Document editor
The Document editor lets the board and the property manager (isännöitsijä) write the association’s documents — notices, memos, instructions and board memoranda — right inside VAREK instead of in Word or Google Docs, and publish them to a chosen audience as a separate, deliberate step.
You’ll find it in the left menu under Documents → Document editor. Creating a new document is the board’s and the manager’s right; finished, published documents are visible to the audience they were published to.
Start from a template
Section titled “Start from a template”When you create a new document you can pick a ready-made structure from the Template menu: Notice, Minutes (meeting-agenda headings) or Annual calendar (the association’s yearly cycle). A template adds ready-made section headings you can fill in and edit freely — they are a starting point, not a binding form. Choose Blank document to start from scratch.
Import from Word
Section titled “Import from Word”If the document has already been written in Word, you can import it as the starting point of a new document: in the create dialog, choose Import from Word and pick a .docx file (up to 20 MB). Headings, paragraphs, lists, bold and italic text, and https/email links transfer; the file name becomes the document title unless you type your own.
The import is best-effort — not every Word feature transfers:
- Images do not transfer. Add them after the import with the editor’s own image tool (you will see a notice if images were skipped).
- Tables become plain text (the content survives, the table layout does not).
- The old .doc format is not accepted — save the file as .docx in Word first.
Always review the imported document before publishing.
Two independent visibilities
Section titled “Two independent visibilities”A document has two independent visibilities:
- Draft visibility (while the document is a draft) — who may read and edit the work in progress.
- Published audience (when the document is published) — who sees the finished document. Publishing is its own deliberate step, not just a toggle.
Draft visibility
Section titled “Draft visibility”| Visibility | Who sees the draft |
|---|---|
| Only me | only the person who created the document |
| Board | board members (chair and members) |
| Board + manager | the board and the property manager |
| Manager only | only the property manager |
You cannot widen a document to a visibility you don’t belong to (for example, the manager cannot set a draft to board-only). The board chair can change the visibility of any board document; a board member can change the visibility only of their own private draft.
Published audience
Section titled “Published audience”| Audience | Who sees the published document |
|---|---|
| Board | the board (and the manager) |
| Shareholders | all members of the association |
| Public | all members of the association |
Publishing is the board chair’s or the property manager’s right. A document that is private to you (Only me) cannot be published directly — widen its visibility first. You can also unpublish, returning the document to a draft.
Publishing leaves a PDF in Documents
Section titled “Publishing leaves a PDF in Documents”When you publish a document, a PDF version is automatically saved to the Documents section. The PDF inherits the published visibility: if you published to the board only, the PDF is visible to the board only too. It appears in Documents shortly after publishing — a new file is first checked for malware (usually under a minute). After that it can be archived, signed (electronic signature) and handled like any other document. If you publish the document again later, a new PDF is created and the previous one is kept in Documents.
Public link (no login)
Section titled “Public link (no login)”Once a document is published to the Public audience, you can create a public link that lets anyone read it without logging in — handy for a notice meant for the general public. Open the published document’s Public link section, choose Create public link and share the resulting address (it is copied automatically). The link shows the document’s text and images read-only. Images are shown only after they have passed the malware scan; otherwise a placeholder is shown in the image’s place.
The link works only while the document is published publicly: if you unpublish it or narrow the audience, the link stops working immediately. You can also revoke the link at any time with Revoke link. Only the board chair or the property manager can create and revoke links. The links are not indexed by search engines.
Writing and saving
Section titled “Writing and saving”The document saves automatically a few seconds after you stop typing. If the same document is open for another user, you’ll see a notice and can open it read-only or continue anyway. A version history is kept of the document.
Version history and restore
Section titled “Version history and restore”Open the Versions button in the header to see the document’s earlier versions (autosaves and publishes). Select a version to see the differences from the current draft line by line: green is added in the current draft, red is removed from this version. Restore this version brings the selected version’s content back into the draft — the current content is not lost, it stays in the version history as a new version. Restore is only available while the document is editable (a draft, and no other user holds the edit lock).
Images in a document
Section titled “Images in a document”You can add images to a document. Images are stored in the association’s own private document store and scanned for malware like any other uploaded file — they are visible only to those allowed to see the document. Images are also included in the downloadable PDF, the publication’s PDF version and the public link.
Download as PDF
Section titled “Download as PDF”You can download the document as a PDF with the Download PDF button. The document’s images are included in the PDF; if an image cannot be loaded (for example its scan is still pending), a placeholder line is printed instead.