eCopy Connector for Microsoft SharePoint

The eCopy Connector for Microsoft SharePoint enables users to scan documents directly into a SharePoint document management system using different, configurable workflows. When you install the SharePoint Connector and create and activate a connector profile on an eCopy-enabled device, a SharePoint button is added to the eCopyShareScan Home screen.

The connector supports the selection of document destinations and the storage of documents in SharePoint sites, libraries, folders, and lists. Users can also store SharePoint column (metadata) information with their documents, as well as use the My Site feature of SharePoint.

The SharePoint connector provides support for batching Data Publishing values. For more information, see Batching and routing in ShareScan.

Users can store documents in any eCopy-supported format (PDF, PDF/A, TIF Fax, TIF, JPG, DOC, DOCX, RTF, XPS, XLS and XLSX).

To be able to use this connector with the Email and folder watching service, you need to create a profile in such a way that it does not require user interaction (express). To ensure that your connector profile is such:

  1. When you create a new profile or modify an existing one, go to the Authentication tab and, under Logon settings, clear the Enable navigation check box.
  2. In the same group set Logon mode to Login as and specify the proper credentials.
  3. Go to the Columns tab and set the value of Show to either None or Auto-index (Hidden on device).
  4. Ensure that the Encryption connector setting has the User Modify parameter set to 'No' (clear the Yes check box)
  5. Ensure that the Document Name connector setting is configured as follows:
    • It is set to the Default File Name value, or
    • Its value is Specify name... with the User Modify option off (clear the Yes check box), or
    • Used Advanced File Naming..., where all fields have the User Modify option off (in the Field Editor dialog).

For the generic connector configuration options, click Configure connector profile.

Defining a scanning destination

For a generic description of defining a scanning destination, see Configure connector profile.

If Content types are enabled for a location in which you want to store a document, users can select a content type for the document from the list at the device. The fields on the screen change according to the selected content type.

You can only add documents to the top level of a Discussion board. You cannot add documents in response to existing items.

Destination settings: Authentication tab

Field Name

Description

Name

The alias you specify for the destination. This is the destination name seen by the user at the device.

Hyperlink

The URL of the SharePoint location in which you want to store documents.

The address must not include any characters after the location. If you cut and paste an address from your browser into this field, you must remove any characters that appear after the location. For example:

http://sp2003/sites/pm/DocLibrary/Forms/AllItems.aspx

You must remove the characters shown in bold.

Enable Navigation

Select this setting if you want the user to be able to navigate the available storage locations of the selected destination, such as sub-sites or document libraries.

If you choose a site as the destination of your documents, you must enable navigation so that the users can store documents in libraries, lists, and folders within the site.

If users are allowed to navigate from the selected URL and down, they may not navigate above where the URL points. If the URL points to a location that can be stored to and does not have any items below it then this setting is ignored and the navigation form is skipped.

The storage location can also come from Data Publishing, if configured. For more information about Data Publishing, see Data Publishing Mapper tool.

Enable Modern Authentication

Select this setting to use modern authentication for SharePoint Online when the specified Hyperlink is a SharePoint Online url. Specify a user name using the DOMAIN\username format.

Type

  • Logon As: All documents scanned and stored to this destination use the credentials that you enter in the User name and Password fields. The user is not required to log on at the device.
  • Runtime: During each session at the device, prompts the user to provide logon credentials before storing the file. For Runtime authentication, the user name and password are used to retrieve the list of users from the SharePoint server.

Search while typing

Enables or disables the Search while typing functionality for the user name field at the device.

User name and Password

The user name and password required to use the connector. Since this connector uses Windows Authentication, you must specify the domain\user information to use for authentication.

The connector also uses the user name and password to retrieve the user list from the SharePoint server. The Search while typing function uses the user list at the device

If you change credential information on the SharePoint server, you must also change it for this connector profile.

Test

Verifies the authentication information. If the test is successful, you can enter information on the Navigation and Columns tabs.

Destination settings: Navigation tab

You can configure the connector to filter the types of SharePoint locations that the user sees on the Navigation screen at the device. You can also define the way in which the locations are grouped and whether the user at the device can change any of the filter settings.

