This video and subsequent walkthrough shows how the Span setting can be adjusted. In the video example, Span is increased so that the photos taken during a Move-Out Inspection can be included in a new Move-In Inspection report. There are other common and important reasons you should know how Span works, which are discussed below.
Create a Move-In Report from the Previous Move-Out Report Using Span
Did your last tenant take great care of a property, leaving you with few or no improvements to make before the next one takes occupancy? If so, you likely prefer to avoid retaking 200 nearly identical pictures of the property for the move-in inspection. The Span feature can be used to quickly grab some or all photos from a move-out inspection and put them into a new move-in inspection.
Two things to do before you work with Span:
- Create a new Move-In inspection on the mobile app—with or without photos, complete it, and confirm it has uploaded to your Timeline.
-OR- Use the Copy PM Condition Values to create a new inspection report with the same values (conditions) as a previous one; more on that here.
- Make sure that the Move-Out inspection you performed previously for the same property is also available on the website.
- On the website Timeline, locate the newly completed Move-In inspection and click to open it.
- Above the report preview, click Options.
- Scroll down to the Span settings and adjust them as needed.
- In this case, make sure that Doc ID Media and Non-Doc ID Media are enabled (to display any extra photos taken during the Move In in addition to those taken during the recent Move Out).
- If you additionally want to include photos taken using Quick Pictures mode during that time, you can enable the All Activities toggle as well.
- Now increase the Number of Days to reach back to the Move Out date. Only photos taken within the specified timespan will be displayed in the report. If the Move Out occurred two weeks before the Move In, enter 14 in the field.
- Click Save.
- Uncheck any photos you do not wish to be included in the report.
- Important: Be sure to download a PDF or create a Share HTML link before closing the report, as the Span Settings will revert to the global span settings when you close the report preview.
While the Move-Out photos are now in a Move-In Report, their original timestamps will persist. zInspector photo timestamps cannot be altered, but if you prefer they can be omitted from a report at any time. In the Options menu for the report (or in global Report Settings), toggle off the Time Stamps setting and be sure to Save.
Why Span is Important
zInspector automatically groups all photos—by Property/Unit name, Inspection or Activity type, and date—into Activities. This allows multiple users with multiple devices to add content into a single Activity or inspection. Sometimes an Activity takes multiple days to complete. For example—have you ever had to do a midnight tenant move-out inspection? It’s no fun, but it definitely happens. If zInspector Activities were strictly defined by date, an inspection begun before shortly midnight and concluded an hour later would have to be considered two separate Activities. Fortunately, zInspector can be flexible. The Span feature allows you to create a single report even if the photos were taken over multiple days, among other uses.
Automatic Span of Completed Inspection Media
By default, zInspector will automatically create Span reports from all inspection reports generated for a property in a 7-day period. You can change this value on the website by going to Settings —> Admin Settings —> Report Settings. Change the value of Number of Days setting to whatever you wish.
Span Years of Activities and Create a Single Report
On the zInspector website, click on any icon on the Timeline page to view the relevant media. By the default, Span is set to 0. However, you can change this value up to 999 to will include photos and videos from up to 999 days in the past, and ready all photos and videos for a single PDF report. Be sure to save a PDF copy or a shareable html link.
Use for Contractors
Contractors often need to take multiple photos for the same job over multiple days. While you can certainly use a Task to group photos together, you can also, for example, adjust Span to get all of the recent Maintenance photos of a given property onto a single report.