Importing a document load file via Import/Export

You can use Import/Export to import document load files (.dat, .csv, and .txt) into RelativityOne that contain document metadata, native files, or extracted text. You're also able to use saved job profiles to expedite the configuration process.

Refer to Import/Export load file specifications for more information regarding load files.

If you want to use Import/Export with Express Transfer, which is the recommended workflow, refer to Express Transfer overview for more information.

To import a document load file:

1. Use tabs, search, or the quick nav bar to navigate to the Import/Export Job page.

2. On the Import/Export Job page, click the New Import/Export Job button to start a new job.

3. On the Choose workflow dialog, the Import button is selected by default. Next, click the Structured (Processed) Data workflow box to import a document load file to your workspace.
   

Note: If Express Transfer has been activated, the Express Transfer section will display a status of Active. See Activating and deactivating Express Transfer for more information.

4. On the Choose the Load File type dialog, click the Document box to import a document load file to your workspace.

   
   

5. If Express Transfer is not Active, skip this step. If it is Active, click Select on the Select data to Import dialog to browse to your local drive and select the folder with the files that you want to upload. In the case of universal naming convention (UNC) paths (for example, \\ServerName\SharedResourceName\FilePath), you can copy and paste the path into the Select Folder address bar at the top of the dialog box in order to access the desired folder.
   
   

   Notes:
   • You can choose only one folder with files to transfer.
   • We recommend using a local drive instead of a mapped or external drive to avoid potential slowness and connection issues with the file import process.
   • You should not zip the data when importing data with Express Transfer active.
   • When you select a folder to upload, Express Transfer will transfer all the data from the selected folder to the staging area, regardless of the specific job configuration.

6. On the Choose load file and location dialog, complete the following fields, then click Continue:

   
   

   • Job Name—provide a descriptive job name so that you can quickly identify and track that job on the Import/Export Job Page. The Job name field accepts up to 50 characters.

   • Destination folder—click the Select button, and do one of the following:

     • Choose an existing folder.
     • Create a new workspace folder by right-clicking on an existing folder, click Create, enter a new folder name, click out of the new folder to save it, then click Select.

   • Profile—are job configuration settings that were previously saved to a profile file (.ie or .kw*) so they can be reused when creating future jobs with the same or similar settings in RelativityOne, which saves time and effort as well as helps prevent data entry errors when you're mapping fields, for example. Profiles with the ".ie" extension can only be used in Import/Export.

     • None—select this option if you do not desire to use a profile for this import or if you intend to create a new profile based on the settings entered in the upcoming steps. You will be able to save the profile settings later on the “Import settings” dialog. The file extension for the new profile created will be “.ie”.

     • From Local Disk Profiles—use this option to select a previously saved Import/Export profile (.ie file) or an existing .kw* profile (created via the RDC application) to reuse the job settings for this workflow. Use the drag and drop feature or browse for a file to choose it. All job settings provided within the selected profile file will be automatically entered where applicable in the succeeding workflow dialogs.

   • Regional Settings (Date and Time)—the default date and time format is "English (United States)," which is MM/DD/YYYY and HH:MM:SS AM/PM. If you want date and time data to be imported using a different format, choose the appropriate one from the drop-down list. A preview of the chosen regional setting will appear below the selection.

   • Load File—use the drag and drop feature or click browse for a file to select the document load file from your local drive.

   • Include Native & Text—select this option to include native and text files.

   • Native & Text—if Include Native & Text was selected, use the drag and drop feature or click browse for a file to select the zipped native and text file from your local drive.

   • (Optional) Notification Addresses—enable email notifications by providing the email addresses of those who should get notified once the job completed, failed, or canceled.

7. On the Load File Settings dialog, select the delimiters and encoding values of the document load file for the import, then click Continue. The File Column Headers Preview pane on the right will help you to choose the proper settings.

• File Encoding—select an encoding format for the document load file. Consult your processing vendor or department to determine the correct encoding option, if necessary. The File Column Headers Preview pane on the right automatically updates when you select the File Encoding type. Since the load file is parsed based on the delimiter set, you may need to check delimiters used in the load file if the column headers are not lined up correctly. Determine the delimiters used in the file, and then select them in the delimiters section of this dialog.
  

• First Line Contains Column Names toggle—select this option if the first line contains column names.

• Select the delimiters and encoding values used by your load file as needed:

  • Column—select the character used to separate columns.

  • Quote—select the character used as the text qualifier.

  • Newline (Long Text Fields)—select the character used to indicate the end of a line in any extracted text or long text field.

  • Multi-Value—select the character used to separate choices within a field.

  • Nested Value—select the character used to separate the different levels of a multi-choice hierarchy.

8. Next, select the load file fields to import and map to the workspace fields, then click Continue.

   

   To automatically map fields, click Auto Map Fields, and the fields from the load file will be mapped to any existing fields of the exact same name in the workspace. Any fields without a match will display "Choose..." in the Workspace Fields column and you will need to select one from the drop-down list. To search for a field in the list, begin typing the desired field name and matching search results display for selection.

Consider the following when auto-mapping fields:

• Case is not taken into account for the mapping. For example, a field named "email" in the load file would map to a field named "Email" in the workspace.

• Spacing is taken into account. For example, in a two-word field name, if there is one space between words in the workspace field, and two spaces between words in the load file field, the fields will not be mapped.

