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Starting February 6th, 2027 Softdocs Etrieve will switch to a new user interface. With this change, there will be new approaches to do the same work, especially when it comes to pulling up documents for an individual by Banner ID.
This article covers New Content resources, searching by Banner ID, and easily navigating between documents like previously done with the filing tree.
For resources directly from Softdocs, the New Content Experience: One Stop Guide is a great place to start. This Knowledge Base article will be specific to just how Middlebury colleagues use Softdocs, but there is much more to New Content that is covered on this one stop guide page, including webinar recordings, video walkthroughs, and an Etrieve Content Search Tips and Tricks Guide.
Until February 7th, Softdocs users will land, by default, at the standard content interface. You can opt in to the New Content view by default ahead of that cutover date by filling out the early adopter form. From the standard content interface, a 'Try New Content' Button will be in the upper right corner above the Print button and next to the navigation and setting buttons.
When you land at the New Content interface, on the left hand side, you will see tabs for 'Search', 'Unfiled', and 'Recycle Bin'. By default, the page will open to the Search page, and here you will see a Home, Saved, and Advanced tab. If it is your first time in New Content, you will have no saved searches, or if you have already configured and saved a search, they will appear under a Recent Saved Searches heading. There is an additional section for Recently Viewed Documents as well which can be helpful when you want to get back to a document from before lunch or a prior day.
To reproduce the same functionality across versions of Softdocs Etrieve Content, you will want to select the tab for 'Advanced' searches at the top. This creates a similar view to Filing Tree.
- To recreate the search by Banner ID functionality that most users currently use, rather than Area as the first filter option, use the dropdown to select 'Lookup'. This will set the conditional second box to is and you cannot modify it, but in the third box you will want to select "Prompt Selection". Prompt Selection will allow for a dialog box to open every time you initiate a search from this advanced (and to be saved) search. This means each time you open it, you'll have a box to type in a banner ID and from there it will find any associated documents for that banner ID.
- If you would like, you can add any additional filters that you would like such as document type. After you have configured the search the way you would like to, click either the Quote Save Search button or the search button. When you click search, you will see that dialog box where you can type in a Banner ID and click on the selection you would like to use. You can also search by multiple Banner IDs at the same time.
- After submitting your search, you will be able to apply filters and order the columns in a particular order, and if you save the search after making these changes, they will reflect on future searches as well.
- In this case, a user might want to reorder the columns so that the Lookup is the first column or to have the created date at the end. For this use, lets say that Area is not relevant, but the Document Type would be useful. First to change what columns are available, you can click on the Columns button with eye icon at the top right of the search result area. From here there will be a dialog box to allow column selections and checkboxes to modify the selections, and click Confirm when done.
- To reorder columns, click and drag the column name.
- To reorder the results, you can click the parallel and opposite arrows next to the column title. In this case sorting the Lookup column orders it alphabetically. Click the arrow again to reverse the order. At this point in time, only one column can be the value that rows are ordered in.
- If you would like to filter by document type, you can then click the funnel icon next to the column title and input your criteria. Filters like this will not be shared in links or included in the saved search so if you rely on a particular filter regularly, it might be easiest to configure that filter when first creating the search in Step 1.
- After all settings have been configured in the way that works best for you, you can click 'Save' in the upper right under the Upload Document button with the bookmark/ribbon icon. Name your search whatever works best for you. These searches can be bookmarked as well, and you will get a Prompt Selection each time for a new Banner ID. If you want to share your saved search with colleagues, you can click the Share button with the chain icon. From here, they will also need to save the search and name it in their own account. If you would like to use this search from this documentation to start creating your own Saved Search use this link.
The biggest concern across Middlebury, and also expressed by other institutions, was the retirement of the filing tree structure that allows for easy navigation between documents in a set of search results. While Softdocs documentation does not cover the following functionality in depth, it is incredibly useful in creating a similar experience to the filing tree.
When you see the results from your search and click on a Document name, you will open that document in the New Content Viewer. If you need to download a document, print (including print to PDF), or share a link to this document, all of those options are near the end of the right side of the document tool bar pictured below in the mint green box. Just above the tool bar, on the left side, next to the document title, there is a blue icon with a magnifying glass and some lines pictured below with a lime green box:
If you click that icon a left hand side bar will open that will display all documents from your search, and you can also view and filter by the other columns configured for your search here as well. You can expand this by using the two vertical blue lines in the vertical center of the page on the edge of the side bar. You can also reorder columns here, but it will not apply to the saved search and those edits will need to be made and saved separately through the steps above. After moving some columns I can see all documents from the search in the left hand sidebar and easily navigate between them. You can also use the arrows in the upper right of the document viewer screen.
