When you first sign up, the Onboarding Wizard walks you through initial setup. Complete these steps to get your archive running:

The Getting Started checklist on your dashboard disappears once all steps are complete.

Only admins can manage users.

1. Go to Users in the sidebar (admin only).
2. New users sign up at your subdomain's login page and click Create Account.
3. Their account starts as pending — they cannot log in until an admin approves them.
4. From the Users page, approve, change roles, or delete accounts.

Roles

• Admin — Full access. Manage users, settings, authority files, imports, exports, and delete any record.
• Curator — Full collection access. Create catalog items, manage collections, exhibits, members, events, research, and deaccession items. Cannot manage users, settings, or imports.
• Staff — Intake work. Create entries and slips, upload photos, edit records, and submit catalog requests for curator/admin approval.
• Volunteer — Limited intake. Create entries and upload photos. Cannot edit other records or manage slips.
• Board — Read-only. View dashboard and reports only.

AI-Powered Slip Scan (phone or webcam)

1. Go to Donation Slips in the sidebar and click Scan Slip.
2. Take a photo of the physical donation slip or choose an image from your gallery.
3. Click Extract fields — the AI reads the slip and fills in donor name, date, description, and other fields.
4. Review and correct any fields, then click Save Slip.

Manual Entry

1. Go to Donation Slips and click New Slip.
2. Fill in the donor name, description, and any other details.
3. Click Save.

Importing from Excel/CSV

1. Go to Import Data and select Donation Slips.
2. Download the template or upload your own spreadsheet.
3. Map your columns to our fields, preview, and import.

Deed of Gift & Tax Letters

From any donation slip detail page, you can generate a printable Deed of Gift document or a Tax Acknowledgment Letter for the donor. Both include your museum's information and an itemized list of donated materials.

The catalog flow moves items from intake to permanent record:

1. Create an entry for the donated item (Entry Log → New Entry).
2. Upload photos from the entry detail page.
3. Link a donation slip if one exists (use the Smart Match feature on the entry page).
4. Create catalog item — Admins and Curators see a direct "Create Catalog Item" button. Staff see a "Request Cataloging" button that submits for approval.
5. The catalog item page shows all linked information — entry details, donation slip details, photos, and catalog fields — in one place.

Quick Entry Mode

For rapid intake of many items, use Quick Entry from the sidebar. This streamlined form lets you save and immediately start another entry, with prefill options for donor, item type, location, and status.

AI Photo Description

On any entry with uploaded photos, click AI Describe to have the AI analyze the photo and generate a draft description. Review and edit the description before saving.

Dimensions

On the catalog item page, use the Dimensions fields to record height, width, depth (in inches, cm, feet, or mm) and weight.

Public Visibility

Control which catalog items appear on your public portal using the Public Visible toggle in the right sidebar of the catalog item page. Entries and archives have the same toggle on their detail pages.

Deaccession

To remove an item from the collection, open its catalog page and use the Deaccession panel in the right sidebar (admin only). Select a reason, method, and record board approval. Deaccession can be reversed.

Collections

Collections are named groupings (e.g. "Wheeler Collection", "Agricultural Heritage"). Assign catalog items to a collection from the catalog item detail page. Browse all collections from the Collections page.

Exhibits

Exhibits track items currently on display. Create an exhibit, then assign catalog items to it. When an item is on exhibit, its current location updates automatically.

Conservation Tracking

Track conservation events for any catalog item. From the catalog item page, go to the Conservation section to:

• View the full conservation history for that item.
• Record a new event — treatment type, details, condition before/after, urgency level, and who performed the work.

Loan Management

Track incoming and outgoing loans from the Loans page in the sidebar.

1. Click New Loan to create a loan record with borrower/lender info, purpose, insurance value, and dates.
2. Add catalog items or entries to the loan.
3. Track status (active, overdue, returned) and return conditions.

Active and overdue loans are highlighted in the loan list for easy monitoring.

Archives are separate from catalog items — they use DACS-compliant fields for archival collections (papers, bound volumes, mixed media).

1. Go to Archives and click New Archive.
2. Fill in title, creator, format, description, provenance, and condition.
3. Add Finding Aid Notes to help researchers locate materials within the collection.
4. Upload photos of covers, spines, or notable pages.

You can also convert an entry to an archive from the entry detail page if an item turns out to be archival rather than a museum object.

OCR Transcription

For archives and entries with document photos, use the Transcription Workspace to extract text. The AI reads the document image and produces editable text that you can review and save alongside the record.

Location Tree

The Location Tree page shows your entire storage hierarchy — buildings, rooms, cabinets, shelves, boxes, and drawers — in a browsable tree view. Add new locations at any level and see which items are stored where.

Moving Items

Log item moves between locations with notes about who moved the item and why. Move history is preserved so you always know where an item has been.

Packing Groups

When preparing items for a move (e.g. relocating to a new building or packing for a loan), create a Packing Group to organize which items go together. Add items to the group, then complete the move when ready.

