Qualio provides the flexibility to manage documents in many ways depending on their type and use case. But sometimes, having so many options can be confusing or difficult to know where to start. In this article we’ve detailed your document creation options and our recommendations based on common use cases and document/attachment types. To give you the complete picture, we’ve also listed the pros and cons and user experience for each of the following options:

Depending on the type of document you’re creating, some options will be more suitable than others. Use the decision tree table below with our best practice recommendations, then consult the additional details below for screenshots and user experience to fully understand the document lifecycle of each option.

Using Qualio’s built-in editor lets you create, format, and collaborate on documents in one place. Native Qualio documents are recommended for types of documents such as Procedures, Work Instructions, Policies, or your Quality Manual.

Creating your documents in Qualio allows for the highest level of control over changes to your documents, a real-time suggestion mode, and traceability of your drafts with Qualio’s audit trail.

This is a great option when managing legacy records, branded content, or heavily formatted documents such as batch records or technical documents. Typically, these documents will not be undergoing many revisions and can be considered “static.”

Alternatively, this is an option for documents that will require editing, but using a tool such as Word for editing and collaboration. In this case, these documents may be heavily formatted and are unable to be translated properly into the built-in Qualio editor.

What does the process look like for updating documents using the Upload Format option? View the diagram below for a visual expression of the document lifecycle.

This option allows Quality and Normal users to upload up to 50 documents simultaneously into the Upload Format (see option 2 above). This option is ideal for importing documents of the same type quickly, which could then be converted into editable Qualio documents when you're ready to make any changes.

With this option, you’ll use the Qualio Editor toolbar to insert images or links within your Qualio Document. This option is ideal when the image or attachment needs to be combined with other content that can be placed throughout the document sections or even added to an “Attachments” section along with other attachments.

This option is also ideal for complex documents that can’t be recreated in the Qualio editor. This could include extremely wide documents and spreadsheets with calculations embedded within them, or heavily formatted documents that need to be downloaded to interact with.