SendTo vMedia

Click here to view the new SendTo vMedia Automatic Filing Options feature.

Overview

The SendTo vMedia feature allows users to store native media of any type supported by Windows (e.g. WAV, MP3, DOC, XLS, PDF) in the vMedia database, in addition to the standard serialized TIFF and PDF file formats that are created when a document is filed to vMedia from WordPerfect, printed to vMedia, or imported to vMedia through one of the batch importers.

Once the feature is installed, media can be saved to vMedia either through drag-and-drop onto a specialized SendTo vMedia window on the desktop, or by right-clicking on the file(s), selecting [Send To] and selecting vMedia from the list of options.

Users can populate the standard database filing fields, and once the media files have been saved to the database, they can be searched and sorted in the same manner as any other file.

Unlike serialized TIFF and PDF files, which are opened in the vMedia FullView viewer, native media files saved to vMedia are opened in the default program for the file type. If Windows does not have a default file type registered to open the file, a window to select the desired program will appear.

NOTE:For SendTo_vMedia when the new drop actions are utilized (move, link) if the user cancels the save the media will be retained in the source, previously the media was erased if the user cancelled the SendTo_vMedia action.

Installation

The SendTo vMedia feature is installed when Workstation_Setup.exe is run from the network vMedia installation location.

A new SendTo vMedia icon is installed on the user's desktop:

Double-clicking the icon will invoke the SendTo vMedia drop target in the lower-right corner of the primary display monitor. The SendTo vMedia shortcut also appears in the Start menu’s, vMedia group. This is useful if the desktop shortcut is deleted or not desired.

Click here to view the new SendTo vMedia Automatic Filing Options feature.

NOTE: Once running, the drop target can be relocated to a different area or closed. If closed, just rerun to reopen. When idle, the drop target has no data files open, so it is safe to leave running and it won't block anything.

Clicking the [Gear] icon in the upper-left corner of the drop window will open a secondary window with additional settings to control the behavior of the Save To window:

1.      "Enable vMedia in the Send To Context Menu" will add vMedia as an option when the user right-clicks on a file and selects [Send to] from the menu.

2.      "Start vMedia Filing Module at Login" will automatically run the SendTo vMedia program when the user logs into Windows so the drop window is always available without having to manually run the program. Once the user logs out of the SendTo vMedia, the desktop drop target automatically closes.

Usage

Native media files can be saved to vMedia through either of two methods: drag-and-drop or via the right-click context menu.

IMOPORTANT: See the New Functionality section at the top of the page for dropping single, nested, or multiple containers and objects.

Drag-and-Drop

1.      Using Windows Explorer, select multiple files or an individual file, hold down the left mouse button, drag the file over the Drop Content Here area, and release the mouse button to "drop" the file on the window.

Users can set a default drop action to take place when no keyboard modifiers are used. Previously, SendTo_vMedia defaulted to, and only supported Copy. This has been expanded to include Move and Link.

Copy = make a copy of the source media within the media file system storage for the selected database. The original source media is unaffected.

Move = make a copy of the source media within the media file system storage for the selected database. The original source media is then erased after the copy is completed. Note that the move occurs before the filing screen is shown. If the filing is subsequently abandoned by the user, the media is lost.

Link = the source media in its original storage location is linked within vMedia. The source media is unchanged. If the source media location is in a limited access area (such as a single user's C drive) the media will only be accessible by users who have rights to the original storage location.

Keyboard modifiers are now available. They include:

[Shift] = Force Move
[Ctrl] = Force Copy
[Ctrl+Shift] = Force Link

The filing window will appear for the default or last selected database.

NOTE: The SendTo vMedia desktop drop target will suggest the default database upon first document saved since started, but will remember the last database selected for subsequent saves until the SendTo vMedia drop target application is closed.

3.      Enter the desired filing information. You can switch databases, view the to-be-filed document in the handler, or, if necessary, exit without saving using the buttons on the toolbar.

4.      Once the appropriate filing information has been entered, click the [Save] button.

5.      If a document with the same file number, document date, and document description was previously filed in the database a conflict resolution dialog will appear.

a.      You can choose to change the filing information, save a separate copy of the item, replace the previous item, or discard the item.

6.      Once saved or discarded, the filing window will disappear and the drop target will reappear.

If you select multiple files and drop them, each file will be individually presented for filing.

Drag & Drop from MS Outlook

You can now Drag & Drop from your MS Outlook message list into the SendTo_vMedia drop content area for one or more mail messages.

vMedia accepts and processes each mail message, presenting a filing UI for each message. The message is saved as a .msg format including attachments which are retained within the .msg container.

Upon viewing from vMedia, the .msg file will open using Outlook and the standard message reading functions will apply.

"Send to" Context Menu

If enabled in the "Send to" drop window settings, vMedia will be an option in the right-click menu:

1.      Select a file or files in Windows Explorer.

2.      Right-click with the mouse to activate the menu.

3.      Select "Send to" from the list.

4.      Select "vMedia" from the second window that appears.

.      The filing window will appear for the default or last selected database.

NOTE: The "SendTo vMedia" context menu always suggests the default database upon each distinct request. Multi-file selections will use the database last chosen for the previously saved file in the multi-select.

6.      Follow the same filing instructions as above for "drag and drop."

NOTE: The "SendTo vMedia" desktop drop target does not need to be running for the "SendTo vMedia" context menu to work.

Viewing the Files

Native media files that were saved to vMedia are viewed through the vMedia Viewing module, just like serialized TIFF and PDF files that were filed to vMedia, printed to vMedia, or imported through a batch importer. The difference is the handler that is used to open them.

Serialized TIFF and PDF files are opened using the vMedia FullView viewer. Native media files saved to vMedia are opened in the default program for the file type. If Windows does not have a default file type registered to open the file, the user is presented with a window to select the program to use.

