Question

How to keep meta data synced between documents and folders?

Workflow

Updated April 16, 2014

asked on March 19, 2014

I need to keep documents and their parent folder's meta data synced when any of them change.

Example:

I have a "packet" folder for a financing application. This folder can contain various documents. There is a workflow that moves the packet folder through various steps in the approval process based on a template field change (Application Status).

I need to be able to keep the meta data fields in sync no matter what document has its meta data field changed. In addition, if the meta data field is changed on the parent folder (packet folder), then all documents within that folder also need to be updated to reflect the new meta data field values.

I can get part of this solution to work, but not all of it as desired.

Anyone already doing something like this and that could provide some advice?

Thanks in advance!

Eric

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Answer

SELECTED ANSWER

replied on March 19, 2014

I've done similar things in the past, I will try and float you some pointers here:

Pick a starting point and be consistent
- In the past, I choose to use the metadata from the folder to update the related documents. Doing this will help things stay orderly. When a document is updated with new metadata, you will copy that metadata to the folder and make sure after that, that the metadata information goes to the other documents in the folder.
Consider separating the process out.
- I made the activities for this functionality into a separate workflow that I can invoke in other workflow processes so this way I do not have to think about it twice and this way we are always running the same activities that we carefully planned out.

I hope this was helpful. It is important to have a clear idea of how it will be handled by workflow in order to ensure no metadata is lost and that things happen quickly.

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replied on March 19, 2014 • Show version history

Thanks for the pointers. This is basically how I am trying to do it now.

My conditional workflow that handles moving the parent folder from step to step also copies the meta data from the document that changed to the parent folder. That part is working good.

I now need to figure out how to then take the new meta data from that folder and use it to update all the rest of the documents in that folder. I am trying to do this in the same workflow but maybe breaking it out into a separate workflow might help. Just need to figure out how to find the folder that just moved.

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replied on March 19, 2014

I recommend separating out the sequence of keeping the fields consistent so that you can tweak the new workflow as you notice problems during testing. If you do not separate it out, you will need to make that change several times (once for each time you need that functionality).

You might want another workflow that has a starting condition set for an entry change for that field(s) you are concerned about and have it not start if the user is workflow. It would only work on documents as well. Whenever a document causes the workflow to start, you have it update the field of the folder. Then your main workflow would call the other workflow that keeps everything consistent because the change was made to the folder that it needed for it to advance to the next step of the process you are working on.

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Replies

replied on March 19, 2014

What does your current workflow look like? What you are describing brings up the possibility of recursion. If I update a child document, the parent will update, and that may trigger update of the children, etc.

Does a child document changing also need to change it's siblings?

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replied on April 16, 2014 • Show version history

I have a starting rule:

User does not equal Workflow.

Workflow is my user that updates the metadata. So, the rule would only run once (when another user actually makes the change) and not be triggered if the Workflow user was the one that made the change.

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replied on March 19, 2014

Ok... I got this to work. Thanks Kenneth for pointing out your past experience. That was helpful.

I created a separate workflow that is invoked when an entry Moves. It is constrained to a specific template and limited to detect only folders that move.

It then performs a "Find Entries" using the EntryID token. I then use the "For Each Entry" function combined with the "Copy Meta Data" option to update all the documents that were discovered in the "Find Entries" step. Since I am already updating the meta data on the parent folder in the workflow that is actually moving the parent folder, then it contains the current meta data and can be used for updating everything in that folder (consistent starting point).

It's a very simple workflow rule (which I like) and so far, has tested good. Will keep testing to see if anything will brake it though.

Thanks again for the guidance!

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