Shinydocs Pro Control Center Guide

Welcome. We can’t wait for you to get started.

After installing the Shinydocs Pro software package, your default browser will open to https://localhost:9701/quick-start , the landing page for new installations for Shinydocs Pro.

Getting started

Add your license

Your license file (.xml) will have been sent to your organization previously.

1. Select Choose File.

2. In the browse window, find your Shinydocs license file (.xml) and select Open.

3. Select Next to upload the license to the application.

4. If the activation succeeds, setup continues to adding your first source.

To update a license later, go to Settings > License and select Update. The License page shows the licensee, contract number, start and end dates, license level, add-ons and limits.

Add your first source

1. Select Add source. It is on the Overview page and the Sources page.

2. On the New tab, select the connector for your content, then select Next. To add another source to a connection you already set up, use the Existing tab.

3. Name the connection and enter the account details the connector needs. Each connector needs different details; see Configure Content Sources for each one. For a file system, use a service account (domain\user). If you leave the username blank, Shinydocs Pro reads the share as the computer account (Local System).

4. Choose a Search authentication type. It sets how this content appears in Shinydocs Search:

   • Hidden – the content is left out of search results.

   • Public – the content appears in search with no sign-in check.

   • Protected – each result is permission-checked in real time against your organization’s authentication (Kerberos or OIDC). Some sources need extra setup for this.

5. Select Next. Control Center checks the connection before you continue. A source can only be added while an agent is online.

6. Enter what to analyze, for example the paths for a file system. Select More options for the connector’s advanced settings.

7. Select Start analysis.

The new source runs the analysis set for its connector under Settings > Analysis. To change what runs for this source, or to set or turn off its schedule, open the source page. Its progress shows on the Sources page. After the first run, each update picks up new, changed and deleted files.

Finding your way around

The navigation bar on the left gives you every part of Control Center.

User menu

The user menu is at the bottom of the navigation bar. Your choices here are stored in your browser.

• Change theme – Dark, Light, or follow your system setting.

• Change language – Default: your system preference.

• More – About (shows the software version), Give feedback and Help.

• System status – the same status panel as in the navigation bar.

• System settings – opens Settings.

Overview page

The Overview page shows all your analyzed content at a glance.

Points of interest

Select a source name anywhere on the Overview page to see that source only.

Catalog

The Catalog lists every analyzed file. Use it to search, filter and act on your content.

Points of interest

Column menu

Select a column heading to open its menu:

• Filter by values – show only rows whose value is any of the values you pick.

• Filter by condition – filter with a condition such as is, is not, is empty, is not empty, or a number range.

• Field availability – see which sources have this field.

• Move left / Move right / Move to far left / Move to far right – reorder columns.

• Remove column – hide the column.

The Name column stays in place while you scroll sideways.

Action

Select Action to act on every item in view, or only on the rows you selected. A dialog opens with a tab for each action. Which tabs you see depends on your license and settings. Each action starts only when you confirm it on its last step.

• Tag – add or remove a tag on the items. Enter the tag name (tags start with tag-) and the value to assign; separate several values with commas. Shown when tagging is turned on for your installation.

• Report – creates a CSV file listing the items, so you can review them before you change anything. Select Additional options for more report settings.

• Download – packages the files as a zip file to download. Files are written to the download directory set under Settings > Actions, then packaged when the job finishes. You can be emailed when it completes (needs a mail server under Settings > Email) and convert files to PDF where possible. Needs the Document Mobility add-on.

• Dispose – deletes files from their original location. You must give a reason, such as an expired retention policy. Select Verify content to check that the content hasn’t changed before it is deleted. Disposal cannot be undone. See Disposal in Shinydocs Pro.

View activity

View activity shows current and past actions. Every action creates a report. From the activity list you can:

• Download the CSV report.

• Cancel an action that is still running.

• Apply the filters that were used when the action was submitted.

Sources page

The Sources page lists every source, grouped by connector, with its Content Score, size, issues and analysis status.

Points of interest

Source page

Select a source name to open its page. It shows the source’s analysis, live progress, run history and index details.

Points of interest

Run options

• Full crawl only – checks every item for changes and updates the index. Changed items are analyzed on the next run.

