Content Management Guide

CHAPTER 20

Importing and Exporting Content

This section describes how to import and export content using the CMS Administration Console:

For more information For background information about how the functions work and how to customize the import and export functions, see Importing and Exporting Content.

About the import and export facilities

The CMS Administration Console allows you to export CM data from your repository, beginning from any point in the Content Tree. You can also export the entire contents of a CM system from the toolbar.

Similarly, the CMS Administration Console allows you to import CM data at any point in the Content Tree, or the entire contents of a CM system from the toolbar.

Uses for the import and export facilities include:

Moving or copying folders, categories, and documents within a repository
Moving CM data between different stages of development
Integrating with third-party vendors
Backing up and restoring CM data
Debugging and data analysis

Import and export of CM infrastructure It is also possible to export and import all or part of the supporting infrastructure of your CM subsystem, such as fields or document types.

Import and export of archives When you export CM data from the CMS Administration Console, it is stored in a ZIP file that serves as a structured export archive. When you import CM data using the CMS Administration Console, it must be imported from a ZIP file that follows the same structure as the export archive. When you import CM data that has been exported from a CM repository, you import directly from the export archive.

Summary of CMS Administration Console import and export behavior

Here is what happens when you export or import CM data, depending on the starting point for the operation:

Starting point	Export: what goes into the ZIP file	Import: where the contents of the ZIP file are placed
Toolbar	The entire contents of the CM subsystem including: The Content Admin element Taxonomies Categories Display styles Document types Fields Folders Documents Document versions OR A subset of the CM subsystem, as specified by a document export descriptor (DED)	The Default folder
Repository Property Inspector	All folders, documents, document versions, fields, and document types contained in the repository	The Default folder
Folder Property Inspector	The selected folder and all its contents, including: Documents and associated versions, fields, and document types Subfolders of the selected folder, and their contents	The selected folder
Content Property Inspector	All versions of the selected document, plus any document type and fields associated with it	Not applicable

For more information on what goes into the export archive and how the archive is structured, see Structure of the data import or export archive.

Exporting content

This section explains how to export CM data from the toolbar and the Property Inspectors.

NOTE: Before you export data, be sure to review the section Best practices and prerequisites.

Exporting from the toolbar

The Export button on the toolbar allows you to export the entire contents of your CM subsystem, or to perform a customized export using a descriptor file called the data export descriptor (DED).

Procedure To export content from the toolbar:

Click the Export button on the CMS Administration Console toolbar.

The Export Pane displays:
Choose Export using a specific Data Export Descriptor.
Click the Browse button and navigate to the DED file you want to use for this export.
Click the Export button.
Click OK in the question box that appears:
In the File Download dialog, click Save:
In the Save As dialog, navigate to the folder where you want to store the export archive, give the archive file a unique name, and click Save.

For more information about the archive, see Structure of the data import or export archive.

Exporting from a Property Inspector

Procedure To export content from a Property Inspector:

Enter Content mode by clicking the Content button on the CMS Administration Console toolbar.
Select the starting point for the export by doing one of the following:
- In the Content Tree, click the Default folder. The Repository Property Inspector displays:
OR
- In the Content Tree, click any folder other than the Default folder. The Folder Property Inspector displays:
OR
- In the content list, click a document. The Content Property Inspector displays:
Click the Export button in the Property Inspector.
Follow Step 5, Step 6, and Step 7 in To export content from the toolbar: to name and save your export archive.

For more information For a description of the contents of the export archive file, see Structure of the data import or export archive.

Customizing exports

You can configure and customize the export process by editing the DED.

For more information, see Customizing imports and exports.

Importing content

This section describes the import process and explains how to import data into your CM subsystem from the toolbar and the Property Inspectors.

NOTE: Before you import data, be sure to review the section Best practices and prerequisites.

Data not previously exported If you want to import data that was not previously exported from a CM repository, you can do this manually by assembling an import ZIP file, or programmatically using the CM API. For more information, see Customizing imports and exports.

