|
 What
is an inclusion?
Email aspects of inclusions
Creating inclusions
Sending inclusions
Managing inclusions
Software requirements
What is an inclusion?
When you send an Attaché document
via Attaché Alex,
you can also send inclusions. An inclusion
is a picture
of any printable file, such as a Microsoft Word
document, a price list, a roster, or even a
digital photograph
of a cheque or of goods. Each inclusion consists of one or more
A4 pages, and is sent at a modest extra charge.
Email aspects of inclusions
When you send an Attaché document by email, its inclusions are sent as additional graphics in the
email. (When you use fax, inclusions
are simply
sent as additional pages.)
People who receive an inclusion by email can read,
print, save and forward the inclusion. However, they do
not get
an exact, editable copy of your file. For example, if you send
a simple spreadsheet as an
inclusion, people can read it as though you had sent them a scanned
copy, but they cannot see or change the formulas in the spreadsheet.
In that respect, inclusions are very different from
email attachments.
Creating inclusions
You create inclusions by using the Attaché Alex Document
Formatter, which is installed when you install the February
2005 or later version
of the AlexConnect software. After you install AlexConnect, the
formatter is shown in the list of printers (typically in the
Print dialog box)
in your Windows programs.
To create an inclusion:
- Open or create the file you want
to include (such as a price list or digital photograph).
- In the Print dialog box in the same program, click the printer
name and choose Attaché Alex Document
Formatter from the list of printers.
- When you click OK in the
Print dialog box, the formatter asks for the name of a folder,
where
it formats a copy of the file ready for later inclusion (rather
than printing it). The folder needs to be in the ALEX\INCLUDE
folder in your Attaché accounting program’s folder.
Using subfolders
To give you more flexibility when you send inclusions, the software
has been designed so that all inclusions in subfolders (if any) within
the folder you choose will be sent with the document.
| Tip |
|
Use meaningful folder names so that you can easily differentiate between them when you want to
send an inclusion from your Attaché accounting program. |
Sending inclusions
When you send a document via Alex (or create a document such
as a credit adjustment note for sending later), you can add an
inclusion to send before the document, after it, or both. In
each case, you specify which inclusion to use by selecting the
name
of the folder containing the inclusion.
- If you add inclusions when you send batches of
documents (such as statements, remittance advices and groups
of documents created
in transaction entry), the software sends the inclusion with
every document in the batch.
- When
you create documents in transaction entry (such as quotations,
purchase
orders, invoices and credit adjustment notes), you use a comment
line to add each inclusion, so you can
use several comment lines to add any number of inclusions, and
each document’s
inclusions can be different.
Example
Suppose you create one credit adjustment note for SMITH and another for TAN,
without sending them. In transaction entry, you can add a scanned
copy of different supporting documentation to each one. Later, when
you send a batch of credit adjustment notes, suppose you add an
inclusion announcing that your business telephone number is changing.
As a result, the credit adjustment note sent to SMITH has two inclusions
– the scanned documentation and the announcement about your
telephone number. The credit adjustment note sent to TAN also has
two inclusions – the different scanned documentation
and the announcement about your telephone number. Other credit adjustment
notes in the batch have only one inclusion – the announcement
about your telephone number.
Managing inclusions
You can use Windows Explorer to manage inclusions, such as by
moving, deleting or renaming the folders containing them. In
recent Windows
versions, such as Windows XP, you can also use Windows Explorer
to preview inclusions by using Thumbnails view or by just double-clicking
on them.
Example
Suppose you create three inclusions and store one in
each of three folders called PROMOS\2005, PROMOS\2005\01 and
PROMOS\2005\02. If you choose to send the inclusion in PROMOS\2005,
the other two inclusions will be sent as well, whereas if you send
the inclusion in PROMOS\2005\01 or PROMOS\2005\02, only the inclusion
you choose will be sent.
Software requirements
In addition to the system requirements for using Attaché Alex, to
create inclusions you need Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista or a
later Windows operating system (not Windows 95 or 98). However, you
can send inclusions from any computer that runs Attaché. If your computer uses Windows 95 or 98, you
can create inclusions on another computer, store them on your network
or on removable media such as a USB drive, copy them to the ALEX\INCLUDE
folder, and then send them from your own computer.
Before you can add inclusions in transaction entry, you need to use
Screen Designer to add the Inclusion Before Doc. and Inclusion
After Document fields to the comment line for the transactions in question,
such as quotations, invoices and credit adjustment notes.
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