One of the big benefits of Contributor is that it provides a number of easy methods for moving files and folders to SharePoint through a rich desktop interface. Some versions of Contributor (i.e. Viewer) are limited to downloading only and do not allow you to move content to SharePoint. This feature is limited to files only. List items cannot be moved or copied.
All Contributor interfaces (with the exception of Contributor Viewer) enable users to drag-and-drop individual files, groups of files, and folder hierarchies to SharePoint document libraries and folders. This can occur within, or between interfaces. For example, in the Client interface, you can drag and drop files directly from one document library to another library on the Quick Launch bar on the left.
Complete folder hierarchies can also be dragged-and-dropped from a users Documents folder, to any of the Client, Outlook or File Manager interfaces. Note that this should be done with caution as it could create a large amount of data that needs to be synched to SharePoint
When folders, or files, are moved to Contributor, metadata is created and can be changed using the Metadata Editor, which displays at the time of the move. If the files or folders are being copied from one document library to another, metadata is mapped according to a best match approach. For more information on metadata handling, see Automatic Metadata Extraction.
Colligo Contributor makes it easy to upload emails to SharePoint by drag-and-dropping them directly from the Inbox or other folder in Microsoft Outlook to a Contributor managed folder in Outlook, to a folder or library in Contributor Client, or to a Windows Explorer folder in File Manager. Since it is a read-only product, this feature is not available in Contributor Viewer.
Outlook email metadata (eg: To; From; Date; etc) is extracted automatically to SharePoint columns with the correct names. The email and attachment is then stored as an .msg file in SharePoint with a unique name that is generated from a configurable combination of properties.
If the client is connected to the network, emails are immediately uploaded to the SharePoint server, while emails that are moved when the user is offline are stored along with metadata for automatic synchronization the next time the client machine comes online. For more information on how to set up email metadata extraction, see Automatic Metadata Extraction.
When a user synchronizes a document library or folder to Microsoft Outlook, a folder is placed in their mailbox that is linked to SharePoint. This folder can be a destination for dragging-and dropping emails and files that are to be moved to SharePoint. Using left-click to drag-and-drop will MOVE the email to SharePoint (i.e. it will be deleted from the Inbox). Right-clicking presents a menu that enables you to choose COPY, MOVE or CANCEL. For more information on how to set this up to manage email, see Managing Email.
Colligo Contributor Outlook Add-in makes it easy to copy a folder and its emails from the users Mailbox to a SharePoint folder. The Copy command, available in the Colligo toolbar, allows a user to select the source Outlook folder and the destination SharePoint folder, which is available via the Colligo for SharePoint folders also in your Outlook folder tree. Options are available to include subfolders and to give the parent folder a specific title in SharePoint. Once the source and destinations have been selected a metadata prompt appears, allowing common metadata values to be set on each email item being copied. The specific email properties of each email are automatically extracted and set as metadata values on the corresponding SharePoint files.
Outlook rules can be used to automatically move emails from your Inbox to specific SharePoint libraries or folders. Outlook rules are set up from in Outlook through Tools > Rules and Alerts. If rules are being used, it is recommended that SharePoint and Contributor be properly set up for automatic metadata extraction, as outlined in Managing Email. This ensures that emails are properly tagged without you having to manually enter metadata each time a rule is triggered.
The Client and Outlook interfaces provide an Upload button above the item viewing area. This is used to browse the local disk and select documents that are to be uploaded to SharePoint. One or multiple documents can be selected. After selection of documents, click Open to launch the metadata editor so the files can be tagged before they are saved to SharePoint.