Letter template usage in TAM

[Andrew Carrick]

I would love to be able to report on which templates are not being used so I can delete them, but I don't think there is a way to do it.

I can search for Attachments but the default description obviously gets changed during the Add process. Anybody know a way?

[Lance Bateman]

Hmmm- can't check (I'm on Vision), but does the "date used or updated" on the template get modified when used?  If so, maybe you could sort those by date within the folders and see if that helps?

[Andrew Carrick]

I wondered about that, but no, it doesn't - I have tested. I think system just takes a copy. Thanks anyway.

[Andrew Carrick]

But "Date Accessed" does seem to change....had to manually add this column in Windows Explorer but will investigate further.

[Ian Blundell]

Do you have unique activity codes associated with your letters that people don't blow out of?  If so then an activity report could help.

[Jeff Zylstra]

Silly question, but doesn't Windows keep information in the "properties" section of the file tab that could be used? If you use Explore.Exe you could add the "last accessed" column and then sort the listing for that folder.   Then just highlight and delete.  Very crude method, but if the information is there it might prove useful.

<edit> Scratch that last part.  You'd want to note the file names and then go in to TAM and delete them from TAM's interface.  Otherwise you may have some issues.

[Hans Manhave]

You could be extra careful and rename them in the explorer window.  Maybe add an underscore to the name or change the file extension.  Then if someone still needs it, they will notify you of the problem, and you can re-enable.  Then delete after 6 months.  Just a thought.

Silly question, but doesn't Windows keep information in the "properties" section of the file tab that could be used? If you use Explore.Exe you could add the "last accessed" column and then sort the listing for that folder.   Then just highlight and delete.  Very crude method, but if the information is there it might prove useful.

<edit> Scratch that last part.  You'd want to note the file names and then go in to TAM and delete them from TAM's interface.  Otherwise you may have some issues.

[Alice]

Silly question, but doesn't Windows keep information in the "properties" section of the file tab that could be used? If you use Explore.Exe you could add the "last accessed" column and then sort the listing for that folder.

Jeff - I don't have that column available in Explorer. Have only Created and Modified, no last accessed. You using Windows 7? I still have XP...maybe that's the difference?
Thx!

[Hans Manhave]

In the Explorer Window, right click on the headers listing name/size/type etc.   Click on the 'more' at the bottom.  Find the listing that says 'Date Accessed' and select it.  Click 'ok' and you're good to go.

[Alice]

Hans - thanks for your patience with this old lady who didn't see the "more" at the botton of the list. 

[Andrew Carrick]

Hans - thanks for your patience with this old lady who didn't see the "more" at the botton of the list. 

You don't look a day over 30 from here....

Thanks for the suggestions brethren.

[Andrew Carrick]

Admitting defeat...the Date Accessed will include date template edited, which because we have many changes to users, happens a lot (sign-offs are If-Statements), so no document is showing as older than 7th Oct. hey ho.

[Lance Bateman]

Then it sounds like they are being used, and wouldn't be deleted?  Or did you move or restore on October 7?

[Jeff Zylstra]

Admitting defeat...the Date Accessed will include date template edited, which because we have many changes to users, happens a lot (sign-offs are If-Statements), so no document is showing as older than 7th Oct. hey ho.

From what I can tell, the date accessed does not change when you call that template to complete a form letter, so it doesn't really help with what you're looking for.  Sorry.  Have you looked in reports or searches for something?  It's a long shot, but I thought I would mention it.  Other than that, the only thing I could think of would be to ask everyone how often they use those documents (they probably don't know they exist), or assign specific activity codes for each document which you could then run reports on to see when the last one was done.

[Lynn Stillings]

That is exactly what we ended up doing when I took over the formletter/proposals database. We just got all the people together who use formletters (by department) and had a couple meetings. Reviewed every letter in the database and I marked on my list which documents no one used any longer.

However, we didn't just delete them outright. I put a copy in a folder outside of TAM for safekeeping just in case there were letters that were needed afterall. That way I didn't have to recreate a letter from scratch when a user said they needed one that had been deleted from TAM. I ended up deleting quite a few letters, so it was well worth the effort.

[Lance Bateman]

Hooray!  Glad you found a process that worked for you.

I did similar, and also renamed all the letters that remained according to a method, instead of the helter-skelter method that had been used before.

[Andrew Carrick]

Yeah I always keep copies of an templates deleted, someone always squawks. Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Might have to talk to the users....

[Ian Blundell]

Might have to talk to the users....

Don't rush headlong into a foolhardy course of action.

[Andrew Carrick]

LOL.