Cookbook — common tasks, short recipes

One page, many short recipes. Pick the one that matches what you're trying to do; each links to the longer guide if you need detail.

I have 5 photos from yesterday's fieldwork

1. Sidebar → Upload → Upload entities with media files.
2. Drag in all 5 photos.
3. Set Context (general vliz).
4. Continue → fill in the media block: title, description, keywords, marine region.
5. Per-file: confidentiality, license, owner.
6. Save.

→ Full guide

I have 50 photos from a campaign and a spreadsheet of metadata

Don't use the form — switch to CSV import.

1. Prepare a ZIP of the photos.
2. Prepare a CSV with one row per file, using the Column reference.
3. Sidebar → Upload → Upload entities with media files → CSV mode.
4. Upload CSV + ZIP.

→ Full CSV walkthrough

I just received a folder per album from the shared drive

That's the bulk shared-drive workflow. VLIZ uploads the folder, Inuits prepares the three CSVs, the importer ingests it.

→ Bulk from shared drive

I want to find every media tagged Coastal management from last year

1. Sidebar → Media.
2. Filter panel: Keyword → Coastal management.
3. Filter panel: Creation date → from 01/01/2024, to 31/12/2024.
4. (Optional) Save search so you can re-run it next year.

→ Searching · Filtering

A keyword is misspelled and I want to fix it everywhere

1. Sidebar → Keywords.
2. Open the keyword.
3. Edit the title, Save.

Every entity that links to it now shows the corrected title automatically — relations are by reference, not by copy.

Don't make a new keyword

If you create a new keyword and re-link 200 media, you've also orphaned the old keyword. Always edit-in-place when fixing typos.

I uploaded a file with the wrong context — colleagues can't see it

1. Open the media.
2. Context → change to the right one.
3. Save.

The mediafile inherits visibility through the media. No need to edit the mediafile separately.

I need to add a high-res master to an existing media

1. Open the media.
2. Mediafiles panel → + Add mediafile.
3. Drop the high-res file.
4. Per-file metadata: license, owner, optionally belongs_to_parent = the existing low-res file (if it's a derivative chain).
5. Save.

→ Uploading scenario 2

I want to move 30 media into an album

1. Sidebar → Media.
2. Filter / search to narrow down to the 30 records.
3. Tick all checkboxes.
4. Toolbar → Bulk edit → Album → pick the album.
5. Confirm.

→ Bulk edits

I want to embargo a file until 2030

Set the embargo on the mediafile, not the media:

1. Open the media → Mediafiles panel → click the file.
2. Embargo → set the date or text.
3. usage_guidelines_until → 31/12/2030.
4. Save.

I want to flag something as confidential

1. Open the mediafile.
2. Confidentiality → pick the appropriate level.
3. Save.

If a level you need doesn't exist: Sidebar → Confidentiality → + New, then return to the mediafile.

I deleted something by accident

There is no undo. But:

1. Check History on the parent entity (album, archival collection) — the deleted entity will show up in the audit log with timestamp + user.
2. Recreate it manually (titles, relations) using the audit-log values as a guide.
3. Re-upload any binary files.

If the deletion is fresh (under a few hours) and you really need it back, contact the Inuits team — backups may still hold it.

I want to attach the album to an archival collection

There's no direct relation. Set has_archival_collection on each media in the album. Bulk-edit the entire selection in one go.

→ Albums → archival collection

I'm exporting a list to CSV for a colleague

1. Apply filters / search to narrow the list.
2. Toolbar → Export CSV.
3. Download. The columns mirror the Column reference.

The exported file can be re-uploaded later (after edits) to update the same entities — useful for round-trip cleanup.

My search returns nothing but the entity exists

Most likely a context filter. Filter panel → Context → clear, or pick all contexts if your role allows it.

→ What to do when you can't find something

I need a permanent link to an entity

The detail page URL is stable — the UUID in the URL is the entity's permanent id. Copy from the address bar and paste into emails / tickets.

I want to delete a vocabulary value (e.g. an unused keyword)

1. Sidebar → Keywords (or whichever vocab).
2. Open it.
3. Confirm in the Used by panel that no entities still link to it. If they do, retag them first.
4. Delete.

Vocab-server entities

Marine region, Event, Project, Partner and License can come from the VLIZ vocab server. Those are read-only locally — to add or change them, the change has to go through the vocab server itself.