Why you ask . . . because of a need, and Boy Scouts and Back Packs of course 
It doesn’t matter the length of the trip or the size of the pack - a Scout will always fill it. Give us a great capability and of course we’re going to use the hell out of it - it meets our need.
The ability to put images into the database and reference them is quite attractive as it is a one-stop solution to a business documentation problem. The need for images becomes greater as we use Manager more and more for sales and manufacturing, a picture is worth a thousand words on a quote, invoice and in a production process. However the devil is always in the details, and here they are broken links, bloated database size and backup problems, as I experienced.
The Guide for images states “Rather than incorporate the image itself into Manager’s business data file, the image must be stored at a web-accessible location. HTML code is entered into the custom field referencing the URL of the stored image.”
Perhaps the guide could be written as “THE IMAGE MUST BE STORED … OR THE DATABASE WILL BECOME BLOATED AND … BROKEN LINKS AND … BACKUPS …” and the guide could be updated to include an example - Perhaps as part of the excellent guide for self-hosted installations, or as a stand-alone for those who don’t self-host? Yes, it’s pretty darn simple, but then so is everything when you know how.
Now I know, through my painful experience gained with 1400 broken image links, any consistent storage of images in the database - invoices, business related documents, etc. - anything a user might want to easily save, reference, and backup, will eventually bloat the database and it’s links will break.
So it’s understandable (to me anyway) how I might feel a bit let down, even though remembering the advice in the guide is clearly my responsibility, and failure.
This was a big deal for me, and from other forum posts, it seems for others. Perhaps a more robust Guide here would be worth the effort:
- store images in the database, but only a few and maybe only core business documents;
- downsize images to a minimum usable resolution;
- for self-hosting users, put your images in a website and reference them with HTML;
- for desk-top users … (I don’t know, I’m not a desktop user);
- for cloud users … (I don’t know - are there limits on the cloud?);
- when your image links break, do (this) to fix them manually;
- don’t worry, we’ve got an AutoMagic ImageLinkTracerChangerFixerUpper thingee (possible?);
- use our handy-dandy Link-Fixer-Delux application (is there one?)
Just a suggestion 