Exports window

The Exports interface may look complicated at first glance, but it was designed with simplicity in mind—placing everything in an easily navigable window that allows you to quickly find, modify, and perform exports. Additionally, the Exports interface allows you to create exports that only include pertinent information: patron fines, circulation groups, patrons, and items. You can also schedule exports and deliver their output via email, FTP, etc.

To become an export wizard, there are only three essential things you need to understand: export categories, export templates, and creating custom exports.

The Exports interface uses the familiar three-panel layout found in most Alexandria management interfaces.

• The left-hand side of the window is home to the Categories pane, containing a list of all existing export categories (e.g. Patrons). Selections from this pane act as filters, allowing you to narrow your focus and display only relevant exports.
• The upper-right section of the window contains the Quick and Saved tabs and the Exports Selection pane, which allow you to select the specific export you would like to view, modify, or perform. If you haven't yet selected an export from this pane, you will be presented with a longer list; the Selected Export pane for Quick/Saved exports only appears after an export is selected from this list.
• The Selected Export pane—the bottom-right area of the window—contains settings and options for the selected export, housed in the following tabs: Overview, Selections, Options, Notification, Schedule, and FTP.

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Exports control strip

The control strip at the top of the Exports interface contains the Save and Revert buttons[1], the Operation Management and the Support Center help icons, the Lock/Unlock icon and the Actions (“”) menu which performs functions related to the selected export.

Quick / Saved

The Quick tab contains a complete list of available export types; essentially, an exhaustive repository of existing exports. These templates do not store custom selection settings and should not be confused with operator-created Saved exports; they are mainly used for running “ad-hoc” exports or as a foundation for your own Saved exports. If you haven't been able to locate the exact templates you are looking for, chances are you will find them here.

The Saved tab contains all operator-created exports. Keep in mind that Saved exports are custom templates; they only keep the selection criteria used to create the export and not the export itself.

Unlock / Lock

The Unlock / Lock icon only appears when the Saved tab is selected; the default state of the Saved tab is always “locked”. This prevents an operator from making unintentional changes to the currently selected export. When the Saved tab is locked, exports may still be viewed and performed, but modification of any of the export settings are disabled until the export is unlocked. The Saved tab will remain unlocked until you click the lock icon again or the window is closed.

Actions Menu

The Actions drop-down menu (represented by a gear/cog icon) contains specialized export-specific functions and other tools; the Actions menu only appears when the Saved tab is selected.

• • Duplicate Export. Should you want nearly identical settings for a custom-created export, this allows you to make a copy of the selected Saved export, give it a new name, and make whatever changes you require.
  • Delete Export. This selection completely removes the selected Saved export from the Export Selection tab. This can not be undone (i.e. Saved exports can not be restored), so think twice before making this selection.

Save / Revert

Once changes have been made to the currently selected Saved export, the Revert and Save options appear. Clicking Revert will discard changes to the Saved export; clicking Save will keep your changes.

Operation Management

Alexandria's Operations Management is a specialized repository where past and future operations (i.e. reports, utilities, exports, or imports) are sorted and stored. You can view operation summaries and open, email, or download saved operations that have previously completed.

Clicking Run at the bottom of the Exports interface will queue the selected export in the Operation Management interface.

Support Center

Click the Help button to access the exports section of our online Support Center.

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Categories pane

The first step in performing an export is picking the proper category. The Categories pane on the left-hand side of the window is a collection of categories that can reduce the number of results that appear in the Export Selection pane (i.e. the Quick and Saved tabs) on the right.

Selecting (highlighting) one of the main category names (e.g. Items) will reveal all of the exports available for that category. For example, if you want to export all patrons with a certain policy, you can’t do it with the Circulation category selected—they're Patrons (category) exports. Selecting All Exports at the top of the categories filter will populate the Quick and Saved tabs with all available export options.

• All Exports. This category contains all the available export types.
• Patrons. These allow you to export records for all (or a specified group) of patrons.
• Items. Title- and copy-based exports allow you to archive your item information, create catalogs for selected items, or modify item information using applications outside Alexandria.
• Circulation. These allow you to export miscellaneous circulation-based data not covered by the other export types.
  
  

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