Editing a Work

Owned by David Walker
Last updated: Oct 07, 2021
4 min read

There are two views for works: Browse and Edit. The public-facing view of a work is the Browse view. To access the Edit view, navigate to a work and click the Edit button. 

In the Edit view for a work, you can select one of the following tabs: Descriptions, Files, Relationships, and Sharing. 

  • Descriptions tab

    • Edit, add, or remove metadata elements. 

  • Files tab

    • If you add files, you must recheck the deposit agreement before saving.

  • Relationships tab

    • Select another administrative set from the drop-down menu

    • Add to a collection, remove from a collection

    • Add a child work from existing works in repository, deposit a new work as child work (this is only available after the in edit view, not at the time of deposit).

  • Sharing tab

    • Share work with users or group and select access level (e.g. view/download, edit)

    • Edit access for existing users/group with whom work is shared

    • Remove access for existing users/group with whom work is shared


You can also edit the visibility for the work by selecting a different visibility option. If you edit the sharing or visibility of the work, you can either opt to have all files in the work inherit these permissions, or have the individual files retain their permissions so that they can be edited manually.

To apply the changes, click the Save changes button. 

Editing a work - file manager

To change the order of files in a work or set a representative file, you must use the File Manager. In the Browse view of a work, click the File Manager button. 

To set the representative file, select Representative Media for the file that you would like to be featured as representative for the work. Click Save to apply your changes.

To change the order of the files, click and drag files into the order that you would like them to appear in the work. Click Save to apply your changes.

Editing a file

In the Browse view of a work, the files in the work are listed under Items. There are two views for files: Browse view and Edit view. The public-facing view of a file is the Browse view. 

To get to the Browse view of a file, in the Items section of a work, click on the file name.

In the Browse view of a file, you will be able to see the file details and user activity. You can also delete the file in this view.

To edit a file from the Browse view, click on the Edit This File button. In edit view, the user can edit the file description, upload a new version of the file, and change the permissions.

  • Edit description: In the Descriptions tab, enter a new file title in the Title field. Click Save to save changes.

  • Upload a new version: Click on the Versions tab to see options for replacing the file with a new version.

  • Permissions: Visibility and sharing permissions can also be set at the file level, in the Permissions tab. As a default, all files have the same permissions as the containing work. This can be edited in the “Permissions” tab for each file.

Alternatively, in the Items section of the Browse view of a work, you can go directly to edit, upload a new version, delete, or download a file by clicking the Select an action drop-down and choosing the appropriate option.

Single-use links

Single-use links are a way to share individual files from works. Single-use links expire after 24 hours and they can only be used once. When the recipient clicks the single-use link, the file will be downloaded to their desktop. To generate a single-use link, you must be in the Browse view of a file. Click Create Single-Use Link and then click Copy.

Transferring work ownership

Ownership can be transferred between users in Hyrax. Go to the Dashboard and select Works.

  • In My Works, click the Select drop-down for a work in the far-left Actions column.

  • Click Transfer Ownership of Work

  • Find a user by entering two or more characters of their email address

  • (optional) Add comments. These comments will only appear on the transfer record – the work record will not be edited

  • Click OK to confirm the transfer

You will be redirected to the Transfer of Ownership screen. Here, you can view past and current transfers and their statuses. If you wish to cancel this most recent transfer, click Cancel and click OK to confirm (transfers can only be canceled before they have been accepted by the recipient). The status of the transfer will be changed to Canceled.

Accepting work transfers

There are two ways for a recipient of a work transfer to view that transfer.

  • In Notifications, there will be a notification about the transfer. Click Review all transfer requests.

  • In the Dashboard, scroll down to Transfer of Ownership.

  • To accept the transfer: in the Status column, click the arrow next to Accept and select:

  • Allow depositor to retain edit access: Work visibility stays the same, depositor still has edit access

  • Remove depositor access: Changes work visibility to Private and disables edit access for depositor.

  • Authorize depositor as proxy: Work visibility stays the same, depositor still has edit access to work and is authorized as proxy for future deposits

To reject the transfer: in the Status column, click Reject and click OK to confirm. The status of the transfer will be changed to Rejected.