Archiving InDesign layouts to Elvis 6 from Enterprise 10.9 or higher

In a typical production process, publications reach their end of life once they have been published. They are subsequently archived to make room in the system for other publications while still having access to the files for reference or re-use.

When Elvis is integrated with Enterprise, publications can be archived from Enterprise Server to Elvis Server.

This article describes how this is done for InDesign layouts, created in Adobe InDesign with WoodWing Smart Connection installed.

For information about archiving other types of files, see Archiving files to Elvis 6 from Enterprise.

How it works

The process of archiving layouts works as follows:

1. An Issue is set to a particular publication date.
2. At a certain period after the publication date, layouts that are assigned to the Issue are automatically archived by a scheduled action.
3. During this process, the following takes place:

• The layout is added to a folder in an archive environment in Elvis (known as the 'Archive Zone').
• Files that are placed on the layout (including those on the pasteboard) are also archived to this folder (limitations and conditions apply, as explained later in this article). These files are re-linked to the layout to make it possible to restore the layout when needed.
• Output files (in PDF or EPS format) can optionally also be archived together with the layout.
• The layout is removed from Enterprise.
• The placed images are removed from Enterprise and/or (when applicable) from the Production Zone in Elvis.

Conditions when archiving is not performed

The archiving process is not performed when:

• The layout or one of its placed files is still checked-out (locked for editing).
• The layout contains a Layout Module (a layout placed on a layout).
• The Archive Status of the layout or one of its placed files is set to 'Excluded'.
• The Workflow Status of the layout is set to 'Personal'.

Handling files that are also placed on other layouts

By default, all files that are placed on the layout are archived to Elvis and removed from Enterprise.

However, when a placed file is also placed on another layout, the following rules apply:

• The file remains in Enterprise or (when applicable) in the Production Zone in Elvis until there are no other layouts on which it is also placed. The links between the file and these layouts remain intact.

• The file is unlinked from the layout that is archived.

• The file is copied to the Archive Zone (rather than moved). The copied file is linked to the layout.

Handling Microsoft Word and Excel files

When a Word or Excel file is placed on the layout, an InDesign preference controls whether the original file is placed or the placement is a link to the original file (see Preferences > File Handling > Create Links When Placing Text and Spreadsheet Files).

Depending on how this preference is set, Word and Excel files are treated as follows:

• Option is disabled: The Word or Excel file is automatically converted to an InCopy file by Smart Connection when it is placed. During archiving, this InCopy file is archived.
• Option is enabled. A link is created to the original Word or Excel file. During archiving, this original file is archived.

Archiving output files

Publishing the created layout is done by converting it to a PDF or EPS file. In an Enterprise workflow, an output file is typically created automatically as soon as the layout is set to a specific Workflow Status (see Workflow Status settings in Enterprise Server 10). When these output files are available, they can optionally be archived together with the layout.

Note that an output file is created for each page and for each Edition. Many output files can therefore exist for each layout. Each output file is included in the layout folder and will have the following file name structure:

layout name — Edition name— page number.file extension

Example: Amsterdam — North — 1.pdf

Notifications

When archiving the layout failed or could not be performed, a Flag icon is shown to the user for that layout:

• In Smart Connection in the Smart Connection panel when viewing files in List View mode.
• In Content Station in the search results panel when viewing files in List View mode.

When hovering the mouse pointer over the icon, a tooltip with information about why the layout could not be archived is shown.

Layout archiving and Dossiers

It is very common for layouts and their supporting files to be added to a Dossier in Enterprise. As part of archiving layouts though, Dossiers are ignored.

This means that:

• Layouts and the files that are placed on it are removed from all Dossiers they are part of.
• Dossiers are not deleted, even when they end up empty when the archiving process is completed.

Archiving location

The location in which the layouts and their placed files are archived to in Elvis consists of the following structure:

/<base folder>/<story folder>/<version folder>/

• Base folder: A folder consisting of a custom name, a name based on a variable — such as the name of the Brand, a Category, or a date or time — or a combination of a custom name and a variable.

• Story folder: The original name of the layout that is archived (optionally appended with '-number' if that folder already exists at that location).

• Version folder: The date of archiving followed by an em-dash and the current name of the layout.

Example: Base folder: 'Archive Zone' Original layout name: 'Amsterdam' Archiving date: 2 January 2020 Current layout name: 'Visit Amsterdam' /Archive Zone/Amsterdam/2020-01-02 — Visit Amsterdam/

The base folder needs to be manually created and defined in Enterprise Server. If needed, additional sub folders can be created by adding variables to the name. Users need to be given permissions to the folder.

