How to open local files from DBTextWorks search results

Suppose you have a field called FileLink in a database, and you have a collection of PDFs or similar documents on your network. And suppose you want to catalogue these, enter the name of the PDF in the FileLink field, and then in DB/TextWorks search results, have the file name appear as a link that you can click to open the file.

Here's how to do this:

1. Open your Display Form (the one used to show all records) or a Report Form (usually used for brief results) in the Form Designer.

2. Right click on the FileLink field (or add it first if it's not there) and select Box Properties.

3. Select the Format tab, then the Added Text subtab.

4. In the 'Beginning Text' field, enter '<file://' (without quotes) and just a closing angle bracket > in Ending Text, like this:

5. Apply your changes, save the form, and return to your database.

6. Create a new record and in the FileLink field, right click and choose Browse Files. Browse to the location of the file. For example, if the file is on a network server called DOCUMENTS, in a folder called Reports, browse to \\DOCUMENTS\Reports and select the document (e.g. \\DOCUMENTS\Reports\Report123.pdf).

7. When you now search the database and view the full record, the above data will appear with <file:// in front and a closing >, like this:

<file://\\DOCUMENTS\Reports\Report123.pdf>

as shown in the image below.

8. You should be able to click this and open the file (assuming you have a PDF reader app in this case).

As always, contact us for help doing this or making other changes to your DB/TextWorks databases.