Files

Assign files in bulk

The photos from a photography campaign, the images a lender sends along, or the image folder of your previous collection software: the Bulk File Import uploads many files at once and assigns each one to the right object through its file name.

  1. Narrow the object selection if needed. Files are matched against the objects in the current selection. The dialog gives their number (Matching against n objects in the current selection).

  2. Open the import. Sidebar, Data In- & Export tab, Import section, Bulk File Import.

  3. Choose the target. Under Target, pick the image or file field to upload into under File field, for example the cover image. Whatever you enter under Keywords is given to every uploaded file.

  4. Choose the object field. Under Matching, box From the object, pick the field the file names correspond to, usually the inventory number. An example below shows the value of the first object. Several fields can also be joined, or turned into one key with a function.

  5. Choose the files with Choose files or by dropping them on the dialog.

  6. Check the matching. Above the table you see the counts, for example 3 matched, 1 without match. The tabs Matched, No match, Several matches and All show, for each file, the value taken from the file name and the object it hits; a click on the object opens it. To leave a file out, use the cross at the end of its row.

  7. Upload. The footer says what is still missing, or offers Start n uploads. The dialog then shows two bars, Uploaded and Processed. You can close it: the upload carries on as long as Moliri stays open in the tab, and the processing then continues on the server. Tasks shows the progress.

Film: a photography campaign in one step

From file name to key

The box From the file name sets which part of the name counts. The default is an Expression (a regular expression): it cuts off the file extension and, under Replace, a copy counter such as +1. Below the fields an example shows the result, using the first file you chose:

2000.839+1.jpg → 2000.839

If the inventory number looks different in the file name, for example Inv_2000-839_front.tif, adjust Expression and Group. For cases an expression cannot handle, Function switches to a small JavaScript function; it starts with what the expression would give and can read the file name, the file name without extension and the extension. Help with patterns: Regular expressions .

Matching

SettingEffect
ComparisonExact match: both keys are equal. Filename contained in field, Field contained in filename, Contains (Bidirectional): one key occurs in the other, from three characters on
Compare letters and digits onlyDots, dashes, slashes and spaces do not count: 2000.839 and 2000/839 match. Default: on
Case-sensitive matchingDefault: off
Upload to every matchIf a file hits several objects, it goes to all of them. Switched off, it goes to the first one only. Default: on

Moliri remembers the settings per project in this browser for next time. Under Presets you save them under a name, for example for the deliveries of a particular photographer.

The trap: similar numbers

With a series of similar numbers (100, 1000, 1001) and a contained comparison, a file easily hits several objects. The Several matches tab shows such files. The remedy is the Exact match comparison; once the expression has reduced the file name to the number, it is usually enough. Switching off Upload to every match does not help here: the file then goes to whichever of the matches comes first.

Try ten files first

Before running 800 files, do a run with ten and read the table. A wrongly set pattern assigns all 800 wrongly, and untangling them is manual work.

Further reading