Data previously exported If you are importing data that was previously exported from a CM repository—for example, as part of a moving or copying process—you import directly from the export archive so that the archive will automatically follow the required structure.

Configuring the import process

Unlike with exporting content (when you can configure the process only from the toolbar), when you are importing content you can configure the process regardless of the starting point. You do this by adding a data import descriptor (DID) to the import archive file or editing the existing file before performing the import.

NOTE: When you are importing previously exported CM data, the import archive will always contain a DID (called contentmgmt_did.xml) in the contentmgmt-inf folder.

For more information about the DID, see Customizing the data import descriptor (DID).

Importing from the toolbar

The Import button on the toolbar allows you to import CM data from an import archive into the Default folder of a repository.

Procedure To import content from the toolbar:

Click the Import button on the CMS Administration Console toolbar.

The Import Pane displays:
Click the Browse button.
In the Choose File dialog, browse to the import archive you want to use and click Open:
In the Import Pane, click Import.

Importing from a Property Inspector

You can import from the Repository Property Inspector and the Folder Property Inspector (but not from the Content Property Inspector).

Procedure To import content from a Property Inspector:

Enter content mode by clicking the Content button on the CMS Administration Console toolbar.
Select the starting point for the import by doing either of the following:
- In the Content Tree, click the Default folder. The Repository Property Inspector displays:
OR
- In the Content Tree, click any folder other than the Default folder. The Folder Property Inspector displays:
In the Property Inspector, click the Import tab.
Click Browse.
In the Choose File dialog, browse to the import archive you want to use and click Open:
In the Import pane, click Import.

Structure of the data import or export archive

The following table shows the internal folder structure of a data import or export archive file and explains what each folder contains:

Folder name	Contains	Included when exporting from:
Folder name	Contains	Toolbar (entire system)	Repository, Folder, or Content property inspector
contentmgmt-inf	contentmgmt_did.xml (the DID)
admin_metadata	ContentAdmin.xml (the Content Admin element)
categories_metadata	XML descriptor files for each taxonomy and category, organized according to the structure of the taxonomy(ies)
styles_metadata	An XML descriptor for each style, registering its name and listing the document type it is associated with
fields_metadata	An XML descriptor for each field, registering the field name and the data type of its value
fields_data	The application-specific data associated with each extension metadata field; for fields created with the CMS Administration Console, this consists of an XML descriptor for each field listing its properties, including its control type and (if applicable) its possible values
doctypes_metadata	An XML descriptor for each document type, listing the fields associated with it
doctypes_data	The application-specific data associated with each document type; for document types created with the CMS Administration Console, this consists of an XML descriptor for each document type describing its properties
folders_metadata	An XML descriptor for each folder, registering the folder and listing its parent folder, if any
docs_metadata	An XML descriptor for each document containing the names and values of the fields associated with the document, organized according to the folder structure
docs_content	Files containing the published content of each exported document, organized according to the folder structure
docs_content_versions	Files containing the content of each version of exported document, organized according to the folder structure

Best practices and prerequisites

This section provides some notes on best practices for importing and exporting CM data.

Planning for large-scale import/export operations

If you are planning to export or import a very large amount of CM data, it is important to keep the memory capacity of your machines in mind as you plan your operation.

During an import or export operation, all objects representing elements of the repository must be present in memory at the same time. That means the amount of available memory imposes a practical limit on the size of a repository you can process in a single operation.

The best way to approach a large-scale operation is to export or import your source repository in logical chunks. For example, you might export all your document types in one operation, your fields in another operation, and so on, ending with exporting or importing your document content in manageable chunks according to the folder structure of your repository.

Security considerations

This section applies primarily to importing CM data that has been exported from another repository.

Permissions to establish in the import target The user who performs the export from the source repository must exist and must have the SearchAdmin WRITE permission in the target repository.

Users to create in the import target You need to make sure that if any documents were checked out at the time of export, the users to whom they are checked out have been created in the repository into which you are importing.

If these users do not exist in the import repository, the import will fail.