically supporting local attachments would break the Backup button.
I’m aware that relying on cloud introduces new point of failure. I’ve designed cloud storage to be reliable. I don’t run any servers. Manager will upload files directly into managed Amazon S3 bucket where they will be stored permanently. As for the privacy concerns. I can’t see the content of what is being uploaded as Manager will upload attachment encrypted by AES-256 and stripped of its filename and other metadata. And encryption keys and filename is stored within your Manager file. Never in the cloud storage.
But I do share your point. You want to design your systems to be durable without relying on 3rd-party service. I sympathize with that.
And I think there is a solution to it. Manager could be storing locally all attachments which you have in the cloud. So that way Manager would access the cloud only if you are uploading new attachments or if you are trying to retrieve attachment which is not mirrored locally. If all your attachments are mirrored locally, then you don’t need Internet connection to access any of your attachments ever.
All points taken and understood. I personally LOVE the backup button. I press it multiple times a day. I usually just allow it to overwrite the last same day backup, but I generally have a backup for each day. I hadn’t thought of the implications of attachments and backup and it’s a very good point.
I do think an attraction of the server edition for enterprise solutions is also to be not cloud based and it does introduce an external component. I would like to see the cloud component backup functionality be optional.
Perhaps the backups of attachments are generally stored in the manager application data area and dealt with separately by the user.
If cloud based, I would prefer to see the local and cloud storage solution mirroring work in reverse, in that any new attachments are stored locally and mirrored to the server.
If when someone is loading a backup and they select an attachment that is not stored locally, then it pulled from the cloud (although I would still like to see the server version attempt to pull it from the server application area). Only those requested would be pulled. Generally the attachments won’t be used/viewed (I’m assuming) except in an auditing process, although I understand it could be used for other purposes as well. Dealing with them as an external component within the application data area and not stored with the backup would allow the backups to work as normal.
Just a thought, I am in favour of scanned data being stored separately from Manager. My preference is to store the scanned data on the organisation’s Local LAN and not to be included with Manager’s default backup data. The scanned data could be managed by the current server system’s backup strategy and if a cloud option is desired it could be implemented independently with the company’s in-house cloud backup policy.
I too think attachments should be stored separately. Path or folders defined in setup. Manager data could have link to document rather than having to store the file in its own database. Up to the user to backup both manager and their attachment files.
Same as me, it totally a waste of time for the producers to work on adding attachment feature while features like audit trail, warehousing and budgeting are outstanding.
If you want to keep scanned documents, you can scan into folders on your system and name them with the reference numbers on manager.
Exactly alasdair and as lubos points out the uploading and storage of scanned data must not break the integrity of the current backup process however the management of the scanned data, wherever it may be stored, should be facilitated by Manager to allow the correct record association, look-up and printing will be great.
Good point. While working as a corporate software engineer 2 years ago, I developed a system that did just that. The application only stored “links” to the scanned document images. The application database and the document server were backed up separately.
Ok, so I only just retried the attachments again and see that it is recorded locally now? Was this announced? I would have started using it earlier if I had of known
