Hot Folder support
eDoc Organizer can monitor certain predefined or user specified directories for files. When new files are detected in these directories, they get automatically imported into eDoc Organizer
Released as part of version 3.8 update to eDoc Organizer.
-—————————————————————————
Folder monitoring support has how been added to eDoc Organizer.
The current implementation is not an active sync between the folder being monitored and eDoc Organizer. During import the file in the monitored folder can either be deleted or moved to a backup folder. This is more of a traditional implementaiton of Folder Monitoring.
This feature is now undergoing more testing. We expect to release it in the next update to eDoc Organizer before the end of 2011.
-
Anonymous commented
I'd like the hotfolder support as well as state by Tim. Like music libraries have "watch folders". Whatever is in these watch folders should be added automatically (documents in subfolders as well).
And also I'd like to be able to rename a file in either the hotfolder or edoc and the file name to change in both locations.
-
JC commented
I would like to get the hotfolder support as well
-
Traditionally most Hot Folder features delete the file once it is imported into the Document Management System. This is to save disk space and not duplicate the files in multiple folders on the user's sytsem. But we realize that there could be a genuine need to keep file in both places (hot folder & eDoc Organizer).
Here is what we have so far. The folder monitoring feature will work as follows:
- For a specified folder eDoc Organizer will automatically check the folder and all its subfolders for newer files on a specific timer. Currently we are thinking about making the time interval every 1 minute.
- By default the files that are imported will be deleted from the watched folder.
- If the user decides to not delete the files after they are imported, we will create a database to keep track of the files that have already been imported and their last modified time stamp.
- If the user also chooses to reimport files when they are modified after import, we will compare the file’s last modified timestamp in our database with its current last modified timestamp. If it has changed since last import, we will reimport the file. But there is no connection to the file that was imported the first time around. So a reimport will create a new file in eDoc Organizer. Essentially now you have two copies of the file in eDoc Organizer: the original import and the new reimported file.Now to address your other two suggestions:
1. Ask the user to label documents as they are being imported - The import from hot folder will be done in the background. We don't want to stop the user from doing what they are doing at the moment to ask them to label the documents. This will slow down the process a lot especially for Network Edition users. We plan to just import the files and let the labeling be done at a later time at the user's convenience. There are also other suggestions like Auto Labeling based on the documents content that will help with this process in the future.
2. Automatically label based on the folder name (e.g. electric) - Labelling based on folder name is not sufficient for most documents. We encourage and recommend users to apply multiple labels to any given document. e.g. Labelling a document electric is not sufficient, you probably want to also add the month, year, etc. You could argue to you could make complex folder hierarchies to accomplish that as well. But if you have to maintain these complex folder structures outside of eDoc Organizer, it sort of defeats the purpose of using eDoc Organizer in the first place. Not having to use folders to organize your documents is what eDoc Organizer is all about :-). -
gcmckee commented
Thanks for starting on this Karlie; the original idea said nothing about deleting the file, just importing. So, let's say I have set up a windows folder for scans and a sub-folder for my electric bill. I could scan documents to the general folder (to be picked up by EDO and manually labled, either at time of import or later) or ,to the electric bill sub-folder (at my discretion) whereupon EDO would automatically just pick up the new .PDF, automatically label it and automatically import it into EDO, all ready to be retrieved. The only think that I the user would have to do is either put in the date or else "check a box" to default to the file creation date. The original .PDF would stay resident in both places. This could really cut down on labeling time, which is my biggest time eater with EDO.
-
Thanks for your comment Tim. It seems like you have a slightly different interpretation of the feature than we had originally thought of. In our original investigation, we were planning on accepting files in a specific folder and delete them after they are sufccessfully imported in the database. What you are asking for is a folder that is outside of eDoc control where you can modify files and we can import them when they change without deleting them. Very interesting! Thank you for the suggestion and your input.
-
Tim commented
This would be a key feature for any user. Very few files go unchanged and this would eliminate the need to periodically update the import file. A similar feature the highly requested "watch folders" in popular music management software.
-
gcmckee commented
I am starting to really like this concept; this way, if I were to save a file in a certain folder, it could automatically be imported into eDO.. There would need to be some prompt at the time of import in order that the files could be tagged, but the more I think about it, this would be a very, very useful addition to eDO, as far as I'm concerned. I'd like to see this one bumped up the list, despite it's apparent lack of popular support in this forum.
-
Patti commented
What a great concept - items could be saved at the time you received them to specific folders that would automatically be imported into EDO upon arrival in the background. You wouldn't be waiting for manually imported items from various locations and it would be a double check measure that nothing be forgotten. Labelling could be done when time was available.