How to let authors enter first abstracts and in a second step full papers / final versions

We want to allow all authors of accepted abstracts to submit a full paper easily without entering all data again.
For reference reasons, we want to keep the ID generated by ConfTool for the abstract submitted for the full paper submission.

How can we proceed?

There are a number of possible scenarios. The right scenario depends on the intended workflow and the corresponding requirements:

1) Use final uploads; only one peer-reviewing phase, no further uploads

When you do not have another reviews process for the full papers / final versions you can use the "final version / camera ready copy" feature of ConfTool Pro for the full paper uploads. Using this feature, the ID will stay the same for abstract and full paper.

Please note that this will only work when you do not need final, camera-ready copies later.

Hints:
• If you called the contribution type "Abstract" it is probably advisable to rename it for the full paper upload phase to "Submission" or “Full Paper”.
• Please note that an upload of the final version is only possible for accepted submissions.
  We recommend that you create a new acceptance status like “abstract accepted” and assign it to all accepted abstracts.

You can find more information here:
Final upload – how to keep same paper ID for final version

2) Abstracts submitted as plain text in abstract field or as upload file and full paper submitted as upload file; two peer-reviewing phases

If there are two peer-reviewing phases (accepted abstracts will be reviewed as well as full papers), then head on over here for more information.
Please be advised that in this case the submission ID will be altered slightly:
Two-phase review process: How to review abstracts and full papers?

3) Abstracts submitted as plain text in abstract field and full paper submitted as upload file; only one peer-reviewing phase

If you need only one peer-reviewing phase and still want to use final uploads later, then follow these instructions. This could be the case if abstracts are accepted based on a brief screening by the program committee, then full papers will be uploaded and a thorough review is conducted for full papers only.

Please open the submission type / conference track:
Overview => Settings => Manage Submission Types / Conference Tracks
For the initial submission of the abstract, only activate the option “Abstract” and deactivate any uploads in the section “Upload Settings for This Submission Type / Track”.

Once the abstracts have been accepted, update the title of your abstract submission type to “Full Paper” and update the upload settings for the submission type. Furthermore, update the alternative deadlines: keep the initial submission phase for new contributions closed (by using an earlier deadline for the option "Alternative submission deadline for new contributions") and set an alternative "Alternative deadline for uploads", so that the authors cannot create new submissions but can only upload new files (see image 1).

4) Abstracts submitted as plain text in abstract field and final version updated in abstract field as well; only one peer-reviewing phase

You can also let authors update their submissions in the abstract text field during a final update phase.
Please go to:
Overview => Settings => Main Settings for Abstract and Paper Submission
In the section “General Settings for Final Upload Form” enable the option “Enable Author Access to Final Upload Page for Tracks Without Final Upload File(s)”.

Enabling this option will also give authors access to the final upload page for submission types / tracks that have the number of files for the final upload phase set to "0 (Disabled)".

Please make sure that you define additional options in this section, e.g. enable the option “Enter or Edit the Abstract“ (see image 2). Don’t forget to enable the final upload phase:
Overview => Settings => Conference Phases and Deadlines

Hints:

• Please note that you can define in the acceptance status whether first or final uploads are allowed.
• Always test your settings before going live.