Joomla Tutorials

Using Docman to Handle Documents in Joomla

April 23, 2010 | Written by Steve Burge

Docman is perhaps the most popular way to handle documents in Joomla. This tutorial will show you how to use it.

Download Docman

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Visit http://www.joomlatools.eu/docman-14.html and download Docman v1.4.0. There is a more modern version of Docman that is commercial. We're using the free version in this tutorial.

Enable the Legacy Plugin

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Login to the administrator area of your Joomla site and go to Extensions >> Plugin Manager. Click to enable the "System - Legacy" plugin.

Install Docman

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Go to Extensions >> Install/Uninstall and click "Browse" to upload Docman

Add a New Category

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Go to Components >> Docman >> Categories and click "New" in the top-right corner.

Name and Save the Category

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Give your new category a name and click "Save" in the top-right corner.

Start Uploading Documents

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Click "Files" and then "Upload" in the top-right corner.

Choose Upload Option

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Normally you'll want to keep this option as it is and just click "Next>>>"

Upload Your File

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Browse to find your file and then click "Submit"

Choose to Make a New Document

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Once you have uploaded your file, the next step is to create a "Document" out of it. That simply means giving it a name, description and other details. Click "Make a new document entry using this file."

Add Details to the Document

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Make sure that both "Approved" and "Published" are set to "Yes". Then click "Save".

Verify that Your Document is Created

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Hopefully your new document will appear as above.

Make a Menu Link to Docman

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Go to Menus >> Main Menu >> click on "New" >> choose "Docman". Choose a title for your menu link and click "Save".

View Docman On the Front of Your Site

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Click "Preview" in the top-right corner and you'll see your new menu link. Click on it and you'll see your Docman category. Open the category to see your file

Extra Feature: Docman Groups

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Docman also has a very powerful permissions system that allows you to control who can and cannot access documents. Start by going to Components >> Docman >> Groups

Creating a Docman Group

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Click "Add" in the top-right corner". You can create a group of users simply by moving them from the "users available" list to the "Members in this Group" list.

Giving Groups Access to a Document

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Now when you open up any document you can click "Permissions" and give access only to a certain group of users.


 

 


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Comments 

 
# AW 2011-01-28 09:48
Thanks for your quick tutorial on how to use DOCman -- it's more info than what's on DOCman's site.

Have you used this program enough to figure out how to manage files once they're added? Specifically, I'd like to know the best practices for:

- deleting a file
- deleting a document
- which do you do first, document or file?
- how to find pages that link to the file so you can delete the file.
- renaming a file already in DOCman
- searching by GID (file link URL is the GID, so to search for the file in DOCman based on the link URL, you need to be able to search by GID in DOCman, not the file name or description because that's not in the link URL.

Any hints or best practices that you've found would be really appreciated.

Thanks.
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# iowawebco 2011-02-01 00:31
Hi AW,

Sorry for the delay in responding. It's difficult for us to do any tracking and support in the comments and the forum is the ideal place for support requests. If you post this in our Joomla forum, we can answer it there within 24 hours.

Kind regards,
Nick
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# thom 2011-04-20 06:09
Hi There

I am using the free version of Docman as well. But i want the JCE editor to see docman documents in the link browser. Currently mine does not show docman. Please assist
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# iowawebco 2011-04-20 16:22
Hi Thom,

You can use Doclink:
http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/extension-specific/docman-extensions/2955

Kind regards,
Nick
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