Your file server
Browse, search, preview, and upload files on your organization's own file server, without leaving Cogram or mapping a drive.
If your organization connects its file server to Cogram, those files appear under Files. You browse the same shares you see in Windows Explorer, and you see exactly the files your own account can open there.
The files stay on your organization's server. Cogram reads them when you ask for them.
What you can do
Browse shares and folders, with sizes and dates
Search the whole file server by file name and by text inside documents
Preview a file without downloading it
Upload files into a folder, if your organization has turned that on
Export a project's completed items into a folder, if a project lead has set that up
Finding a file
Browsing
Go to Files in the left navigation. You start at the list of shares, for example Engineering, Finance, and Shared. Click a folder to open it, and use the trail at the top or your browser's Back button to go back up.
Each folder shows its total size and how many files it holds, counting only the files you can read.
Searching
Type in the search box on the Files page to search the whole file server. Cogram searches file names and the text inside documents, so "curtain wall" finds a specification that mentions it even when the file is named 07-5400.docx.
Files also appear in the global search you open with ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows), under File server. Select a result to open its preview.
Previewing a file
Select any file to open it. PDFs and images render in full. Word documents, Excel workbooks, CSVs, and text files show their extracted text, which is enough to confirm you have the right file before you open it properly.
The panel on the right shows the file's name, type, size, created and modified dates, and its full location on the server. Use the location when you need to tell a colleague where a file lives.
Uploading files
Uploading is available only if your organization has enabled it. If you do not see an Upload button, it is off, or you are at the top level. You can only upload into a folder, not into the list of shares.
Open the folder you want the file to go into.
Select Upload, or drag files onto the file list.
Watch the progress under the toolbar. The file appears in the list when it is saved.
Cogram writes the file to your file server only where your own account could have written it. If you cannot save a file to that folder from Windows Explorer, the upload is refused too.
What good looks like
The upload row shows a check mark, then disappears, and the file is in the list with its size and today's date. You can find it in search straight away.
Exporting a project to your file server
Cogram can copy a project's completed items into one folder on your file server. Project owners and leads set this up, and organization admins can set it up for any project. Cogram only adds files. It never overwrites or deletes them.
Open the project, then go to Overview → Settings → File server export.
Select Choose folder, open the folder the project should write into, then select Use this folder.
Turn on each type of item you want on the file server.
One folder holds one project. If the folder is already linked to another project, Cogram tells you before you save.
Each type writes a different file into its own subfolder:
Meeting minutes
One Word file for each completed meeting, in a folder named after the meeting
Emails
The original message for each email filed to the project
Field reports
One Word file for each completed field report
Photos
Photos, next to the meetings and field reports they belong to
RFIs
One PDF cover sheet for each RFI that has an answer
Submittals
One PDF cover sheet for each submittal that has a response
Transmittals
One PDF cover sheet for each closed transmittal
When you turn on a type, Cogram also exports the items that are already complete. A large backlog can take a few hours to finish. The settings section counts what is still waiting.
Exports run as the person who last saved these settings. Cogram writes only where that person could write from Windows Explorer.
What good looks like
The project's start page shows the folder under File server, with Up to date next to it. Open the folder in Files and the subfolders are there, with the exported files inside.
Troubleshooting
Symptom: Files does not appear in the navigation. Likely cause: Your organization has not connected a file server. Fix: Ask an administrator to connect it under Organization Settings → Integrations → File Server Connectors. Setup is covered in Connecting your file server.
Symptom: A folder is empty, but you know it has files in it. Likely cause: Your account does not have read access to those files on the file server. Fix: Ask whoever administers the file server for access. Permissions come from the file server, not from Cogram, so changing your Cogram role does not help.
Symptom: "The file server is unavailable." Likely cause: The connector on your organization's server is not running. Fix: Ask an administrator to check it. Your files are unaffected.
Symptom: "name already exists in this folder." Likely cause: A file of that name is already there. Fix: Cogram never replaces a file on your server. Rename your copy, or upload it to a different folder.
Symptom: "You do not have permission to add files to this folder." Likely cause: Your account has read access to that folder, but not write access. Fix: Ask whoever administers the file server to give you write access to that share.
Symptom: Field reports are counted as failed, with "no template". Likely cause: The report's type has no default export template, so Cogram cannot build the Word file. Fix: Ask an administrator to set a default template for that report type.
Symptom: The export settings say the connector is read-only. Likely cause: The connector was installed without writes. Fix: Ask an administrator to reinstall it with writes enabled. See Connecting your file server.
Things to know
Uploaded files are owned by the Cogram connector's service account on the file server, not by you. Cogram records who uploaded each file.
Cogram does not scan uploads for viruses. Upload only files you trust, exactly as you would when saving to a shared drive.
Cogram never deletes, renames, or overwrites anything on your file server.
Cogram exports each item once. If you unlink a folder and link it again, Cogram does not export those items a second time.
A folder that a project exports into is marked in Files, so you can see which folders Cogram writes to.
Next steps
Agent can search and read these same files when you ask it a question.
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