What is metadata?
You can use metadata to describe and categorise documents in more detail.
The basic principle
Metadata always consists of three components:
Field name: The name of the category (e.g. "Supplier")
Type: The field type (text, date, number)
Value: The specific content (e.g. "Müller GmbH")
Why is metadata useful?
If you use metadata continuously, you benefit from the following advantages:
You can find all documents with certain properties very quickly
The search works regardless of which collection or folder the documents are in
You save time when searching for documents
Example: You can display all documents from a specific supplier, regardless of where they are stored.
Create and use field names
Rules for field names
You can choose field names freely, but must observe the following restrictions:
The following are not permitted:
Full stop (.)
Equals sign (=)
Dollar sign ($)
Multiple use of field names
You can create several fields with the same name
Prerequisite: The fields must have different data types
If you repeatedly assign a field name in a document with the same data type, the old value is replaced by the new one
Use existing field names
If a field name has already been used in another visible document:
Open the drop-down menu
Select the desired field name directly
You do not have to type the name again
Types and values
The possible values depend on the selected data type.
Type: Text
You can enter letters
Spaces are allowed
Numbers are allowed
Commas and dots are allowed
Type: Number
You can only enter numbers
There can only be one comma or one dot in the number
This serves as a decimal separator
Type: Date
You can select a date
Dates from the past are possible
Future dates are possible
Change values
You can change values at any time:
Click on the corresponding value
Change the value as you wish
The change is saved automatically
Important: Field names and data types cannot be changed. You must delete and recreate the metadata.
Search and filter for metadata
Simple search for metadata
To filter documents by metadata:
Open the filter function
Select Metadata
Select the desired field name
Optional: Select a specific value
Combine several filters
You can use several metadata filters at the same time:
Click on the "+" symbol
Add further filter criteria
All filters are applied in combination
Filter by date
If you filter by the data type "Date", you have the following options:
Limit a time period (start and end date)
Specify only the start date (all documents from this date onwards)
Specify only the end date (all documents up to this date)