UPDATE (MAY 2021): Customized Span Settings within a given report are now persistent (“sticky”), meaning they will save even after you have closed the report preview and will remain as you have adjusted them unless you change them again in the future for a different purpose or recipient.

Not seeing photos on a specific report but sure they have uploaded? Confused about why zInspector includes (or doesn’t include) photos on a specific report? This is the article for you!

zInspector can include or exclude photos automatically by default for all reports or manually for a specific report, depending on your preferences and practices, a specific purpose, or the intended recipient.  zInspector’s Span Settings, which are smarter than ever on the new website and app, help you do just that.

Let’s start with a video:

Span Explained

Imagine Span as a helpful photo-grabbing assistant to zInspector. By adjusting the primary Span setting—a specified number of days—you are essentially telling Span how far into the past to reach to grab zInspector photos for the current report. If Span is set to 0, it will not reach at all; the report will show only photos from the report’s activity date.  If Span is instead set to 7 or to 30, zInspector will reach back a full week or a full month; the report will show any available photos for the property in the previous 7 or 30 days.

Other possible Span settings—Doc ID Media, Non Doc ID Media, and All Activities—tell zInspector what types of activities to consider when spanning for report photos. Remember that these settings are secondary to the Span (number of days) setting. zInspector will only include photos within the Span period specified, regardless of the secondary settings.

Doc ID Media –Include in the current report media taken for this specific inspection activity. Disable it to exclude media taken as a part of this specific inspection from the current report.

Non Doc ID Media – Include in the current report media taken during the completion of other inspection templates (in Inspect mode) for this same property as available per the Span (number of days) setting. Disable to exclude these media from the current report.

All Activities – Include in the current report other available media (not linked to a specific template)  for this same property, as available per the Span (number of days) setting: for example, photos and videos taken during a Quick Pictures inspection or manually uploaded photos within the specified number of days. Disable to exclude such media from the current report.

Days – This is the primary Span setting. The number of days specified tells zInspector how far back to look for photos associated with this property for the current report.  For inspections taken over a number of days, adjust the span appropriately to include all relevant photos in the report.

Global Default & Custom (Report-Specific) Span Settings

Default global Span settings can be specified by an admin user in Report Settings. Reports for every user on the account will generate based on these defaults.

Individual report Span settings can be specified by the user to override the default global settings. Click on a specific Timeline inspection activity, then click on the Options button at the top (or the Options icon at lower right) and scroll down to Span settings.

Manually Excluding & Deleting Inspection Photos

At times, you will want to manually exclude or even delete specific photos, but Span doesn’t help with that. Here’s how to exclude and delete specific photos manually.

• To exclude photos from a report: Remove the checkmark from the photo(s) to exclude by clicking on the orange checkmark at the upper left corner of the photo(s) in Report Preview before downloading or emailing the report. For convenience, you can click or unclick the Select/Unselect All Pictures button at lower right of any report preview.
• To delete photos permanently from zInspector. Go to Properties and click on the relevant property—or click on the Property (house) icon at lower left of the Report Preview—then click on the relevant Activity containing the photos to delete. Here, in the property’s dashboard,  you can edit tags or delete photos individually or in bulk, as needed.
• To delete photos within the app (new zInspector 3). In the app, tap on the Gallery icon—it looks like two stacked photos. Recently taken photos are stored here. Tap on the Edit (pencil) icon for the relevant photo, then tap on the Delete (trashcan) icon to delete it from the inspection and from the website (permanently).