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Media Import

Bayanat's Media Import tool creates Bulletins in bulk from media files (images, video, audio, and documents). Each file becomes a new Bulletin with the media attached. This is distinct from Data Import, which loads structured records from spreadsheets.

Media Import is an administrator tool, available under Data Import → Media when enabled.

Import Sources

There are two ways to bring files in:

  • Upload — select files from your computer and upload them through the browser.
  • Server path — import files already present in a designated folder on the server. This is useful for large batches that are impractical to upload through a browser. It must be enabled and restricted by an administrator (see below).

Workflow

  1. Open Media Import and choose a source (upload files, or scan a server path)
  2. Set shared metadata for the batch: sources, labels, and access roles
  3. Choose processing options:
    • Parse text from PDFs and documents
    • OCR images and scanned PDFs (requires OCR enabled)
    • Transcribe audio and video (requires Transcription enabled)
  4. Process the batch; files are handled asynchronously in the background
  5. One Bulletin is created per file, each with its media and any extracted text. You receive a notification when the batch completes.

Imported Bulletins are marked as machine-created and tagged with a batch ID so you can find and review them together.

Supported File Types

Common image, video, audio, PDF, and document formats are supported. The exact allowed extensions are configurable by an administrator under System Administration.

Deduplication

Files are tracked so the same file is not imported twice, which makes it safe to re-run a batch that was interrupted.

Server Path Import (Administrators)

Importing from a server path is disabled by default. To use it, an administrator must both enable it and restrict it to a specific folder:

  • Turn on Media Import from a local path in System Administration.
  • Set the allowed folder on the server via the ETL_ALLOWED_PATH environment variable.

Restrict the import folder

Server path import reads files from within ETL_ALLOWED_PATH. Point it at a dedicated staging folder that holds only material intended for import, not a broad system directory. If ETL_ALLOWED_PATH is not set, server path import stays disabled even when the toggle is on.

See Configuration for setup details.