Odoo Documents

Introduction to Odoo Documents (DMS)

Within Odoo version 12 there is a new Documents module, also called DMS. DMS stands for Document Management System. This gives you as a user the ability to set up a paperless office alongside the implementation of smooth business processes within an Odoo package.

Besides the fact that a paperless office is better for the environment, it saves costs and helps streamline business processes. Setting up a paperless office has now become much easier thanks to Odoo and also ensures that processes are completed more quickly. For example, documents can be validated or rejected at the touch of a button thanks to the use of action headers.

Documents that need to be provided with a signature can also be signed using the
Odoo Sign app. This new module also makes it possible to request documents from other users, and these documents can easily be shared with colleagues, customers and suppliers.

All in all, using Odoo Documents will make your life as a user much easier and drastically reduce paper usage within your organization. As a result, costs go down and processes are completed more quickly.

Odoo Documents ensures that documents are stored in a central location that can be shared with users based on user rights and assignments to departments or individuals. Odoo Documents also offers you the option to share documents with suppliers and customers. Documents can be more easily added to messages sent via Odoo, which makes it possible to upload and send documents.

Odoo Documents gives the user the possibility to reduce paper usage within your organization to a paperless office. 

Layout and functionality

The next paragraph will provide more insight into the functionality and use of Odoo Documents. This is not a manual, but it will give you as a user some explanation of the functionalities within this fantastic new module.

Uploading and sharing

Odoo Documents gives you as a user the possibility to upload documents, request them and add links, all of which can then be shared with colleagues or contacts such as suppliers and customers. For this purpose, a number of buttons have been created within Odoo, located at the top as large buttons.

• Upload (Add/import a document)
• Add URL (Add a URL / web address)
• Request document (Request for a document)
• Share (Share a file or URL)

Using the upload button, a file explorer will be opened that offers the possibility to select documents to upload. Documents can also be added by dragging them into the desired folder in Odoo Documents, using the Drag and Drop function. When a folder is empty, this function will be clearly indicated.

Using the Add URL button, a user can add a URL as a document and thus share websites or links to videos. This makes it easier for a user to share, for example, YouTube videos or an online document in Office 365 or Google Docs.

If a document is missing, for example a report or an expense claim, you can send a request via Odoo Documents to the relevant colleague to upload the file. Sending a request for a document can be done via the Request document button. When this is used, an Odoo internal message screen will open through which a request can be sent. The user to whom this request is submitted can send the document through the message or place it in the desired folder for the requester of this request.

Within Odoo Documents there are different ways to share files with other people. This can be done by using the 'Share button', which will open a pop-up through which a file can be shared.

Folders and Labels

Within Odoo Documents, documents are sorted into folders which in turn can be assigned to departments or individuals with specific user rights as desired. The folders can also be provided with labels that can be selected in the left-hand menu in order to simplify filtering files in a folder. The labels are divided into main labels and sublabels that fall under the main label, creating a tree structure. Labels are linked to folders. You can create your own labels per folder. However, this did create the limitation that searches can only be performed within the folder selected at the time of searching. However, it is possible to search for words within the documents in the folder. Currently, at Odoo Experts, we have not yet found a way to search for files across the full folder structure within Odoo Documents. As this is the first release of this module, we do expect this option to be added in a future version.

Edit menu

When a file is selected within Odoo Documents, a number of preset functions appear in the right-hand menu. We will briefly describe these functions here.

At the top of the menu there is space for possibly an image based on the file that has been uploaded, combined with a message link specifically for the selected file. Directly below the image field are a number of shortcut buttons that give the user the option to; download the file, share the file, replace the file and lock the file, so that it cannot be edited and can only be viewed. A number of text fields are then displayed where the user, if the file is not locked, can change the name of the file, add a contact person, change the owner of the document, adjust the folder where the file is stored and add or remove labels.

Finally, there are a number of action buttons that have been created in advance and relate to the selected file type. Using these action buttons, documents, invoices, contracts, etc. can be approved or rejected, depending on the document type. For example, an invoice can receive an approval or a rejection, after which the feedback can be sent directly to the customer or colleague. Files that have been confirmed can also be reset to draft, or specific tasks can be created for the further processing of documents. All these actions can be modified or created via the settings. If desired, the actions can be assigned to certain file types and folders to speed up recurring actions.

Settings

Within Odoo DMS it is possible to go to the settings. Here the user has a number of options to tick

• Create Product folder and label
• Create Project folder and label
• Create accounting folder and label

These functions ensure that the mentioned folders are automatically created within the assigned main folder. Preset labels can also be added to these documents in order to speed up filtering. These labels can always be added or changed at a later time.

Via the settings menu, the folder structure can be adjusted, the labels can be managed, the action buttons can be created/modified and assigned, and the shared links can be managed.

Editing the above-mentioned functions is comparable to adjusting other functions within Odoo and has the same user-friendliness.

Benefits of a paperless office

The term paperless office comes from the 1970s, with the aim of working everywhere based on this concept within 20 years. However, even in the 20th century, many places were still working with large amounts of paper. The paperless office concept was not only conceived from the perspective of preventing the cutting down of trees, but its main goal is to contribute to the improvement of business processes. A paperless office uses digital documents, making them faster and easier to share with larger groups of people. Besides the fact that it is faster to share a document online than to physically hand it over, changes and improvements can also be implemented more quickly in digital documents. That is why we at Odoo Experts are very enthusiastic about the new Odoo documents module that was added to version 12, and we also see many opportunities in it for companies to make processes run even more smoothly.