Constellio Drive

Constellio Drive is a software that allows you to directly access Constellio's folders and documents via Windows Explorer on your computer. Constellio Drive allows you to create, edit and move folders and documents from Constellio without going through the web interface.

If you are interested in this functionality, do not hesitate to contact our Sales team to discuss how to purchase this module.

Installation and start-up 

To install Constellio Drive, please run the supplied installer Constellio Drive installer, then follow the steps outlined below.

Possible problem when starting Constellio Drive for the first time

The first time you start Constellio Drive, Windows Explorer may "freeze". If this happens, click on the "Quit Constellio Drive" option in the Constellio Drive menu and restart Constellio Drive using the Windows search bar.

1. Compatibility

1.1 Constellio Version Required

To use Constellio Drive's features, your Constellio environment must be at a version greater than or equal to 11.1.8 and the WebDAV plugin must be installed on the server.

1.2 Constellio Drive and Constellio Agent modes

In the event that you connect the Drive to a Constellio environment that is not in this version, it will switch to Agent mode. This allows you to install Constellio Drive both to test its functionality on a test Constellio and for your regular operations with your production environment that is not yet compatible with the Drive.

In short, Constellio Drive acts as a client for access via Windows Explorer AND as an Agent.

Here is the procedure to test the installation of Constellio Drive:

1. Enter the URL of your Constellio environment and authenticate;
2. Open the Constellio web interface;
3. Open the Constellio Drive folder. Check that it contains the same collections, structures (administrative units, classification plan, etc.), files and documents on the Web interface;
4. In Constellio Drive, open a document > make a modification in it > Save;
5. Check if the modification is present on the web interface document;
6. In Constellio Drive, navigate to a folder or document > Rename the chosen item;
7. Check that the item has also been renamed on the web interface.

1.3 Switch to Agent Mode

To switch Constellio Drive to Agent mode, simply open a document via the web interface of a Constellio that does not support Constellio Drive. The Constellio Drive menu accessible via the icon in the notification area of the taskbar will be replaced by the Constellio Agent menu. Please note that the "About " window in Agent mode will display a version number greater than or equal to 5.

1.4 Switch to Constellio Drive mode

To exit Agent mode and switch to Constelllio Drive mode, there are two options:

1. Open a document via the web interface of a Constellio that supports Constellio Drive.
2. Launch Constellio Drive from the Windows search bar.

The Constellio Agent menu accessible via the icon in the notification area of the taskbar will be replaced by the Constellio Drive menu.

1.5 Start the Windows Station

Each time the user's Station starts, if applicable, Constellio Drive will exit Agent mode and switch to Constellio Drive mode.

1.6 Updates

In order to update Constellio Drive, it is necessary to uninstall the Constellio Drive file (.exe) in order to download the new executable.

2. Constellio Drive Menu

The Constellio Drive menu can be accessed by right-clicking on the Constellio icon on the right side of your Windows workstation's taskbar. This icon appears when you start Constellio Drive.

3. Interface

3.1 Navigating a tree structure

Constellio Drive presents the contents of the vault as online storage that can be accessed via a shortcut in the left-hand section of Windows Explorer.

The root of the Constellio Drive folder contains the various collections that you have access to. Each collection has its own folder that contains the collection tree.

By default, there are five trees displayed in a collection folder.

3.1.1 Borrowed Documents

It shows the documents currently borrowed by the user. This tree does not allow you to create folders, move or copy files. However, it allows the documents to be modified.

3.1.2. Classification plans

It shows the files and documents, organized according to the headings of the classification plan.

3.1.3. Administrative units

You can see the files and documents, organized by administrative unit. This tree does not allow the creation of folders at the root.

3.1.4. Administrative units and plans :

It shows the files and documents, organized by administrative unit and then according to the headings of the classification plan.

3.1.5. Favorites

To simplify access to essential documents and folders, a folder called Favorites is available in the Drive. It includes the following elements:

• My Favorites

• Personal Favorites

• Shared Favorites

Each folder can be viewed individually to navigate through its own Constellio folders and documents. In addition, it is possible to modify folders and documents already present in these favorite folders. However, no travel is allowed.

For example, it is not possible to move a document from "My Favorites" to another folder in "Favorites". Adding folders or documents to "Favorites" is also not possible.

It's important to note that the "Favorites" folder can't be deleted or renamed.

3.1.6 Status of a document

Next to the title of a document, you can notice a column named Status.

