Skip to main content
OCLC Support

Build a collection index

  1. Last updated
  2. Save as PDF

Indexing adds item metadata to the database so that items can be searched and browsed. You can build a collection index if you have rights to Approve items and build indexes.

Using this function, CONTENTdm administrators can build an index that includes all recently added items within a collection and reflects any changes made within a collection. This allows all items and changes to be visible when viewing the collection through the website.

You can build the index:

  • Immediately
  • At a scheduled time, either one-time or recurring

CONTENTdm indexes your collections incrementally most of the time. Incremental indexing means that only the changes are made to the index, eliminating the need to completely rebuild the entire collection index for minor edits. For example, CONTENTdm incrementally builds the index for the addition of new items or for edited items. A full index is built when you have made global changes to the collection. For example, if you have added or removed a searchable field, then a full index is built. A full index is also built if you have made changes using global find and replace functions.

It is recommended that you plan regular indexing in your workflow to ensure your collections are kept up-to-date. Using the scheduled indexing option is recommended.

 Note: Only one approval or index process can run at a time for the same collection (i.e., approval and index processes do not run simultaneously). For example, when a scheduled index is running on the server, the subsequent scheduled approval is queued and will be run when the scheduled index completes.

To access the index page

After logging in CONTENTdm Administration, click the items tab and then click index. (Project Client users with appropriate rights can access the Index page from the Administration menu.) You can review information about past index builds, as well set up or manage scheduled and pending indexes.

 Note: Items and metadata changes will not be included in the index process unless they have been approved. You can choose to initiate an index process by using the Approve & Index All option. For more information, see Approve items.

Building the index immediately 

Building the index immediately begins building the index as soon as you initiate it. Indexing can take some time to complete but happens in the background (you can continue working in CONTENTdm Administration after it is started).

Build the index immediately

  1. Open CONTENTdm Administration and navigate to the Index page.
  2. In the Index Scheduler box, click Index Now.
  3. The Index page reloads, displaying a status message while the index builds. You cannot start another index until completion.

When the index process completes, the Index page displays an updated index status and history.

Scheduled indexing 

You can choose to set up an index process to start once at a specified future date and time, or to use recurring index processes, set to start at a specific time and day(s). This is a useful way to automate some of your collection management tasks and allow indexing to run in the background during convenient times. (You may want to schedule related approval processes, as well. For more information, see Approve items.) After you have set up scheduled indexing, you can view and cancel pending indexes.

When a scheduled index process is running, you cannot start another index (i.e., the Index Now button is unavailable).

 Note: All times are displayed in the time zone of your server.

Schedule a one-time index process

  1. Open CONTENTdm Administration and navigate to the Index page.
  2. In the Index Scheduler box, select the Once On option and specify the date and time that the index process should start. Clicking in the date field displays a calendar that you can use to select a date.
  3. Click Schedule Index to save. The Index page reloads, with the new scheduled index process displayed as pending. (You may need to click See All in the Scheduled Indexes — Pending box to see all pending indexes because the box displays only the next three index processes.)

You can confirm that the process was successfully run by viewing the index history.

Schedule a recurring index process

  1. Open CONTENTdm Administration and navigate to the Index page.
  2. In the Index Scheduler box, select the Recurring At option and specify the time and day(s) that the index process should always be started
  3. Click Schedule Index to save. The Index page reloads, with the new scheduled index process displayed as pending. (You may need to click See All in the Scheduled Indexes — Pending box to see all pending indexes because the box displays only the next three index processes.)

You can confirm that the process was successfully run by viewing the index history.

Cancel scheduled indexes

  1. Open CONTENTdm Administration and navigate to the Index page.
  2. In the Scheduled Indexes — Pending box, find the scheduled index process you want to cancel, and then click Cancel. If you have more than three pending indexes, click See All. The Scheduled Indexes page displays, listing all pending indexes. You can choose to cancel one or all scheduled indexes.

After clicking Cancel or (Cancel All), a dialog box displays, confirming that you want to cancel the index process(es).

 Note: Canceling recurring pending indexes cancels all occurrences.

  1. Click OK to confirm the cancellation. The Index page displays, with the cancelled scheduled index(es) removed from the pending list.

Index History 

The index history enables you to review the date, time, duration and number of items included in the index. If an index failed, you can access a log to learn more.

To review the index history:

On the Index page in the Index History box, review the recent index history. To learn more about any failed index, click View Log. To review more index history, click See All.

Index command line utility 

This utility is located in the bin directory of the server. To run it, you must open a command prompt and change directories to the bin directory of your server.

Use the build command line utility

  1. Open a command prompt on your CONTENTdm Server.
  2. Navigate to the bin directory of your CONTENTdm Server. The default location is /bin.
  3. Enter the following:

buildcmd /alias where alias is the alias of the collection. (To look up the alias name for your collection, check your configuration settings in the collection tab of CONTENTdm Administration.)

Example:

buildcmd /uw

When successfully completed, the command line screen indicates that the index build was successful.