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Use the Item Editing tab

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Learn how to open an item editing tab, enter metadata, edit compound objects, and manage the item editing tabs in Project Client.

The Item Editing tab provides the metadata editor and other features useful for entering or editing item and object metadata after the item has been added to the project or found in the collection and added to the project for editing.

The Item Editing tab displays after you have opened an item in a new tab from the Project tab spreadsheet view. The tab label displays the item title. The left task bar displays the collection name and project name, followed by the item title, type, thumbnail, and a link to view the item in the Item Viewer. (The Item Viewer provides zoom options, flip features and access to editing the image rights option).

The left task bar displays the collection name and project name, followed by the item title, type and thumbnail. The left task bar also provides quick access to item editing and other tasks.

If you open a compound object in a separate tab from the project spreadsheet, the Item Editing tab view provides additional features useful for working with those types of objects.

Opening an Item Editing tab

To open an item in an Item Editing tab:

  • From the Project tab project spreadsheet, double-click the item thumbnail. (Alternatively, you can right-click the thumbnail and select Open in New Tab.)
  • The item is opened in a new tab, with the item title displayed as the tab label.

Entering metadata

To enter metadata in the Item Editing tab’s metadata editor, type directly into the Field Values cells. Always save your changes (by clicking the Save button) before closing the tab.

When entering metadata note that:

  • Required fields are flagged by a red icon and cannot be uploaded for approval until they contain metadata.
  • All fields are displayed (up to 125 fields, displaying a maximum of 256 characters). You can resize the columns, but you cannot configure which fields are displayed.
  • Administrative fields or fields that are not editable are displayed with a light blue background color, at the bottom of the Metadata Editor.

The Item Editing tab provides several features to help with entering data.

  • To display field properties, double-click the Field Name cell.
  • To open a separate text editor for data entry, double-click the Field Values cell.
  • To cut, copy, paste and delete data, right-click in the Field Values cell and select the appropriate function.
  • To check spelling click Spell Check.
  • To find and replace terms within the item or object, click Find & Replace.
  • To add a text file to a field, select a row and from the Edit menu, click Add Text File or right-click the cell and from the resulting menu, click Add Text File.
  • To work with a controlled vocabulary, click in a field that has a controlled vocabulary to display the Controlled Vocabulary pane.
  • To add OCR text to the full-text field of the current item, click the Edit menu or the More Actions menu, and select Add OCR Text.
  • To edit permissions, click Permissions from the left taskbar, under Item Editing Tasks.
  • To change the thumbnail image, click Change Thumbnail from the left taskbar, under Item Editing Tasks.
  • To replace the item, click Replace Item.
  • To view the item in the Item Viewer and apply image rights to images, click View in the left taskbar, under the thumbnail.
    • Other media types, such as audio and video, rely on a device's default application to view and will either open the file in the application or open a File Download window.
    • PDF files display in the default PDF viewer.

If your project has a Date data type field, see Enter dates.

Extra spaces, tabs, carriage returns, and HTML are not recognized by the CONTENTdm Server and should not be used in your metadata with two exceptions:

  • The HTML tag can be used in all metadata fields.

     Note: If you are editing metadata for an item that already has been added to the collection, the
    tag may display in the Project Client as "<BR>". You do not need to edit this, and the HTML
    tag will function properly when the item is uploaded back to the collection and viewed by end users.

  • Carriage returns can be used only in full text search fields to aid in formatting when page text and page image are displayed side by side.

Keyboard controls

Keyboard shortcuts within the metadata editor make it easier to enter metadata and perform common operations without using a mouse.

  • Press Tab to close the current active cell and move one cell to the right (forward).
  • Press Shift + Tab to close the current active cell and move one cell to the left (backward).
  • Press Enter to close the current active cell and move down one row.
  • Press Ctrl + c to copy text from an outlined cell.
  • Press Ctrl + v to insert copied text into an outlined cell.
  • Press Ctrl + x to cut text from an outlined cell.
  • Press Ctrl + arrow key to move to the farthest cell in that direction.
  • Press Ctrl + Enter to insert a carriage return in the text in an active cell. This formatting is displayed only when used in a full text search field and the page text and page image are viewed side by side in the Web interface.

Paging through the project spreadsheet using the Item Editing tab

  • You can use the Item Editing tab view as a way to enter metadata for multiple items in the project spreadsheet.
  • By using the Save and Back and Save and Next buttons, you can save records and automatically load the next record in the order of the project spreadsheet in the same open tab.

Editing compound objects

Using the Item Editing tab to enter or edit metadata for compound objects provides all of the above features and functions described in Entering metadata, as well as several features that help you work with the structure of compound objects.

  • When a compound object is opened in an Item Editing tab, the compound object-level record is displayed.
  • To access the page-level metadata and navigate the compound object, click the page from the navigation pane.
  • Note that when you select different pages of the compound object, the object information and thumbnail displayed in the left task bar updates for each page.
  • You can change the view of the compound object navigation pane by clicking the View drop-down menu. This enables you to switch between a structural, thumbnail or spreadsheet view of the object.
  • The Item Editing tab provides several features to help you edit compound objects.
  • The spreadsheet view of the compound object provides fill functions and the other editing options available when using the project spreadsheet.  See Enter data using the Project tab for more information.

 Note: You cannot edit the structure or delete pages of PDF compound objects. For more information, see About Working with PDF Files.

Add a page to a compound object

  1. On the Item Editing tab, click the Add New Item icon.
  2. On the Project tab, (with the compound object open still) right-click the item thumbnail that you want to add and select Add Item To. Select the compound object name.
  3. Go back to the Item Editing tab view of the compound object to see the new page.
  4. Click Save to save the change

Move a page of a compound object

  1. Select the page in the navigation pane.
  2. Click the Up or Down arrow until the page is in the desired position.
  3. Click Save to save the change.

Delete a page of a compound object

  1. Select the page in the navigation pane.
  2. Click the Remove Item icon.
  3. Click OK to confirm the page deletion.
  4. The page is removed from the compound object.
  5. Click Save to save the change

Rename a page of a compound object

  1. Select the page in the navigation pane (use the Structure view, not Thumbnails).
  2. Slow left-click the page name in the navigation pane.
  3. Type in the new page name and press Enter. 

     Note: Names can consist of up to 255 characters.

  4. Click Save to save the change.

For more information about working with compound objects in CONTENTdm, see Compound objects. For information about working with finding aids, see Add finding aid.

Managing Item Editing tabs

  • You can open multiple Item Editing tabs for multiple items at once. The separate tabs remain open until you manually close them (or close the project).
  • Tabs are ordered from left to right in the order you opened them in. They cannot be reordered after opening.
  • If you have opened several tabs, use the arrow buttons to scroll through tabs.