Attachments: View vs Edit

Any thoughts to make the concept of view vs. edit consistent for attachments. i.e. the add/delete from edit screen and view from view screen? Currently you can only edit from the view screen which seems backwards?

The issue is that you need a record to attach the attachments to. The View screen guarantees a record exists. But when first creating a transaction, there is no record until the Create button is clicked. So the Edit screen only provides a place where an attachment might be added or deleted after the transaction is created.

I would disagree.

When working with invoices with many lines, it is much easier to see all the information in View Mode so when adding an attachment, I am able to quickly compare everything on the attachment with everything in view mode - like totals, quantities etc. It would not be as easy to do this in edit mode.

I do follow both of your points, but then view isn’t view from a security point of view then.

Also when editing. I often create several invoices so ‘create and add another’. Not being able to add attachments during the edit process results in a choice of either (i) not being able to use create and add another or (ii) a second pass through each invoice to view and add attachments.

I do agree with your points as well. If you are using Security Auditing and assigning view only permissions, then attachments presents a problem.

My work process tends to be different. I will create the purchase invoice today and a week later add the attachment when I receive it from the suppliers. But your workflow makes sense as well.

It is a bit of a difficult one because there are pros and cons to adding the attachments in both modes. For me, the view mode works better than the edit mode.

That is not necessarily the case here. The way manager has evolved in way that separates attachments from other entries. I guess it is by design since it will make it easier to separately manage attachments the way manager currently does:

  • Exclude attachments from backups
  • Delete attachments in bulk without going through each and every tab
  • Since the last update, being able to give someone the access rights to create but not delete transactions, while still being able to delete attachments or vice versa (which is very handy if you ask me)

Of course there are downsides to this like not being able to batch attach files. It is a tradeoff.