Edit documents

The content of this website is last updated to F2 version 11. cBrain are working hard on supplying you with the newest documentation of F2.

F2 is integrated with Microsoft Office, making it possible for you to open and edit documents in F2 directly in relevant programs.

Double-click a document in the record’s document area (1) to open it for editing. Depending on your personal settings, the document will open in read-only mode, edit mode, or the "Open document" dialogue (2) opens. Choose which mode to open the document in via the dialogue.

Figure 1. Double-click to open a document

You can also open a document by right-clicking and selecting Edit document. The document opens in edit mode in a relevant programme.

Figure 2. Open a document from the context menu

When you open a document in edit mode, only the selected document opens. This makes it possible for you to work on a document while a colleague edits the record metadata or another attached document without affecting each other.

To edit the record metadata or record document, switch to edit mode on the record itself. Read more about editing records.

A pencil icon indicates editing

F2 uses a pencil icon pencil 18 to indicate that an attached document is being edited by another user. You can see the icon on attached documents in all windows. Hover the cursor over the document to see a tooltip about who is editing the document and when they started their work.

Figure 3. Pencil icon and tooltip on a document in the main window preview

When you attempt to open a document that someone else is currently editing, the dialogue "Another user is editing the document" opens. The dialogue shows the name of the user currently editing as well as when they started.

Figure 4. The dialogue "Another user is editing the document"

In the dialogue, click on Open in read-only mode to open the document in read-only mode.

Check the box "Always open documents in read-only mode when another user is editing" to make this the default behaviour. You can change this behaviour from the "Documents" tab in the "Setup" dialogue, which is opened from the main window’s "Settings" tab.

Take over a document

You can cancel another user’s work on documents attached to records. Once cancelled, you can take over editing the document. This requires write access to the particular record’s documents. You can tell by the pencil icon whether another user is currently editing a document.

It is good form to chat your colleague before taking over work on a document. If you only need to read the document without editing it, use the Show in read-only mode function in the document’s context menu.

Right-click the document currently being edited by another user.

Figure 5. The "Cancel user’s editing" function in the document context menu

Click Cancel user’s editing. The dialogue "Another user is editing the document" opens. The dialogue tells you the name of the user currently editing the document and when they started working.

Figure 6. The dialogue "Another user is editing the document"

Click Cancel editing to cancel your colleague’s editing. Now you can open the document in edit mode, e.g. by right-clicking the document and selecting Edit document.

The user who was previously editing the document can no longer save their changes directly to the record. When they close the document, F2 will create a new record with their copy of the document attached. The record metadata of the original record is not copied to the new one.

Figure 7. The "Cannot save document" dialogue

You can only use this function to take over work on attached documents. Record and approval documents are considered part of the record itself and can only be taken over using the Take over record menu item.