Whenever lots of data is managed like SeedDMS does it, there is sooner or later a need for running certain task, e.g. to do clean ups or update operations, or simply to check for data changes occurred over the past. One of the rather obvious operations in SeedDMS is checking for expired documents. But there are others, like informing users about reviews or approvals to be due or updating the full text index. None of them would ever be done without an external trigger, because a web application is not a constantly running process doing all the above at recurring intervals. A document in SeedDMS, which has expired some time ago, will not change its status to expired unless a user accesses that document and forces SeedDMS to check the expiration date again. If you were looking at the database, you would see a document remaining in its old state. In most cases this is just fine, because nobody actually cares about the status of a document unless it is being accessed. But there are other cases where it makes a difference. The full text index, which also stores the status of a document, will not be aware of the expired documents, unless it is updated regularly. That’s why the so called scheduler was added in SeedDMS 6.

Unfortunately, there is no native Android App to access SeedDMS. If somebody has some spare time and thinks this has to be changed, then please contact me at info@seeddms.org. I’ll support wherever I can. Well, in the mean time there is another way, which covers at least the basic access on documents stored in SeedDMS. A brand new extension makes SeedDMS behave like a Paperless-ngx server by adding its REST API endpoints. Consequently, the native apps for Paperless-ngx believe they are talking to a Paperless-ngx server while actually talking to a SeedDMS server. Not a perfect solution but amazingly good, which also makes uploads of files from your mobile phone into SeedDMS a lot easier.

Running a document management system has many advantages compared to a local file storage on your computer’s disc, but many of them don’t help if documents cannot be easily uploaded, downloaded, or generally accessed. The fact, that a web based DMS can be made available from all over the world, requires to cover many more scenarios when you need to add a document to the DMS or retrieve one from the DMS. The following sections will describe those scenarios. Some of them can be handled with features already build into SeedDMS others require an extension which isn’t freely available. It will not be an in depth description of each scenario but rather an overview.

SeedDMS uses a simple folder structure on disc which eases updates and even allows to switch between different versions as long as you stay in the 5.1.x or 6.0.x branch. It makes use of soft links which makes it somewhat harder to install it on systems which do not support them.

After unpacking the quickstart archive of SeedDMS 6.0.19, you will see a folder hierarchy like the following (it shows only those directories which are relevant to understand the concept). Of course, for a different version of SeedDMS the directory seeddms-6.0.19 will have a different name.

The history association VEKD uses SeedDMS to manage a digital archive of the local history museum. The association has set itself the goal of digitizing photos and documents from and about its home town and thus preserving it for posterity. The SeedDMS management system is ideally suited for this.

With the help of a structured index tree, photos can be assigned to historical buildings, clubs or even families and private individuals. The possibility of setting cross-references and thus creating connections between different data sets is particularly helpful. As with a jigsaw puzzle, more and more pictures are brought together and gradually complete the overall historical picture of the community.