The icons there are responsive to the state of the document:

• Green checkmark (empty circle): Recording viewed and downloaded to the computer temporarily;
• Green check mark (solid circle): Recording downloaded for offline work, it will remain on the computer;
• Blue cloud: Recording which is not yet on the computer, it is only on Constellio.

3.1.7 Working offline

To ensure that a document remains on the computer for offline work, you must download the document for offline work. To do this, you must right-click on the document and click on Always keep on this device. The status icon will become a solid green circle and the document can be edited even when offline.

4. Possible actions

4.1 Create a folder

There are two ways of adding a new folder:

1. As a subfolder of an existing Constellio folder.
2. As the root folder of a category in classification plan: 
   1. In the Administrative units and plans tree. 
      1. If the category in the classification plan has at least one rule.
   2. In the Classification plans tree. 
      1. If the category in the classification plan has at least one rule.
      2. If the user has access to a single administrative unit or has defined a preferred administrative unit in their profile.

4.2 Rename a folder

It is possible to rename a Constellio folder by changing the name of the folder in the Drive.

4.3 Moving a folder

It is possible to move a Constellio folder from one place to another, but only within the same tree.

To move a folder to the root of a topic, the move is permitted only if the conditions listed in point 2 of the Create a folder subsection are met.

4.4 Copying a Folder

It is possible to copy a Constellio folder from one place to another directly in the Drive.

Copying a folder to the root of a classification plan topic is permitted only if the conditions listed in item 2 of the Create a Folder subsection are met.

4.5 Viewing a document

It is possible to view a Constellio document by double-clicking on the document in the Drive.

4.6 Create a document

It is possible to create a document in an existing Constellio folder by creating, moving, or saving a file in the Drive folder.

The file name and its extension (e.g. myNewDocument.doc) are used as the title for the new Constellio document.

4.7 Renaming a document

It is possible to rename a Constellio document by changing the name of the file directly in the Drive.

4.8 Editing a document

It is possible to edit a Constellio document by opening and editing the corresponding file on the Drive. This action is only possible if the user has written access to the document. If the user only has read access, the file can be open for viewing, but any attempt to save a change will be rejected (the user will then be offered to save his changes elsewhere on his computer).

When saving changes, a new minor version will be added to the Constellio document unless the author of the existing version is the same. In this case, the existing version will simply be overwritten with the new contents of the file.

4.9 Moving a document

It is possible to move a Constellio document from one folder to another, but only within the same tree.

4.10 Copying a document

It is possible to copy a Constellio folder from one folder to another, directly in the Drive.

4.11 Open in Constellio

You can open a folder or document in Constellio from the Drive. The Constellio view is simple and compact, with a moving menu.

4.12 My tasks

It is possible to access the "Tasks" module in the Constellio web interface from Constellio Drive. You must right-click on the document and click on the Constellio My Tasks icon. The tasks page will open in your browser.

4.13 Delete

It is possible to delete documents and folders from the Drive. To do this, right-click on the document and click on the Constellio Delete icon. Although the option is available, only users with delete permissions are able to perform item deletion in Constellio Drive.

When deleting in batches, confirmation of each item will be requested to avoid accidental deletion.

5. Limitations

5.1 Files with the same name

In Constellio, two documents with the same title can coexist within the same folder. On Windows and MacOS, it is not allowed to have two files with the same name inside the same folder. To work around this issue, when two documents with the same name are detected in the same folder, both documents are displayed as title.extension.

For example, suppose we have a folder "abc " with the following two subdocuments: .docfile with id 123 and .docfile with id 456. In Drive, the files will be displayed as a (123).doc file and a (456).doc file.

5.2 Traits not allowed

On Windows, folder and file names cannot have the following characters: \/*:?" &<>

By default, in Constellio, these characters are allowed in the titles of documents and folders. In Constellio Drive, these characters will be replaced with underscores " _ ."

It is possible to prevent the creation of new folders and documents with the Constellio web interface by activating the Enable Validation of Illegal Characters configuration in the Other tab of Control > Configuration. A list of all problematic files and documents can then be obtained by performing a system scan in Control > System Scan.

5.3 Path Length

On Windows, the length of a path (e.g. c:\Windows) cannot exceed 256 characters. For example, if you have too many folders and subfolders in Constellio, or files with very long titles, you may not be able to display some folders and documents or manipulate them correctly.

To mitigate this limitation, paths can be shortened by giving abbreviations to administrative units and classification plan headings.

5.4 Deletion of documents and folders

It is impossible to delete documents and folders using network deletion or using the local Recycle Bin. You must use the Constellio Delete action or the Constellio web interface to delete documents and folders.