If you need to import files to your new NetX instance during Onboarding, or have a large number of assets to import to an existing instance, NetX provides two methods as an alternative to Uploading Assets through the browser interface:
- Use the NetX I/O app: Both SaaS and on-premise customers can install this desktop application in your local environment. Convenient for self-managing large imports, NetX I/O is used to map folders of files on a local drive to folders within NetX. See our documentation for more information about NetX I/O.
- Ship us a drive: If you're a SaaS customer, you may send us a USB storage device containing your files and we'll import them directly into your application repository.
Read our guidelines on Hard Drive Requirements for hardware, formatting, security, and shipping information before copying files to a hard drive. Incorrectly formatted hard drives cannot be accepted and will be returned.
NetX may charge consulting hours at our standard rate if the following requirements are not met. This includes, but is not limited to: reorganizing, uncompressing, decrypting, renaming, or other scrubbing of data.
Folder structure
- If you're shipping a hard drive, create your desired top-level folder structure under a single top-level folder entitled "NetX".
- IMPORTANT! The folder structure on your hard drive, or local drive if using NetX I/O, must map 1-to-1 to the folder structure in the NetX application.
- Folders that do not map exactly will still be created in NetX. Pay attention to spelling and spacing to avoid the confusion of unnecessary folders.
- Folders that do not contain files will be created in NetX, whether intentional or not.
- Remove illegal characters from your folder names. Folders with illegal characters in the name (and the files contained within) will be rejected. See Illegal Characters in Asset and Folder Names for details.
File naming
- Filenames that are missing an extension or that have invalid extensions will not be included in the ingest. See Supported File Formats for more info.
- Do not include hidden files or folders on your hard drive.
- Standardize the casing of file extensions: file.jpg and file.JPG will be treated as two different files.
- Be aware of illegal characters in file names. If illegal characters are detected, they will be replaced by underscores or rejected entirely. See Illegal Characters in Asset and Folder Names for details.
Common questions
How long will the ingest take?
It's difficult to estimate exactly how long an ingest will take. Every format has its own variables and it can take from hours to days to weeks to ingest everything, depending on the collection. Complex files like PDFs, videos and multi-page documents take longer to process than images. The number of files is more of a consideration than the size of files. Lots of tiny PDF files with vector graphics can take much longer to process than a collection of large TIF images. Document indexing can also impact upload time.
Can assets be moved or renamed as soon as they are visible in NetX?
No. Please avoid moving or renaming any files while an ingest is in progress. You will be notified when the ingest process is complete for the entire drive and then regular tasks may resume.
Can de-duplication take place at the same time as the ingest?
No. It's best to de-duplicate after the ingest has finished to simplify the import verification process.