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Assigning Accessions to Fonds

Accessions arrive Unassigned by default — they sit in your archive but aren't placed in the hierarchy. Assigning them to a fond, sub-fond, series, or sub-series gives them their permanent home.

Requires the Fonds feature — Starter and above.

The single-accession way​

From the accession page, find the fond assignment dropdown directly under the title. By default it shows Unassigned.

  1. Click the dropdown.
  2. Pick a fond, sub-fond, series, or sub-series from the cascading menu.
  3. The accession is moved. The change is instant — no save button.

The new location shows in the dropdown immediately; the accession also appears under that collection in the Catalogue, on its Accessions tab.

The bulk way​

From the Accessions list (either card view or table view):

  1. Click Select (card view) or tick the checkboxes (table view) to enter multi-select mode.
  2. Select every accession you want to assign.
  3. Click Assign to fond in the action bar that appears.
  4. A modal opens showing your fonds hierarchy as a tree. Use the filter box to narrow by title or reference code if you have many fonds.
  5. Click the destination fond, series, or sub-series in the tree. The level and reference code appear below the tree to confirm your choice.
  6. Optional: If the destination has a reference code, a Renumber items checkbox appears. Enable it to automatically assign references to all items in the accession(s) using the pattern {series-reference}/{number}, continuing from the highest existing number in that series. A preview shows the old-to-new mapping before you apply the move. Leave it unchecked to keep existing references unchanged.
  7. Click Assign N accessions.

All selected accessions move together in one operation. Useful when you've been ingesting for a while and want to slot a batch into the hierarchy at once.

To unassign a batch (remove from any fond without assigning elsewhere), select the accessions and click the Unassign from any fond link at the bottom of the modal.

Suggested placements​

When you describe a new accession, Archivers.ai offers the collections it looks most likely to belong to as suggested placements — click one to file it there, or ignore them.

The Describe your collection step of the New Accession wizard, with suggested placement chips naming the collections the description matches

For material already inside an accession, Suggest placement classifies each item against your existing tree and proposes a destination per item. Nothing moves until you apply the ones you agree with.

The Suggest placement dialog listing each item with its proposed series and a tick box, and an Apply selected button at the foot

Reassigning​

Same flow as assigning. The dropdown always reflects the current location; pick a new one to move.

Reassignment doesn't lose any item-level metadata — only the accession's position in the hierarchy changes.

What if I haven't built a hierarchy yet?​

Either:

  1. Skip it. Leave accessions Unassigned. Search still works; exports still work. The trade-off is that hierarchical exports (EAD3 finding aids) show your accessions at the top level with no structure around them.
  2. Import one. If you already have an arrangement in a spreadsheet, bring it in — see Importing a structure.

Why unassigned accessions still appear in exports​

Unassigned accessions export with parent: null in JSON / CSV exports and as top-level <archdesc> children in EAD3. They're not invisible — they're just unplaced. That's fine for early-stage archives; less fine for finished finding aids.

See also​