Set up photos: box, count, PDF setting and permissions

A photo is never mandatory in the diary, and the admin decides where photos can be uploaded, how many, how they appear in the PDF, and who can filter or export in the photo viewer. This article covers the three settings and the two permissions.

Before you start

• Permission: on the Diary elements tab the setting needs layout:manage (or tenant_role:manage); on the PDF & email tab tenant_role:manage.
• Defaults: the events and the shift handover box are on; maintenance and tasks are off. Everywhere at most 10 photos per entry.
• The box setting applies per unit: with several units you set each one separately.

1. Switching the photo box on or off, and the count

The Photos block of the Events element on the Diary elements tab.

1. Open the Diary elements tab of the management area and expand the built-in element: Events, Maintenance or Tasks. The shift handover switch is on the Shift data element.
2. In the Photos block tick “Allow photos” (on Shift data: “Shift handover: allow photos”).
3. In the “At most this many photos per entry” list choose a value between 1 and 10.
4. There is no save button: the setting saves automatically.

When switched off, no new photos can be uploaded to the element; photos already uploaded are kept and shown. If you switch the box off while someone is preparing an entry with photos, that entry is not saved (“Photos are turned off for this diary element (diary layout setting) — the entry was NOT saved.”). For a maintenance item the item’s own unit counts, if the item is recorded for a unit other than the diary’s.

How many photos a custom element’s “Image” field takes (1–10) is set among that field’s settings, not here — see Edit the diary elements.

2. The photo setting in the diary PDF

The “Photos in the shift-log PDF” selector under PDF & email → Appearance.

1. Open the PDF & email tab and choose the Appearance sub-tab.
2. In “Photos in the shift-log PDF” pick the setting: No photos · Thumbnail (default) · Large image.
3. Click Save.

The large image setting makes the PDF considerably bigger. With several sites the setting can be given at company or site level. It covers the photos of events, the shift handover, maintenance and tasks, not the diary’s “Image” data point.

Changing it only affects PDFs made from now on

Changing the setting does not regenerate old PDFs: a PDF that is already finished (and one already sent) stays as it was. The new setting applies to PDFs made from now on — and to an old PDF that later gets a new version for another reason (for example because of a new photo), since the new version is made with the current setting. For details see Managing photos — what changes what.

3. The two photo viewer permissions

Photos are visible to whoever can see their source (diary, work order, permit) — there is no separate photo permission for that. Two sensitive capabilities, however, have their own permission, found in the permission matrix under the Diary group:

Permission	What it grants	By default
photos:filter_by_uploader “Filter photos by uploader”	The Uploader filter, the uploader’s name on the tile and in the large view, the uploader column in the export. Worker activity data, hence a separate right.	System administrator, Shift leader
photos:export “Export photos”	The “Download manifest (CSV)” button in the photo viewer (at most 5000 photos).	System administrator, Shift leader

The company can narrow the permission or give it to other roles — see Roles and the permission matrix. There is no separate permission for deleting: the uploader can delete their own photo until the shift is closed, and from a closed diary only the system administrator can, with a mandatory reason.

If it worked

At the element you switched on, the shift staff’s diary shows the Photos box with the count (“0 / 10 photos”); the PDF is built according to the chosen setting; a role that was given the permission sees the Uploader filter and the export button.

Common problems

What you see	Why	What to do
Shift staff see no upload box	The box is off on this element (unit), or the diary is not editable, or they lack write permission.	Switch it on in the element’s Photos block (at the unit concerned).
No box at maintenance although I switched it on	The item’s unit counts, not the diary’s.	Switch it on at the item’s unit too.
I changed the PDF setting but the old PDF did not change	By design: the change does not regenerate old PDFs.	Nothing to do; the new setting applies to PDFs made from now on.
A colleague does not see the Uploader filter	They lack photos:filter_by_uploader.	Grant it in the permission matrix if justified.

Related

Upload a photo in the diaryThe shift staff's side: camera, file picker, order, deletion.

Managing photos — what changes whatThe effect of uploading, deleting, replacing and changing a setting on the PDF and the views.

Browse and export photosThe photo viewer, the filters and the export.