2.72:NTFS (CMIS Connection Type)
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This article is about an older version of Grooper. Information may be out of date and UI elements may have changed. | ||
| 2025 | 2023 | 2.72 |
NTFS is a CMIS Connection Type that connects Grooper to files and folders in the Microsoft Windows NTFS file system for import and export operations.
The connected NTFS folder or folders are exposed as a CMIS Repository, mimicking its file system hierarchy as well. Once connected, you can import, export, search, and browse documents from Grooper.
The NTFS binding can be used for import operations via CMIS Import using either "Import Descendants" or "Import Query Results". It can be used for export operations via the Document Export activity.
NTFS folders use a a hierarchical file system (HFS), where folders and files are represented by simple object types. As such, this binding is suitable for the Unmapped Export provider rather than the Mapped Export provider. You can still export metadata as a "buddy file" by adjusting the "Metadata Export" property in the Document Export activity's Export Settings.
| ! | Paths should be specified as UNC paths (ex: \\DomainName\Path\). Grooper does give you the option to search for and use Windows system paths. However, you probably should not. These paths may not be accessible to other processors, users or machines. For example, if you create a repository using a local path to your Documents folder and you export a batch using that NTFS binding to another user on another machine, the batch process is going to look for a repository on their local drive, not yours. |
Version Differences
Prior to version 2.72, connections to the Windows file system would have used the File System Import and File System Export providers. While these providers still exists in Grooper as Legacy Import and Legacy Export providers, they are depreciated components and no longer recommended for use. For increased functionality in 2.72, create an NTFS Connection Type and utilize the new CMIS Import and CMIS Export capabilities.
How To: Create a New NFTS Connection
Expand the "Infrastructure" node. Right click the "CMIS Connections" folder. Mouse over "Add" and select "CMIS Connection...".
In the "Connection Properties" panel, select "NTFS" from the "Connection Type" drop down list. Expand the "Connection Settings" heading. Select "Repositories" and press the ellipsis button at the end of the line.
This brings up the "Repository Configuration Collection Editor". Here, you can enter one or more UNC paths to folders on a network. Press "Add" to enter a new path, establishing the folder at the end of that path as a repository.
There are two optional properties.
- Read Only - Change this to "True" if you want these folders to be read only. This can be useful to prevent unintentional changes to the file system if you only need the connection to a file system for imports.
- Enable Search - Set this to "True" to enable search functionality. If this option is enabled, the contents of Base Path must be indexed by the Windows Search service. This means (a) Windows Search must be running on the storage server; and (b) the directory represented by Base Path must be included in the index. Refer to Microsoft documentation for instructions on how to enable Windows Search on Server 2008, Server 2012, or Server 2016. Use Control Panel / Indexing Options to modify the list of directories included in the index.
After you Save, press the "List Repositories" button to show the folder paths you just added as repositories.
Select "Import Repository" to bring in these repositories for Grooper to import and export to the corresponding folders in the connected file system. The red circle on the upper right corner of the icon will go from red to green once the repository is imported.
More on Mapped vs Unmapped Export
While you are not able to export all a document's metadata like you can when connecting to a CMIS content management platform, you can still utilize the Unmapped Export provider to do things like change the filename to a data field's value in a data model. You can also create foldering and map their names to variables in a content model.
All those mappings would be assigned on the CMIS Content Types of your repository.
You cannot, however, export a metadata "buddy file" using Mapped Export. If you also want to export a metadata file, such as a CSV or XML file, you would need to add a second Document Export step to your Batch process, use the Unmapped Export provider, and adjust the "Metadata Export" settings in Export Settings.