On the Application field properties tab, which is present when you have selected a new or existing data dictionary field in a database and on the Field properties tab set the Type of this field to Normal field or Linked field and the Data type to Application, you can set which method you want to use for saving and retrieving images. You can also use this tab to set which part of paths to linked files in general must be hidden from the user.

Click here for information on how to edit properties in general.

The properties on this tab are the same as for image fields and have the same meaning and application, except that they pertain to files in general (like PDFs, Word documents etc.) that needn't (and mostly can't) be displayed in the Media Viewer.

PDFs linked in application fields cannot be viewed in the Collections Media Viewer, but they can be viewed in the browser after clicking the download button next to the image field. From Collections 1.16 though, PDFs linked to image fields can be viewed in the Media Viewer.

The Public URL retrieval type can also be used for application fields that require an e-mail address. Instead of adding "mailto:" in front of that e-mail address by means of a storage adapl, you could also set this field to Public URL and set the Retrieval path to mailto:%data%. The mailto: part won't appear in the field on screen, but any e-mail address entered by the user will be underlined in display mode so that a new e-mail can be opened by clicking the e-mail address. Note that this requires the Disable download option to be deselected, otherwise it doesn't work.

A Storage path and Retrieval path are mandatory settings for application fields.

Of the Collections compatible image field properties, only the Thumbnail retrieval path and the Download path options are not applicable to application fields.