The following procedure guides you through the process of creating a classification rule. Each rule sets the value for a single property. By default, a rule is run only once and ignores files that already have a property value assigned. However, you can configure a rule to evaluate files regardless of whether a value is already assigned to the property.

To create a classification rule

  1. In Classification Management, click the Classification Rules node.

  2. Right-click Classification Rules, and then click Create a New Rule (or click Create a New Rule in the Actions pane). This opens the Classification Rule Definitions dialog box.

  3. On the Rule Settings tab, enter the following information:

    • Rule name. Type a name for the rule.

    • Enabled. This rule will only be applied if the Enabled box is checked. To disable the rule, clear this box.

    • Description. Type an optional description for this rule.

    • Scope. Click Add to select a location where this rule will apply. You can add multiple locations, or remove a location by clicking Remove. The classification rule will apply to all folders and their subfolders in this list.

  4. On the Classification tab, enter the following information:

    • Classification mechanism. Choose a method for assigning the property value.

    • Property name. Select the property that this rule will assign.

    • Property value. Select the property value that this rule will assign.

  5. Optionally, the Advanced button may be clicked to select further options. On the Evaluation Type tab the check box to Re-evaluate files is unchecked by default. The options that can be selected here are as follows:

    • Re-evaluate files unchecked: A rule is applied to a file if, and only if, the property specified by the rule has not been set to any value on the file.

    • Re-evaluate files checked and the Overwrite the existing value option selected: The rule will be applied to the files every time the automatic classification process runs. For example, if a file has a Boolean property that is set to Yes, a rule using the folder classifier to set all files to No with this option set will leave the property set to No.

    • Re-evaluate files checked and the Aggregate the values option selected: The rule will be applied to the files every time the automatic classification process runs. However, when the rule has decided what value to set the property file to, it aggregates that value with the one already in the file. For example, if a file has a Boolean property that is set to Yes, a rule using the folder classifier to set all files to No with this option set will leave the property set to Yes.

    On the Additional Classification Parameters tab, you can specify additional parameters that are recognized by the selected classification method by entering the name and value and clicking the Insert button.

    Click OK or Cancel to close the Advanced dialog box.

  6. Click OK.

Additional references

  • Create a Classification Property
  • File Management Tasks