A site administrator can create a bundle of files if they have permission to access the Index feature within the Files module, and also permission to Create bundles.
A bundle allows you to package a selection of files from the Files module enabling them to be exported, archived and later imported on your own or another site. Files are archived in a ZIP file.
Creating the bundle
Click on Index in the menu on the left.
Select which files you want to add to the bundle, then navigate to Actions > Create bundle:
The Create bundle screen gives you options to organise files in the bundle, and if any numbering should be included (if auto-numbering is active for the site):
Bundle options
- Include folder structure - include the folder structure to help organise files. Note that if you selected folders and files for your bundle and did not tick "Include folder structure", these will still be included because they were selected as part of the bundle.
- Include root folder - include the top-level folder to help categorise files. If this is selected, the folder structure will also be included
- Include all versions - keep all versions of each file for reference
- Include special characters - deselect this option if the archive format or OS does not support special characters in file or folder names
- Include Index page - include an HTML index of the bundled files. If this is selected, the folder structure and root folder will also be included
- Include file metadata - include any file metadata associated with the files
Add an index if you want to include the folder structure for many files and need quick access.
Include document numbering
- Site index - if you have made a limited selection of files or folders then the numbers will retain the numbers as seen on the site, even if some files are not included
- Bundle index - the files and folders will be re-indexed so that the numbers are contiguous in the bundle
If you do not select one of these options, or auto-numbering is not activated on the site, no numbering will be included.
Use site numbering if you need to share the bundle with multiple recipients and cross-reference the original files on your site. Use the bundle numbering option if the bundle will be used as a self-contained set of files, with no reference back to the site.
After setting the bundling options, click Next.
Long file paths
File names (but not folder names) are automatically shortened to 64 characters before the file path length is checked.
Before the bundle is created, it is checked for long file paths (over 250 characters), as these cause errors when extracting the bundle on some Windows computers.
If long file paths are detected, the system provides an option to shorten ('round off') folder and file names.
If you do not want to shorten the file path, then make sure the checkbox is deselected and click Next. This will immediately skip to creating the bundle.
If your bundle contains many sub-folders, then it is possible that rounding off each file and folder name will excessively shorten the names, rendering them unidentifiable. The first text box sets the minimum length for any file or folder.
You can set the maximum file and folder length in the second text box.
The second value must be greater than the first. A warning is displayed if the total length of the file path still exceeds 250 characters.
Click Next check the rounding off rules and create the bundle.
Create bundle
A message is displayed while the bundle is created.
If you prepare a large bundle then you can close the message; when the bundle is ready an email will be sent to your registered email address with a link to the next step.
Save or share the bundle
The Create bundle screen provides download and sharing options. Select Download, Save to folder or Share.
- Download - download the bundle to your computer
- Save to folder - save a copy to a folder in a site where you have access
- Share - use Quick Share to share the bundle with selected users
Checking the bundle contents
The file is created with the site name, date and time of creation, for example, 'M&A - Due Diligence 17-Sep-2019 at 15.22.04.zip'.
Open or extract the file to see the contents. The exact contents depend on the options used to create the bundle - if folders are included then the file will be organised with the same folder structure used on the site. If the folder structure was not included then all files will be visible.
The Windows file system has a character limit of 256 characters for file names. If the file path exceeds the character limit, you will be unable to extract the zip file.
In order to resolve this issue, we recommend placing the bundled zip file at the root of your file system, so that the max file name limit does not impact the unzipping of the bundled zip.
Please note that the 256 character limit of file names can be changed in Windows 10.
Bundles with an index file
If the bundle includes an index, it will be included as index.html.
Please ensure that you expand the bundle zip before opening the index page. Failing to do so will stop the file index working properly
Open the index.html file to see a summary of the contents.
Or open the folder with the name of the site (in this example 'M&A - Due Diligence') to see the bundled files directly.
Click Expand all to see a hierarchy of all the bundled files. Either use this as a reference to find files, or click on a filename to download or view the file (depends on the file type and your browser settings).
View options
Click View to change how the index is displayed. Options allow you to view any metadata associated with each file.
- None - view the standard index list, without additional metadata
- Default - view columns that list additional metadata that has been created for each file
- Full screen - view only the file index in a full screen browser window - press Esc to exit full screen mode
To add additional views to this list, see Add and configure Views in iSheets.
Views and metadata
If you choose a view that displays metadata, then additional columns will display:
You can add or edit the metadata associated with a file. Open a file then click Edit metadata. Edit the fields as needed and click Save.
Searching in the index view
Select the Search and filter search box and type the search term you want to search on. The results show file names that contain the search term.
If the index view contains many files, click on the Filter button to select additional filters such as File types, Tags or Groups.
Click Clear filters to remove any filters and search terms that are selected.
Advanced search
If you have selected a view that shows metadata then the Advanced search button will be displayed.
Select Advanced search to see all search options, including the ability to perform a search based on metadata.
Bundle audit options
Activate bundle options in Admin module > Audit > Content management:
Single page bundling
As of 5.4, we have added the option of bundling documents into a 'Single page bundle'. To do this, when in the File Index view, select the documents you want to bundle together and click Actions > Create bundle:
The Create bundle screen is displayed. Within the Create bundle screen, click Single PDF and click Next:
The Create bundle - Single PDF screen is displayed:
Within the Create bundle - Single PDF screen, you have the option to include Auto numbering or Bates stamping. In addition, you can select to Include Table of Contents, shown below:
Please note that if you choose to include a table of contents, the site name and description will be added as an introductory text.
And to Add an empty page between documents.
Auto numbering
Auto numbering, as shown in the below screenshot:
Enables you to add sequential page numbers to the resulting document, starting from 1.
Additionally, you can select the Position; either top or bottom, and the Alignment; either left, right or centre. You can also provide a Title and Description for the bundle - this is pre-populated from the title and description of the site but this can be changed. You have the option to include folders in bookmarks for the documents that are created. This means that if you selected documents in the folder hierarchy at the start, it will automatically include those folders in the bookmarks when the bundle is generated. You can also choose All pages in the generated document bundle will be numbered, including empty pages and you can Add an empty page between documents.
Once you have selected your required options, click Next. The system will start generating the bundle:
Once the bundle has been generated, the following screen will be displayed:
Click Download to download your new bundle. Or click Cancel to cancel.
You can now share the bundle to whichever party needs it.
Bates stamping
Bates stamping as shown in the below screenshot:
Enables you to add numbering to the resulting document following the bates stamping standards.
In addition, you can add a Prefix, Suffix, Start number and Number of digits.
Finally, you can select the Position; either top or bottom, and the Alignment; either left, right or centre.
Once you have entered the details above, click Next.
The Create bundle screen will be displayed:
Once the bundle has been generated, the following screen will be displayed:
Click Download to download the bundle or Cancel to cancel.
Truncating file and folder names
Please note, that as of 5.4, file and folder names will now be rounded off, ensuring that all files and folders can be downloaded, irrespective of a file name limit.
This is done during the create a bundle process, and will we display an option to round off files names:
If you select this option, your files and folders will be rounded off to the limits provided.