• Characters are mapped only to themselves. For example, an underscore is only mapped to another underscore, not to a space.

Only fields matched in the center columns or those with additional settings selected are loaded into the workspace. Other fields in the Load File Fields and Workspace Fields are ignored. You must always match the identifier field for the load file.

Other options and fields on this dialog:

• Create Field button—click this button if you want to create a new workspace field.

• Mapped to the top toggle—when turned on, this option groups all mapped fields on the top of the listing.

• Load File Sample column—presents read-only example data from the load file fields.

• Load File Fields column—displays the field names from the load file. Use the Filter box to search for field names.

• Workspace Fields column—allows you to manually map the load file fields to the existing workspace fields. Use the Filter box to search for field names.

• Additional Field Settings column—to enable additional field settings, click the Choose down arrow in this column to select the additional field as follows:
  
  

• Extracted Text—select this option if the field in the load file includes extracted text, and then select the File Encoding type.

• Folder Information Column—select this option if you want to use a metadata field to build the folder structure for the workspace.

• Native File—select this option if the field from your load file contains a relative or absolute path to the native files. If using absolute paths, you must activate Express Transfer.

9. On the Import Settings dialog, configure your import job by selecting from which line number you want the load file to begin importing and how you want the records to be imported.
   

   • Start Line—select the line number in the load file where you want the import process to begin. The default value is set to 0, which results in loading the entire load file.

   • Import mode—Choose an import mode.

     • Append Only—loads only new records.

     • Append/Overlay—adds new records and overlays data on existing records.

       Note: For Append/Overlay and Overlay Only, if a blank metadata field exists in the load file (.dat, .csv), the blank value will overlay (remove) any existing value that may reside in the corresponding mapped field.

     • Overlay Only—updates existing records only. If selected, then you must include an Overlay Identifier in an overlay load. This field acts as a link indicating to RelativityOne where to import the data.

   • Multi-Select Field Overly Behavior—this field displays if you selected Overlay Only or Append/Overlay as the Import Mode and have mapped at least one Multiple Choice or Multiple Object field. Choose one of the following options:

     • Use Field Settings—merges or replaces all values for multi-choice and multi-object fields in the load file with corresponding multi-choice and multi-option fields in the workspace. The fields are merged according to the overlay behavior settings in the environment.

     • Merge Values—merges all values for multi-choice and multi-object fields in the load file with corresponding multi-choice and multi-option fields in the workspace. The fields are merged regardless of the overlay behavior settings in the environment.

     • Replace Values—replaces all values for multi-choice and multi-object fields in the load file with corresponding multi-choice and multi-option fields in the workspace. The fields are merged regardless of the overlay behavior settings in the environment.

10. (Optional) Click Save Settings on the Import settings dialog to export the job configuration settings entered thus far to its own profile file (.ie file extension) and save it on your computer so that you can reuse these settings when creating a new import job with Import/Export.

    Note: Import/Export saves job configuration settings to its own profile file format (.ie file extension). Comparing to the legacy .kw* standard, it brings more flexibility as you now can apply saved job settings across various workspaces. Other Data Transfer tools, like Relativity Desktop Client, do not support the new profile file format (.ie file extension).

11. (Optional) Click Precheck Load File on the Import settings dialog to run a validation process on the load file to check for errors prior to importing it. All detected errors are displayed in the Precheck window. Click the down arrow to the right of any error message to view its details. Click Cancel to discontinue importing the file so that you can correct the errors in the source file(s) and repeat the importing steps, or click the Import button to start importing the load file with the errors. The following validations are performed during precheck:

    • Date format
    • Field type
    • Field length
    • Number of load file cells
    • Number of folders and choice fields
    • File paths for natives and extracted text (checks 1,000 random lines across the whole load file)

    Note: The Precheck Load File summary dialog displays a maximum of 1,000 errors for each error category. For example, if an error category has 2,000 errors, only the first 1,000 will display in the drop-down list.

12. Click the Import button to start the importing process.

13. Review the importing progress on the Importing dialog. Click the Cancel button if you need to stop the import job before it completes. Click the Close button when the importing process is complete.

Caution: If you imported data without activating Express Transfer, keep the Importing dialog open until the data is successfully past the Transferring stage. Closing the dialog earlier will terminate the data transfer.

14. When the import is complete, the Import Summary displays. If no errors were found in the load file, go to the next step. If errors were found, the number and other information will be listed. You can do either of the following:

    • To proceed without correcting the errors, go to the next step.
    • To manually correct them now, click the Download Error Load File button. Review the errors and correct them as needed. When done, upload the file with the corrected data by clicking the Select button on the Import Summary screen next to New Load File and navigating to the file on your local drive. Once selected, click Import to import the job with corrected data.

    Note: Only records that imported without errors will appear in the workspace.

    
    
    

15. Click Finish to close the dialog .

You can review the Import/Export Job page to see more information about the job. Refer to Import/Export Job tracking and history for details.

Note: If you ran the job with Express Transfer active, you are able to close the Import/Export application while the job is running, if desired, and the transfer job will continue and not be affected. You can monitor the progress and history of jobs within Express Transfer (see Express Transfer Job tracking and history). You do not have to be logged into RelativityOne to view information within the Express Transfer application.