Field Name

Description

Default filter type

There are two types of filter:

  • Standard: All supported location types are shown at the device.
  • Custom: Only the location types selected in the custom filter section are shown at the device.

User modify

Enables the user to switch between the custom and standard filters at the device. If you select this setting, you must define a custom filter for the user to select.

Define custom filter

Enables the settings in the Custom filter section.

Custom filter

Custom filter settings: You can limit the SharePoint locations available to the user at the device to any combination of Sites, Document and Picture libraries, folders, and lists.

Grouping type

Defines how the locations are presented:

  • Alphabetical: Locations appear in alphabetical order.
  • By type: Locations are grouped by SharePoint location type.

Filtering method

Defines how the locations are filtered on the Navigation form:

  • Starts with: Selecting this method and specifying a filter text by the user on the Navigation screen at the device, only those SharePoint locations which start with the entered filter text appear in the list on the Navigation screen.
  • Contains: Selecting this method and specifying a filter text by the user on the Navigation screen at the device, only those SharePoint locations which contain the entered filter text appear in the list on the Navigation screen.

The default value of this field can be configured through the 'SharePoint.Navigation.DefaultLocationFilterMethod' advanced setting.

Folder display format

List of folder columns to be displayed. Define a column between the '[' and ']' characters. For example, the display format '[Title] - [City]' shows folders with their Title and City columns separated by ' - ' on the Navigation form. If you define a nonexistent column here, it is not displayed. If no columns are specified the folders are displayed with their Title.

Support My Site

This option can only be set if the login type is set to Runtime, as the ‘My Site’ location is tied to the user. The My Site URL is filled when the destination URL entered on the Authentication tab has been tested.

If the test is successful, the My Site URL is automatically filled with the port number according to the destination URL specified on the Authentication tab.

If no value is specified in the My Site URL, the default relative location of the My Site locations on SharePoint 2007 (personal) are displayed.

The destination can be changed to support those configurations where My Site is on a different server than the team site. In most cases, the automatically filled My Site URL requires no change, you only have to modify it when using SharePoint 2010 (as the default value of the relative location of My Site locations is different (my/personal) than in SharePoint 2007).

Auto-select location

Clicking on the key icon or on the text you can specify whether the location where the document is to be stored comes via data publishing or not.

The name of the data published key follows this format: SP_<destination name>_AutoSelectLocation

The value of this published key can be a relative or an absolute URL.

Absolute URLs must start with the URL specified as Hyperlink on the Authentication tab.

A published value starting with mysite: has to be an URL relative to the configured My Site URL.

Destination settings: Columns tab

This tab enables you to configure the SharePoint columns that are available to the user at the device. For Date/Time settings, use the Settings button on the ribbon bar of the Administration Console to set the format, which is picked up by the connector. If a user enters only the date, not the time, the system automatically formats the time to 0 hour, 0 minutes using the regional settings at the next change of input focus.

Field Name

Description

Show

Columns contain the document indexing information (metadata) that the connector sends to SharePoint to be stored with the document. You can control the information that the user enters at the device:

  • None: No metadata is required from the user. If you select this option, you must make certain that the destination does not include any required fields.
  • All (Default): All supported columns (metadata fields) are visible to the user.
  • Required: Only required fields are visible to the user.
  • Autoindex: This setting populates the column configuration grid with all columns associated with the current location defined in the hyperlink field on the Authentication tab. The user receives an error if the hyperlink and credentials have not been tested. The user can configure one or more columns to be available via document publishing or assign a custom default value. These can be configured by document content types. If the Hyperlink points to a site then columns can be configured by content types at every list/library under this site.Columns belonging to a list/library under configured My Site location cannot be configured. At runtime if the selected location points to a location under My Site, the connector tries to apply the column configurations which either belongs to the location itself specified in Hyperlink on Authentication tab if Hyperlink is a list, a library or a folder, or belongs to the list/library under the site specified in Hyperlink on Authentication tab which has the same relative path as the location under My Site selected at runtime.

For example:

The Hyperlink on Authentication tab is http://server/site

Under this site is a Marketing site which has a Plans document library with Document content type and Matter column which is configured as published column.

The relative URL (to Hyperlink) of this location is: Marketing/Plans.

