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SyRF User Guide

Bulk Upload PDFs

Bulk upload lets a project administrator attach full-text PDFs to the studies of one systematic search in a single go, by choosing a folder of PDFs on their computer. SyRF matches the files to studies automatically, checks them, and links them once everything is in place.

This is the fastest way to get full-text PDFs onto SyRF and replaces sending files by email — you no longer need to send anything to the SyRF team.

Contents

Who can use this

Bulk upload is available to project administrators only, and only once it has been switched on for your project. If you don’t see it, check with whoever manages your project.

How to get to it

  1. Go to the Systematic Searches page in your project (Studies in the side navigation).
  2. Find the systematic search you want to add PDFs to.
  3. Click the three dots icon (⋮) at the end of its row.
  4. Select Bulk upload PDFs.

This opens a dialog that guides you through choosing a folder, reviewing how your files match up, and uploading.

How matching works

Each study in a systematic search has an expected PDF file name or path, taken from the PDFRelativePath field in your original upload file (see Preparing References). When you choose a folder, SyRF looks for a file in that folder whose name or path matches this expected value for each study.

The match is forgiving about a few common differences that spreadsheets and different operating systems introduce:

  • Capitalisation doesn’t matter — smith_2020.pdf matches Smith_2020.PDF.
  • Slash direction doesn’t matter — SubfolderA/File.pdf matches SubfolderA\File.pdf.
  • A leading ./ on the expected path is ignored.
  • Curly (smart) quotes and dashes that spreadsheet software sometimes substitutes are treated the same as their plain equivalents.

Choose the folder the recorded paths start from. Paths are read from inside the folder you pick, and the folder’s own name is not part of them. So if your studies record Humanities/Broom 2019.pdf, choose the folder that directly contains Humanities — not the folder above it. Picking the wrong level is the single most common reason for everything showing as unmatched, and the match preview will show you before anything is uploaded.

Everything else must match exactly, including the folder structure. If a file doesn’t match any expected path, it’s listed as unmatched — see preparing your folder below for the most common causes.

Preparing your folder

Before you choose a folder, make sure it only contains PDFs organised the same way you described them in your upload file (see Preparing References if you need a refresher on PDFRelativePath).

Some files stop the whole upload before anything is sent, so it’s worth checking for these first:

Problem How to fix it
File is not a PDF Remove it from the folder, or convert it to PDF.
Name contains < > : " \| ? * Rename the file to remove these characters.
Name is one Windows reserves (CON, PRN, AUX, NUL, COM1–COM9, LPT1–LPT9) Rename the file.
Name ends in a space or a full stop Remove the trailing space or full stop.
Name is too long Shorten the file name.
Two file names differ only by capitalisation (e.g. Smith2020.pdf and smith2020.pdf) Rename one of them — otherwise one would overwrite the other.

SyRF checks your folder as soon as you choose it and tells you exactly which files have a problem and why, so you can fix your folder and choose it again. Nothing is uploaded until every file in the folder is valid.

Files your operating system adds automatically — such as .DS_Store, __MACOSX, files starting with ._, or Thumbs.db — are ignored automatically. You don’t need to do anything about these.

The match preview

Once your folder passes the checks above, SyRF shows you a preview with three counts:

  • Matched — files that line up with a study and are ready to upload.
  • Unmatched files — files in your folder that don’t match any study’s expected file name or path. You can review the list and see why each one didn’t match.
  • Studies still missing a PDF — studies in this search that don’t have a matching file in the folder you chose. This is an estimate based on the folder you’re about to upload; if some of these files fail the checks described in what each outcome means, the final count once the upload finishes may be a little higher.

If you have unmatched files, it’s worth going back and checking their names against the expected paths before continuing — a small spelling difference or an extra subfolder is the most common cause.

If a file is already on the server

Before you start the upload, choose what should happen for any file that’s already on the SyRF PDF server from an earlier upload:

  • Skip existing (default) — leave anything already on the server untouched. Nothing is overwritten.
  • Replace always — overwrite every file already on the server with the one from your folder.
  • Replace only if different — overwrite only where the file on the server is different from yours; identical files are left alone.

This choice applies to every file in the upload.

Uploading, and working in the background

Once you start the upload, SyRF sends your files and shows progress in the dialog. You can carry on working elsewhere in SyRF while it runs — select Watch in background to close the dialog and keep working. The search’s row on the Systematic Searches page shows live progress, and you can expand it for more detail at any time.

The upload keeps running as long as the browser tab stays open, even if you switch to another page in SyRF. Closing the tab interrupts the upload — see what each outcome means below.

If your connection drops partway through, SyRF automatically keeps trying to reconnect for a few minutes, without you needing to do anything, as long as the tab stays open. If it can’t reconnect in time, the upload stops and you’ll need to start again from your folder.

Once your files have finished sending, SyRF checks the files for viruses before anything is copied, then copies them to the PDF server and links them to their studies.

What each outcome means

Every upload attempt ends in one of the following states. Whatever the outcome, retrying always starts again from your folder — there’s no way to pick up partway through, so keep your folder as you prepared it in case you need to try again.

  • Upload complete — your files are copied and linked. You’ll see counts for files copied, files replaced, files skipped (because they already matched what was on the server), unmatched files, studies still missing a PDF, and any invalid files.
  • Upload stopped — the routine check for viruses found a problem with one or more files. Nothing was copied and no study links changed. Remove the named files from your folder and upload it again.
  • Upload failed — something went wrong while copying your files. Any files that had already been copied are linked to their studies and stay that way. Retrying starts over from your folder; whether the already-copied files are copied again depends on the “if a file is already on the server” choice you make for the new attempt.
  • Never finished — the browser tab was closed before the upload completed. Nothing was copied. Try again from your folder when you’re ready.
  • Upload cancelled — you cancelled the upload yourself. Nothing was copied and no study links changed.

You can see the last 20 attempts for a search, including who ran each one and when, in the search row’s expanded detail panel.

The CSV report

After an upload finishes, you can download a CSV report — one row per file, with what happened to it. This is a useful record to keep alongside your systematic search. Open it in Excel or any spreadsheet tool.

A cancelled upload doesn’t produce a report, since nothing was sent.

Limits

An upload can contain at most 10,000 files and 1 GB in total. If your folder is larger than this, split it into smaller folders and upload them one after another — each upload only adds files, it doesn’t remove PDFs already linked from an earlier one.

Troubleshooting / FAQ

Some studies still show as missing a PDF after a successful upload. Why? Check the file names against each study’s expected PDFRelativePath — the most common causes are a small spelling difference, a missing or extra subfolder, or a file that simply wasn’t in the folder you chose. The match preview and the CSV report both list unmatched files so you can compare them.

Can I resume an upload if it’s interrupted? No. Whether an upload is cancelled, interrupted by a closed tab, or fails partway through, retrying always starts over from your folder. Keep your folder as you prepared it so you can try again quickly.

I closed my laptop / put it to sleep partway through — what happens? If the browser tab stops running, the upload can’t continue. When you check back, it will show as Never finished, and you’ll need to start again.

Can I delete a systematic search while an upload is running? No — deleting is disabled while a PDF upload for that search is in progress.

Do I still need to email PDFs to the SyRF team? No. Bulk upload replaces that process. If bulk upload isn’t available for your project yet, contact your SyRF support channel.