View mode + Attachment for customers, suppliers and employees

I was thinking if we can have a view screen for customers, suppliers and employees which we can be used by view only users view object properties that are not visible in columns.

Additionally, we can attach such things as supply/employment agreements, customer/supplier statements, supplier price lists … etc.

This feature would be very handy to have.

this was already suggested almost three years back but like many suggestions never saw the light.

That is a very good suggestion

Can’t this now be achieved by a Custom Report. I realise this would be an “all” in rather than just one on one per a view button.

i do not think generating a report every time to view a customer detail would be a solution. it is not necessary that a business is always looking for the accounting data. there are simply other things in day-to-day activities where an office staff would require the tax identifier/email/contact/address/anything you can imagine of a customer/supplier.

also, like @Ealfardan mentioned we can attach the contracts/agreements signed with a customer/supplier.

i really do not understand why Manager would be designed in a way that an user would input all the necessary details of a customer/supplier just so that the software alone decides when and what data appears where it needs. why cannot the user view what he has saved for his reference?

Now I understand your point more clearly and agree. If you can “create” an Invoice (Purchase or Sales) and see it in either Edit or View mode, why when you “create” a Supplier / Customer, why can’t you also see it in an Edit or View mode.

Especially now as the content can be more sophisticated with Custom Fields etc.

I will go to your original topic, which pre dates the Idea’s category and add it to the already bloated Ideas.

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Because View applies only to transactions and invokes a theme. The theme, in turn, displays information that is not part of a specific transaction record, but related to the business (logos, addresses) as well as processed totals, etc. That would hardly be a convenient or useful way to display customer/supplier information.

It seems the question really being asked goes more to fine-grained user permissions. @Ealfardan apparently wants users to be able to see all customer/supplier data without being able to edit it.

so what about Folders or Emails in Manager?
there is no need for fancy presentation but just the need to view what data has been saved for the reference of the user. if details of customers/suppliers were required only to process data in transactions, i do not find the reason for developing feature to add custom fields for these tabs nor a prior default field for Telephone since Manager cannot be used as VOIP software.

What about them? Notice that a folder in View mode is presented by a theme. But there is no usable information that was not visible in Edit mode. The only reason for View in the Folders tab is because attachments can be made only in View mode. If your argument is that this is somewhat awkward, I agree.

The point of custom fields for customers/suppliers is to allow users to add information that is not required for processing transactions. Users want to store all sorts of information the program does not use, and custom fields are the way to do it.

The history of the Telephone field goes back to earlier days, before custom fields were available, and the developer apparently thought the information would be commonly desired. During the evolution of custom fields, Telephone was eliminated as a standard field and no longer appears in new businesses. If you had entered phone numbers, the conversion script automatically created a custom field and made the transfers.

this is the only point I have been trying to make. users store every information possible yet users are not provided an option to view all these information.

I am aware of this hence my statement reads prior default field for *Telephone*

Yes that is true, but running a report everytime is not very efficient. Also, to get the attachments we need a view mode.

But it also applies for folders which are not transactions.

That is why I said it was awkward. Basically, a folder is forced to be a transaction with no line items. You will notice that you cannot input any information except a description unless you create custom fields. That would not be very practical way to display customer/supplier information.

My question is whether you are dissatisfied with the way information about customers/suppliers is presented in the Edit screen, or you just want to be able to control what restricted users can do with it?

Perhaps currently, but why can’t a non-transaction record (sub-ledger) also have a theme if it has the security of data control.

Yes, and that is where the View mode comes in, in another words, the fine graining of user permissions.

As I already wrote, that is basically what folders do now. They are forced to be treated as transactions with no line items. (See my post #12.) Customers/suppliers might also be forced to be treated that way, but you would not see important information like code, currency, delivery address, email address, credit limit, and active/inacactive status. While the program uses those fields for other purposes, they do not show in a theme-controlled View (except for delivery address in place of billing address on a delivery note).

And while custom fields can be made to show in a theme, they are not used by the program for essential functions the way the other information on a customer/supplier Edit screen is. There is no point is requiring double entries of information. This still comes down to controlling what a restricted user can do: view and edit versus view but not edit.

Please do not misunderstand me. I am not arguing against finer control of user permissions. I just think that is a more useful way to approach this issue than to incorporate View options for customer/supplier information that are not very useful.

the developer can always convert the available data to plain text for display. this is what happens with most Reports, i believe, where the data is gathered and displayed as plain text.

Digging up an old one here and just drilling down on the original thought for the need of attachments for Suppliers, Employees and Customers for detail such as agreements etc. In my case for employee correspondence would really be handy.

Would love this functionality

In the latest version (21.1.36) it is now possible to view customers and suppliers which allows attaching documents.

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So many improvements in such little time, thanks a lot @lubos

3 posts were split to a new topic: View mode + Attachments for Inventory, Non Inventory & Reports

why view option has removed from attachments instead ??? 21.1.44