Working with Inspectors and Assessors that do site visits always leads to the question of how can they take site plans and supporting documents with them? Well here is how you can do it...

Overview

When visiting site you may have plans, diagrams, case notes, reports from prior visits etc, all pertinent to this Inspection or Assessment, but you don't want to take paper with you.

I will walk through setting up Android for easy location of such resources, and how you can then access them again when in the field.

If you take PDFs with you then you will need a PDF reader such as PDF Reader from Adobe, or if you are on Samsung then you will already have Polaris Office. You will also need a suitable reader installed for any other formats you wish to view.

It's a USB stick Jim...

If you connect your tablet to a computer it will appear as a removable drive. So it is quite easy to get files on and off - but it would be good to know where to put them.

Note that you will have to unlock (swipe or password) the device before your PC can access the files and folders (this is a good security thing).

Galaxy Tab 3 connected

Connect, and then open as you would a USB stick. At the top level create a folder for your use - in this case I have created a folder called 'Clarinspect Docs'. When I go out on an Inspection I will create a subfolder for anything I need for that site.

Using Windows Explorer create a folder

Meanwhile back on the Samsung Tablet ...

So how do you inspect files and folders on Android? On Samsung there is an App called 'My Files' which you can add to your Home Screen. Different brands will have different apps. Apple different once again (we'll talk about this another day)

Tap 'My Files' to open the App. Depending on the settings you may either get a view into all the Files (very ugly) or a categorised view. We want the latter.

Categorised view

Bring up the pop-up menu, and tap on 'Settings'.

From this menu we are going to ensure that 'Show Categories' is set and also from here we can set the default folder for Documents.

Once you have ticked 'Show Categories', tap on 'Set document directory'.

The App will show you a folder browser and you can choose which folder to use.

I choose 'Clarinspect Docs'.

Once selected, tap on 'Done' in the top right.

You have now made a shortcut to your folder of choice. Time to add something to it.

Adding files

With the Tablet attached you can now add files to the folder.

I have added some documents that are useful for Inspectors and Assessors from my PC to the Clarinspect Docs folder we created earlier. Standard drag-and-drop or cut-and-paste.

Two documents copied into the Clarinspect Docs folder

Going into 'My Files' on the Tablet and tapping on 'Documents' now shows me this.

From my PC I can add folders and files to support my work in the field. These are then easily accessible from the Home Screen on the device.

But I want a shortcut on my Home Screen!

Gee, not asking for much. 

OK. 

If you load some files (such as user guides) that you want 'on the desktop' then you need an App such as the aptly named File Shortcut. 

Once installed you use this by selecting the file you want to have a shortcut to. Tick the box from 'My Files' then tap on the share button. File Shortcut will appear as an option - tap it, then name the shortcut, and click on OK. Job Done.

You can add a folder to the Home Screen and then drag your shortcuts into it - which is what I do for clients to pull their user guides into one location.

Wrap-up

This is a quick and easy technique for organising material for site visits, and also getting frequently used resources within quick and easy reach of a mobile worker. This is what we do for our clients and it makes their lives much easier.

There are other methods for taking supporting material out with you, such as using OneDrive, Google Drive, DropBox etc. These all have implications for corporate data storage and wider ranging security and permission considerations 

so I will talk about them in later posts.