Importing documents from other databases

You can import a document from another WorkZone database (the source database) into your WorkZone installation (the target database), and create the imported document as a new document.

You can import any kind of document, ranging from archived documents in closed databases to live documents in active databases. Once a document has been imported into WorkZone, you can work with the document just like any other document.

You can only import documents to open cases. Documents cannot be added to closed cases. For more information, see Closed and open cases.

Important: In order to import a document from another WorkZone database, both databases (the one imported from and the one importing to) must contain identical WorkZone configurations.

Imported documents are not connected to the original document in the source database. Any updates made to the source document in the source database will not affect the imported document in the target database in your WorkZone application. Likewise, any changes made to the imported document in the target database in your WorkZone application will only be applied to the imported document (now a local document) and not the source document in the source database.

When you import documents from other databases, you should:

Open the case you want to import the documents into. If you do not have an open (active) case, the your Desktop case will be used as the active case.
Search for the documents you want to import. You can use case number, case text filters or document text filters to narrow your search.
From the search results, select which documents you want to import
(Optional) In the documents selected for import, edit Case Handler and/or Responsible Unit for individual documents
Import the selected documents.

Importing documents into a case

Documents can only be imported into a case and will be imported to the active case in WorkZone. Note that you can only import documents into one active case at a time. If you need to import documents into multiple cases, you must import the documents once for each case.

The active case

An active case is the case last selected by you. If multiple case detail pages are displayed, the page title of the active case is displayed clearly while the page title of inactive cases will be dimmed.

The active case will also be displayed when you select which documents in the source database you want to import into WorkZone, enabling you to ensure you are importing documents into the correct case before you perform the import.

No active case

If there is no active case selected to contain the imported documents, your desktop case will automatically be used as the active case. You can also select the desktop case manually if you want to be sure the desktop case is the active case.

You can transfer the imported documents from the desktop case to another case later if you need.

Importing from multiple WorkZone databases

You can import documents from multiple WorkZone databases by selecting documents to import from each database and then importing them into your active case.

The source database is selected in the Select database field of the Import from WorkZone form and you can locate the documents you want to import by searching by case number, document free text or case free text. Filter the result and select the documents for import by transferring the selected documents from the left pane of the Import from WorkZone form to the right pane.

Select another database to import from in the Select database field. The left pane of the Import from WorkZone form will be cleared but your documents selected for import in the right pane will remain, enabling you to import the documents into your active case.

Importing documents multiple times

You can import documents into WorkZone multiple times as each document will be assigned a unique document ID and a case can therefore contain multiple identical imported documents.

However, you cannot select multiple identical documents for import at the same time as the Import from WorkZone form cannot contain multiple references for identical documents.

If a document already has been selected for import (the document is located in the right pane of the Import from WorkZone form), an error message with the text "This item is already referenced" will be displayed if you select the same document again for import (moving the document from the left pane of the Import from WorkZone form to the right pane).

If you have select multiple identical documents for import, the error message will contain the text "Some of the selected items are already referenced".

To import the same document again, you must completely import the document and then import it once again.

Maximum number imported documents

You can only select 200 documents or less for import at a time. If you need to import more than 200 documents, you must split the documents to be imported into multiple imports.

Note that you can only import documents into one case at a time.

Inheriting case handler and responsible unit from imported documents

When importing a document from another database, you can choose how to define the case handler and the responsible unit for the imported documents.

Select the following options:

Current Case: Use the case handler and responsible unit from the desktop case. The current active case, the case handler and the responsible unit from the active case are displayed in the Select inheritance policy form.
Current User: Use the current user as the case handler and the current user's unit as the document unit. The current active case, the case handler and the responsible unit from the active case are displayed in the Select inheritance policy form.
Original Document: Use the case handler and responsible unit from the source document. The current active case is displayed in the Select inheritance policy form. The Case handler and Responsible unit fields are dimmed to reflect that the fields are not updated with values from the documents. If you have selected a single document for import, Case Handler field will not be dimmed.

The case handler and responsible unit of each document to be imported can also be manually changed before actually importing them. This enables you to import documents with a different case handler and/or responsible unit than the active case, current user or the original document.

Read access codes and importing documents

You can assign Read access codes to the imported documents when you select documents for import, re-use the Read access code from the imported documents (if any) or remove all Read access codes from the documents to be imported.

Access codes can be added or removed in the Select Inheritance Policy form by using the Read access field and the Import without access codes check box. You can also apply the Read access codes from the current case to all the documents selected for import by selecting the Restricted by case check box in the Edit read access form.

By default, the access codes of the documents to be imported will be displayed in the Read access field of the Select Inheritance Policy form.

To import documents without any access codes, select the Import without access codes check box. If you manually remove all access codes for the document in the Read access field, the documents will be imported with all access codes instead.

If you do not specify any Read access codes when importing the documents, the access codes of the documents to be imported will be used.

Supplementary documents

The Import without access codes check box is ignored when importing supplementary documents. Supplementary documents are always imported without any access codes and automatically restricted by case and restricted by (main) document.

Supplementary documents imported as main documents still respect the Import without access codes check box and are treated as main documents with regards to assigning access codes.

Only active access codes

When a document is imported, only active Read access codes are imported. Access codes that are inactive in the WorkZone application you are importing into are skipped.

Re-assign access codes to documents selected for import

You cannot edit access codes you have assigned to documents selected for import (documents on the right pane of the Import from WorkZone form). If you need to change these access codes, you must remove the affected documents from the import selection and select the documents once again, assigning the correct access code in the process.