I am in desperate need of help...

I have convinced our offices that we need to go completely paperless
with all of our files. We have over 1,000 binders that we will scan
into PDF files (about 100-500MB each). I want to input the following
fields into a searchable database: project, title, contents, date, &
original location. The PDF files will be stored on our server (along
with the FM Database). This will allow us to search and find the data
on any computer on the network.

Next: I'd like to make a "drop zone" so I can drag and drop the PDF
file, have the FM Database pull the filename, size & date -- but never
attach the PDF into the record as a file. This would make the database
grow into many, many terabytes.

Finally, a link that allows the user to click a button to open the PDF
outside of FileMaker. I'd like global variables to set the Server IP
Address (incase it gets moved or the network is updated) and the folder
name (determined by the project). Since the system would capture the
filename, all that is assembled in the programming of the "link" button
would be IPaddress+Folder Name+Filename

I think this is relatively simple to construct, I just haven't had the
brain power this week to tackle it, and could use some help. Any
suggestions? I'll test it alongside replies in this thread. It is a
small start, and we're looking at server upgrades seperately, to
accomodate the load.

In article <1169790174.313373.125800 (AT) p10g2000cwp (DOT) googlegroups.com>,
"jasonXterra" <jasonxterra (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

The "paperless office" is a myth that is still decades away (if not
centuries).

Personally I'd make a simple 'library' system that tells people what
shelf / box / whatever the printed version is located. Much easier and
takes up much less space on the computer.


Helpful Harry
Hopefully helping harassed humans happily handle handiwork hardships ;o)

I have worked in a "near paperless" office. We were a national
restaurant chain, with over 500 owned restaurants. Our food was
delivered from a purveyor that while the units received invoices..
invoices were paid weekly with data transfers from them to us. With
the paper invoices that other companies provided... these were keyed
at the units by admin staff for their tracking purposes. This
information was polled and up loaded to AP and GL at the corporate
office. Weekly the invoices were sent to corporate. Inititally
microfiche was used, destroying the paper. Later paper was scanned to
images that were stored on servers that were accessible by everyone
from their desktops. All reports were printed to PDF files where such
were necessary (such as payroll reports). Data was stored in all
systems in ways that were accessible for query by users. The only
paper archived (for one year) besides contracts were inventories.
These were not scanned but held for one year and destroyed. I loved
it .. but it takes a major shift in processes to abandon paper.

TK

On Feb 1, 11:55 pm, Helpful Harry <helpful_ha... (AT) nom (DOT) de.plume.com>
wrote:

In article <1170472283.811291.44470 (AT) v45g2000cwv (DOT) googlegroups.com>,
"TKnTexas" <tkntexas55 (AT) aol (DOT) com> wrote:

The problem is that most people still prefer to read paper-based
documents rather than reading on-screen ones. It's part of the reason
why eBook / handheld reader devices haven't been very popular while the
iPod and music players quickly have taken off.

This may slowly change as the "PlayStation generation" moves higher up
the workforce. The change from CRT to LCD screens may also cause that
preference to slowly change (CRTs cause more eyestrain for many
people), not to mention the "electronic paper" becoming more of a
reality.

Helpful Harry
Hopefully helping harassed humans happily handle handiwork hardships ;o)

So nobody has designed a system similar? There are lots of software
programs out there, but since our offices all have Filemaker on all
the computers, I was hoping to just add another database on the server
for people to access.

The solution I'm thinking of would store the PDF scans on the server
harddrives, and use a Filemaker database only as a search engine to
point to the original files. Anybody else have additional thoughts?

Jason,

What you are proposing is very doable. However, for providing the
functionality for file handling you will need to use a plug-in such as
TroiFile. (www.troi.com).

You might also want to include a keywords field to aid in searching.

Sounds like fun.

On Jan 25, 9:42 pm, "jasonXterra" <jasonxte... (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:
Tim
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Timothy Trimble
Author of "FileMaker Pro Design & Scripting for Dummies"
www.timothytrimble.info
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