MetaServer > Help > Export to Alfresco

030-060 MetaServer Export – Export to Alfresco

With the MetaServer Export to Alfresco action, you can export documents to the Alfresco Community Edition or the Alfresco Content Services Enterprise Edition.

You can construct the folder structure and file name using fixed elements and variables or metadata fields.

Select a custom document type and map variables or metadata fields with its properties.

The export connector makes use of Alfresco’s versioning feature and when a document with the same name is exported a new version of the document will be created.

01 Export to Alfresco - Adding the Action

To add an Export to Alfresco action, select the action after which you want to insert the Export to Alfresco action and press Add -> Export -> to Alfresco. The Setup window will automatically open.

You can also open the setup window of an existing Export to Alfresco action by double clicking the action or by pressing the setup button on the right side of the action or in the ribbon, as shown below.

In our example, we will use the “CB – INSPECTION REPORTS” workflow as a reference. This workflow is automatically installed with CaptureBites MetaServer.

02 Export to Alfresco – Setup

TIP: The thumbnail on the right will follow you, so you can easily refer to the Setup window. Click on the thumbnail to make the image larger.

Don't forget to add a description to your action.

01 - File Source: press the dropdown button to specify the source of your files.

By default, Processed PDF is selected. This means that the output will be a PDF, no matter what the original imported file type was.

- PDF/TIF/JPG/PNG attachment: refers to the original PDF, TIF, JPG or PNG files that were imported with an Import Email action.

- Excel / Word attachment*: refers to Excel or Word files that were imported with an Import Email action.

- Original Body PDF: refers to the email body converted to PDF format.

- Email PDF: refers to the complete imported email, including all its attachments, converted to PDF format.

- Email EML: refers to the complete imported email including all its attachments in EML format.

- Email MSG: refers to the complete imported email including all its attachments in MSG format.

- Imported PDF/TIF/JPG/PNG*: refers to the original PDF, TIF, JPG or PNG files that were imported with an Import from Folder action.

- Imported Excel / Word: refers to the original Excel or Word files that were imported by with an Import from Folder action.

- Processed PDF: refers to the PDF after every prior action. For example, if you've applied a Scale Page(s) action before exporting to a folder, it will export the scaled PDF.

- Processed TIF: refers to the TIF version of an imported document or attachment converted to TIF with a Convert to Multipage TIF action.

- Processed JPG: refers to the JPG version of an imported document or attachment convert to JPG with a Convert to JPG action.

NOTE: Technically any imported file format such as TIF, JPG and PNG are internally converted to PDF first. So, if you want to separate an imported multipage TIF file and export the separated TIF files, you need to add a Convert to Multipage TIF action before exporting. In the export action, select "Processed TIF" as the File Source.

* = To import Excel or Word documents, you'll need to have a license of the “Import Office Documents” module.

1) Labels: you can change the labels of each file source if you want to use them later as metadata values in your settings.

02 Alfresco Server Settings

Here you can enter your Alfresco server information. By default, we prefill the settings of a standard Alfresco LOCALHOST install. Change these settings to your own Alfresco settings.

01 – Address: enter your Alfresco server address. The address typically looks like:
https://[SERVER_NAME]:8080/alfresco

You can enter your Alfresco address manually or select a field, if the Alfresco server needs to change for certain conditions.

IMPORTANT: When using a dynamic field as your Alfresco server address, please make sure the user name and password, repository, content type, Alfresco fields and date format are the same for each Alfresco server.

02 – User name: the user name of your Alfresco account. When in doubt, contact your IT department.

03 – Password: enter your Alfresco server password. When in doubt, contact your IT department.

04 – Authorization: select “Ticket” (= default) or “Basic Authentication” as the authorization method.

NOTE: the default protocol that is used to connect to the Alfresco server, is “CMIS 1.1”.

05 – Upload file in chunks: this option allows you to upload your file to Alfresco in chunks. You can specify the chunk size by pressing the drop-down arrow of the “Chunk size” field (1 MB = default value).

06 – Timeout: it’s recommended to use the default 100 seconds. If you experience regular timeouts, change it to a higher value.

07 – Check out: enable this option to let MetaServer, when it creates a document, also immediately “checks out” the document. This means that no other process can touch it as long as MetaServer is creating the document. Once the document is complete and the PDF is fully uploaded, MetaServer checks the document in again.

