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What data can Procore automatically populate when uploading files to the Document Management tool?

regional availability
The Document Management tool is available in select countries. It is not yet available for Procore accounts in the United States. For more information, please reach out to your Procore point of contact.

Background

To help save time and reduce manual data entry, Procore can recognise and populate data for documents uploaded to the Document Management tool with the use of machine learning, naming standards and project settings.

 Note

Uploaded documents must have the Name, Type, Status and Revision fields filled in before you can submit them to the All Documents tab. Additional fields may be required in projects, based on configurations set in the following areas:

For more information on fields in the Document Management tool, see What are the different fields in the Document Management tool?

Answer

The Document Management tool can automatically populate data in a variety of ways:

Automatic Data Entry from File Contents

Procore uses a machine learning algorithm in the Document Management tool to scan the contents of PDF files and recognise patterns within a margin of error. The following fields can be detected and automatically populated:

  • Type: For drawings and specifications, the Type field will populate based off the document. Other document types will have the Type field left blank.
  • Description: For drawings, the Description field will populate with the description on the drawing sheet.
  • Number: For drawings, the Number field will populate with the number on the drawing sheet.

To optimise results, see How can I improve the accuracy of data populated in the Document Management tool?

Automatic Data Entry from Project Information

Separate from machine learning, the following fields can be automatically populated based on existing information in the project:

  • Name: If the original filename matches the naming standard that has been configured for the project, then Procore will extract the codes and autofill each relevant field used in the naming standard when it detects a known code. See Automatic Data Entry with the Project's Naming Standard section below for more information.
  • Revision: If a document with the same name is uploaded again, the Revision field will populate with the next available number or letter, dependent on the last revision number for that document (for example, Revision 1 to 2, A to B or 1.1 to 1.2)
  • Project: The 'Project' field will populate based on what is entered in the 'Code' field in the Project level Admin tool. See What is the 'Code' field on the project creation page? However, if the project code segment in the filename differs from the code that was set for the project, the code from the filename will be entered into the Project field. This is intended to help confirm that files are uploaded to the correct project.

Automatic Data Entry from the Project's Naming Standard

If the filename of a document that you upload to the Document Management tool matches the naming standard set for the project, Procore will automatically populate document metadata based on keywords and identifiers within the original filename uploaded. See Edit the Naming Standard for the Document Management Tool.

You will need to make sure that fields with predetermined options (for example, 'L01' as a code for first floor level location in the Locations tool) are set up with appropriate codes prior to uploading documents and that they exactly match the codes in the filenames of the documents. Any fields not detected from the filename or not in the naming standard, will be left blank and must be filled in manually. See Complete Information for Documents in the Document Management Tool.

Note: For automatic data entry to work from the project's naming standard, the naming standard must include the Type field. 

Example

Assume that the naming standard for your project is set to: Project - Originator - Volume/System - Location - Type - Discipline - Number and files have already been named according to these naming standards (see image of a file named VTX-PRO-XX-L01-DR-A-101.pdf below).

filename.png

If you upload the above file to the Document Management tool, Procore will automatically fill in the following fields based on the identifiers in the filename.

  • VTX for the Project field
  • PRO for the Originator field
  • XX for the Volume / System field
  • L01for the Location field
  • DR for the Type field
  • A for the Discipline field
  • 101for the Number field