Patient files — upload, scan, phone-scan
The Files widget on the patient card holds documents attached to that patient: scans of Rx from an outside doctor, insurance cards, referrals, ID, whatever.
Three ways to add a file — pick whichever fits.
Click the three-dot menu at the top-right of the Files widget. You get three options:
- Upload — a file already on your computer.
- Scan — a paper document, using a scanner connected to your workstation.
- Phone Scan — a photo taken with your own phone through the SightHub app.
Upload from computer
Click Upload. The Upload File dialog opens.
Under Select file to upload: choose the file. Its name, size and type appear so you can check you picked the right one, then click Upload file — nothing is sent until you do. Cancel backs out; to pick a different file, cancel and open Upload again.
The line under the picker lists what is accepted: PDF, JPG, PNG, Word, Excel, 3D models (STL, OBJ, PLY, GLB, GLTF, 3MF, USDZ) and DICOM. So besides scans and photos you can attach:
- Word (.doc, .docx) and Excel (.xls, .xlsx) — a referral letter, a spreadsheet from another office.
- 3D models — for example a scan of the patient's face or eye from a measuring device. An OBJ model's companion .mtl file is accepted too.
- DICOM (.dcm) — images from imaging equipment.
Other file types are not offered in the picker. If the storage still refuses a file, the red message says why — for example that the file type is not supported — instead of a plain File upload failed.
For files your computer does not recognise (a 3D model, a DICOM image), the Type line shows the file extension instead.
Scan from a connected scanner
Click Scan. The dialog header tells you straight away whether it can talk to a scanner — Scanner service online or Service offline.
The Device dropdown opens on Import from file, which simply picks a PDF or image off the disk (only those two — for Word, 3D or DICOM files use Upload); with it selected the button reads Select file. Any scanners it has found are listed underneath — choose one of those to scan properly, and the button becomes Start scan. The small refresh arrow next to Device looks for scanners again.
Press Start scan. Scanning can take up to 30 seconds. The result appears as a preview, and nothing is saved yet. From there:
- Upload to patient — save it to the patient's files.
- Add scan (append to PDF) — feed the next page in and add it to the same document. Shown only while the result is a PDF.
- Clear & scan again — throw this one away and retry. This also sets Device back to Import from file, so pick your scanner again before the next scan.
If the header says the service is offline, an amber panel appears — Scanner service not detected. Install the SightHub Scanner app and restart it. — with the download links for each operating system right there in the dialog. While it is offline you can still use Import from file, but not a scanner.
Scan with your phone
This one uses your phone, not the patient's.
Click Phone Scan. The Scan with phone dialog asks Send a notification to your phone to scan documents for this patient? — press Yes, send notification.
A push goes to the SightHub app on your phone, and a QR code appears on screen as a second way in. Photograph the document with your phone; each picture appears in the dialog's Uploaded list as it arrives, so you can watch them land.
The session has an Expires in m:ss countdown — take the photos while it is running. When the phone finishes, the dialog shows All done! with the number of documents and closes by itself. Cancel (or closing the dialog) ends the session; if it runs out you get Scan session expired. Try again. and a Try again button.
Use it for insurance cards, driving licences or anything the patient brought with them, when walking to the scanner is not worth it.
Open a file
Click a row in the Files widget to open the file viewer — where you can read the document, rename it, add a description, or delete it.
The viewer picks the view by file type: PDFs and pictures open on the page, 3D models open in a viewer you can turn with the mouse, and Word, Excel, DICOM and USDZ files get a Download button.
Good to know
- The list shows each file under the name it had on your computer when it was uploaded — unusual symbols in the name become underscores, and very long names are cut short. Very old uploads, from before names were kept, show simply as Document with their extension.
- Renaming a file in the viewer changes the name shown in the viewer; the list keeps showing the name it was uploaded with.
- The doctor's medical chart has its own Files widget, and its Upload takes the same file types.