Work with Documents and Folders
SAP Easy Document Management integrates with Microsoft Windows Explorer to enhance its standard features for processing and managing your documents and folders.
Features
When you first start SAP Easy Document Management, you are prompted to create public root and private root folders where you can store your files. You can then use an extensive range of functions to manage your files. These are described in the following sections.
Work with Documents in Public and Private Folders
You can create new folders and documents as well as work with existing files. To work with existing files, double-click a folder to open it, select a file, and choose any of the following:
(SAP Properties
)You can edit or display the selected file from this dialog box as well as perform several other functions (see SAP Properties)
(View File
)
(Delete
)
(Edit File
)
(Create New Version
)
(Print Original
)The system checks out the file and prints it on the standard printer.
Note
You can also choose SAP Properties
, Display File
, Edit File
, Delete Folder
, or Delete File
in the context menu of a folder.
The system copies the file to the local storage area, and starts the corresponding workstation application, such as Microsoft Word. You can also open the workstation application directly by choosing 
File
Open
The system displays only the documents that match the selected workstation application and copies the file to the local storage area.
If preferred, you can display and change documents in the SAP GUI (see Processing with SAP GUI). Data that you change in document management in the back-end system is copied to SAP Easy Document Management. You can also display and change document in the PLM Web User Interface (see Processing with SAP PLM Web UI).
When you are working with files, the following icons display the check-out status:
(Locked
)
(Checked Out by Me
)
(Checked Out by Other User
)
When you are finished working on a document, you can check it in as follows:
Choose
(Check In
) from the toolbar or under (SAP Properties
) Original Files
to check in originals.In a workstation application, choose
Save As
. The system requests the document data, then copies the file to the selected folder, and automatically checks it in to the central storage area (Locked
).
For more information about checking in files, see the following:
Bidirectional exchange of values between file properties and SAP properties (document metadata) is supported by SAP Easy Document Management (see Exchange of Values in File Properties and SAP Properties).
You can move documents and folders within SAP Easy Document Management and in Microsoft Windows Explorer (see Drag-and-Drop). You can also set statuses for individual or multiple documents (see Status Management).
For more information about managing your documents and folders, see the following:
Search for Files
In SAP Easy Document Management, you can search for documents, document versions, folders, and subfolders (see Find Documents and Where-Used List).
Send Documents
You can send documents and folders as links and attachments. The system opens a new e-mail with the standard e-mail editor, such as Microsoft Outlook or similar. For more information, see Distribute Documents.
Layout and Filters
SAP Easy Document Management allows you to choose the columns that are displayed in the system. This is useful if you want to check who is working on a file or when the file was checked into the system. Filters are also useful for finding documents and folders that meet specific criteria. You can define display filters and activate them locally or globally.
For more information, see the following:
Working Offline
Offline editing allows you to download a complete structure to a local directory (offline folder), so that you can edit it there (work offline), independently of SAP Easy Document Management. When you log on to SAP Easy Document Management again, the system checks in and synchronizes the offline and online files (see Offline Editing and Synchronization of Folders).