08 – Log: enable this option to create a log everytime you connect to your Alfresco server.

03 Document Settings

01 – Repository: select your destination repository and/or folder by pressing the “…” button.

02 – Document name: you can set up your document name by combining fixed values, variables and metadata fields. Click on the drop-down arrow to pick from a list of possible values. You can see a preview of your document name below the input field.

You can also use the file name to dynamically make subfolders by simply inserting a “/” (forward slash). For example, if you want to add a dynamic subfolder based on the import date’s year, you would use a file name like this:

{ Import Date, YYYY }/{ Field, Date }_{ Field, Account Number }{ File Sequence Number }{ File Type Extension }

List of values:

Clear
My text here
{{}}
{ Space }

• Line:

- { Line Separator }
- { Line Number }
- { Line Count }

• System:

- Server:
- Operator:
- Current Date:
- Current Time:

• Workflow:

- { Workflow Name }

• Document:

- { Document Unique Id }
- Reject:
- { Document Number }
- { Document Count }
- Page:
- { Document File Size }
- { Document Dominant Language }
- { Document Source }
- { Document File Type }
- { Document PDF Compliance }

• Email:

- Inbox:
- { Email Unique ID }
- { Email Import Condition }
- Date:
- Time:
- From:
- To:
- Cc:
- { Email Subject }
- Attachment:
- { Email Attachments List }
- { Email Body Text }

• Import:

- Date:
  - { Import Date, System }
  - { Import Date, DDMMYYYY }
  - { Import Date, DD }/{ Import Date, MM }/{ Import Date, YYYY }
  - { Import Date, DD }-{ Import Date, MM }-{ Import Date, YYYY }
  - { Import Date, MMDDYYY }
  - { Import Date, MM }/{ Import Date, DD }/{ Import Date, YYYY }
  - { Import Date, MM }-{ Import Date, DD }-{ Import Date, YYYY }
  - { Import Date,YYYYMMDD }
  - { Import Date, YYYY }/{ Import Date, MM }/{ Import Date, DD }
  - { Import Date, YYYY }-{ Import Date, MM }-{ Import Date, DD }
  - { Import Date, JJJ }
  - { Import Date, YYJJJ }
  - { Import Date, DD }
  - { Import Date, DDD }
  - { Import Date, MM }
  - { Import Date, MMM }
  - { Import Date, YY }
  - { Import Date, YYYY }
  - { Import Date, W }
  - { Import Date, WW }
- Time:
  - { Import Date, System }
  - { Import Date, HHmmss }
  - { Import Time, HH }:{ Import Time, mm }:{ Import Time, ss }
  - { Import Date, HHmmsstt }
  - { Import Time, HH }:{ Import Time, mm }:{ Import Time, ss }:{ Import Time, tt }
  - { Import Time, HH }
  - { Import Time, hh }
  - { Import Time, ss }
  - { Import Time, tt }
- File:
  - { Import File Page Count }
  - { Import File Full Path and Name }
  - { Import File Full Name }
  - { Import File Name }
  - { Import File Extension }
  - { Import File Root }
  - { Import File Full Path }
  - { Import File Subfolder }
  - Subfolder level (1-10):

• Export:

- Date:
- Time:
- File:

• Creation:

Fields
Field labels
Field confidence levels
Field line counts

03 – Cache folder structure: the connector loads the Alfresco folder structure to retrieve the id of a folder. To speed up this process when the Alfresco’s folder structure is very large, you can enable this option. The cached folder structure will be reloaded after the specified duration (in minutes).

When we don’t find the id of a folder in the cached folder structure, we will create the folder in Alfresco and add it to the cache.

If a folder is cached but has been deleted in the meantime, the id does not exist anymore, and we will automatically recreate the cache and correctly create the folder.

04 – Description: each Alfresco document has a description. You can set up your description by combining fixed values, variables and metadata fields and. Click on the drop-down arrow to pick from a list of possible values.

05 – Content type: press the drop-down button to select the correct content type. All the Alfresco properties of the selected content type will be listed in the field mapping table.

06 – Aspects: aspects are global properties that can be used with any Alfresco document type.

Press the “Aspects” button to select aspects from a list. A content type is mandatory, aspects are optional. It is also possible to select multiple aspects.

