Library

Adding a New Library Document

To add a new Library document, click on the Communicate or Manage tab and select Library. Next, click the green button. (Note: only users with Management or Security Officer permissions can add or edit Library documents.)

Clicking Add New Document brings you to a new screen where you can add the title of your document and select a category. If you don’t see an appropriate category, you can always add a new one in the Library Categories section of your Settings. 

Once you’ve selected your category, you can establish viewing permissions in the Who can view this Document section. 

If you don’t select any of the options, only users on a Management or Security Officer BuildingLink authority will be able to view the document. To make your document viewable by a specific location, first select either All Occupants or Specific Occupant Types and then select your desired location.

You can choose to set a document date and/or an expiration date.  The document date is a relevancy date not a viewing date and all documents are viewable to your selected audience once they are saved in the system.

For important documents, like a policy change to your building rules, select the Flag as ‘Important option, so that residents will be more likely to notice that specific document in the Library.

Next, either input your document as an attachment, or input text directly into the Document Text field. To attach a file, click the Select button and choose a previously-created document from your computer. Documents can be up to 50 MB in size. If your document is larger than 50MB please view our tips on compressing/shrinking documents and images.

 Keep in mind that in order to open an attached file, your intended audience must have the appropriate program for that file installed on their own computers. (For example, if you upload an Excel spreadsheet, your residents must have Excel installed on their own computers in order to access the document.)
 

For links to outside websites, include the link in the Optional Weblink field You can use the Document Text box to add a description of your attachment, or any additional information you wish to communicate. You can one and/or a combination of all three methods to share documents here.

After you’ve finished inputting all document information, you have two options: Save or Save and Notify, both in the upper right corner. The Save button simply saves the document to the Library so that your intended audience will be able to access it. The Save and Notify button saves the document but also provides options to notify residents and staff that a new document has been uploaded.  For more information, continue reading below.

Email Notifications and Unique Document Links

If you choose Save and Notify when adding a new library document, you’ll be able to send out a notification to your residents letting them know a document has been added to the Library and providing them with that document’s unique link. After you click the Save and Notify button, a box will appear showing a default notification message.

(Note: To learn more about sending manual emails through BuildingLink click here.)

You can customize this email before sending by editing the message’s subject and text. Once you are satisfied with your email, click the Send button at the bottom left corner of the box.

You can also send an email notification with a document link after saving the document. First, click on the Communicate or Manage tab and select Library.  Click on the blue box to the left of a specific category to view the documents and/or sub-categories below it. You’ll notice that next to each document in your Library, there is an option to Notify by Email. Clicking on that link will bring up the box described above, where you can customize and send your email.

If you want to obtain a document’s unique link but do not need to send an email notification, you can copy the link from the Notify by Email box and then hit Cancel instead of Send. (Get here by clicking on the Communicate or Manage tab and select Library.  Click on the blue box to the left of a specific category to view the documents and/or sub-categories below and then click on the Notify by Email link.) You can use a document’s unique link to direct residents directly to that document from other pages, for example, you might include the link to an Amenity Reservation Policy form in your Amenity Reservation Instructions. 

Viewing Library Documents

Users with a Management or Security Officer BuildingLink Authority Level will be able to view all Library documents, regardless of specific viewing permissions. However, the viewing permissions control whether any other BuildingLink users will be able to access the document.
 

If you have access to a particular document, click on the Communicate or Manage tab and select Library. You’ll see a list of all document categories. Click on the blue box to the left of a specific category to view the documents and/or sub-categories below it. Click View next to the document you wish to view. You may also narrow your search by using the search parameters at the top of your screen.

After clicking View, a box will appear with any document text as well as a link to the document attachment (if applicable). To open the document, simply click on the link itself and the document will open just like an email attachment. Keep in mind that your computer must have the capacity to open documents of the type you are trying to open--if the document is saved as a .PDF make sure you have Adobe Reader installed on your computer to view the document.

You can also print documents from this screen by clicking the Print button.

Editing, Expiring or Deleting Library Documents

To edit or expire a document, click on the Communicate or Manage tab and select Library. Next, find the document you want to edit or delete and select the Edit/Delete link to the right of the document. Clicking this button will enable you to edit any document details or permissions. 

Expiring a document will remove the  document from active viewing and archive it in the Expired Documents section of the Library. Expired documents can also be made active again  by changing the expiration date on the document.

To expire the document, click the check onto the left of Expire Now, then click the green Save button on the top right. 

Deleting a document will wipe it  from the system and we do not retain a copy. To delete a document, click the red Delete button in the top right corner, then click the blue OK button in the confirmation message box. 

Note: Document folders are not able to be deleted, just set to 'inactive' (Settings - Library Categories, set to inactive ). Individual documents within folders are able to be deleted.