Linking multiple sources to Chronology events via CSV

Prerequisites

In the Chronology worksheet, select Edit > Subtypes. If an option for Edit Sources is not visible, contact Opus 2 Platform Support to have this option exposed or import sources via another method.

For this example described in this article, a text field called Source (Text)has been setup to import sources into.

Preparing the Excel or CSV spreadsheet for import

In preparation for importing and linking sources, each chronology entry needs a unique id prior to import.

1. Open the Excel spreadsheet.
2. Insert a new column at the start of the chronology columns called Import id. This id is used later to link sources to.

Tip: Any unique field can be used to import sources, for example, Chron id.

Importing the chronology events

1. Open the Chronology worksheet in the Opus 2 platform.
2. Select Manage > Import items.
3. Browse for the spreadsheet or drop it into the Import dialog.
4. In the Chronology Import dialog, Import Id already matches with the destination Import Id field, as do the Date and Description fields. Six new entries are being created for chronology events in the worksheet by this import. The sources column can be set to Ignore because Sources do not get linked to events at this stage in the process. 

5. Select Import.

Six chronology entries are imported.

Linking sources to chronology entries

1. Open the original spreadsheet containing the chronology events that were imported. 

This format of separating document sources with semi-colons or commas does not work for this import method so the source formatting needs to be changed. To import multiple sources for each chronology event, the format has to reference the import Id, or whatever unique field is being used, multiple times.

2. Create a new spreadsheet with columns for Import Id and Sources (Text). 
3. Map each source to its Import id so, for example, exhibit 58 appears three times linked to events 1, 2, and 6.  Exhibit 62 is linked to events 1 and 5. Refer to the image below to see how the source information has been reformatted.

Tip: Any unique field can be used to import sources, for example, Chron id.

4. Go back to the Chronology worksheet in Opus 2 and import this spreadsheet. Change the settings in the Chronology Import dialog as follows:
   • Set the Import into field to the Sources subtype.
   • Set the Identify parent by field to the Import Id.
   • Change the selection under Import Id to Parent.

5. Select Import.

Eleven rows are created for the six existing chronology events; these are created as sub-records with the appropriate links as specified in the spreadsheet.

6. Return to the Chronology worksheet to view the Sources now associated with each Chronology event. 

Creating links between imported sources and project documents

After importing the sources, select a Source field and then select the Sources tab. The cards are empty. 

The Opus 2 platform recognises that a source should be there, but the actual link between the text and the actual document in this project still needs to be created. 

To create the links, do the following:

1. Select all the chronology events by selecting the checkbox at the top of the column on the far left.
2. Select Actions > Autolink.
3. In the Autolink dialog, do the following:
   • Set Link on to Sources.
   • Set Source field to Sources (Text).
   • Set Field to populate to Source.
   • Set Add reference format to any unique field.
4. Select Find matches.

Eleven new sources are found in our example to link to the chronology events.

5. When matches are confimed as per the above, select Update records.

On returning to the Chronology worksheet and scrolling right, the sources can be viewed, as well as the linked documents in the Sources tab.

Related articles

Linking Chronology Facts to Characters

How to Edit Chronology Event Information