Once you’ve created a Collection, you can create the folder structure, add files, and include metadata that will help people to use and navigate it.
Plan your Collection
CloudStor Collections packages are designed to be secure, persistent datasets that don’t change over time. Making a good data collection takes some preparation and planning. We recommend that you take some time before you create a Collection to think through how you can make it the best it can possibly be.
Self contained
Incorporate the entire dataset and everything needed to understand it. This includes notes on how to interpret the data, any source code or software used to process it, and accurate and clear labels on variables.
Self describing
Make it very obvious what each file represents and when the data was collected. For example, if you have multiple datasets collected on different days, use filenames that start with a date in YYYYMMDD like 20160315_Sugarloaf_Island_Humidity
so anyone can see the day on which the file was generated.
Long lived
Where possible, choose open source or very common file formats to store your data. Your Collection might exist for a long time, and the format you’d usually use to store your data might not be around when you or someone else needs to look at it again. This can especially be an issue for files generated by rarely used proprietary software.
Add files to a Collection
You can add files or folders to a Collection from:
- Your personal account.
- A group drive.
- A shared location.
- Click on
Collections in the top navigation menu.
- Click on the Collections drop down list and select the Collection you want to add files to.
- Click on Files in the top navigation menu.
- Click
next to the file or folder you want to add to your Collection.
- Click Add to Collection.
Collections will display a confirmation notification when it has moved your item to the Collection currently selected.
You can then see the files in your Collection.
Remove files from a Collection
If you remove a file from a Collection, the file is still available in the original CloudStor location – as long as it hasn’t been deleted or moved since.
- Open the Collection from which you want to remove files.
- Hover over the item you want to remove.
- Click
to the right of the file.
- Click
Remove Item.
Rename a file in a Collection
If you rename a file in a Collection, it does not change the name of the file in the original CloudStor location.
- Open the Collection that you want to modify.
- Hover over the item you want to rename.
- Click
to the right of the file.
- Click
Rename Item.
- Enter your new file name in the popup.
Click Rename.