Batch Change Metadata with Load File

Is there any way to utilize an excel/csv/TXT file to update and/or batch change data within DevonThink 3?

For example, I imported 2,000 PDFs and the created/modified date is today’s date. I have, as a CSV file, a listing of the files and their actual dates. Our goal is to change either the modified date or the created date, or some other metadata field, to be the date in the CSV file. Currently, the only way I have found to do this is modify the field document by document. Is there a way to take the input from an external load file and have it change the metadata field we designate?

Thank you in advance!

Importing a PDF should not change the creation or modification dates. It should just display today’s date in the Date Added.

Can you post a screen capture of where you’re seeing this?

You’re correct, the issue is a bit more complicated than that.

We are a law firm, and received 200,000+ pages of documents in discovery. We received the documens as single page TIFF files with a CSV/TXT file that identifies certain metadata fields. We loaded and reviewed the documents in another database (based in FileMaker), identified documents to be used as exhibits in the FM Database, and then exported them as PDFs. As such, the documents are dated the date they were exported/modified/etc…

What we want to be able to do, is now update the created date based on an external file so that we can sort the documents we identified as exhibits into date order. However, we can’t utilize a naming convention, because we need to display the exhibit number first on the PDF document so we can easily identify the exhibit, and potentially use DT3 to present at trial (still to be determined).

For us, this is the one thing stopping us from being able to switch a lot of our discovery and document review to DT, is being able to easily update the metadata fields.

If helpful, maybe we can talk offline and I can walk you through our process…

  • Are the flles still TIFF files?
  • Do they need to remain as TIFF files for legal reasons?

In DEVONthink, hold the Option key and select Help > Report Bug . You can respond in the ticket.

They are no longer TIFF files, we have converted them to PDFs per document.

I’ll do a ticket. Thanks!

Can you create custom metadata fields for these items?

If so, you can fairly easily do bulk or automatic changes of custom metadata using smart rules