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This article provides an overview of how to navigate the Attachments Ability, how to import attachments and categorize them to easily sort them later, and how to set up an Import folder that can automatically import attachments placed in a particular folder.
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Attachments
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Archiving, Deleting and Unarchiving Attachments
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Attachments are added to a separate attachments database which can be backed up separately. However, attaching files does increase the size of the database and the size of media and time required to create database backups. Please see the Backup documentation for more information on developing an appropriate backup scheme.
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The Attachments Ability is divided into several nodes that change behavior depending on whether you have a patient selected or not.
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With no Patient selected, you are able to access all attachments tied to patients by navigating to Thumbnails or Patient Attachments in the Sidebar. If you have a patient selected, the results will hone down to Attachments assigned to that specific patient.
If you have a specific attachment you are looking for, you can search for it by using the Search Bar right above the Attachments sidebar.
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Let's review what each node contains in the sidebar.
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This node, when expanded, will display a preview of all patients with Attachments/Images associated with them if no patient is selected. With a patient selected, thumbnails will appear in the window of all of their attachments. You can click once to select a thumbnail, or double click it to open the Attachment in Preview. A .mov file might be viewed in Quicktime, while a .pdf or .jpg file might be viewed in Preview, and so on.
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This view is most useful when a patient has several attachments added to their account and you're looking for a particular one.
At the top of the Thumbnails Node, you'll note there is a slider to control the size of the Thumbnails that you can adjust to your preference.
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Patient Attachments Node
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When expanded, this node will list all attachments associated to the selected Patient, or display all attachments if no patient is selected.
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In Preferences > Attachments, you can adjust how many attachments will display with no patient selected, using the "Display Attachments Newer Than (x) days old when on Many" preference.
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When you select a name, an image of the attachment will appear, along with all other information, including file name, Incident (if the attachment is linked to an Incident), Attachment Type, Description, Procedure Date and Attachment Status. There is also a button present that will allow you to associate the selected attachment to another patient.
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If no patient is selected, the Patient Photos node will display all patients that have a Patient Photo associated with them. If a patient is selected, this node will only display any photos associated with the patient that have been added to this node.
You can use the Camera Button to take pictures for this purpose. More on the Camera Button can be found here.
Attachment Type Node
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This node allows you to create, delete, and organize different Attachment Types you can set for your Attachments. You can create and remove Types by using the Plus and Minus icons in the sidebar.
The "Show this type as a node" checkbox can be used to add a new category node in the sidebar so you can quickly access a particular type of Attachment. For example, in the below screenshot you will see an Insurance Card node, which is an Attachment Type set to display in the sidebar.
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When adding a new Attachment Type, they'll be added to the bottom of the sidebar. In order for the Attachment Type to appear in the expected order, you will want to log out and back into MacPractice. |
All Attachments with this Type will be listed in this category node.
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You an also add a particular Status as a Node to the sidebar by using the "Show this status as a node" checkbox. This is useful if you need to refer to a particular set of Attachments with a specific Status set.
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Important: When adding a new Attachment Status, they'll be added to the bottom of the sidebar. In order for the Attachment Status to appear in the expected order, you will want to log out and back into MacPractice. |
Importing Attachments
There are several methods that can be used to import Attachments into MacPractice. Let's review each of these in turn:
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It is important to note that if you use either the Drag and Drop method or the Browse method with an Attachment already selected, you will be prompted whether you want to replace the existing record or not. You can choose to cancel, replace the existing record, or create a new record. |
Drag and Drop
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The easiest method to import Attachments is the Drag and Drop method. Simply drag and drop the Attachment you wish to import into the Attachments window.
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If there is no Patient selected, the Attachment will be placed in the Attachments node and you can later associate it with a Patient using the Associate to Patient" button.
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Browse
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An alternative method is to use the Browse button present in the Attachment view (between File and Incident) to select a file that you wish to upload as an Attachment.
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It is important to note that if you use either the Drag and Drop method or the Browse method with an Attachment already selected, you will be prompted whether you want to replace the existing record or not. You can choose to cancel, replace the existing record, or create a new record.
Import Folder
For many offices, they will have a workflow of scanning in images via a scanner of some kind, and will need to immediately import attachments into MacPractice. To streamline this process, we have the option of setting up an Import Folder, which will automatically upload any attachments placed in the folder directly into MacPractice.
To set up an Import folder, first navigate to the MacPractice Menu > Preferences > Attachments.
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From here, you will first need to set an Import Path. This is the location where MacPractice will pull files from to import them as Attachments. It's important that this path be one that is exclusively used just for this purpose. It's also a good idea to set this path that your scanner is pointed at to save scanned images.
Once an Import Path is set, you can then check the 'Enable Import Folder' checkbox. Once this is enabled, all images that enter this folder are imported into MacPractice and then removed from the Import Folder.
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This button will be present if the attachment is already associated with a patient. It allows you to associate an attachment to a new order or an existing order. Click the button and it will bring up a list of open orders. From this window, you can also use the Green Plus in the upper right hand corner to create a new Order.
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From there you can add a new order or select an existing one.
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Associate to Patient Button / Patient Selector
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If the Attachment Type is set to display as a node in the sidebar (see Attachment Types)
Description
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This field is used to add a description of an attachment. This field is searchable, so if you type in the sidebar search for a term that a description uses, that attachment will appear in the search results.
The description is also visible in the sidebar when scrolling through attachments.
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Procedure Date
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This field allows you to set a Procedure Date for a particular attachment. The Procedure date will default to the date this Attachment was added, but can be altered to suit your needs.
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Attachment Status
This drop down allows you to select an Attachment Status to tie to this attachment. If the Attachment Status is set to display as a node in the sidebar (see Attachment Statuses) this will cause this attachment to be included in that node.
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