Background Tasks
Background tasks run operations on records on the server — on demand or on a schedule. Use them to clean up records matching a search, re-apply metadata mappings, set or remove tags in bulk, merge duplicate records, or get an email when a scheduled search finds something.
Because tasks run on the server, you do not have to keep the browser open: start a task, close fylr, and check the result later in the task log.
Required Permissions
Available under a user's or group's System Rights:
Access Task Manager: Allows users to open the Tasks Manager and create, edit, run and delete background tasks.
A task operates with regular record permissions. To successfully run a module, the user also needs the corresponding permissions — for example, delete rights on the affected records for the delete_objects module.
Opening the Tasks Manager
Open the Tasks Manager from the header bar of your fylr instance.
The list shows all background tasks with the columns Task ID, Module Name, Description, Created At, Created By, Status, Started At, Finished At and Next Run At.
For each task, the following actions are available:
Run Now
Starts the task immediately, regardless of its schedule.
Edit Task
Change title, description, parameters and schedule.
View Task Log
Inspect progress, results and error messages.
Show Affected Records
Oopen the records the task operates on in the search.
Delete Task
Remove the task (the records are not affected).
Creating a Task
There are three ways to create a background task:
In the Tasks Manager, via the create button
From the search: select records and choose "Create background task..." from the context tools — the current search is taken over as the task's search
From a collection: choose "Create background task" in the collection's context menu — the collection is used as the source
Task Details
Module
The type of job the task performs (see Modules). The module is chosen at creation and cannot be changed afterwards.
Title
Nme of the task, shown in the Tasks Manager.Can be edited later.
Task Parameters
The available parameters depend on the selected module. Most modules operate on a Search, which defines the target records — configured with the same options as the expert search. Enable Incremental on the search to run only on records changed since the task's last run — useful for a scheduled task, so it processes new and edited records instead of re-processing everything each time.
Scheduling & Notifications
Schedule Options:
None
The task is saved but does not run by itself — start it with Run now when needed.
Run now
The task runs once, immediately after saving.
Schedule a manual time
The task runs once at the configured Start At time (empty = immediately).
Use scheduler
The task runs repeatedly according to one or more Schedules.
With Use scheduler, configure recurring runs in the schedule editor. Presets: Every minute, Every 5 / 10 / 15 / 30 minutes, Hourly, Daily, Weekly — or build a Custom Schedule from Day of Month, Weekday, Hour and Timezone. A task can have multiple schedules; the next planned run is shown in the Next Run At column.
Email: add one or more users as recipients to send an email notification when the task is finished.
Modules
delete_objects
Delete all records matching a search. Also supports permanently deleting or restoring records from the trash.
metadata
Apply a metadata mapping to records matching a search.
search
Run a search and report the number of matching records.
set_unset_tags
Set or remove tags on records matching a search.
consolidate_objects
Merge duplicate records into one target record.
delete_objects
Deletes — or restores — the records matching the configured Search. The Delete Policy controls what happens:
Unlink (setnull)
Delete the records and set links that point at them in other records to null. The default.
Delete (remove)
Also delete the subordinate or reverse-linked records of the deleted records.
Purge (purge)
Permanently delete the records from the trash — not recoverable.
Restore (undelete)
Restore matched, soft-deleted records from the trash.
Review the search carefully before scheduling this module — every record matching the search is deleted on every run. Deleted records are moved to the trash and can be restored from there (see deleting records).
metadata
Applies an existing Metadata Mapping to all records matching the Search — for example, to re-apply a mapping of file metadata (EXIF, IPTC, XMP) to records whose files were uploaded before the mapping existed.
Additional parameters:
Override Values
Allow the mapping to replace existing field values; otherwise only empty fields are filled.
Merge Values
Merge mapped values with existing ones instead of replacing them.
Set/Unset Tags
Set or remove tags on each record after it was successfully updated.
search
Runs the configured Search and reports the number of matching records in the task log. Combined with a schedule and an email notification, this works as a recurring report — for example, a weekly check for records that are missing required information.
set_unset_tags
Sets or removes Tags on all records matching the Search — useful for bulk (re-)tagging, for example marking all records of a pool for review.
consolidate_objects
Merges duplicate records: all references to the Source records are re-linked to the Target record.
Source Secords
Select the record(s) that should be replaced.
Target Record
Select the record that should replace the other selected record(s).
Dry Run
Only report in the task log what would change, without modifying any records.
Delete Source Records
Delete the source records after re-linking.
Start with a dry run and check the task log before running the consolidation for real.
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