• Full crawl and reanalyze – checks every item and redoes all analysis on every file. Takes the longest.

Source menu

• Edit source – change the source’s settings.

• Schedule – set when the source updates, or turn its schedule off.

• File info, Duplicates, Trivial, Privacy, Path classification – open the source’s dashboards in a new tab (see below).

• Sync dashboards – use if the dashboards fall out of step with the source.

• Delete – removes the source from Control Center. It does not change or delete anything in the source itself.

Dashboards

• File info – total files, file types, and creation and modification trends.

• Duplicates – which file types have the most duplicates, the largest duplicates, and duplicate trends.

• Trivial – non-essential files that are good candidates for clean-up, the rules that found them, and the folders with the most. A file can match several rules and is counted once for each.

• Privacy – how much of the source may hold personal data, such as email addresses, social security or insurance numbers and driver’s licenses.

• Path classification – built-in keyword classifications based on folder names, in a business function › content type › record code structure.

Analysis groups

Not every analysis applies to every connector.

Insights

Insights shows how your content is changing over time, which issues matter most, and a Content Score for every source.

Points of interest

Content Score and severity

Each kind of issue takes points off the score, based on how much of the source it affects and the severity set for it. Select Configure to change the severities. Every source that hasn’t set its own severity follows this configuration. The recommended severities are:

Select Restore to recommended to go back to these values. Severity changes take effect only after you select Save changes.

Records

Records (System of Record) is a licensed add-on. Mark the source that holds your official records, and Records shows how much of it has been copied elsewhere, both outside and inside the system of record. Until a source is marked, the page shows a preview.

Settings

Settings is available to Control Center administrators. Its pages are grouped into four sections.

Resources, below the sections, has downloads such as the Content Server module.

Analysis

Set which analyses run for every source in one place. Select Default to set the default for all sources, a connector to set it for that connector’s sources, or a single source. A source shows how many of its settings differ from the default (for example +3). Use the filters (All, On, Set here, Mixed) to find settings, then select Review & save.

The other tabs apply to every source:

• Extraction – the largest file to fingerprint, which file types to read (an allow list or a block list), the largest file to read, and how much text to keep per file.

• PII and ROT – the rules for personal and sensitive information and for redundant, obsolete and trivial content. Move rules between Available rules and Applied rules; only applied rules run. On the ROT tab, select Show descriptions to see what each rule finds. To add your own rules, see Adding custom PII and ROT rules to Shinydocs Pro Control Center.

• AI – the prompts that AI analysis runs over each document. Select Add prompt to add one.

Background tasks

• Identify copies – finds items that have copies in other sources. Shows how many items are waiting, how many have no fingerprint to compare, and how many have been checked.

• Clean up items – removes catalog items that are no longer valid, after a short retention window. Always on.

Server

Set a custom URL for Control Center and choose its certificate. You can upload a certificate file or choose one from the Windows certificate store (local machine or current user). When you choose a certificate from the store, a certificate that renews automatically (for example, Let’s Encrypt through win-acme) needs no manual step after renewal. Under Additional allowed hosts, list any other host names Control Center answers to, separated by semicolons. localhost and the site host are added automatically, and wildcards (*) are allowed.

Services

Caution: changing these values can stop the application from working. On a new installation, they should not need to change.

• Search Engine (OpenSearch) – URL, and whether to accept a certificate that can’t be validated.

• Extraction service – URL.

• Search Dashboards (OpenSearch Dashboards) – optional. Turn it on, then set the URL and certificate option.

• Enterprise Search – optional.

Email

Turn on SMTP settings to set up the mail server, then turn on Email notifications to keep your recipients informed about progress, failures and problems such as low storage.

Logs

View Control Center logs for troubleshooting. Filter by level, by origin (Control Center or agent) and by time, or search the messages. Partial words match. If you open a ticket with Shinydocs Support, include the logs.

Search

Open Shinydocs Search from the navigation bar to search across your analyzed sources, including document content for supported file types. For Protected sources, results are permission-checked in real time with each source, so users see only what they are allowed to see.

For more information, see Configure Search.