Other than a Windows file share, how do you import translated content into Content Manager?

We had to offboard our Tridion Docs server from the Windows domain that all of our users are logged into, as an organization-wide security mandate. As a result, the usual solution of exposing the CM import service directories (in particular ImportTranslations) as Windows fileshares won't work. Content Importer asks for a lot of information from the user, compared to the legacy solution of simply dropping files into a folder, and it seems like there is much more room for error in terms of users being able to successfully import their content.

I'd be interested to know if other users have experienced this issue in the past, and how they've approached solving it. Either suggestions on how to make Content Importer more user friendly or how to make legacy imports work without a Windows fileshare would be very much appreciated.

  • This was the solution we came up with to give nontechnical users the ability to interact with files on the system disk of the Tridion CM server. We use Droppy (BSD license) and winser (MIT license) to create a local webserver running a file browser, and then configure IIS to proxy HTTPS through to that local server after terminating TLS. This way, the user traffic is safely encrypted without Droppy having to be especially configured for SSL (and HTTPS will work the same way it does on CM). Users access the droppy interface by browsing to TRIDION_SERVER_DOMAIN/files/. This seems to accomplish what we were trying to do in terms of facilitating imports and exports, and it uses only software with permissive open-source licenses, if that’s a concern at your company.

    1. Setup
      1.1 Create Droppy root directory on the same disk as InfoShare
      1.2 Create sink directory under root
      1.2.1 Create DataExports directory junction under sink
      1.2.2 Create ImportTranslations directory junction under sink
      1.2.3 Create directory junctions for any other directories you need available in Droppy
      1.3 Install IIS components with Web Platform Installer
      1.3.1 Application Request Routing (latest version)
      1.3.2 URL Rewrite (latest version)
      1.4 Install WebSocket Protocol feature for IIS (needed for Droppy frontend)
      1.4.1 Server Manager -> Add roles and features
      1.5 Install NodeJS
    2. Install Droppy
      2.1 Create package.json file under the Droppy root (example below)
      2.2 Open a shell at the droppy root and run “npm install --production”
      2.3 Open services.msc and start the newly-created Droppy service
      2.4 Verify that the server works locally by visiting http://localhost:8989 in a web browser
    3. Configure proxy
      3.1 IIS Manager
      3.1.1. Enable proxy server in Application Request Routing (do not check inspect with URL rewrite!)
      3.1.2. Create Reverse Proxy rewrite rule in URL Rewrite under Default Web Site
      3.1.2.1. URL matching rule: “^files/(.*)”
      3.1.2.2. Rewrite URL: "">http://localhost:8989/{R:1}"

    Example package.json:
    {
    “name”: “droppy-import-export”,
    “scripts”: {
    “postinstall”: “winser -i -s -c”,
    “preuninstall”: “winser -r -x -s”,
    “start”: “D:\droppy\node_modules\.bin\droppy.cmd -c D:\droppy\config -f D:\droppy\sink start”
    },
    “dependencies”: {
    “droppy”: “^11.1.0”,
    “winser”: “^1.0.3”
    }
    }

    After these steps, anyone who can access your Tridion server over the web should also be able to browse the file system using the Droppy browser under /files/. Droppy runs as a Windows service, and will start automatically on boot. You can modify the name of the service in package.json, the port the local server listens on in config/config.json, and add additional directories by adding more junctions to sink/. We’re in the process of rolling this out to users now, and initial feedback is looking positive.

  • Thanks Ian for closing the loop, appreciated! I wonder if Secure FTP would have resulted in the same resolution. More importantly, are you still relying on BatchImport? 

    The full version of the Tridion Docs product is missing, but since 13SP2/13.0.1 and definitely 14/14.0.1 Content Importer got improvements thereby obsoleting BatchImport. PO Kate Momot tries to describe that passed minute 9 of Understanding Tridion Docs components, architecture, and extensibility Kateryna Momot (SDL)- on Vimeo

    -Dave