CONTENTdm Online Help - Replacing a Batch of Images in a Collection

Multiple images within a collection can be replaced at once using the Acquisition Station search to locate and download an item into the Acquisition Station. (Images that comprise compound objects can also be replaced in this manner.) When you have finished working with images they must be uploaded to the pending queue for Collection Administrator approval and addition to the collection database.

Use Batch Replace any time you have more than a few images in a collection or the Acquisition Station that you want to replace. Item metadata is retained (but may be edited) and project template settings and any image rights settings within the project are conveyed to the replacement items.

Two examples below show how Batch Replace might be used:

A selection of images within a collection may have been scanned at a low resolution. After creating new high resolution scans, use Batch Replace to swap the low quality scans with higher quality images while the metadata remains unchanged.
Items may have been added to a collection without image right options, such as a copyright. After setting up image rights options within the Acquisition Station, use Batch Replace to swap out the non-copyrighted images for identical replacement images. The replacement images will be branded during the Batch Replace operation as they are added into the Acquisition Station.

Once images are replaced, upload the items to the pending queue. The Collection Administrator must add the items to the collection and build the text index to complete the process of adding the replacement items to a collection.

Before you begin

To perform a Batch Replace, the replacement images must be saved in a local directory.
Items you wish to replace must be in the Acquisition Station Spreadsheet.
There must be a mapping (or correspondence) between the metadata records in the Acquisition Station and the file names of the replacement images. This mapping should be planned in advance of performing the Batch Replace, in this way a specified metadata field serves as the root file name for the replacement item.

Make certain the file names of each of the replacement items correspond to the metadata field of the image it should replace. In the example below, the Identifier metadata field in the Spreadsheet corresponds to the replacement items in the local directory, so the metadata field contents and file names would look something like this:

metadata field and file names

The final item in the Acquisition Station with 522 in the Identifier field would not be replaced during the Batch Replace operation because there is no corresponding root file name in the replacement files.

To replace a batch of items:

If the items you want to replace are already downloaded into the Acquisition Station, skip ahead to step 6. If the items you want to replace are not downloaded into the Acquisition Station, open the project in the Acquisition Station that corresponds to the collection containing the items you want to replace.
From the toolbar in the Acquisition Station, click Search. The query window opens.
From the tabs at the top of the query window choose Search Selectable Fields or Search Across All Fields.
- To search selectable fields, choose the field you wish to search and click in the text box next to the field name. The vocabulary list at right displays all keywords within the database that are contained in the selected field. Double-click a word in the list to place it in the text box.
- To search across all fields, type a keyword or keywords into the text box next to one of the available fields.
Click Search. Thumbnail views of the results will appear.
To download the search results into the Acquisition Station, click Grab Set. To download individual items, double-click on the thumbnail images of the items you want to download. The Media Editor opens. Click Save to download the item. Note: No more than 100 items at a time can be downloaded into the Acquisition Station using Grab Set operation.
After downloading all the items you want to replace, click Batch Replace from the Tools menu in the Acquisition Station. The Batch Replace dialog opens.
You will need to specify your settings for the replacement files. To do this, use the pulldown list to specify the metadata field to which you have mapped your replacement images. In the example below, the replacement file names are mapped to the Identifier metadata field.
Browse to the directory containing your replacement images. Double-click on the directory so that the replacement file names are displayed in the Browse dialog box. Click OK.
Click Next. A confirmation dialog box is displayed.
Confirm your settings by clicking Finish. A summary dialog box lists the number and names of items replaced.
Click OK to exit. Items in the Acquisition Station have been replaced and can be uploaded for Collection Administrator approval.

Tip: No more than 100 items at a time can be downloaded into the Acquisition Station using the Grab Set operation, but you may "grab" different batches of 100 items several times in a row. To maintain acceptable upload times, no more than 5000 items total can exist in an Acquisition Station project at any one time. If using the Grab Set operation would cause the number of items in the project to exceed 5000 you will need to create a new project, delete or upload items from the project, or limit the number of items you are attempting to download into the project.

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