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Enter metadata for compound objects

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Learn how to add metadata for compound objects using the Project Spreadsheet, Item Editing tab, or tab-delimited text files.

With compound objects, you have two levels of metadata to be concerned with:

  • Compound object-level metadata: The information about the compound object itself, such as title, name descriptor, creator.
  • Page-level metadata: The information about each page, which may include a full text transcript. Using the OCR Extension, you can also add OCR text to new or existing items. See Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for more information.

You can enter metadata using:

  • Project Spreadsheet
  • Item Editing Tab
  • Tab-delimited Text Files

Project spreadsheet

  • After you add compound objects to the Project Client, they are displayed in the project spreadsheet.
  • You can enter compound object-level metadata in the spreadsheet view by typing directly into fields.
  • For more information about using the features of the project spreadsheet to enter metadata, see Enter data using the Project Tab.
  • To edit page-level metadata, open the compound object in a new tab.

Item editing tab

  • After you add a compound object to the Project Client, it is displayed in the project spreadsheet. To view the compound object in more detail, enter page-level metadata and compound object-level metadata, and take advantage of more features, open the object in a new tab.
  • To open the compound object in a new tab, double-click the thumbnail or right-click the thumbnail and select Open in New Tab.
  • The compound object opens in a new tab. You can enter compound object and page level metadata. You also can restructure the compound object.
  • For more information about using the features of the item editing tab to enter metadata, see Use the Item Editing Tab.

Tab-delimited text files

Tab-delimited text files provide a way to enter compound object-level and page-level metadata for compound objects. Tab-delimited text files can be used when importing single or multiple compound objects. If you have page-level metadata for all of your compound objects, do not import multiple compound objects using the Object List. The following summary describes the tab-delimited text files that can be used with the different kinds of compound object import.

Compound Object wizard or Multiple Compound Object wizard using single compound object mode

  • You must enter compound object-level metadata if you use tab-delimited text files.
  • You have the opportunity to enter page-level metadata if you use a tab-delimited text file. See Add compound objects with tab-delimited text files.
  • Ideal if you are importing one or two items or want to check settings before importing many compound objects.

Multiple Compound Object Wizard using Directory Structure

  • You must set up your import directories with separate subdirectories for each compound object that you import. Within each subdirectory is a tab-delimited file that contains the metadata, and optionally, the structure within the tab-delimited text file. See Add multiple compound objects with a Directory Structure.

Multiple Compound Object wizard using Object List

  • If you wish to add page-level metadata, do not use the Object list, which does not allow for page-level metadata to be used in tab-delimited text files. The tab-delimited text file contains compound object-level metadata. See Add multiple compound objects with an Object List.