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Starting a Retroconversion Project

This walkthrough takes you through the retroconversion wizard from start to uploading your source.

1. Pick a target collection​

From the app's main menu, click Retroconvert.

Click Create a new project. You'll be asked to pick a target collection — the fond or series in your archival structure where the new records will file.

If you haven't built your archival hierarchy yet, you can:

  • Create a new fond on the fly — type a name and the wizard will create it
  • Use a catch-all series — if you want to review and reclassify records later

Pick the destination that makes sense for your material. If it's a parish register, it might go into My Collection → Parish Records → [Parish Name]. If it's a daybook from a particular photographer, it goes into their series.

2. Choose your source: PDF or photos​

Next, decide whether you're uploading a single PDF or photographed pages.

Option A: Single PDF​

If you have a scanned PDF of the whole document, drag it onto the upload area or click to browse and select it.

Option B: Photographed pages​

If you're bringing page photos (JPEG, PNG, WebP, or TIFF), click Photograph pages and:

  1. Upload your photos — drag them onto the upload area, or click to browse and select multiple at once
  2. Review and reorder — each photo appears as a thumbnail with an optional label (the filename by default)
  3. Reorder if needed — drag thumbnails to rearrange them, or use the keyboard (arrows to move, Delete to remove)
  4. Click "Use these N pages" — the system assembles them into a single PDF automatically

The assembly process:

  • Rotates each photo to the correct orientation (using embedded metadata)
  • Downscales them to a consistent size (long edge capped at 2600 pixels)
  • Flattens them to white background (so they look like scanned pages)
  • Encodes them as JPEG at consistent quality

The assembled PDF is then processed like any scanned document — retroconversion sees one source, and every page still links back to its original photo.

3. Ready to proceed​

Once your source is uploaded (PDF or photos assembled into PDF), you're ready to start the retroconversion process.

The next steps depend on your setup:

  • First time with this material type? You'll be walked through setting up the structure — agreeing what counts as one record and which fields to extract.
  • Using an existing template? The system applies your saved settings automatically.

Tips​

Uploading many photos? The wizard can handle up to 200 photos in one go. If you have more, you can run multiple batches — each with its own project workspace.

Want to start over? Click the Clear button to delete your source and choose a new one.

Technical limits? Each uploaded PDF is capped at 500 pages. Each photo must be under 50 MB (which shouldn't be a problem for phone photos — even high-res ones are usually 3–8 MB).

What happens next​

Once you've confirmed your source, you'll see:

  1. Progress indicator — the system processes the document (classifies it, prepares it for extraction)
  2. Structure review — if it's your first run with this material type, you'll approve which fields to extract and how to file records
  3. Review interface — the extracted records appear, each shown beside its source page

From there, you review each record, flag anything uncertain, and commit the ones you approve to your collection.

Starting another project​

From the dashboard, click New Retroconversion Project to start again. Each project is independent — you can run multiple in parallel, or complete one before starting another.