2. Submitting Content to EASi

A curator submits email content to EAS by uploading a "packet" of content to an SFTP dropbox, then using the Submit Packet option in EASi to define metadata values for content in the packet and trigger the upload. 

The EASi menu option that controls content submission is called Submit Packet.  A packet is a group of email and attachments that are submitted together.  The contents of a packet must come from the same creator client (email client) and that client must be supported by the EAS loader. 

EASi is configured to import email content (messages and attachments) from these creator clients:

• Eudora for Windows/6.2
• Eudora for Windows/version unknown
• Mac OS X Mail/2.x
• Mailman/2.0.5
• Mailman/2.1.15
• Outlook for Mac (OLM only)/version unknown)
• Outlook for Windows/version unknown
• Thunderbird/2.0.0.23
• Thunderbird/version unknown

If you know the exact creator client and version for your content but these are not listed, please contact Library Technology Services. If you do not know the exact creator client version, select the “version unknown” option for that client.

Extracting email data files

Email to be archived may come to you (the curator) on a disk or drive, or you may need to copy it from the donor's computer. Either way, it helps to know what email data files to look for and where these are stored on the file system. This section provides tips on how to locate email on the donor's computer and what files to extract for archiving.

For most email clients, you navigate to the top of the email data folder and copy all files and folders nested beneath. In some cases you or the donor will need to export messages from within the email client to get data in a format that can be imported to EAS. 

However the transfer takes place, be sure to follow local procedures for securing sensitive data.

Packet submission involves acquiring the email content, adding content to an EAS packet, uploading the packet to a dropbox, and then submitting the packet for processing from within EASi. 

Step A. Create a staging folder

1. In a convenient and secure location on your local file system, create a staging folder. Folder name can contain letters, numbers, underscores and/or hyphens. Avoid spaces, diacritics, and other special characters. 

2. It is possible to submit multiple packets to EAS at one time. Each packet must have a separate staging folder with a unique name.

3. EAS will use the staging folder's name as default packet name. You can override the default packet name by changing metadata on the EASi Submit Packet screen.

Step B. Acquire email content and copy to staging folder

Email to be archived may come to you (the curator) on a disk or drive, or you may need to copy it from the donor's computer. However the transfer takes place, be sure to follow local procedures for securing sensitive data.

This section describes how to locate email on the donor's computer and what files to extract for archiving. For most email clients, you navigate to the email data directory and copy the email data files. In some cases you or the donor will need to export messages from within the email client to get data in a format that can be imported to EAS. 

1. Acquire email content from the donor. How this is done varies by mail client (e.g. Outlook, Thunderbird, Mac Mail, etc.). For guidance, consult these client-specific instructions for extracting email.
   • Eudora
   • Mac Mail
   • Outlook
   • Outlook for Mac
   • Thunderbird 
2. Copy email file(s) to the staging folder created in Step A. 

Step C. Upload packet to dropbox

1. Upload packet(s) to your dropbox. Then, submit the packet(s) in EASi.

How to submit email:

Eudora: http://hul.harvard.edu/ois/systems/eas/eas-submission-eudora.pdf
MacMail: http://hul.harvard.edu/ois/systems/eas/eas-submission-macmail.pdf
Outlook: http://hul.harvard.edu/ois/systems/eas/eas-submission-outlook.pdf
Thunderbird: http://hul.harvard.edu/ois/systems/eas/eas-submission-thunderbird.pdf

You can go to Packets > Import Queue to check the status of your packet.

      2)  Once import is complete, in EAS spot check content in your packet(s) to verify that conversion was successful.

Go to Packets > Packet Summary to view counts of messages, attachments and packet size. Similar counts are available under the Accounts and Collections menu choices.

Use Search/Filter and also custom column choices in the results list to verify that metadata submitted with the packet was assigned correctly.

      3)  Review and process your email content in EASi.

About the loader process

The EASi loader process will check for submitted packets every 15 minutes (at :59, :15, :30 and :45 minutes past the hour). Depending on size of the packet, processing may take several minutes to several hours. See Packet Import Queue and Packet Summary sections for more information. When processing is complete, the EASi loader will email a load report to the address specified in the "Depositor email" field in packet metadata. Once you get the load report, items in your packet should be available in EASi.

The load report email will report the date/time of import, the packet name you supplied, a packet ID number assigned by EASi, and a count of the messages, attachments and inline files that were processed. "Inline files" are usually image files embedded in messages.

Sample load report:

===============================================================================================================================

Subject: EAS notification (qa): Importer

Packet "E-journal_and_format_reg" was imported by EAS (qa account HUL.ARCH) on Tue Sep 13 14:31:03 EDT 2011 with packet ID 161.
The packet contains 756 messages, 0 attachments, and 0 inline files. 

===============================================================================================================================