Importing from a Folder

Starting the Folder Import Wizard

Import jobs are created via the Import Wizard, which can be opened by clicking the Import Folder button in the main window.

Note: You cannot open the Import Wizard if a job is already running.

Configuring a New Job

After opening the Import Wizard, you can start adding files, setting destinations, specifying metadata, and configuring general options by following the steps outlined below.

Target DMS

Work

By default, metadata field names (i.e., captions) and validation are based on the database selected in the Target section of the ribbon. To use another database as the target, select its name from the Database drop-down menu.

Warning: Changing the target database after adding a source folder will remove the items from the job.

Source Folder

To import folders and documents from a folder

In the Source section of ribbon, click Folder.
In the Select Folder dialog, navigate to a folder containing documents you would like to import, select it, and click Select Folder. The folders and documents within the selected folder are added to the import list.
To omit a specific folder or document from the import job, click the X icon in the Delete column.

PST File

To add messages and folders from a PST file

From the Import Wizard, click the PST File button to open a file browser.
Browse to the location of a PST file, select it, and click Open.

Note: In order to extract messages from a PST file, free disk space on the installation drive must be greater than the size of the PST file being imported.

CSV File

When importing documents from a folder, you can automatically assign metadata values to some or all of the documents by including a CSV file named index.csv in the top-level folder. Alternatively, after selecting a source, you can apply metadata from a CSV file located on any local or network resource via the Load from CSV button in the Default Metadata section of the ribbon.

Tip: Since CSV files are essentially spreadsheets saved in plain text, a text editor like Notepad can suffice for creating and editing simple index files. However, if you are working with a large number of documents and values, using an application like Excel is preferable.

A basic index file must include a Path column and at least one metadata column. Values for the path column, which Power Desktop uses to match files to the specified metadata, can be in the following formats:

Full network path
Full local path
Relative path with no leading characters

Work Profile Fields

When specifying metadata values for an import to a Work server, column names must match a field's attribute ID or its corresponding caption in the target database.

Tip: Because captions can differ between databases, identifying metadata columns by attribute ID allows for greater flexibility when selecting targets.

NetDocuments Profile Attributes

When importing into NetDocuments, you can specify values for:

Any custom profile attribute available in the target cabinet
System attributes

Columns containing values for custom attributes must have a header name that matches the name of an existing attribute, ignoring case. To set values for supported system attributes, include columns in the following formats

Column Name	Description
Name	The name of the document or folder.
Extension	The document's file extension, which can only include letters or numbers. If this column does not exist, the values are automatically set based on the actual extensions of the source files.
Version	The document's version. To learn how to import multiple versions, Specifying Document Numbers, Versions, and File Dates.
Created	The date on which the document was created/imported.
Modified	The date on which the document was late modified.

Examples

Depending on your application, your index file should look similar to one of the following examples.

Excel

Path	Client	Matter	Class
Folder\Document.docx	1000	001	DOC

Note: To save the spreadsheet in the correct format, select File → Save As and select CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv) as the type.

Text Editor

Path,Client,Matter,Class
Folder\Document.docx,1000,001,DOC

Target Workspace/Folder in DMS

If you have specified values for the appropriate workspace attributes, you can automatically set the destinations for each item via the Find Destinations button in the Target section of the ribbon.

If you a) would like to import items directly into specific folders or b) haven't specified any metadata values with which you can identify target workspaces, you can simply select an item's target via a DMS browser.

Work

To assign targets for all items in the import list

Configure the Create Root Folder and Recreate Structure options in the Folder section of the Import tab.
Click the folder icon in the Destination column to open the Select Folder/Destination dialog.
Browse to a workspace or folder, select it, and click Select.

Note: When creating an import job through the Create Desktop Import command in DeskSite/FileSite, the target is automatically set to the location that was selected in the Work client.

NetDocuments

To override the default target location for an individual item:

Click the folder icon in an item's Destination column to open the Select Folder/Destination dialog.
Navigate to a folder in a workspace, select it, and click Select.
Click Yes in the "Do you want to overwrite any currently specified metadata with the values associated with the destination?" confirmation dialog to apply the change.

Document Numbers, Versions

Work

Work does not normally allow users to manually set values for DocNum, Version, and file date-related fields. However, Desktop Import/Export allows you to override Work's default behavior as long as you are logged in as a user who has been assigned a Work role with the Use WorkSite Administration privilege.

NetDocuments

When uploading documents to NetDocuments via its web interface, users are not allowed to change the system date fields. You can, however, set these values via Power Desktop.

Note: IDs are automatically set by the NetDocuments server and cannot be manually changed.

Importing Multiple Versions

The process of configuring a job to import multiple versions of a document is the same for both Work and NetDocuments.

To import multiple versions of a document:

In the Previous ID column, enter the same value for each file that represents a version of the same document. The value must only be unique within the import job and does not have to be the actual document number.
In the Version column, enter the appropriate version number for each file.

Note: When importing into Work, if you do not specify a value for the document number column, all files with the same Previous ID value are imported with the same new document number, which is assigned automatically by WorkSite.

Starting the Import

Once you've set the destination of at least one item in the job, you can click Start to save the job and start the import.

Note: Any item without a destination will not be included in the saved job.