SimpleExport – Index Output Converter

Description

What SimpleExport licenses

The full version, with command line integration and unattended processing, is included with a SimpleIndex Professional workstation license at no extra cost, with no separate serial number. The free version stays free and available on its own whichever SimpleIndex edition you run. This only changes how the full version is licensed for Professional workstation customers.

Workstation licenses only. A concurrent, or floating, SimpleIndex license does not carry the suite applications, because the number of seats a floating license entitles can only be handed out by the license server.

What it does

SimpleExport converts a delimited text file into XML, or into any other text format, using XSLT. It exists because the output of a document scanning system almost never matches the input format of the repository it is going into, and writing that conversion by hand each time is work nobody wants to own.

Converting CSV to XML is more awkward than it sounds. Every column has to be mapped to a node or a property, and the text has to be parsed by hand with no XML functions to help. SimpleExport parses the input first and turns it into a plain intermediate XML format, which XSLT can then transform normally. You write the output format, not the parser.

Custom variables defined in the job file add metadata to the output or steer the XSLT logic. While it converts, the files the data refers to can be copied, renamed, or encoded as Base64, which is what makes it useful for imaging work rather than for data alone.

Templates that already exist

SimpleExport ships templates for Digitech PaperVision and ImageSilo, CompuThink ViewWise, LaserFiche and DocuBase, plus the DII format for the Concordance litigation support system. A new template is a few hours of work for any XSLT programmer, or for our consulting team if you would rather not.

Running it without anyone present

The full version runs from a command line or as a Windows service, so a transformation can happen on a schedule or the moment a file lands, with nobody at the machine. That is useful well beyond document imaging, since the input is only ever a delimited text file.

New in v12, SimpleExport job settings can be configured from inside SimpleIndex itself, as a dialog, without opening SimpleExport separately to set one up.

Free version and full version

SimpleExport is free for what most people need. Only command line integration and unattended processing require the full version. It runs in full trial mode for 30 days with everything enabled, then continues in free mode until it is activated, so nothing stops working when the trial ends.

Features	Free	Full
Configure customized export scripts
Convert delimited text files to any format (XML, HTML, etc.)
Customize conversion scripts using XSLT
Templates for common document management systems
Perform single conversion jobs interactively
Convert images to BASE64 encoding
Run conversions from a command line
Automate conversions using a background service

What SimpleExport does not do

• It does not read documents. It transforms index data that something else produced. Pair it with SimpleIndex, or with any system that writes a delimited text file.
• The input has to be delimited text. A native database table or a proprietary export format has to be got out to CSV or TSV first.
• A new repository format needs a template. The ones listed above are written. Anything else is an XSLT somebody has to write, whether that is you or us.
• It is Windows only. There is no macOS or Linux build.

Support and updates

The full version’s price includes its first year of support and updates. After that it renews at $50 a year. Every support call reaches our own team in Knoxville.

Try the free version first

Most of what SimpleExport does is in the free version, so the sensible order is to run your own data through it before buying anything. Download SimpleExport.