Sign up now for Client Certification Foundation Course - June cohort!
Pure's logos
Pure Help Center for Pure Administrators

If you are a researcher, or other non-admin at your institution, click here.

  • Home
  • Announcements
  • Release Notes
  • Technical user guides
  • Training
  • Events
  • Support
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Knowledge base articles
  • Data Sources and Integrations

How Can We Help?

Search Results

Filter By Category

Contact Us

If you still have questions or prefer to get help directly from an agent, please submit a request.
We’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Contact us

Bulk Import vs. Synchronization: A DefinitionBulk Import vs. Synchronization: A Definition

There are two ways to bulk add content into Pure: 

  • Bulk import (Administrator > Bulk import)
  • Using a configurable synchronisation (Administrator > Jobs > Cron job scheduling). 

These jobs work in different ways and there are different reasons behind why you should or should not use them i.e. do you plan to maintain the content manually in Pure or will you require multiple updates to this content that would be better suited for a continuous synchronisation?

 

Below will give you a basic understanding of what each type is and when you should use each (or use one over the other).

Bulk Import

The bulk import is a one time upload where you import content via XML and then manually maintain that content in Pure. The bulk import does not support modifying already imported/synchronised content.

If content has been imported via a bulk import, we recommend maintaining the content moving forward via a synchronisation job (if applicable). As long as the IDs are the same as those used in the bulk import then the synchronisation job should take over and update the items (note: configurable synchronisations cannot take over content imported through other synchronisations (i.e. SciVal synchronisation)).

Individual documentation for each bulk import is available directly in Pure on each individual import.

Configurable Synchronisations

The configurable synchronisations allow you to import data on a schedule from XML or a database. This can be done continuously and set to a specific schedule.

Individual documentation for the configurable synchronisation is available directly in Pure on each individual job.

Please also see the ‘Person & Organisation synchronisation’ Master Classes in Pure on Pure Academy which will show you the steps to take when setting up Person and Organisation synchronisations in Pure.

 

 

Published at February 19, 2025

Download
Table of Contents
  1. Bulk Import
  2. Configurable Synchronisations
Related Articles
  • Updating Content With the Bulk Import
  • Transitioning to the Configurable Synchronisation
  • Configurable Rules for Data Synchronisation
Keywords
  • bulk import - xml
  • bulk import
  • synchronisation - xml
  • synchronisation - configuration
  • synchronization
  • synch
  • sync

Was this article helpful?

Yes
No
Give feedback about this article

    About Pure

  • Announcements

    Additional Support

  • Events
  • Client Community
  • Training

    Need Help?

  • Contact Us
  • Submit a Support Case
  • My Cases
  • Linkedin
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Youtube
Elsevier logo Relx logo

Copyright © 2025 Elsevier, except certain content provided by third parties.

  • Terms & Conditions Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy policyPrivacy policy
  • AccesibilityAccesibility
  • Cookie SettingsCookie Settings
  • Log in to Pure Help CenterLog in to Helpjuice Center

Knowledge Base Software powered by Helpjuice

Expand