1. Go to Members to see all members, filter by status or tier.
2. Click Add Member to create a new membership record.
3. Membership tiers (Individual, Family, Business, Institutional) are customizable.
4. Expiring memberships appear as alerts on your dashboard.

Public Signup

If your public portal is enabled, visitors can join or renew at your /join page. New signups appear in your member list.

Importing Members

Go to Import Data → Members to upload your existing membership list from Excel or CSV.

Researchers can submit requests through your public portal's Research Request form. Requests appear in your Research Requests queue with status tracking (Open, In Progress, Completed). Assign requests to staff and set due dates.

Response Builder

When a request is ready, use the Send Response feature to compose your findings and deliver them directly to the requester by email. The request is automatically marked as completed.

The Dossier tool gives you a 360-degree view of any person or place across your entire collection.

Person Dossier

Search for a name and see every record linked to that person — entries, donation slips, catalog items, archives, memberships, and research requests — all on one page.

Place Dossier

Search for a location and see all entries, catalog items, and archives associated with that place.

Access the Dossier search from the sidebar or by clicking on person/place names throughout the system.

Work Packets

Group related records into a Work Packet for focused projects. For example, create a packet for "Photograph all Wheeler Collection items" or "Research 2025 donations."

1. Go to Work Packets in the sidebar and click New Packet.
2. Give it a title, description, assign an owner, and set a due date.
3. Add entries, catalog items, or other records to the packet.
4. Track progress as items in the packet are completed.

Reconciliation

The Reconciliation workspace helps you identify and fix data gaps across your collection. Review queues show:

• Unmatched slips — donation slips not yet linked to an entry.
• Catalog candidates — entries with photos that are ready to be promoted to catalog items.
• Missing photos — entries that need photos before they can be cataloged.

Story Composer

Create curated stories about items in your collection for newsletters, exhibits, or your public portal. The Story Composer links narratives to catalog items, entries, or archives.

1. Create a new story and link it to a collection record.
2. Write your own narrative or click Draft with AI to generate a starting point based on the record's details and photos.
3. Edit, refine, and publish when ready. Published stories appear on your public portal.

AI Photo Description

From any entry with photos, click AI Describe to generate a description of the item based on its photo. The AI draft can be reviewed and edited before saving.

OCR Transcription

Use the Transcription Workspace to extract text from document photos using AI. Available on entries and archives with uploaded images.

Import

Go to Import Data (admin only). You can import:

• Entries — donation/accession records
• Donation Slips — slip records
• Members — membership records

Upload a CSV or Excel file, map your columns to ours, preview the data, and import. Your column names don't need to match exactly.

PastPerfect Import

Migrating from PastPerfect? Use the dedicated PastPerfect Import tool. It automatically recognizes PastPerfect column names and maps them to AzureArchives fields. Upload your PastPerfect export, review the mapping, preview your data, and import.

Export

• Export CSV — downloads entries as a single CSV file.
• Export All (ZIP) — downloads a ZIP containing CSVs for every data table: entries, slips, catalog items, archives, members, events, research requests, collections, and photo URLs.

Your data is always yours. Export at any time, no restrictions.

Collections Summary

The Collections Summary report gives a printable, grant-ready overview of your holdings — entries, slips, catalog items, and archives with totals and breakdowns.

Board Packet Generator

Generate a comprehensive report for board meetings from the Board Packet page. Choose a date range and select which sections to include:

• New acquisitions and catalog items
• Deaccessions
• Membership activity
• Research requests
• Collection statistics

The packet is formatted for printing or PDF export.

Track upcoming and past events from the Events page. Each event has a title, type, date/time, location, capacity, and admission fee. Upcoming events appear on your dashboard and public portal.

AzureArchives tracks changes to entries, catalog items, donation slips, archives, and members. View the full audit trail for any record by clicking the History link on its detail page. Each change shows what was modified, when, and by whom.

Admins and curators receive a daily email summary highlighting items that need attention:

• Unmatched donation slips
• Pending catalog requests
• Open research requests

Digests are sent automatically — no setup required.

Your public portal is your museum's online presence. Visitors can:

• Search your collection (items marked as public visible)
• Read published stories about your collection
• View upcoming events
• Browse newsletters
• Submit research requests
• Join or renew memberships

Enable or disable the public portal from Module Settings. Control which individual entries, catalog items, and archives are visible to the public using the Public Visible toggle on each record.

Module Settings

Turn features on or off for your museum from Module Settings. Disabled modules are hidden from the sidebar. Available modules: Donations, Catalog, Archives, Legacy Index, Membership, Research, Probate Index, Immigration Index, Public Portal, Newsletters, Events.

Authority Files

Authority Files control the dropdown values used throughout the system: item types, conditions, archive formats, archive conditions, and display statuses. Add, edit, or remove values to match your museum's vocabulary.

Need help? Have a question or feature request?

Email azuretaz@gmail.com and Tyler will get back to you.