How to download metadata

The Download a metadata item(s) as Word™ or PDF action and the Advanced options action are accessible from an onscreen metadata item view, a search results window and the My items page.

If you are downloading from any page other than an onscreen metadata item view page, you must first select the metadata item you wish to print by 'checking' the checkbox to the left of the metadata item name. A green tick in the box will indicate that the item is selected.

Download using Microsoft Word

  1. Click the Download metadata item(s) as Word™ action from the right of the page. This will open the Download item page where the item name is presented as a hyperlink.
  2. Some metadata items provide you the option of selecting to open and/or save in technical form or user-friendly form, or (for a data set specification) in long or short form. They are as follows:
    • Data element – The technical form includes most attributes from its data element concept and value domain. The user-friendly form includes only select attributes from these items.
    • Data element concept – The technical form includes most attributes from its object class and property. The user-friendly form includes only select attributes from these items. 
    • Value domain – The technical form includes most attributes from its classification scheme (if one exists). The user-friendly form includes only the name of the classification scheme. 
    • Data set specification – The long-form includes all related data elements. The short form includes the data set specification item only.
  3. Click the metadata item name hyperlink (in technical, user-friendly, long or short form where applicable) which will open a dialog box with the option to either open or save the metadata item.
    • Selecting open will open the metadata item in the internet browser that is currently open.
    • Selecting save will open a browser that will allow you to save the item in your selected location.

Important note: The file created during a Download metadata item(s) to Word action is an xml file which is readable in Microsoft Word 2003 or above. If you do not have Microsoft Word 2003, you can still view the output using the Microsoft XML viewer which is available as a free download from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=19676b18-1bcd-4852-93ba-0b5a203ea731.

Download using PDF

  1. Click the Download metadata item(s) as PDF action from the right of the page. This will open the Download item page where the item name is presented as a hyperlink.
  2. Some metadata items provide you the option of selecting to open and/or save in technical form or user-friendly form, or (for a data set specification) in long or short form. They are as follows:
    • Data element – The technical form includes most attributes from its data element concept and value domain. The user-friendly form includes only select attributes from these items.
    • Data element concept – The technical form includes most attributes from its object class and property. The user-friendly form includes only select attributes from these items. 
    • Value domain – The technical form includes most attributes from its classification scheme (if one exists). The user-friendly form includes only the name of the classification scheme. 
    • Data set specification – The long-form includes all related data elements. The short form includes the data set specification item only.
  3. Click the metadata item name hyperlink (in technical, user-friendly, long or short form where applicable) which will open the metadata item in Adobe Reader.
  4. You can save a copy of the document to your computer by clicking on the Save a Copy button in the Adobe Reader menu.

Important information on METeOR PDF downloads

The download to Portable Document Format (PDF) file enhances the accessibility of METeOR’s important content by providing an alternative to the WordprocessingML (Word) documents.

However the process used to generate PDF documents is not as sophisticated as the one used to generate WordprocessingML documents.

As a result, formatting differences exist between the PDF and Word outputs. Key differences are:

  • When downloading multiple data elements as a PDF file (such as in a custom selection or DSS), the resulting document will not contain an alternate name index. It will only contain a single index by short or technical name depending on your selection at extraction.
  • Similarly, some special characters are not presented correctly in extracted PDF files. If you are concerned that a formula or phrase may be missing a special character in your PDF output, please compare with the onscreen presentation for this item (problematic symbols are ⅛, ⅜, ⅝, ⅞, Δ, √, ∞, ≡, ≈, ≠, ≤, ≥, Ω and ∑).

Work is underway to address these issues and to develop a better alternate download format.

Using Advanced download options

  1. Click the Advanced options action from the right of the page. This will open the advanced download options page.
  2. Select the format(s) in which you would like to have your metadata item(s) downloaded (e.g. technical or user-friendly form, long or short form). Items available in each format are as indicated above.
  3. Select whether you would like to have your extracted document include a supporting metadata items appendix. This appendix would contain metadata items which are the building blocks for those in the download selection (object classes, properties, classification schemes and glossary items).
  4. Select whether you would like to have any data elements in your extracted document presented and ordered by their short name, rather than their technical name. Note that this option is only available for data elements and is not displayed if your selection does not contain a data element or data set specification.
  5. Select whether you would like to have your extracted items downloaded as a Word or PDF file.
  6. Once your selection is complete, click on the Download button to generate your file. Depending on whether you have chosen to download the file as a Word or PDF file, this action will open a dialog box with the option to either open or save the metadata item(s) file or will directly open the file in Adobe Reader. Options for saving the file to your computer are the same as those documented for downloading to Word or PDF above.