Version 2.4 is a legacy release, and these documents are no longer being maintained.

Clipboard

The Clipboard is a user interface element that allows users to select records while searching and browsing, and add them to a list (the “clipboard”), for later review or further action. All users can also perform exports of Clipboard results via the user interface - for more information, see:

Currently the Clipboard is only available for use with archival descriptions, authority records, and archival institutions. Clipboard pin icons are also available on the Inventory list page, and the Description updates page. For more information, see:

Additionally, the clipboard is session-based - meaning that it does not persist between user sessions. When you close your browser, any results on the clipboard will be lost.

Important

The session is renewed when logging in or out of the application - so you might lose your results if you log in or log out! Be aware of this and plan accordingly.

An image of the Clipboard with results.

The following sections will introduce you to the Clipboard and the Clipboard menu in the AtoM header bar, as well as how the Clipboard can be used.

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Clipboard menu

The Clipboard has its own menu icon in the AtoM header bar, visible to all users. It is represented by the clip paperclip icon. Clicking on the Clipboard icon in the header bar will reveal a drop-down menu with a count of the objects currently pinned to the clipboard, as well as options to either clear all current selections from the clipboard, or to go the Clipboard’s view page:

An image of the Clipboard menu.

When records have been pinned to the the Clipboard, the menu will show a count of pinned items as you move around the application, for reference:

An image of the Clipboard menu when items are pinned.

The count is also shown in the drop-down menu, where it will identify the different entity types:

An image of the Clipboard menu when items are pinned.

The menu has 2 options. The “Clear selections” option will remove all items (across all entity types) currently pinned to the clipboard. On the clipboard page, they won’t be cleared until you refresh the browser, giving you an opportunity to repin them if you’ve removed them by accident - however, anywhere else in the application, this removal will be immediate. The “Go to clipboard” option in the menu will take you to the Cliboard page, described in more detail below.

Pinning records to the clipboard

Users can add or “pin” an archival description to the clipboard for review or further action from 2 places:

  • Any search or browse result page where the desired record appears
  • Any view page of a record that is a supported entity on the clipboard (e.g. the view pages for archival descriptions, authority records, and repository records)

You can add as many results as you want to the clipboard at a time - the Clipboard will paginate if there are more than the global setting for results per page.

When they are not selected, the clip icons are represented in light grey. When a user hovers over one, its background will turn grey, and a tooltip will appear. When a result has been selected and pinned to the clipboard by clicking on the clip icon, it will appear blue to indicate that the item is now pinned.

Search / browse pages

On the archival description results stubs that appear in search and browse pages, a “paper clip” icon (similar to the one used in the clipboard menu) appears in the upper-right corner of the results stub. Click on this icon to add the result to the Clipboard.

An image of archival description results being pinned to the clipboard

If you are using the “card view”, such as when browsing digital objects, the clipboard link appears on the bottom right of the card:

An image of archival description results being pinned to the clipboard

For archival institution records, there are also two views - the card view and the table view. See Browse archival institutions for more information. On the table view, the clipboard link appears on the right side of the table:

An image of repository results being pinned to the clipboard

If you are using the “card view”, the clipboard link appears on the bottom right of the card:

An image of repository results being pinned to the clipboard

On authority record search and browse pages, the clipboard links appear on the right side of the results stubs:

An image of the browse authority records page with clipboard links visible

View pages

On the view page for an archival description, authority record, or archival institution record, the option to pin the current record to the clipboard is found in the right-hand context menu, under a “Clipboard” heading. When the item has not yet been pinned to the clipboard, the text link in the sidebar will read “Add”. Click the link to add the current description to the clipboard. Once selected, the link, now outlined in blue to indicate the item is pinned, will read “Remove” - click the link again to remove the item from the clipboard.

An image of various clip icon states on an archival view page

Using the clipboard page

When you’ve selected the records that you want, you can navigate to the Clipboard using the “Go to clipboard” link in the Clipboard menu, found in the AtoM header bar at the top of the page.

On load, you’ll see results stubs for the descriptions you’ve pinned. If there are more than 10 results, a pager will appear.

Tip

10 results per page is the default global setting in AtoM, but an administrator can change this value via gears Admin > Settings. For more information, see: Results per page.

The Clipboard page will only display one entity type at a time - by default when first arriving on the page, archival description results will be displayed. You can switch to view other entity types using the Entity type drop-down menu at the top of the results:

An image of the entity type drop-down menu on the clipboard page

When a new entity is selected, AtoM will reload the page and display the clipped items for that entity. For example, here is the view page for authority records pinned to the clipboard:

An image of the entity type drop-down menu on the clipboard page

A count of the results attached to the clipboard for the current entity will appear at the top of the page (tip: remember you can always see the global count, and a breakdown of each entity, in the clipboard menu drop-down). Below this, and above the Clipboard results, are several action links - A print preview button on the far left, A Sort button on the far right, and the Entity type drop-down menu.

An image of the clipboard, with the link options highlighted

At the bottom of the page, in the button block there is an option to clear results. This button behaves differently than the option in the clip clipboard menu - it will only clear results for the current entity (e.g. archival description, authority record, or repository record), leaving other entity records pinned to the clipboard.

Authenticated (i.e. logged in) users will also see an Export button in the button block - for more information on exporting from the clipboard, see: Export Clipboard results in CSV format.

Sort button

This button will allow you to sort your pinned results a number of different ways. For more information, see: Sort button.

Export CSV

Authenticated users (e.g. those logged in) can generate a CSV export of their clipboard results. When ready, the CSV is made available on the Jobs page. For more information, see: Export Clipboard results in CSV format.

Pinning and unpinning results on the clipboard

Elsewhere in AtoM, when you unpin a result you have previously pinned to the Clipboard, it will be immediately removed. However, on the Clipboard page, an extra step is included, to allow you to better review your changes to the Clipboard results. When a result is unpinned, AtoM will provide you with a warning at the top of the page, but the result will stay visible until the page reloads, in case you removed it by accident:

An image of the clipboard, with a removal warning at the top

The warning reads:

Note: clipboard items unclipped in this page will be removed from the clipboard when the page is refreshed. You can re-select them now, or reload the page to remove them completely. Using the sort or print preview buttons will also cause a page reload - so anything currently deselected will be lost!

You can re-add results at this point, by clicking on the paperclip icon next to the result again if desired. If you use any of the options on the page (Print preview, Export, or change the sort order with the sort button), the page will reload - so your unpinned results will be lost. If you manually refresh your browser, this will also cause results unpinned on the Clipboard page to be permanently removed. To re-add lost results after a reload, you will have to return to either the relevant record’s view page, or find it again via Search or Browse and re-add it to the clipboard.

To remove all results at once, you can either use the “Clear selections” option found in the clip Clipboard menu in the AtoM header bar (see above, Clipboard menu), or you can use the “Clear” button found in the button block located at the bottom of the Clipboard page.

Important

Remember, the Clear option in the clip Clipboard menu will remove all results from all entity types at once, without warning. The Clear button on the bottom of the Clipboard page will only remove the current entity type - so if you clear archival descriptions, your authority records and institution records will still be pinned.

An image of the button block found on the Clipboard page

You will still be provided with the warning when using these options on the Clipboard page - but be aware: using the “Clear selections” option in the Clipboard menu when elsewhere in the application will immediately remove all results!

Using the clipboard to export records

The clipboard has been configured so that all users, whether anonymous (i.e. public) or authenticated (i.e. logged in), can export records, in both CSV and XML formats, depending on the formats supported in AtoM for export.

Documentation on how to export records using the clipboard is maintained in the general Import/export documentation. For more information, see:

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