About compound objects

Compound objects are two or more files bound together with an XML structure. If working with any related item sets, such as multiple pages for an article, a book or a yearbook, ingest them as compound objects. 

Two types of compound objects are available to add using CONTENTdm Administration or Project Client:

1. Documents: A set of related items, such as multiple pages of a report, journal, or photo album. These are flat compound objects without chapters or sections. They are referred to as regular compound objects.
2. Monographs: Compound objects that have a hierarchical structure, such as a book with chapters and sections.

When creating compound objects in Project Client or CONTENTdm Administration, two additional types are available: Picture cubes and Postcards.  These types are deprecated, meaning you can still create them, but they show no distinction from other regular compound objects in the end-user interface.  Postcards are displayed as two-page objects and picture cubes are displayed as six-page objects.

Project Client provides the most functionality to handle compound objects, while the CONTENTdm Administration provides limited functions for compound objects.  See Web based compound object creation for more information.  

Additionally, CONTENTdm provides the capability to create PDF compound objects from multiple-page PDF files.  To create PDF compound objects this way, you do not use the Compound Object wizard.  For more information, see Work with PDF files.