1.      Start vMedia.

2.      Select [View] to access the Viewing module.

3.      Select the appropriate database.

4.      Enter the appropriate search criteria in the Data Entry screen and click the [Search] button in the toolbar.

5.      If results are found, the Grid Results window will open. All results matching the search criteria will be displayed, regardless of the file type.

6.      Tag (select) any entry, or multiple entries you wish to view.

7.      Double-click or click [View] to view the selected entry or all tagged entries.

NOTE: If more than 10 native documents (non-serialized) are tagged, a warning message will appear reporting the exact number of tagged media.

·         If [No] is selected, the View/Open/Play request will be abandoned.

·         If [Yes] is selected, all the tagged media are Viewed/Opened/Played.

o   This could use large amounts of memory depending on the number and type of files being opened!

NOTE: Serialized documents will open in the vMedia FullView viewer; multiple serialized documents (regardless if they are contiguous or not in the tag set), will be combined into a single document stream and will open in a single instance of FullView.

For each native media type tagged, at least one instance of the installed handler will be launched and either all tagged media of the type will be opened in MDI tabs, multiple individual instances will be launched with each media element loaded, or possibly only the last media will be displayed, opened, or played depending on the behavior of the handler.

NOTE: If you open an editable media file, such as a .docx and edit it, any changes you make to the media will be made permanent if you save it with the original name.

NOTE: If you have a media file open, deselecting it or exiting from the Viewing Module will not close the open media. The open media must be closed with the native program that opened it.


Skip New Functionality section and proceed to SendTo vMedia Overview

SendTo vMedia Filing Options:

Click here to view the new SendTo vMedia Automatic Filing Options feature.
 

  1. Dropping a container of objects will file each contained object individually. If the container contains containers (sub-folders) they will be processed as well if the user has selected to expand sub-folders.

  2. Dropping multiple individual objects will treat them as a logical group for filing purposes, and enable the new group processing features for that set of individual objects even if they come from multiple source locations.

  3. It is possible to drop a group of objects that consist of folders and individual media. When that occurs, the media objects will be presented in the order that they were selected by the user. The object sorting functionality applies only to objects contained within each dropped folder.

  4. The Settings pages have been enhanced with the following user-scoped settings:
     

    • A filter on contained objects can now be applied to include only certain matching objects. This constraint applies only to contained objects. Objects dropped directly will always be processed. The default is all objects.

     

    • The order objects are processed in the container can be defined as either Natural or Alphabetical. The object sorting functionality applies only to objects contained within each dropped folder (and the sub-folders of a dropped folder if that feature is enabled). See Spectrum Importer documentation for the distinction. The default is Natural/Explorer Sort Order.

     

    • The user can choose to include objects in contained containers (sub-folders) or to just include objects present in the root of the dropped container. The default is to include all objects in all sub-folders of the dropped folder.

     

  1. The filing screen status window in the lower right corner is now two lines, and indicates the object number within the group of dropped objects (whether from folder expansion or the user simply selecting multiple objects).

  2. The [Close] button has been renamed [Cancel]. When chosen, the Cancel Confirmation dialog has been enhanced as follows:

  • When group processing, the object number and total object count is shown in the dialog.

  • When group processing, an additional [Abandon Remaining] control is enabled that will cancel the current and all remaining un-filed media objects in the group.

  • When group processing, a new checkbox to retain the current DES field values is present. If checked, the current DES values are carried forward to subsequent media objects within the group (to the extent there remains un-filed media objects.) DES fields are reset to the database defaults after each group is processed.

  1. The [Save] button confirmation dialogs have been enhanced as follows:

NOTE: When group processing, a checkbox to retain the current DES field values is present. If checked, the current DES values are carried forward to subsequent media objects within the group (to the extent there remains un-filed media objects.) DES fields are reset to the database defaults after each group is processed.

 

 

Run SendTo vMedia from Command Prompt

SendTo vMedia can be ran from Command Prompt. The following variables are available when running SendTo vMedia from Command Prompt:

Filename- is a fully qualified or relative path to a single media object to be filed. If filename1 contains embedded spaces, the full path\filename must be quoted. (up to 25 distinct parameters) may be specified on one command line with each media object separated by a blank space.

 

Example:
SendTo_vMedia "c:\my folder\my filename.pdf" n:\users\renee.tibedeau\DOCUMENT.PDF

Foldername - In addition to individual media object file names, folders may be specified. When a folder is listed, all of the media objects contained within the folder (and its sub-folders) will be filed in the order they appear in the folder based on the configured folder sort order in Settings.

 

Example:

SendTo_vMedia n:\users\renee.tibedeau\SendTovMedia

Mixed - Discrete media objects and folders may be mixed on the same command line.

Example: SendTo_vMedia n:\users\renee.tibedeau\DOCUMENT.PDF n:\users\renee.tibedeau\SendTovMedia\ \\vt-drives01\drive_f\imaster\import\spectrum\

Override default drop action - By default, the drop action applied to the media objects is governed by the default drop action in Settings. However, optional override modifiers may be added to the command line that changes the drop action for subsequent media objects.

To override the default drop action with Copy use =AC

To override the default drop action with Link use =AL

To override the default drop action with Move use =AM

Example: SendTo_vMedia “n:\users\renee.tibedeau\MY DOCUMENT.PDF” =AL n:\users\renee.tibedeau\SendTovMedia\ =AC \\vt-drives01\drive_f\imaster\import\spectrum\

In the above example, MY DOCUMENT.PDF will be filed with the default drop action, the media objects in "SendTovMedia" folder will be Linked, and the media objects in the "import\spectrum" will be copied.