The Alfresco fields list shows the fields of the content and your selected aspects.

NOTE: it could take some time until your complete list of aspects are loaded and your selected aspects are added to your list of Alfresco fields, please be patient.

NOTE: Aspects are implemented with CMIS 1.1 and CMIS 1.1 Basic Authentication. The “Aspects” button is disabled with other protocols.

07 – Field mapping: here you can map Alfresco properties with fixed values, variables and metadata fields.

1) Alfresco Field:this column shows all existing properties in the selected content type.

2) Value: in the value column, you can enter fixed values or use the drop-down arrow to compose the value using the current Workflow’s metadata fields or variables.

List of values:

Clear
My text here
{{}}
{ Space }

• Line:

- { Line Separator }
- { Line Number }
- { Line Count }

• System:

- Server:
- Operator:
- Current Date:
- Current Time:

• Workflow:

- { Workflow Name }

• Document:

- { Document Unique Id }
- Reject:
- { Document Number }
- { Document Count }
- Page:
- { Document File Size }
- { Document Dominant Language }
- { Document Source }
- { Document File Type }
- { Document PDF Compliance }

• Email:

- Inbox:
- { Email Unique ID }
- { Email Import Condition }
- Date:
- Time:
- From:
- To:
- Cc:
- { Email Subject }
- Attachment:
- { Email Attachments List }
- { Email Body Text }

• Import:

- Date:
  - { Import Date, System }
  - { Import Date, DDMMYYYY }
  - { Import Date, DD }/{ Import Date, MM }/{ Import Date, YYYY }
  - { Import Date, DD }-{ Import Date, MM }-{ Import Date, YYYY }
  - { Import Date, MMDDYYY }
  - { Import Date, MM }/{ Import Date, DD }/{ Import Date, YYYY }
  - { Import Date, MM }-{ Import Date, DD }-{ Import Date, YYYY }
  - { Import Date,YYYYMMDD }
  - { Import Date, YYYY }/{ Import Date, MM }/{ Import Date, DD }
  - { Import Date, YYYY }-{ Import Date, MM }-{ Import Date, DD }
  - { Import Date, JJJ }
  - { Import Date, YYJJJ }
  - { Import Date, DD }
  - { Import Date, DDD }
  - { Import Date, MM }
  - { Import Date, MMM }
  - { Import Date, YY }
  - { Import Date, YYYY }
  - { Import Date, W }
  - { Import Date, WW }
- Time:
  - { Import Date, System }
  - { Import Date, HHmmss }
  - { Import Time, HH }:{ Import Time, mm }:{ Import Time, ss }
  - { Import Date, HHmmsstt }
  - { Import Time, HH }:{ Import Time, mm }:{ Import Time, ss }:{ Import Time, tt }
  - { Import Time, HH }
  - { Import Time, hh }
  - { Import Time, ss }
  - { Import Time, tt }
- File:
  - { Import File Page Count }
  - { Import File Full Path and Name }
  - { Import File Full Name }
  - { Import File Name }
  - { Import File Extension }
  - { Import File Root }
  - { Import File Full Path }
  - { Import File Subfolder }
  - Subfolder level (1-10):

• Export:

- Date:
- Time:
- File:

• Creation:

Fields
Field labels
Field confidence levels
Field line counts

08 – Date format: the “Date format” is relevant when you map a DateTime Alfresco field type.

DateTime type Alfresco fields will only accept valid dates and times in a consistent format. It’s very important to enter the correct input DateTime format as it was extracted by MetaServer. This way, the Export to Alfresco action can automatically convert the DateTime values and correctly update the date property.

For example:
You want to export the extracted Inspection Date that has a “MM/DD/YYYY” format to a Date type field in Alfresco.
You specify the following input format in the Date format input field:
{ Date, MM }/{ Date, DD }/{ Date, YYYY }

TIP: you can copy the current settings and paste them in another setup window of the same type. Do this by pressing the Settings button in the bottom left of the Setup window and by selecting Copy. Then open another setup window of the same type and select Paste.

030-060 MetaServer Export – Export to Alfresco

• Line:

• System:

• Workflow:

• Document:

• Email:

• Import:

• Export:

• Creation:

• Line:

• System:

• Workflow:

• Document:

• Email:

• Import:

• Export:

• Creation:

Subscribe to our Newsletter