How to Upload Documents
This topic covers how documents can be uploaded from your Web Browser. Uploading documents is restricted to owners and editors of the targeted folder where the documents will reside after the upload. Depending on the configuration of your Vault, there will be different methods and locations from which to upload documents to the Vault.
Since users usually have multiple methods to upload documents, the following sections will describe various ways a user might initiate a document upload.
After initiating the document upload, the user will need to complete the following steps to finish uploading the document(s):
- Select a target folder to upload the document. (Note: This task will not be available for document uploads that started from the document library, as a folder was already selected before the upload button was pressed.)
- Using the "select" button or by dragging and dropping, choose one or more files to upload to the folder.
- Click the Next button.
- (Optional)Edit the metadata or index fields of the files to be uploaded and save the changes. (Required Index Fields must be filled out here to upload the document as released. See the "Upload Advanced Options" section below.)
- Click on Save to Vault.
After finishing the document upload, the documents will display in the document list of the folder. If the folder has required index fields and these index fields were not filled out for the document during the upload, the document will be uploaded as "unreleased".
If there is an active release approval workflow enabled on the upload folder, the upload will automatically kick off the workflow and the document will be uploaded with a "pending" state. The document will be released once it is approved according to the workflow rules.
Advanced Options
Advanced Options allows the user to set metadata and index field data for documents during the upload process. Depending on the target folder, users may be presented with a slightly different variation of Advanced Options, due to the different index field associations between the different folders. In order to change the settings, users must key in their input or select the applicable option from drop-down menus, then click the Save Index Fields button. See the descriptions below for documentation on each available field.
Revision: revision level assigned to a document when uploaded (To use a blank for the revision put a space instead of deleting the revision.) This value must be unique.
Document ID: The unique Document ID that the document will have when uploaded. Note that this only applies to documents being uploaded to folders WITHOUT a naming convention in place. The default Doc ID is the filename.
Document Description: By default the file name is used unless users defines a custom description.
Select Project: select a project to associate with in the upload process
Release State: set status of file to released or unreleased when uploaded. Note that all required index fields must be filled out in order for the document to be checked in as Released.
Index Fields: The index fields of the target upload folder are displayed in a separate section beneath the Document Properties. Users can set the fields of any index field associated to the target folder.
Editor's Note: Red highlighted document properties have not been added to the upload process yet.
Note: When Checkin is set to Released, if there is an approval workflow established on the folder where the document is to be uploaded, the approval workflow will be initiated. If the document is checked in as UnReleased, users who have viewer rights will not be able to see the document unless they have elevated access through a project. Viewers will not be able to see UnReleased documents.
File Upload Advanced Options View
Note: In a batch upload (Multiple Files) all documents will be given the same revision, you will need to group the batches by revision. Modification of information such as Description will need to be completed on a document by document basis after the upload. All advanced option configurations need to be modified before selecting the Multiple Files option except for Preserve document folder structure.
If a user is uploading a document into a folder that has no naming convention, an additional field will be available for the users to key in a unique document id if they wish.
Certain upload conditions will cause documents uploaded simultaneously to be grouped into what is called a batch. These batches are essentially a grouping of these documents so that users can easily and quickly edit the metadata and index fields of recently-uploaded documents. Batches are managed through the Batch Management page.
Batch Management is a specific location where you can update document index fields, file names and descriptions immediately after documents have been uploaded. It is only accessible by users with Editor rights or higher. You can configure batch management to have the following functionality:
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Batches will be created based upon a configurable number of documents uploaded.
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Batches created when a certain number of documents are copied or moved.
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Create Batch when required index field exists on any document uploaded.
- It can be disabled completely.
See Configuration Settings for more information on how Batch Management can be configured.
Navigating to the Document Batches Screen
When a set of documents is uploaded and VisualVault is configured to create a batch, they user can access the batch management in one of two ways:
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User is automatically put on the Batch Management screen if VisualVault is configured to do this.
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User navigates to a folder and selects the Batch Management tab.
Once on the Batch Management tab, the user will be presented with the following screen:
Left hand panel - shows the list of documents.
Right hand top panel - shows the file metadata.
Right hand bottom panel - shows index field data.
Modifying Documents in the Batch
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Select an appropriate batch if it is not already selected from the batch filters in the upper left hand corner of the screen.
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Key in the file information and index field information for the document that you want to change for the document(s).
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Check the check box in the right hand panel (next to the appropriate metadata / index field) that you want to save to the document(s).
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Check the check box in the left hand panel for the document(s) to be updated with the new information.
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Select Save.
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Update the Batch Name, ID or Status in the upper right hand corner
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Select Save.
