Terms and DefinitionsLaserfiche support Site
October, 2014
Key Laserfiche Concepts
Understanding some basic concepts in Laserfiche makes it easier for you to work with our information
more easily and efficiently.
Icon Concept Description
Repository A repository allows information to be organized and accessible from a central
location. The repository contains documents, the folder structure in which they
are contained and additional information such as metadata, annotations,
and security.
Laserfiche Laserfiche allows us to store, organize, and access the City of Huntsville’s
information.
Folder A folder aids the organization of our documents. Folders can contain Laserfiche
imaged documents, electronic documents, shortcuts, and other folders.
Document Laserfiche uses the term “document” to refer to an imaged document or an
electronic document.
Imaged
Document
When we create a document by scanning or importing pages into the repository,
we create an imaged document. Imaged documents can contain searchable text
and metadata, and they open in the Document Viewer.
Electronic
Document
An electronic document is a Laserfiche document associated with an electronic
file. An electronic file is any non-image file that was created in an application
other than Laserfiche. Electronic documents are usually viewed and modified
using an external application. For example, a Word document stored in
Laserfiche can be viewed using Microsoft Word. An electronic document can also
be opened in the Document Viewer. This allows you to view images, text, and
field data associated with it. If it is a PDF, you can also view the PDF file directly
within the Laserfiche Client. Laserfiche can associate text with an electronic
document by retrieving it directly from the content of certain types of electronic
files, enabling you to perform full-text searches for the documents. We can also
generate image pages from PDFs, and we can generate images and text of other
electronic document types with the help of Laserfiche Snapshot. By default, the
icon for the Windows application associated with an electronic document's
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Icon Concept Description
electronic file is displayed in the Folder Browser.
Shortcut A shortcut allows you to open an item from a location other than where it is
stored in the repository. Shortcuts provide quick and convenient access to
documents, while maintaining the manner in which your documents have been
organized. The icon is a folder shortcut. In addition to folder shortcuts we can
also create shortcuts to documents and electronic documents. The shortcut icons
will have an arrow in the lower left hand corner.
Search You can perform searches to quickly locate entries in Laserfiche. In addition to
text searches, you can search for nearly any property on the document. Searches
allow you to find and work with documents efficiently.
Metadata Metadata is a general term used to refer to information associated with a
document in Laserfiche. Metadata consists of template and field data, tags, links,
version information, and digital signatures.
Field A field stores supplemental information on a document or folder. Fields provide a
quick overview of the content or important identifying characteristics of a
document or folder, and increase the entry's search ability. There are several
different types of fields designed for storing different kinds of information, such
as text, dates or numbers. Fields are generally collected into templates for easy
management, but can be applied to entries on their own.
Template A template is a collection of fields, which can be used to categorize a document
for search and retrieval and to quickly apply those fields to the document.
Tag A tag is a label applied to a document. A tag may be purely informational (such as
a "Review" tag), or it might be a security tag (such as "Classified") that restricts
access to the document. A document with a security tag can only be viewed by
users who have been granted that tag.
Link A link is a connection between multiple documents that allows you to keep track
of related items. There are two types of links: document relationships and link
groups. A document relationship connects two documents that are associated in
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Icon Concept Description
a particular way, such as "E-mail" and "Attachment.” A link group is a collection
of two or more documents that are all related in some way, such as all the
documents related to a particular event.
Digital
Signatures
A digital signature is a way of indicating that a document is authentic, has been
signed by a particular person, and has not been modified since the signature was
applied. Digital signatures will only be available in your repository if your
Laserfiche Server is licensed for them.
Annotation An annotation is additional information applied to a specific page of a document,
such as a highlight, a sticky note, or a redaction.
Text
Generation
Text generation is the process of creating searchable text associated with a
document. Text can be generated in one of two ways: by performing an Optical
Character Recognition (OCR) process on an image containing text, or by
extracting text directly from an electronic document (such as a Word document
file).
Volume Images, text, and electronic files in our repository are stored in the hard drive on
volumes. Whenever a new document is added to the repository, it will be stored
in one of our volumes.
Record
Series
A record series represents a collection of records, which usually (but not
always) have the same retention schedules. A record series may be created
under the repository's root folder, or under another record series as long as no
record folders are already within the parent record series. Record series only
exist in repositories licensed for Laserfiche Records Management.
Record
Folder
A record folder contains a group of records which are usually all governed by the
same set of life cycle instructions, and are at the same stage of their life cycle. A
record folder can only be created under a record series.
Record A record is any document that is stored in a record folder and governed by a set
of life cycle instructions. Records only exist in repositories