Skip to main content

Creating an Accession

The end-to-end walkthrough for creating a new accession. The wizard is six steps — most of them are quick.

Before you start​

  • Have your files ready (on your computer or accessible via the browser).
  • Have a one-line description in mind ("Correspondence and manuscripts from the Shaftesbury Estate, 1956–1967"). Optional but materially improves AI accuracy.
  • Check the Items this month card on your Dashboard — make sure you have quota remaining.

Step 1 — Describe Collection​

Click New Accession in the top bar. The first step is Describe Your Collection.

Step 1, Describe Your Collection: the description box with suggested placements beneath it, the pre-filled accession number, and the collection-type tiles

Things on this screen:

  1. Accession number (pre-filled). The platform suggests the next number in your organisation's sequence (e.g. "2026/001" for yearly numbering, or "ACC-042" for continuous numbering). Use the next number puts the suggestion back if you've typed over it, and the caption says which you're using — Numbered for you or You typed this. Clear it and type your own for back-cataloguing; a hand-typed number leaves the next number in your scheme unused. Once assigned, only a workspace admin can change it, from the accession's own page, and the change is written to the audit trail. Configure your numbering format in Settings → Numbering.

  2. Description (optional textarea). Anything you write here is passed to the AI as orientation. Put down what the collection actually is — period, provenance, subject matter. As you type, the platform shows Suggested placement below the description — quick proposals for where this accession might belong in your hierarchy. The suggestions are matched against your existing collections by meaning, so they need the workspace's meaning-search switch on; click one to file the accession there, or ignore them and file it later.

  3. Who can see this material? — one of:

    • Decide per item — the system suggests, you review
    • Open — open to the public
    • Restricted — viewable on request or with conditions
    • Closed — staff only for now

    This answer applies to all items in the accession unless you override it on individual records after processing.

  4. What's in your accession? — pick a collection type:

    • Mixed — several types, let the AI auto-detect each file (this is pre-selected by default)
    • Documents — letters, reports, manuscripts, scans
    • Photographs — prints, negatives, digital photos
    • Artefacts & Objects — physical objects photographed for the record
    • Audio — oral histories, recordings, interviews
    • Video — film, video tape transfers, born-digital video

As you type the description, suggested placements appear underneath it:

Typing a collection description into step 1; suggested placement chips for matching collections appear below the box as the text is entered

Mixed is recommended for accessions with multiple file types — the AI auto-detects each file's category, ensuring that photos-of-text get OCR, for example. If you pick a single type, per-file auto-categorisation is skipped (though you can still override any file individually in Step 3).

Beneath the tiles sit the register-entry questions — How much arrived, Dates of the records and Public records (material transferred under the Public Records Act) — and a Depositor (optional) picker for linking or creating the depositor there and then.

Three collapsible drawers hold the rest, all optional and all applied to the whole batch:

  • Details about the whole collection — Repository Name, Collection Title, Collection Reference, Date Range, Archivist and Associated place
  • Donor & provenance — Donor Name, Donor Contact, Acquisition Method (Donation, Deposit, Bequest, Purchase, Transfer or Unknown), Acquisition Date and Provenance Notes
  • Completeness & scope — what was selected, what is expected in future, and what is known to be missing

There's also a Collection assignment drawer if you'd rather file the accession now than later.

Click Next.

Step 2 — Upload Files​

Drag from your file manager, or click Browse files. Uploads run in parallel and the page tells you what's done, in flight, and waiting.

Limits by plan:

PlanItems per accessionMax file size (doc / image / audio / video)
Community1010 MB / 10 MB / 50 MB / —
StarterUnlimited50 MB / 500 MB / 500 MB / 2 GB
ProfessionalUnlimited50 MB / 500 MB / 500 MB / 2 GB
InstitutionUnlimitedUnlimited

See Uploading Files for supported formats per category.

Community retention

Files on the Community (free) plan are automatically deleted after 28 days. Upgrade to keep your archive permanently.

Step 3 — Review Classifications​

Once processing finishes, every item gets a metadata record. The review screen lets you check and correct what the AI inferred.

Step 3, Review Classifications: each uploaded file listed with its detected category, a reference-code box, and the tabs for unclassified, pending and classified files

What you can do here:

  • Switch between list and table view (icons at top left)
  • Filter by All or Flagged — see only what needs attention
  • Expand a row to view and edit every field in that item's schema
  • Accept by category — bulk-approve one category at a time
  • Play audio and video inline (the speaker / play icon on media rows)

See Reviewing Classifications for the detail.

Step 4 — Custom Fields​

If your organisation has defined extra fields in Settings → Data Model (donor reference, internal accession number, box location, anything else), the wizard surfaces them here so you can fill them in once. Skip if there's nothing relevant.

Step 5 — Processing​

Background processing runs OCR, transcription, classification, and authority resolution. You can close the tab; you'll see the in-progress accession on your Dashboard and can come back to it.

Processing spends credits: 1 for an image, 1 per page for a document, 1 per started minute of video and 1 per started five minutes of audio.

Step 6 — Results & Export​

You're done. The Results & Export page shows:

  • A preview of the catalogue record
  • Quick-export buttons — PDF Report, BagIt, the Catalogue Exports menu, plus the Other formats drawer
  • Mark as Complete — click it to move the accession from Draft to Complete. Leave it if you'd rather come back to the records first; View Accession opens the accession either way.

You can re-export at any time from the accession page.

What to do next​

  • Link a depositor. If you didn't do it on step 1, use the Register entry tab on the accession page to record who this material came from. See Creating and linking depositors.
  • File it under a Fond. On the accession page, the Linked to panel reads Not filed yet until you place the accession in your archival hierarchy. See Assigning accessions.
  • Review linked authorities. Switch to the Authorities tab to verify subjects, people, places, and organisations resolved to the right LCSH / FAST / Getty / VIAF / GeoNames records (Professional+ plans).
  • Run Collection Analysis. Under the Analysis tab, click Analyse Collection for a top-down summary and proposed arrangement (Professional+ plans).