Understand Monitored File Folders

You can automate importing and capturing files from a monitored folder on a computer. When you create an import job, you can designate any folder as a monitored folder. The import processor will then monitor that folder and process all files. You can also create an import job where you instruct the import processor to read list (text) files that list the files to be imported, along with their metadata.

Let's consider a scenario where employees of an organization scan expense reports on a multifunctional device and store them on a company network folder. In this case, what's required is an import job that uses a folder as the source type and the file import agent on the computer where the expense report folder resides. If the volume of the scanned documents is high, the file import agent can be set up on multiple computers that can access that network folder. So, the scanned documents can reside in subfolders and the multiple file import agent instances running on different machine can process subfolders simultaneously. The import processor, through the folder import job, monitors this folder on a regular interval, and through the file import agent it fetches new files and converts them into batches.

When you create a folder source import job, you can specify what file types the import job should monitor: TIFF, PDF, or all files. You can also specify whether each file should be an individual batch or a batch should include all files of a type or multiple types. A batch can include a maximum 500 files. The import processor also gives you the flexibility to specify the order in which files of a particular type should be processed. You can choose to delete the source files after they've been processed. To configure a folder import job, follow the steps in Configure File Importing from a Folder.

You can also create an import job through which the import processor monitors a folder and reads a list (text) file containing records that identify what needs to be imported into Content Capture: files, attachment files, and optionally, metadata values to be assigned to the files. To configure a list file import job, follow the steps in Configure List File Importing. After configuring the import job, you need to set up the File Import Agent.

Note:

It may happen that the file import agent crashes or loses connectivity when it is processing a list file job. If the agent doesn't recover during the default period of 60 minutes, previously uploaded files are forced-released and marked complete on the server. The agent still processes the remaining items from the list file job or rest of the files from the folder as new uploads.