Notes: This location can already exist when the system is configured for archiving Digital articles. When this is the case, this step can be skipped. It is also possible to not manually create the folder; it will then be created automatically when an archiving action is performed for the Brand for the first time. However, this results in a folder with no permissions set. It is therefore more logical to manually set up this folder first.

Step 1. Using the Elvis Pro client, create a folder in Elvis and assign Permissions to it.

Note: It is recommended to not allow users to edit archived files.

Step 2. In Enterprise Server, access the Brand Maintenance page for the Brand in which layouts are to be archived and in the Archive Zone field in the Elvis section construct the path to the folder in Elvis by using the following variables. When done, click Update.

Notes: The same wildcard may be used more than once. A few date and time wildcards are used as an example; all other notations are supported as well. Empty values which may lead to double slashes are automatically resolved by leaving out the sub folder and the superfluous slash. Example: foo/${issue}/bar results in foo/bar and not foo//bar.

Wildcard	Description
${brand}	Adds the name of the Brand to the folder name.
${category}	Adds the name of the Category to the folder name.
${issue}	Adds the name of the Issue to the folder name. Notes: This wildcard is ignored when the layout is not targeted for an Issue. When a layout is targeted to more than one Issue, the name of the first Issue is taken.
${archived:Y-m}	Adds the year and month to the folder name of the moment when the archiving takes place. Example: (When date is 1 January 2020): ${archived:Y-m} becomes 2020-1.
${date:Y-m}	Adds the year and month to the folder name of the moment when the archiving takes place. Example: (When date is 1 January 2020): ${date:Y-m} becomes 2020-1.
${created:Y-m}	Adds the year and month of the moment when the Dossier was created to the folder name. Example: (When date is 1 January 2020): ${created:Y-m} becomes 2020-1.
${modified:Y-m}	Adds the year and month to the folder name of the moment when the Dossier was modified. Example: (When date is 1 January 2020): ${modified:Y-m} becomes 2020-1.
${C_<name>:Y-m}	Adds the year and month to the folder name of a custom workflow property (specified by C_<name>) of which the type is set to 'Date' or 'Datetime'. Example: (When custom property is C_MY_PROPERTY and date is 1 January 2020): ${C_MY_PROPERTY:Y-m} becomes 2020-1.
${C_<name>}	Adds the value of a custom workflow object property (specified by C_<name>) to the folder name. Replace C_<name> with your custom property name.

Example: The following definition: /Archive Zone/${brand}/${category}/${created:Y}/${created:m} results in the following path (when the Brand is 'WW News', the Category is 'Sport', and the current date is 1 January 2020): /Archive Zone/WW News/Sport/2020/01

Requirements

This feature requires the following:

• Enterprise Server 10.9.0 or any higher version of Enterprise Server
• Elvis Server 6.40 or higher

Notes:  It is assumed here that an integration between Enterprise Server and Elvis Server is in place and fully working. This archiving method cannot be used in combination with the archiving method for Enterprise Server 10.7 or lower.

Configuration

Configuration steps need to be performed in Enterprise Server and Elvis Server:

1. Configuring archiving settings
2. Setting up Enterprise Server Jobs
3. Configuring how images should be restored
4. (Optional) Adding the 'Archive Status' property to the clients

1. Configuring archiving settings

In this step, the settings for the archive process are set in Enterprise Server.

Step 1. In Enterprise Server, access the Issue Maintenance page for the Issue for which layout archiving needs to be set up. Make sure that a date is entered in the Publication Date field. When done, click Update.

Step 2. Access the Brand Maintenance page for the Brand for which layout archiving needs to be set up and in the Elvis section set the following fields. When done, click Update.

• Archive Schema: Select Issue based. This defines a workflow in which publications are archived after the publication date of an issue has passed, as is the case for layouts.

Notes:  Leave the field empty to disable archiving. Options in the list other than 'Issue based' are used for other archiving processes and do not apply to archiving layouts.

• Archive content type. Define if only the layout or also any existing output files need to be archived by choosing from one of the following options:
• Layouts. Only the layout and any files that are placed on it are archived.
• Layouts, PDFs, and EPS files. The layout and any files that are placed on it are archived, as well as any output files in PDF or EPS format that have been automatically created by Enterprise.

• Archive after (days). Define when layouts should be archived. The value to enter is the number of days after the publication date.