The absolute URL of this location is: http://server/site/Marketing/Plans.

The My Site URL on Navigation tab: http://server/my/personal

The published value of Matter column is only applied on a location under My Site selected at runtime if:

  • the relative URL of the selected My Site location is 'Marketing/Plans' (the absolute URL of this is in this form: http://server/my/personal/user/Marketing/Plans, and
  • this My Site location has a Document content type with Matter column.

Retrieve Content Type from Data Publishing

Clicking on the key icon or on the text you can specify whether the content type comes via data publishing or not.

The name of the data published key follows this format: SP_<destination name>_ContentType

Auto index

Here you can configure custom values of SharePoint columns by document content types:

  • Content Type

    Here, you can select which document content type columns will be shown in the grid to configure their custom values.If the Hyperlink points to a storable location (list, library, folder) you can select document content types of this location. If the Hyperlink points to a site then you can select a content type belonging to any list/library under the configured site. So it is possible to configure column settings for content types belonging to different lists/libraries under the site.In this case selecting a content type the relative path of the list/library which content type was selected is also displayed next to the Content Type label.

  • Configuration grid

    This displays all columns belonging to the selected document content type. Here you can specify the custom values of the columns by clicking on the Default value column of the SharePoint column in the grid and typing or choosing the value depending on the type of this SharePoint column. Clicking on the key icon in the first column of the SharePoint column row you can specify whether the custom value of this SharePoint column comes via data publishing or not.

  • Update

    If columns are configured to a SharePoint location and the hyperlink is changed on the Authentication tab then a warning message is displayed with an error message along the lines of auto-index mapping is out-of date. A similar warning message is displayed if the connector profile is migrated from a previous version of SharePoint connector. These warning messages indicate that the configured column values can be invalid for this new location because the new storable location can have different document content types and so different columns. This button updates content types and columns belonging to a list/library of the new storable location trying to preserve the configured column values. Every content type of every list/library and its configured column is investigated and if a column exists at the same content type of the same list/library regarding its relative path under the new location then set its value and data publishing state to the previously configured one. Otherwise the column configuration cannot be preserve.

  • Reset

    This reset the custom values of all SharePoint columns of any content types of the list/library which the selected content type belongs to setting their default values on the SharePoint server and turned off data publishing of the column regardless if the column is belonging to the selected content type or not.

Destination settings: Labels tab

This tab enables you to configure the Retention and Sensitivity label.

Retention label

The following settings fields are available only if retention labels are configured for the SharePoint site specified in the Hyperlink on the Authentication tab.

Field name

Description

Value can be changed on the device

Enables the user to change the retention label value on the Column Information screen at the device.

Retrieve value from Data Publishing

Clicking on the key icon you can specify whether the retention label value comes via data publishing or not.

The name of the data published key follows this format: SP_<destination name>_RetentionLabel

Sensitivity label

Microsoft 365 Sensitivity labels help users to classify and protect sensitive content when collaborating on documents.

Sensitivity labels are only available and usable in eCopy ShareScan SharePoint connector when a SharePoint 365 location is configured in the Hyperlink with Enable Modern Authentication option on the Authentication tab. For details of the Modern authentication configuration process, see Modern authentication.

Field name

Description

Enable Sensitivity label

Select this setting if you want the sensitivity label to be applied manually by users or automatically on documents to be uploaded to SharePoint 365. Only those sensitivity labels which have been published to the runtime user or a group the user belongs to can be applied on a document.

Value can be changed on the device

Enables the user to change the sensitivity label value on the Column Information screen at the device.

Retrieve value from Data Publishing

Clicking on the key icon, you can specify whether the sensitivity label value comes via Data Publishing or not.

The name of the data published key follows this format:

SP_<destination name>_SensitivityLabel

The following usage guidelines should be noted:

  • Only sensitivity labels configured with protection settings can be applied on documents with .doc or .rtf file formats.

  • Applying a sensitivity label configured with protection settings on documents with JPEG and TIF/TIF FAX file format, the document extension will be changed to pjpeg (protected jpeg), ptif/ptiff (protected tif/tiff).

  • Sensitivity labels configured with 'Let users assign permissions when they apply the label to content' Encryption settings option are not supported. They cannot be applied on documents to be uploaded.

