doQuments User Guide

Please take a few minutes to read this guide before you start using doQuments. It contains the basic information that you'll need to get started. For additional information refer to Help on the doQuments main menu.

Introduction

doQuments is an easy to use document management application. It combines the features of a document management system with a simple database. It lets you store, group, find and retrieve your documents quickly. You can store any amount of additional data to describe your documents making them easier to classify and find.

Your documents are kept in records which are stored in databases. For those of you new to the database concept, an analogy would be folders (records) stored in the draws of a filing cabinet (databases). Each record can be labelled or classified with fields like, name, date, description, etc.

You have the flexibility to organise your documents in a way that suits you best. You can have several documents in one record and as many records as you need in each database. You can create different databases for different purposes. You can define your own fields to classify the records holding your documents and each database can have its own unique fields.

The ability to quickly combine electronic and paper documents in your own tailor-made databases are doQuments most powerful features. It provides a highly flexible tool to help you organise your documents more effectively. The table below gives a few ideas of who doQuments can help and how:

Organisations	Practical Uses
Government Departments Notary Offices Law Offices Hospital & Health Centres Business & Industry Banks & Financial Institutions Insurance Companies Estate Agents Accountants & Auditors Educational Establishments Pharmaceutical & Research Companies Consultants Architects & Construction Companies Engineers	Store letters and faxes Mix electronic documents with paper documents Accounts, quotations, invoices, cheques, bank statements Newspaper clippings, technical articles, research papers, etc Engineering drawings Legal documents, company statutes, licenses, property deeds, etc Quality Control Procedures Photo archives Personnel records, training certificates, photos Medical records

Step by Step User Guide

Creating a new doQuments DB (Database)

The database that doQuments uses to store documents and their descriptions is known as a doQuments DB. You can create as many doQuments DBs as you want. Below are detailed instructions about creating and setting up a doQuments DB.

Click on the New DB... option on the File menu to launch the New doQuments DB Wizard.

Using the New doQuments DB Wizard

There are two types of doQuments DBs that you can create - MS Access based and MS SQL based. To create a MS Access based doQuments DB select the MS Access based doQuments DB option on the wizard.

MS Access based doQuments DBs can be created based on a doQuments DB Template. Choose the template called Standard (it will already be selected).

Click on the Next button

doQuments will automatically suggest a name and location for the new doQuments DB. Change the name to TestDB and accept the location suggested by doQuments.

Click the Finish button at this stage to create and open the new doQuments DB.

Data Fields

Before adding documents to the new doQuments DB, you should create some data fields. Suppose you will be storing only letters that you receive in this DB then some of the data fields you could create would be...

Date Of Receipt, Sender's Name etc..

All newly created doQuments DBs already have a data field called Comments. You can delete this data field if you do not need it.

To create a new data field in the doQuments DB or to delete an existing data field, click on the Data Fields Manager... item in the File menu. This will launch the Data Fields Manager Window.

Working with the Data Field Manager

Deleting the Comments data field

The Comments field will be already selected. Click the Delete button to delete the Comments field.

The Confirm Delete dialog will be displayed. Click on the Yes button to confirm the deletion of the Comments field.

Adding the Date Of Receipt data field

Now, click on the Add button to launch the Data Field Wizard.

Enter Date Of Receipt in the Field Name box

Select Date from the Type of Data drop-down

Click on the Finish button to add the new data field and close the Data Field Wizard

Adding the Sender's Name data field

Click on the Add button to launch the Data Field Wizard again

Enter Sender's Name in the Field Name box

Select Small Text from the Type of Data drop-down

Click on the Finish button to add the new data field and close the Data Field Wizard

Click on the Close button to close the Data Field Manager Window.

The newly created fields will now be displayed in the Data Panel of the doQuments Main Window.

To Summarize...

You created a new MS Access based doQuments DB called TestDB. Then using the Data Fields Manager you deleted the Comments data field and added a Date type data field called Date Of Receipt and a Small Text type data field called Sender's Name.

Similarly you could create more data fields to better describe/index the documents you would be adding to this doQuments DB.

Now that you have created and set up a doQuments DB, it is time to add the documents, but first a few things you must know before you start......

The doQuments Main Window

The main doQuments window is divided into three main areas.

The top of the window contains the menu and the various toolbars. The remaining area of the window is divided vertically into two areas. On the right is the area where you add and modify data. This area is called the Data Panel. The left hand side is again split horizontally into two areas. The bottom area shows a list of documents and is referred to as the Document List. The top area shows details or the preview of the document selected in the document list. This area is known as the preview panel.

Scanning a document

Place the document inside the scanner (assuming you are using a flatbed scanner).
Click the New option on the Record menu to create a new record.
Click the Scan button on the Document toolbar. This will launch the Scan Window.
The name of the currently selected scanner is displayed at the top of the Scan Panel.
To use a different scanner, select the new scanner by clicking on the Change button. The TWAIN Select Source Dialog will be launched.
Now click on the Preview button to perform a preview scan the document.
Once the preview scan is complete, the preview image will be displayed. Click the Select button and then draw a rectangular selection area over the part of the preview image that you want to include in the final scan.
Now click the Final Scan button.
Once the final scan is complete, the scanned image will be displayed.
Enter descriptive/indexing information about the scanned document in the data fields displayed in the data panel.

That's it! You have just scanned and added your first document.

You now have the basics to create your own custom databases and add your documents. If you need further help we would be happy to arrange on site training or consultancy services tailored to your specific needs.