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Bulk actions

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Learn how to add multiple digital items in CONTENTdm (new version).

 Roles: Users must have the Administrator, Collection manager, or Collection builder role to add items in batches in CONTENTdm (new version).

Add multiple digital items

  1. From the Content management > Add items screen, select which collection to add the digital items to from the Collection drop-down. 
    • The default collection is displayed initially, but the last collection in which items were added will subsequently appear in your session. 
  2. Click Add multiple digital items under the Bulk actions heading. The Add multiple items screen opens.
  3. From the Add multiple items screen, add your files by dropping them in the gray box or selecting browse files.
  4. A preview of the files appears.
  5. (Optional) Click the Add more files button (Add more files button in CONTENTdm (new version)) to continue adding files. 
    • The maximum number of items to add is 500.
  6. Click Next. 
  7. (Optional) Add a transcript.
    • Choose whether to run optical character recognition (OCR) on the batch. Generate transcript with OCR is on by default, or set to your last choice.
      • OCR should only be run on images and PDF files. OCR will not override provided transcripts.
      • When OCR is on, items without a matching transcript file are processed with OCR.
    • Upload .txt transcript files for some or all of the items. You can drag and drop your transcript file in the gray box or click the gray box to select a file from your device.
      • You can upload up to two .txt files. The file(s) you upload cannot exceed 1 MB.
      • Each transcript file is matched to the item with the same filename.
      • Transcript files that do not match an item are skipped and listed in the Error log, along with any files that are empty, too large, or not .txt files.
  8. (Optional) Add metadata file. Select your files (in .csv) by dropping the file in the gray box or selecting browse files.
    1. Click Next.
    2. Select the column in the metadata file that contains the digital object file name.
    3. Select the metadata property to match with the imported field.
  9. (Optional) Map metadata fields. Select a collection field to map it to the imported field.
    • The Transcript field is not mapped. Transcripts are added as a separate file. 
  10. Select Upload to add the items as drafts for the collection. The items will appear in the Process Manager with the Processing status. When processing completes, they will appear in My drafts. 
    • The item cannot be edited, published, or deleted until processing is complete.
  11. A Summary of upload appears detailing the Collection, number of Draft items to be added, Thumbnail, Permissions, and the Estimated total file size.