2. Setting up Enterprise Server Jobs

In this step, scheduled tasks are set up in Enterprise Server which perform the archiving process.

Note: These tasks can already exist when the system is configured for archiving Digital articles. When this is the case, this step can be skipped.

The archiving process is performed by the following Enterprise Server Jobs:

• SelectForArchive
• SendToArchive

These need to be configured and a recurring job needs to be set up.

Step 1. On the Enterprise Server Job Config page click on the Server Job names SelectForArchive and SendToArchive to access their settings page and in the User name field set a user who has system admin privileges. Click Update when done.

Step 2. Set up a recurring job for the SelectForArchive job.

Example: A crontab configuration for running the job every hour: 0 * * * * curl "http://myserver.com/Enterprise/jobindex.php?createrecurringjob=SelectForArchive&serverplugin=Elvis"

3. Configuring how images should be restored

When an archived layout is restored to Enterprise from Elvis, any images that are placed can be restored in one of the following ways:

• As a copy in Enterprise that is not linked to the file in Elvis.
• As a Production shadow object in Enterprise that is linked to a copy of the original file in Elvis.

For information about configuring this, see Controlling how files are stored in the Elvis 6 - Enterprise 10 integration.

4. (Optional) Adding the 'Archive Status' property to the clients

In certain scenarios, a Brand administrator may want to manually modify the 'Archive Status' property of a layout or one of its placed files.

Examples: It may be changed from its empty value to 'Excluded' to prevent that file from being archived. It may be changed from 'Failed' to its empty value for a file that was inadvertently locked for editing while the archiving process took place which prevented it from being archived.

To make this possible, the 'Archive Status' property needs to be made visible in the client applications. For information about how this is done, see Adding a property to a dialog box in Enterprise 10.5 or higher.

Archiving workflow

The archiving process takes place in two parts:

1. A check is done to see if any layouts are available for archiving
2. When layouts are available for archiving, the archiving process is performed

1. Determining candidate files

At a scheduled time, an Enterprise Server Job named 'SelectForArchive' is automatically run to determine if any layouts exist that are ready for archiving.

A layout is included when all of the following conditions are met:

• The layout is assigned to a Brand for which the Archive Schema is set to 'Issue based' and the 'Archive after (days)' option is filled in.
• The layout is assigned to an Issue for which a publication date is set.
• The difference between the current date and the publication date is bigger than the number set in the 'Archive after (days)' option.
• The difference between the current date and the layout creation date is bigger than the number set in the 'Archive after (days)' option.
• The 'Archive Status' property of the layout is set to the 'Empty' value (this indicates that the layout is not already processed by another job), nor failed during archiving, nor manually excluded from archiving.

When candidate layouts are found, the following takes place:

• For each layout, an Enterprise Server Job named 'SendToArchive' is created in the job queue.
• The 'Archive Status' property of the layout is set to 'Candidate'.
• The 'Archive Status Modified' property of the layout is set to the current date and time.
• The Enterprise Server Job 'SelectForArchive' that was used for determining the candidate layouts is automatically removed from the job queue.

2. Performing the archiving process

A layout is archived when the 'SendToArchive' job that was created for it is processed.

During this process, the following actions take place:

• A preflight check is performed to verify if a condition exists that should exclude the layout from being archived (see Conditions when archiving is not performed).

When such a condition is found, the following actions take place:

• The Archive Status' property of the layout is set to 'Failed'.
• The 'Archive Status Modified' property of the layout is set to the current date and time.
• The red error flag is raised for the layout and an error message is set for the flag (see Notifications).
• The archive process for this layout is aborted; no files are archived.

When the layout can be archived, the following actions take place:

• The 'Archive Status' property of the layout is set to 'Archived'.
• The 'Archive Status Modified' property of the layout is set to the current date and time.
• The layout and its placed files are archived in Elvis and removed from Enterprise.

Preventing layouts from being archived

Preventing layouts from being archived can be done by doing one of the following:

• For all layouts assigned to a Brand:
• On the Brand Maintenance page, make sure that the Archive Schema option is not set to Issued Based.

• For all layouts assigned to an Issue:
• On the Issue Maintenance page, clear the Publication Date field.

• For a specific layout:
• Set the 'Archive Status' property of the layout to 'Excluded'.

Restoring layouts

Layouts that are archived can be used as the basis for new publications. Archived layouts can therefore be restored, as described in Restoring an archived layout to Enterprise 10 from Elvis 6 Server.