With the Linking documents feature, you can directly link documents that are related to each other. The documents remain stored independently, but you can easily navigate between them via the link. This way, you digitally link all audit-relevant documents of a business case, so you have all the important information at hand in case of queries.
Additionally, you can specify that a link automatically establishes read access between the two documents, so everyone involved can actually view the linked documents.
The "Linking documents" feature is available from the Candis Plus package onwards.
Linking a document
You can find the linking feature in the toolbar above the document preview: click the link icon next to the icons for history and comments as well as access rights. You can link all document types with each other, including transactions and purchase requests, regardless of which process step the document is currently in (inbox, approval, archive, export).
Here's how to link two or more documents:
Click the link icon in the toolbar above the document preview. The "Links" section opens.
In the "Links" section, click "Link documents" to go to the overview of all documents and transactions in Candis.
Use the tabs "All documents" or "Purchase requests" to choose which type of document you want to search through.
Use the "Search documents" field as well as the filters for contact, status, and document type to narrow down the list. Use "+ Filter" for additional filter options such as date or tags.
Hover over a row in the table to display a preview of the document on the right. This way, you can check whether it's the right document before you link it.
Select the checkbox next to each document you want to link. You can select multiple documents at once.
Click "Link" to link the selected documents to your original document.
In the "Links" section, you'll then see all linked documents as individual cards showing status, document type, contact, and, for invoices, the amount. The link icon in the toolbar also displays a number showing how many documents are currently linked.
Linking documents is possible at any process step of a document, and Candis saves the link automatically.
Sharing access via linked documents
When two documents are linked, by default a user only sees the link if they have access to both linked documents. If a user lacks access to one of the two documents, the link isn't shown to them at all. To let users view linked documents regardless of their direct access, you can automatically share access via links.
To do this, enable the "Share access via document relationships" setting at the very bottom of the Settings > My Company page. Once you enable the setting, the following applies:
All users with access to document A automatically get read access to the linked document B – and vice versa. This access covers only reading the document; users cannot edit or store the linked document through it.
If you remove the link between two documents, Candis automatically revokes the access granted through it.
The setting applies retroactively: if you enable it, users also automatically get read access for already existing linked document pairs.
You can only access a linked document via the original document. Candis does not additionally list the documents shared this way in table views.
Note: The shared access isn't transitive. If document A is linked to document B, and document B is also linked to document C, users of document A don't automatically get access to document C as a result.
Note: Contracts with restricted visibility are always excluded from this rule, regardless of whether the setting is enabled.
You can disable the setting again at any time. If you disable it, Candis revokes the access granted to all users via links again.
Removing links
Open the document whose link you want to remove, and click the link icon in the toolbar above the document preview to open the "Links" section. Hover over the card of the linked document you want to remove, and click the icon to remove the link. The connection is removed immediately.
Note: If you have enabled the "Share access via document relationships" setting, removing the link also revokes the read access to the other document that was granted through it.
Who can link documents?
Any user role in Candis can link documents to each other – provided they have access to both documents they want to link.
Use cases
Linking an invoice with a delivery note: An approver is reviewing an invoice and needs the matching delivery note as proof. You link both documents. If "Share access via document relationships" is enabled, the approver can open the delivery note directly via the link, even if they don't otherwise have direct access to delivery notes.
Linking a contract with an invoice for an audit: During a tax audit, the tax advisor asks for the contract related to a specific invoice. Since the contract and invoice are linked, the responsible user switches directly from the invoice to the contract, without an admin having to separately grant access rights to contracts.
Linking a transaction with a credit card invoice: You link a credit card transaction with the corresponding invoice, so that during export it's immediately clear which invoice belongs to which transaction.