Jumpstart my first collection

Learn how to Add items and review your website to jumpstart your first collection in CONTENTdm.

Before you begin

To jumpstart your collection, you need a user account on the CONTENTdm Server with rights to approve items and build indexes.  

An item is an image, PDF, audio, video, or other digital file.

Add items

Step 1: Add items

  1. Navigate to your CONTENTdm Administration URL. When prompted, enter your user name and password.
  2. Click the Items tab, and then click Add.
  3. Select My First Collection (an empty collection that you can rename later) and click Change.
  4. Select whether you are adding an item or a URL.  Then, enter the URL or browse for the item.
  5. Add the metadata related to the item or URL.  Required fields are designated with a red asterisk.
  6. Select whether you want CONTENTdm to generate a thumbnail or whether you want to upload a custom thumbnail that you have created for the item.
  7. Click Add. The item is added to the Approve queue.
  8. Repeat steps 4-7 to add additional items.

Step 2: Approve & index items

When you add items, the items are added to the Approve queue, where they must be approved and indexed before they'll display on your website.

  1. Navigate to your CONTENTdm Administration URL.
  2. Click the Item tab and then click Approve.
  3. The approval queue displays. Select Approve & Index All, and click Go.
  4. A status message displays progress and completion.

Review your Website

You can review what your collection looks like by navigating to your CONTENTdm Website URL.

  1. From the website Home page, click My First Collection to display the collection landing page. 
  2. Click Browse All to view the items in your collection.  

Next steps