Importing Documents

How to bulk import documents in Element451.

Eric Range avatar
Written by Eric Range
Updated over a week ago

On this page, we will go over how to import batches of documents step-by-step using the Document Import feature in Element451's Data module.

First, it is important to have your document types, source folders, and file names set up correctly. To learn more about managing document types, see here.

To set up your source folders, think about the different document types you will want to import (i.e. Resume, Unofficial Transcript, Official Transcript, Writing Sample, etc.). Also consider what data connector you would like to use for your imports. The data connectors feature works similarly for document imports as it does for data imports. You can choose between SFTP, Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, and a URL. For this example, we will use SFTP. Set up a folder in your SFTP and in your Documents Bin (within Element451) for each document type you will be importing and organize your files accordingly. We recommend distinguishing between documents for import and documents for export by having two main folders in your SFTP (one for "inbound" documents and the other for "outbound" documents). In your Documents Bin folders, you can organize by Document Type, application season, or whatever else works for you.

In order for each file to be matched to the intended student profile, the file name must include one of Element451's unique identifiers for a student: email address, ElementID, Spark ID, School ID, or User ID. It is also recommended to name each file in a document type/folder with the same overall format. For example, each file could be "[user:email_address]-transcript.pdf," or something along those lines.

Now that the document types, source folders, and file names are all set, let's get started!

1. Navigate to the Import section of the Data module and click the blue plus icon. Select Documents for the import type.

2. Choose a name for your import.

3. Select the Data Connector you would like to use. For this example, we will use SFTP. Choose SFTP, select the Connection, and then choose the relevant folder within the SFTP Connection if necessary (i.e. "documents").

4. Navigate to the Matching tab and click to add a rule. Toggle the option "Apply this filter to the main folder and the folder in it" if applicable (i.e. if you have the "Resume" folder within your "Documents" folder in the SFTP). Enter the file name based on your file name formats.

In the example below, the desired documents exist within the "Resume" folder (which is inside the"documents" folder selected in the screenshot above). The file names in this folder start with the student's email address followed by an "_." The "*" means that that part of the file name could contain any alphanumeric characters. Note that the email address, highlighted in orange, is a token and is what connects the file name to the particular student profile. Also note that there is a "*" after the "." in the file name, meaning that the file format could be .pdf, .docx, or something else and Element451 would still find it by this rule and import it.

5. Once you have the file name set up, navigate to the Import To tab. Here you can choose the corresponding document type in Element451 and decide if you would like to convert all the imported documents to a PDF, if you did not specify ".pdf" in the file name rule. Remember, you can modify what document types are available in the Documents module under Types.

6. Navigate to the Metadata tab. From this tab, you can add tags to the documents and choose which folder (managed in the Documents Bin section of the Documents tab) you would like the files to go to. Any documents imported with a Document Type will go to the Documents Bin, and these folders are how you can organize them. Click Done once you are happy with all the Rule settings. You can follow these steps again to add additional rules and import several different document types at once.

7. To further modify your document import, click on the filter icon to the right of the Rule. To edit the rule, click the blue gear icon and to delete it click the minus sign all the way to the right.

By clicking on the filter icon, you can specify which documents you would like to import based on the size of the file, the date on which the file was created, a token within the file name, or some combination of the three. For example, you might want to set a token filter that only imports files with names such that [user:email_address] contains the value ".edu," or a date filter that only imports documents uploaded since the import was last run.Β 

Note: Element451 imports any documents within the Data Connector that meets the conditions specified. Therefore, it is possible for Element451 to import the same document twice. Using the date filter is a good way to prevent duplicate imports.
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In this example, we have the rule set to import only documents created since January 15, 2020.
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Note: Be sure to add these filters to each rule within the import task you would like them to apply to.

8. Now that the rules and filters are set up, navigate to the Preview Tab in the import task. This tab will show you how many file matches there were and how many files there are in your folder that did not match any of the rules. You should review this Preview tab carefully to be sure all of the documents you intend to import are captured and double-check that the document will accurately match up to the relevant student.

In the screenshot below, notice that there were no matches for "Resume" on the first rule, but that there was one match each for the second two rows. You can also see the names of the files that matched up to those second two rules.

9. Next, go to the Run Task tab and choose to either run the task immediately or schedule it, as you would for data imports.

To learn about exporting documents, see here.

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