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Metadata
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Metadata is the name of the attribute of a document. The concept of metadata is
divided in two: **metadata types** (size, color, distance) and **metadata values** for
those types. Metadata types are defined in the setup menu and associated with
document types. Then when a document is uploaded, a value for that metadata
can be entered. There are two kinds of metadata type to document type relations:
optional and required. When a metadata type is optional for a document type,
it can be left blank for a document being uploaded and the upload will still
be successful. On the other hand required metadata type must be given a value
or it will not be possible to upload the document at hand.

Examples of metadata type: Invoice number, color, employee id.

The data entry of metadata types can be set to allow any value to be provided
(the default) or a list of possible values can be entered in the ``Lookup``
configuration option and users will be presented with a drop down list of options
instead of the default text entry box.

If metadata types are setup to allow any value to be entered a ``validation``
option can be chosen to block the entry of invalid data. Metadata types also
provide ``parsers`` which will not block the entry of data but are able to
interpret and modify the value provided by the user to a conform to a specific
format. An example of a provided parser is the date parser which will interpret
and correct dates provided by users regardless of the format in which they are
entered.