Documents¶
Odoo Documents allows you to store, view, and manage files within Odoo.
You can upload any file (max 64MB per file on Odoo Online) and organize them in various workspaces.
Configuration¶
By going to , you can enable the centralization of files attached to a specific area of your activity. For example, by ticking Human Resources, your HR documents are automatically available in the HR workspace, while documents related to Payroll are automatically available in the Payroll sub-workspace. You can change the default workspace using the dropdown menu and edit its properties by clicking the (Internal link) icon.
Note
If you enable the centralization of your accounting files and documents, it is necessary to click on Journals and define each journal independently to allow automatic synchronization.
If you select a new workspace, existing documents are not moved. Only newly created documents will be found under the new workspace.
Workspaces¶
Workspaces are hierarchical folders having their own set of tags and actions. Default workspaces exist, but you can create your own by going to and clicking New. On the new page, fill in the following information:
Name
Parent Workspace: if you want to create a sub-workspace, select its Parent Workspace.
Three tabs are available: Tags, Access Rights, and Description.
Access rights¶
To manage your workspace access rights, go to the Access Rights tab. You can add Write Groups that can view, create, and edit the workspace’s documents. You can also add Read Groups that only view the workspace’s documents.
Tip
Enable Own Documents Only to limit Read Groups and Write Groups to the documents of which they are owner.
Description¶
You can add descriptive information to your workspace by going to the Description tab.
Note
Workspaces can also be created and edited by clicking the (gear) icon on the left panel.
Documents management¶
When selecting or opening a document, the right panel displays different options, including, for example:
(Download);
(Share this selection): a share URL is copied to your clipboard;
(Replace): select a new file to replace the existing one. Scroll down to the bottom of the right panel to see the History and restore, download, or delete the document;
(Lock);
(Split).
You can also Open chatter or delete the document by clicking the (Move to trash) icon.
Note
Items moved to the trash are permanently deleted after 30 days.
To modify the name of your file, click on Name. A Contact or an Owner can be assigned. The related Workspace can be modified and it is possible to access the related Journal Entry or add Tags.
Note
The Contact is a person related to the document who only has read access rights to the document, e.g., an existing supplier in your database;
The creator of a document is automatically assigned as its Owner and is granted full access rights to it. To replace the owner of a document, select the required user from the dropdown list in the Owner field.
Tip
An employee must be a user and the owner of a document to view it in My Profile.
Different Actions are available at the bottom of the right panel, depending on the workspace where your document is stored.
Split PDF documents¶
Select the PDF you want to split, and click the (scissors) icon. A new view displays all the pages of the document.
By default, all pages are split when you click Split. To remove a split between two pages, click the (scissors) icon.
Tip
To merge documents from your dashboard, select them and click the (scissors) icon. Click on the scissors between the two documents and click Split to merge the documents.
Additional features¶
Select a workspace and click the (down arrow) next to the Upload button to access additional features:
Request¶
You can request files and organize them as documents to remind users to download them.
Select the workspace where the file should be stored, click the (down arrow) next to the Upload button, then Request. Add the Document Name and select the person you need it from in the Request To field. You can also fill in the Due Date In, confirm the Workspace the document should belong to, and add Tags and a Message. Then, click Request. A placeholder for the missing document is created in the workspace.
When your document is available, click the placeholder to upload it.
You can see all missing documents by going to the Activity view and the Requested Document column.
Tip
From the Activity view, you can send a reminder email to users from whom you are expecting a document. Go to the Requested Document column and click the (ellipsis) icon, and Document Request: Reminder. Click on a date to see the details of a specific request. You can update it by clicking on the (pen) icon, Preview the content of the reminder email, or Send Now to send a reminder email.
Add a link¶
To add a link to your documents dashboard, click Add a Link, enter the URL, and Name it.
Files upload¶
Toggle the Allow upload switch to allow users to upload files to your workspace.
