Exporting a list of unmanaged objects for import over M-Files Importer

Question

Hi there 
 Short Summary 
 We are looking for a way to export all entries of "unmanaged objects" with the IDs.

Import Scenario 
 We want to import documents from the current file server. For this we use "M-Files Importer". We saw that M-Files Importer supports the functionality of importing files through the "M-Files Network Folder Connector". Now we want to run the import through the Connector with the M-Files Importer creating an ideal scenario. 
 
 The Problem 
 Importing a file throught the network folder connector needs the repository object ID (-1008). We thought we found the ID when we exported the unmanaged objects through search. However when we run the fully configured M-Files importer it fails at the repository object ID. 
 From what we've gathered the object ID should be the file path adjusted to the Connector configuration. This is based on the export of unmanged object through the M-Files client. 
 
 Values from the ID column:

F:01_administration\00_gr&uuml;ndung
amen\dimora-condimora-200911.xls

F:01_administration\00_gr&uuml;ndung
amen\dimora-condimora-prodimora-adimora 200911.xls

F:01_administration\00_gr&uuml;ndung
amen\domains-200801.doc

F:01_administration\00_gr&uuml;ndung
amen
amensvorschl&auml;ge.doc

What we need 
 We need a way to create or access the repository object ID. So we can import the files through the connector.

Thanks in advance!

Joonas Linkola · Accepted Answer

M-Files Importer readme file / user guide only talks about promoting objects, not importing them. If you need to import the files, then ignore Network Folder Connector completely and just follow the standard importing process with M-Files Importer. 
 If you are unsure what promoting means exactly, please see Intelligent Metadata Layer Overview .

Joonas Linkola · Answer

Hi Dominique, a small clarification on the scenario: you cannot actually import files through the Network Folder Connector yet. Migration support for these external repository connectors is on the roadmap but not yet available. 
 What you can do with M-Files Importer is to promote unmanaged objects to managed objects, i.e. documents that have metadata in the M-Files vault but the files still reside on the network share. If that's what you wanted to do, please contact your Channel Account Manager as I think we have some tools that might help you here. 
 If you actually want to import files to the vault, then of course you can use M-Files Importer to do that but then Network Folder Connector doesn't play any role in the scenario. You would create the CSV file with the file paths and metadata for M-Files Importer like usual and then run M-Files Importer to move the files to the vault. You can use PowerShell to get the file paths into a CSV file from the network folder, for instance like this: 
 (dir -file -recurse).fullname > filelist.csv

Joonas Linkola · Answer

I think you need some extra tools to get the whole process done, please raise this with your Channel Account Manager so our channel team can assist you!

Exporting a list of unmanaged objects for import over M-Files Importer

Top Replies