Metadata fields facilitate the filtering and searching of documents, ensuring that users can always access the most up-to-date information. Consistent metadata helps ensure that large document libraries remain reliable and easily searchable.
Document upload settings
Metadata is added when documents are uploaded to a project. There are two options for document upload settings with regard to metadata. These settings can be found under the 'Settings' tab.
At the project level, users with the Project Leader role have the permission to edit this setting. At the project phase level, users with user permissions to Edit the Settings can edit.
A. Default upload setting
By default (for new projects), adding metadata is optional. This means documents can be quickly uploaded without metadata fields having to be filled in manually. Certain information is automatically filled in during the upload process. Users can add additional metadata at a later date after uploading.
The following metadata fields are auto-filled in the default upload setting:
Document name - file name.extension
Document date - first version date
Author - company of user uploading
Version number - The version number will be "1" for the first upload of the document; for any subsequent versions, the application will attempt to assign the next version number.
Version date - upload date
B. Advanced upload setting
To ensure better data quality, you can enable the Advanced upload setting. When this is activated, certain metadata fields become mandatory. Users will be required to add the metadata before uploading documents.
Below is an overview of all mandatory fields in documents using the Advanced setting:
Document name: the name of this document
Description: a textual description of the contents of the document
Document date : the issue date of the first version of the document
Spatial structure (location, project, phase, attached to) : the spatial structure includes the plots, buildings and floors as created in the location and projects.
Document type: the document types provide an initial subdivision of the documents. It is easy to filter by types in the navigation of the documents module. A choice of standard document type can be made.
Discipline: the list of disciplines can be set for each BIMcollab space. The classification of disciplines can vary greatly per project.
Author: The list of authors matches the companies associated with the space users.
📝 Note: The above mentioned data can be entered into an Excel file template. Uploading this Excel file alongside your documents, eliminates the need to enter the data manually. This Excel file is called the upload list.
Some information may change per version, so these fields are maintained per version of the document:
Version number: number or letter to indicate the version.
Version date: date of the current version.
Version description: description of the changes.
Status: a document must always be assigned one status. The statuses can be set per space.
Some information is not mandatory to include but you have the option to use them and further enrich the data, for example:
Labels: a document can be assigned one or more labels to provide documents with additional prescribed properties. Labels are set for each space by the space administrator.
Scale: scale of the drawing.
Paper size: size of the sheet needed to print documents later.
Custom metadata: space-specific metadata fields, which can be created by space administrators
Work package code: a unique metadata identifier that can be assigned to documents, allowing documents to be added to multiple Work packages.
External References: They are used at the document level, providing a connection between the entire document and an external resource. A resource that is not added to your BIMcollab document structure. This is useful when the external resource is relevant to all versions of the document.
External Links: They are tied to a specific version of a document, allowing for version-specific references to external resources. This is beneficial when different versions of a document relate to different external materials. These links are also summarized in the External References section, indicating which version each link belongs to.
⚠️ Attention: External References and External Links are distinct from Linked documents and Attachments features. While External References and Links connect documents to resources outside the BIMcollab environment, Linked documents and Attachments are used to associate documents within BIMcollab, such as linking related documents or adding supplementary files. Read more about this topic in the article: document associations.
📝 Note: Read about deleting metadata entries in this article.
When adding metadata, the values for some fields are preset (are selected from a dropdown list) by the project administrator, and some that can be inserted freely. The preset values that are set by the administrator are, for example: status, spatial structure, discipline, labels and manufacturer, and the fields that can be added freely are descriptions or dates.
📝 Note: The admins can learn how to set up the values such as Disciplines, Status, Label, Companies,... from our Starter guide for admins of document management.