Tick the Upload by Email checkbox to enable users to upload documents sent by email in the workspace.
Enter an alias in the Email Alias field. All documents sent to this email address are uploaded to the workspace using the chosen tags.
Note
Your email server must be configured to be able to create an email alias. If it isn’t configured yet, click Choose or Configure Email Servers and configure the mail server.
By default, the Document Owner is the person who uploads a file to a workspace, but you can select another user. You can also set a Contact, usually an external person, such as a partner.
Enable Create a new activity to automatically create an activity when a document is uploaded. Select the Activity type from the dropdown list and set the Due Date In field. You can also add a Summary and a Responsible person assigned to the activity.
Tip
Go to to see and manage your share links. Select a line and click Delete to disable the URL. People who have received this link will no longer be able to access the document(s) or workspace.
New spreadsheet¶
To create a new spreadsheet, click New Spreadsheet. You can select a Blank spreadsheet or an existing template.
Workflow actions¶
Workflow actions help manage documents and overall business operations. These are automated actions that can be created and customized for each workspace. With a single click you can, for example, create, move, sign, add tags to a document, and process bills.
When a document meets the set criteria, these workflow actions appear on the right panel.
Create workflow actions¶
To update an existing workflow action or create a new one, go to and click New.
Note
An action applies to all sub-workspaces under the Related Workspace you selected.
Set the conditions¶
Define the Action Name and then set the conditions that trigger the appearance of the (play) icon on the right-side panel when selecting a file.
There are three basic types of conditions you can set:
Tags: you can use the Contains and Does not contain conditions, meaning the files must have or must not have the tags set here;
Contact: the files must be associated with the contact set here;
Owner: the files must be associated with the owner set here.
Tip
If you do not set any conditions, the action button appears for all files inside the selected workspace.
Advanced condition type: domain¶
Important
It is recommended to have some knowledge of Odoo development to configure Domain filters properly.
The developer mode needs to be activated to access the Domain condition from the Actions tab. Once done, select the Domain condition type and click New Rule.
To create a rule, you typically select a field, an operator, and a value. For example, if you want to add a workflow action to all the PDF files inside a workspace, set the field to Mime Type, the operator to contains, and the pdf value.
Click the (Add New Rule) icon and the (Add branch) icon to add conditions and sub-conditions. You can then specify if your rule should match all or any conditions. You can also edit the rule directly using the Code editor.
Configure the actions¶
Select the Actions tab to set up your action. You can simultaneously:
Move to Workspace: move the file to any workspace;
Create: create one of the following items attached to the file in your database:
Link to record: create a link between a document and a record from a specific model;
Product template: create a product you can edit directly;
Task: create a Project task you can edit directly;
Signature PDF template: create a new Sign template to send out;
PDF to sign: create a Sign template to sign directly;
Applicant: create a new HR application you can edit directly;
Vendor bill: create a vendor bill using OCR and AI to scrape information from the file content;
Customer invoice: create an invoice using OCR and AI to scrape information from the file;
Vendor credit note: create a vendor credit note using OCR and AI to scrape information from the file;
Credit note: create a customer credit note using OCR and AI to scrape information from the file;
Miscellaneous Operations: create an entry in the Miscellaneous Operations journal;
Bank Statement: import a bank statement;
Purchase Receipt: create a vendor receipt;
Expense: create an HR expense.
Set Contact: add a contact to the file, or replace an existing contact with a new one;
Set Owner: add an owner to the file, or replace an existing owner with a new one;
Set Tags: add, remove, and replace any number of tags;
Activities - Mark all as Done: mark all activities linked to the file as done;
Activities - Schedule Activity: create a new activity linked to the file as configured in the action. You can choose to set the activity on the document owner.
Digitize documents with AI and optical character recognition (OCR)¶
Documents available in the Finance workspace can be digitized. Select the document to digitize, click Create Bill, Create Customer Invoice, or Create credit note, and then click Send for Digitization.
See also