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Operating Manage imports
Manage imports profiles can operate automatically in the background or they can be run manually. In both cases there are some basic rules and functions that can help to manage its operation. The screen below is the manage imports operation screen. You can get to this screen from the Tools > Manage Imports menu option in the FDA.
These are the operations available from this screen:
| Operation | Description |
|---|---|
| Add | Add a new import profile. Import profiles are stored on the workstation where they are created. You must have library administrator rights to add a profile. |
| Start | Start processing any new documents associated with the selected import profile. This function is not necessary for any import profiles that have been setup to automatically watch a folder. |
| Reset Statistics |
Reset the Batches Completed and Documents Imported counters. If there has been an error in completing the batch or if there has been an accidental removal of documents in the batch, you can select the Reset the file tracking check box to clear the import log and reset the counter to zero. Once the counter is set to zero, the same batch can be imported again.
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| Show Log File | Open the import log file in notepad. The import log is stored on the workstation. |
| Clear Log File | This will erase the contents of the import log file. |
| Delete | Click the red X to permanently remove an import profile from the workstation. |
| Change | Click the import profile name to edit the import profile. You must have library administrator rights to change a profile. |
The manage imports screen contains a number of columns with important information about the functioning of each import profile.
| Column | Purpose | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Import Name | The name of the import profile. For library administrators this name will appear as a link. | ||||||||
| Description | If the creator of the import profile set a description it will be displayed here. | ||||||||
| Import Type | Imports can be personal or shared. A shared profile is available to all Windows users that log on to the workstation. Personal profiles can only be seen by the for the Windows user where the profile was created. | ||||||||
| Batches Completed | Each XML file seen by manage imports is a batch. These batches are processed by adding each document specified in each batch to the inbox or transfer queue. When all the documents from the batch have been placed in one of those two locations the batch will be complete. This does not mean the documents have been transferred to the FileHold library. | ||||||||
| Documents Imported | When all documents specified in a batch are available all the documents in the batch can be imported and will show in this total. | ||||||||
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| Destination |
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| After Import |
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Manually running an import
To start or manually run the import
- In FDA, go to Tools > Manage Imports and select the import name from the list.
- Click Start. The documents are imported according to the configuration in the import.
- The import runs and automatically imports documents if the Watch for new files… setting is enabled.
- If the Watch for new files… setting is not enabled, the import will have to be run manually. In other words, you will have to click Start to run the import.
- To reset the number of documents imported counter, click Reset Statistics. Use this setting if there has been an error in completing the batch or if there has been an accidental removal of documents in the batch, you can select the Reset the file tracking check box to clear the import log and reset the counter to zero. Once the counter is set to zero, the same batch can be imported again. IMPORTANT: By clearing the import log, the internal file duplication tracking information is also cleared. Therefore, documents that were already imported into the library prior to the batch failure may be imported again if they were not set to be deleted or moved in manage import settings. The counter in the Documents Imported column is reset to 0.
Viewing the import log file
To view the log file from the imports
- In FDA, go to Tools > Manage Imports and click Show Log File. The log file opens in Notepad.
- To clear the log file, click Clear Log File.
Sharing imports from document scanning applications
Shared Imports can be used when two or more users share a local computer and have differing Windows user accounts. When Shared Imports and Shared Inboxes are enabled any documents that are imported into FileHold will be “shared” between the Inbox of all users. This allows different users to file the documents after they have been imported into the software.
For example, User Mary and User John both work at a scanning station on the same computer during various times each day. Each user has a separate Windows user accounts that they use to log into the scanning station. User Mary logs into the computer with her user account and scans a bunch of documents. These documents are imported into the DM software using the Import tool. User Mary then logs off the computer. User John then logs into the same computer using his Windows user account and opens the DM software. The imported files that User Mary scanned in are in his Inbox and can now be filed into the Library. Note that in order for User Mary to share her imports, she will need to share her Inbox so User John can see them.
If you are sharing imports, ensure that the import type is the same. The "Format of document import" is set in the User Preferences > Advanced tab.
The Shared Imports option is only available to users who have at least the Write permission to the common application data folder (usually “C:\ProgramData”), which normally defaults to members of the Administrators group only. See Shared Inboxes for more information.
Troubleshooting Manage imports
When configured correctly manage imports should operate with minimal user intervention. During testing of a new configuration or if the workstation or network conditions have changes since the configuration it is possible that documents will not get processed by manage imports.
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An important consideration in any troubleshooting is to know that manage import tracks the last 1000 files that were processed if the files are not deleted or moved; batch and document files. This is done to help avoid the chance of the same document been process twice. If you are testing a new import profile the easiest thing to do is use the move option after import. This will allow you to process the same batch over and over again.
Enable watching as the last step in testing an new import profile. This will allow you to carefully monitor each step of the process. It is also best to leave the documents in the Inbox during the early stages of testing to allow for an intermediate inspection step.
If you enabled delete or move after import, but you removed the documents from the Inbox without transferring them to the library the XML batch file will have been moved or deleted, but the documents will not. If you remove the documents from the inbox without transferring them to the library the will be logged in the tracking system and prevented from importing again.
Manage imports remembers the contents of an XML batch file until the user logs off the FDA. If you process an XML file, then modify it, you will not be able to process the changes until you log off then back on again.
If you start an import profile but the batch and document counters do not change you should review the import log to determine the cause. You may see a message such as the following:
The following files in the 'C:\Projects\Import\ScanBatch001.xml' batch file were not found in the import folder: - C:\Projects\Import\Invoice9120.tif
If one or more of the documents in the batch were not available when the FDA was processing the batch none of the documents in the batch will be processed. This can be a common situation when scanning software generated the XML batch file before it generates the image files. If you started the import profile manually, simply start it again when all the image files are available. If the folder is watched the image files will be automatically processed when they are available.
There are two or three steps on the way to the library depending on the import profile. Check the import log to make sure they were processed correctly. The following message indicates that the 65 documents were processed.
Processing 'C:\Projects\Import\ScanBatch001.xml' batch file. The 'C:\Projects\Import\ScanBatch001.xml' batch file has been processed. Files skipped: 0, files brought into FDA: 65, total number of files in batch file: 65.
If the destination for the batch is the Inbox, check there. The Inbox is local to the workstation, so documents in the Inbox will not be in the library. If the destination is the library, check all files in transfer. The documents may take some time to transfer depending on their size and the speed of the network. If the document has failed to transfer for some reason it can be found in the Inbox.
Verify that the batch XML file contains missing metadata values. Check that the values are mapped in the import profile. If the metadata field value comes from a database lookup confirm that the database record with the value can be found. If the metadata field is a menu field type check that there is an exact match for the value in the menu field profile. If it is critical that the field is never blank it should be defined as required. This will cause the document to stop at the Inbox until the problem can be corrected.
Import profiles are stored locally on the workstation where they were created. They are not shared with other workstations. Each import profile has information that is specific to the workstation that it was created on such as network and local permissions, drive mappings, and local database lookups. You can manually copy import profiles from one workstation to another if needed.