Aviary

Step 3: Prepare Your Media CSV File (with file locations):

1. Go to the Aviary package template you downloaded. Open the CSV file called Aviary-media-csv-template. You will see the following column headings: “aviary ID,” “Media User Key,” “Resource User Key,” “Public,” “Sequence #,” and “Path.” Delete the test data.
2. Enter your own data, beginning with “Path.” Since you are uploading files from your local environment, the path to each media file will need to be entered relative to the root directory of the zip file.
3. You can easily populate this field by copying and pasting your file path names.

• On a PC, select your files, hold down the shift key, right-click, select “Copy as Path,” and paste into the “Path” column in Excel. 

• On a Mac, select your files, right-click, hold down the option key, select “Copy # Items as Pathnames.” Select the first box in the “Path” column in your Excel file and click “Edit” in the menu bar. Click “Paste Special.” In the pop-up box that appears, select “Text”>“OK.” 

4. Use “Find and Replace” to delete the unnecessary beginning of the path (everything that precedes the slash before the title of your zipped folder). Finally, use “Find and Replace” to replace all backslashes with slashes. The Aviary system cannot read a path with backslashes. 

5. Enter data in the “Media User Key” and “Resource User Key” columns. These “User Key” columns are meant to connect media files to their resources, which you will describe in more detail in the Resource CSV file below. You must choose a unique number to identify each separate resource (i.e., an audiocassette as a whole) and each media file (i.e., multiple tracks on that audiocassette). If there are multiple media files for one resource, make sure that the “Resource User Key” for each of those rows of media files is the same. 

• Only use numeric values as your key values—no special characters, no alpha characters, and no spaces. These keys are used only for the import process, so they need only be unique for each import. Aviary does not store these temporary keys; they will be replaced by “aviary IDs,” which the system will generate upon import. You must leave the “aviary ID” column blank in your CSV files for this reason. 
• “Sequence” tells the system which media file should play first in each resource. Number sequentially for resources which have multiple files (i.e. 1, 2, 3). If all of the resources in your upload have only one media file, each row should have a “1” in this column. 
• “Public” tells the system how broadly to share the media file. Enter “yes” to make the media file public, and “no” to make it restricted (recommended if there are any questions about copyright).