Alma TXT Export – Automated (SFTP Method)

Modified on Tue, 24 Feb at 1:34 PM

When Should I Use the Automated TXT Export Method?

The Automated TXT Export method is recommended if:

You are using the TXT export workflow rather than the OAI Publishing Profile.
You operate in a multicampus or shared Institution Zone (IZ) environment and require strict campus-level separation of holdings.
You prefer snapshot-based exports delivered via SFTP.

If your institution is using the BrowZine OAI Publishing Profile method, please refer to the Publishing Profile documentation instead.

Please make sure you have already configured a SFTP Connection to our server at sftp.thirdiron.com. If you have not done so, please refer to the instructions here: Alma - Configuring a SFTP Connection

Once the SFTP Connection(s) have been set up, follow the instructions below to schedule the automation component. Note that you will need to follow these instructions for EACH campus that has an instance of BrowZine/LibKey.

1. Go to Admin -> Manage Jobs and Sets -> Run a Job

2. Select “Export Electronic Portfolios”

3. Select your defined logical set.

Select the logical set you created for this export.

Your set must include:

Material Type equals Journal

Multicampus or Shared Institution Zone (IZ) environments:

If you operate in a multicampus or shared Institution Zone (IZ) environment, your logical set must also include a campus-level filter, such as:

Available explicitly for equals [Campus Name]
or another locally configured campus ownership filter

This ensures only portfolios belonging to the intended campus are exported.

If you need additional assistance in defining a set, please refer to the Ex Libris Manage Search Queries and Sets documentation, under the "Creating Logical Sets" section.

*** CONSORTIA MEMBERS ***

If your institution operates in a Network Zone (NZ), enable Search scope: Combined results when creating your logical set so that Network Zone records are included.

Contact Ex Libris if you do not see this option available.

4. Configure the export task parameters:

* Physical Format: TXT schema

* Number of records in file: One File

* Export into folder: Private

* FTP configuration: Select your SFTP connection to sftp.thirdiron.com (often named “BrowZine FTP”)

Do not modify the generated TXT file structure or header fields. The automated job will deliver the file exactly as generated by Alma.

5. Review and Confirm

Schedule the job in the "Schedule" panel using the following settings:

* Frequency: Weekly

* Every: 1 week(s)

* On: Saturday (our system checks for updated files each Sunday, so scheduling the job on Saturday helps ensure timely processing)

* At: 10:00 (the time is not critical so you can adjust as needed to accomodate other tasks)

* Schedule Name: any name of your choosing - we recommend using "CAMPUS NAME - BrowZine" so that it's clear as to which campus this scheduled job belongs to.

You can set "Email Notifications" if you wish to be notified when the job runs to our SFTP server each week.You are also welcome to setup a notification to come to support@thirdiron.com, which will alert us as well, although our system automatically checks for updated files each Sunday.

Hit Submit once done.

6. Hit Confirm when the confirmation window pops up

You should be deposited on the Scheduled Manual Jobs tab after you confirm, but if not you can navigate to

Admin > Monitor Jobs > Scheduled Manual Jobs to edit or delete schedules.

7. Notify Us

Once the schedule has been confirmed, please email us at support@thirdiron.com to confirm this has been set up so that we can "turn on" the automated updates on our end. Note that our scheduler will not run until we are notified that the Alma configuration is complete.

Running the job manually

If you ever need to run a manual update outside of the weekly automated schedule, you can do so by using the "Run Now" feature in the Options menu (three dots next to the scheduled job item).

This might be done after making a sizable/important collection change that you wish to have reflected on our end right away (you must also notify us at support@thirdiron.com to request a manual Alma refresh so that we know to trigger the corresponding update from our end to harvest the newly exported data).

If you have any questions, please contact us at support@thirdiron.com.