Batch (Object)

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2025 2023.120232.80

inventory_2 Batch objects are fundamental in Grooper's architecture as they are the containers of documents that get moved through Grooper's workflow mechanisms known as settings Batch Processes.

You may download the ZIP(s) below and upload it into your own Grooper environment (version 2023.1). This contains one or more Batches of sample documents.

About

What is a Batch?

A Batch is an object in Grooper that contains the documents brought into Grooper via scanning or import.

There are three components to a batch:

  1. The Batch itself
  2. Batch Folders
  3. Batch Pages

Batch objects in Grooper contain two child objects:

  • The root Batch Folder, containing a hierarchy of Batch Folders and Batch Pages.
  • A read-only Batch Process, containing the list of processing instructions for the Batch Folders and Batch Pages

Below is an example of a Batch.

  1. The Test Batch is located here on the node tree.
  2. The Test Batch has two child objects, the root Batch Folder and a read-only Batch Process.


  1. If we open up the root Batch Folder...
  2. We can see the Batch Pages. We can also view the hierarchy of Batch Folders and Batch Pages here after Separation.


  1. If we click on the Batch object in the node tree...
  2. We can click on the "Viewer" tab to see the "Batch Viewer".
  3. Here we can see the contents of the Batch.


  1. At the top level is the Batch itself.
  2. Here we have the Batch Pages in the Batch.
  3. Here we can see the Batch and Batch Pages as objects in the node tree.


  1. Through the process of separation, Batch Pages will be separated into document folders.
  2. These Batch Pages are at the Scope of Page
  3. Here we can see the hierarchy of Batch Folders and Batch Pages within the Batch in the node tree.

Folder Levels

When scanning paper into Grooper, the Batch Pages come in one at a time and there is no differentiation between one document or another. As part of Grooper's workflow, Batch Pages are normally separated into Batch Folders (each folder containing one complete document) so that Grooper knows where one document begins and ends.

A Batch can be as simple as a series of Batch Pages. A Batch may also consist of a complex hierarchy of Batch Folders.

For certain activities, it is important to tell Grooper which Folder Level the Activity needs to be executed on.

  • The Scope of Batch refers to the top most Batch Folder. All Batch Folders and Batch Pages exist within this main Batch Folder. While never referred to as "Level 0" anywhere in Grooper, considering 0 indexing, it may be easy to think of it as such.
  • The first set of Batch Folders under the main Batch Folder is considered Folder Level 1.
  • A Batch Folder that is a child of a Batch Folder at Folder Level 1 is considered at Folder Level 2. A Batch Folder that is a child of a Batch Folder at Folder Level 2 is considered at Folder Level 3, etc.
  • A Batch Page is always considered to be at the Scope of Page.
    • Sometimes you will have Batch Pages inside Batch Folders at different Folder Levels in the Scope of the Batch, but you always want to run certain activities on all Bath Pages. You would set those activities to a Scope of Page.

For example, OCR text is obtained from images by running a Recognize Activity at the Scope of Page. Document classification is done by running a Classify Activity at the Scope of Folder. Export is an example of an Activity that could possibly be run at either a Scope of Batch or Folder.




Production vs Test Batches

Batches exist in two environments:

  • "Production"
    • Stored in the "Batches > Production" branch of the Grooper node tree.
    • The Batch is contained in a folder according to the Batch Process being applied to the Batch.
  • "Test"
    • Stored in the "Batches > Test" branch of the Grooper node tree.
  1. In the image below you can see a Batch within the "Production" folder.
  2. A Batch is also seen existing within the "Test" folder.


So, what are the differences between a "Test" and "Production" Batch?

  • "Test Batches": These are only visible to Grooper Design users. They are used to test extraction and Batch Process steps being designed. These Batches are not exposed to Activity Processing services.
  • "Production Batches": These Batches are visible from the "Batches" page and. Production Batches are "visible" to Activity Processing services and are actively run through a Batch Process that has previously been designed and published.

Both "Test" and "Production" Batches can be created and processed from the Grooper Design page by Design users. However, typically, production Batches are created and processed using the "Batches" page. This also means that different users that are part of different Review Queues can affect Batch workflow.

Test Batches, however, will only be seen by "Design" users.

  1. This is the "Design" page icon
  2. This is the "Batches" page icon

How To

Creating a Test Batch

Creating a Test Batch is relatively simple. First, you must create an empty Batch. Then you can just drag and drop the files from your computer into the Batch.

  1. To add a Test Batch, right-click on the "Test" folder in the node tree.
  2. Hover over "Add" and then click on "Batch..."


  1. In the "Add" dialog box give your Batch a name.
  2. Click "EXECUTE" to create the Batch.


  1. Select the newly created Batch.
  2. Select the "Viewer" tab.
  3. Now you can see that we have an empty Batch. All you need to do now is to drag and drop a file from your computer to this area and your file(s) will be added to Grooper.


  1. A PDF file has been "drag-and-dropped" onto the Batch Folder of the Batch, thus creating a Batch Folder with the PDF as an attachment.

Creating a Production Batch

There are two ways to create a Production Batch in Grooper:

  1. Scanned content: Scanned documents are brought into Grooper from the "Batches" page. For more information on scanning documents into Grooper, see our Desktop Scanning in Grooper article.
  2. Imported content: Importing digital content into Grooper happens in the "Imports" Page. An article detailing how to import Batches via the "Imports" page will be coming soon.