About projects

The Project Client enables you to create and work with projects. When you add items to the Project Client and edit metadata using the Project Spreadsheet and other tools, they are saved as a part of the project. A project also is a set of Project Client settings associated with a collection on a CONTENTdm Server. These settings and the Project Client interface make it efficient to add items and metadata to your collection.

To get started working with the Project Client, you first create a project or import a shared project in which to add or edit items and metadata.

After you create a project by associating it with a collection on a CONTENTdm Server and giving it a name, the Project tab is available, and you can establish the settings you want to use by reviewing the Project Settings Manager, a centralized interface to view project information and edit many settings that can make adding items to your collection efficient. For example, you can set up metadata templates and other options that make working with your common file types easier. Default project settings match collection configuration settings and server settings, set using CONTENTdm Administration. Some Project Client settings will override these defaults. For more information, see Project settings.

You can share projects so that more than one Project Client can work on a project. Projects can be designated as shared when they are initially created. Sharing a project saves all project information, including items and settings, to a shared directory. Only one user at a time can work with a shared project. For more information, see Share a project.

While working in the project, you can use various wizards to add items to your Project Spreadsheet, enter metadata in the spreadsheet view or in the Item Editing tab, perform batch operations, and upload items to the CONTENTdm Server pending queue, where they are approved by an administrator. After they are reviewed, edited (if necessary), and approved, items can be added to a collection.

When you create a project, the project and any items or objects you add and edit before uploading to the collection are available for future use until deleted. See Close and delete a project for more information.  The most-recently used project always opens by default when you start the Project Client.

 Note:  

• To save project set-up time, project settings from existing projects can be exported from projects and imported to other Project Client projects. See Exporting Project Settings.
• Although a project can contain more than 10,000 items (including compound objects), to maintain acceptable upload times, we recommend you upload items to your collection in batches of about 10,000 items per upload. You can work with up to 20 projects per collection using the Project Client.