  • Sensitivity labels cannot be applied on pdf and pdf/ua documents when Document Encryption is also configured at the connector profile.

Column information

When you configure your SharePoint columns or retention label or sensitivity label in the ShareScan Administration Console, the user sees the settings on the Column Information screen at the device. This screen enables users to enter metadata related to the documents they are scanning.

The first two fields on the screen will be the retention label and the sensitivity label if both are configured so that the user can change their values at the device. They are followed by the content type if your implementation of SharePoint includes the use of content types, and then the other fields.

The other fields on the screen will change depending on the content type you select. When the screen first appears, only fields that are configured for the default content type are available. All available content types for the selected location are available from the Content type list.

The names of required fields are shown in yellow.

All retention label values configured for the SharePoint site belonging to the selected location are available from the retention label list.

All user sensitivity label values which are supported are available from the sensitivity label list (see also the usage guidelines in the Sensitivity label section above).

SharePoint configuration considerations

Hidden columns: If a column in SharePoint is configured to be hidden for the location into which you want to store the scanned document, the field for that column will not appear on the Column Information screen.

Validation: All column information that the user enters the connector at the device is entered as strings. When the user clicks the Next button, the connector may validate information in some fields, depending on the settings for the column in the SharePoint library. Validation includes the checking of numeric range and date formats.

Supported SharePoint column types

If a SharePoint column has been configured to hold a type of information that the connector does not support, and if that field is set as required in the connector, the user will see a warning message. When the user clicks OK in the warning message dialog box, the connector returns the user to the Storage options window. The user can then select a destination where the unsupported column type is not required.

The connector supports the following column types:

SharePoint Column type

Description

Lookup (single select)

The user can select a single value from a list of values associated with the Lookup column in SharePoint. The eCopy SharePoint Web Services must be installed on the SharePoint server.

Single line of text

The user can enter a line of text. This can include punctuation but not line breaks.

Multiple lines of text

The user can enter multiple lines of text, but the connector determines how many lines are displayed in the column field, regardless of the Number of Lines to Display setting for the field on the SharePoint server.

Choice

The user can select from a list of values. The user can enter a value that is not on the list if the SharePoint server is configured to use the Allow Fill-in choices option.

Number

The user can enter only numeric characters. A percentage sign is added to the right of the field if the SharePoint server is configured to show a percentage.

Yes/No

The user can select either Yes or No as a value for the field.

Currency

The user can enter a currency amount. The connector does not validate the information.

Date and Time

The connector validates the values entered by the user against the values configured in the Administration Console Columns tab.

Hyperlink or Picture

The user must enter the Hyperlink type and the Hyperlink description type. The Hyperlink type defaults to http:// if no the SharePoint server does not provide a default value.

Managed metadata

You can enter multiple values separated by a semi-colon (;). The search while typing feature is used, and the search is performed on the label of the terms and on the label of the synonyms of the terms. You cannot enter a value not existing in the term set of the column except when the column is the Enterprise Keywords column. In this case the value you entered is automatically created storing the document on the SharePoint server.

Person or Group

Allows the user to choose a group or person associated with the site the user is storing a document to. Only a single selection is allowed. The server configuration of a ‘Person or Group’ column allows various options such as showing only people or people and groups. This release of the connector does not support this option.

Editing value of a date/time column

The value of date/time column is displayed in the same format specified in SharePoint. The column is set to editing mode by clicking on its value cell. In the value cell you can navigate with the horizontal arrow keys between parts of the date/time value (year, month, day, hour, minute, second) and value of a part is modified similarly using the vertical arrow keys. A value part can be also specified by typing itself but in the following way:

  • to define a one-digit value click the digit once (for example, type 2 to set the value to 2)
  • to define a two-digit value click the first digit twice and then the second digit (for example, type twice 1 and once 2 to set the value to 12 or three times 2 (twice 2 and once 2) to set the value to 22)

To define the value of the year part by typing you can define only the last two digits of the year in the same way mentioned above and the century is automatically filled.

The date part of the value can also be specified selecting a date from the calendar. This calendar can be opened by clicking on the down array at the right side of the cell where year, month and day can be selected.