Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Digital preservation is all about making sure you can always quickly find, view, use and trust your digital content and records over decades or forever. This means going beyond simply storing your files to making sure they are maintained in a file format that you can instantly view and use no matter what application they were originally created in.

Preservica is a market leader in active digital preservation and the most trusted Digital Preservation platform on the market. Starter relies on Preservica’s state-of-the-art platform to bring DP best practice to all Starter users. The platform is aligned to OAIS or Open Archival Information System. OAIS refers to the Reference Model that was developed for use in facilitating a broad, discipline independent, consensus on the requirements for an archive or repository to provide long-term, preservation of digital information.

The OAIS Reference Model became the official ISO 14721 Standard in 2002, and a 2nd edition was published in 2012.

Learn more by watching our short Digital Preservation video.

Over time digital files can become unreadable, either because the original file format has become obsolete or you don’t have the right application to view them. Once popular formats like Lotus 1-2-3 and Wordstar have come and gone. WordPerfect is all but obsolete. Now think of the 100s of different file formats you already have or might need to keep and access in the future - from digitized material, images, AV, websites, emails, PDFs, CAD drawings, graphical designs, GIS maps, project plans and more - and you can see how file format obsolescence can become a real issue.

Download a word perfect file here and upload it to Starter to test this for yourself!

From the second you upload your files they get securely stored in the cloud - with multiple copies created and held across multiple locations for 99.999999999% durability.

During upload Preservica Starter also:

• Creates a checksum for every file to ensure its long-term integrity and authenticity
• Scans the file for viruses
• Checks for duplicates
• Accurately identifies the exact file format
• Extracts file properties
• Transforms files into recommended preservation formats
• Creates access copies that you can share online with colleagues or the public
• And more..

All this means your valuable digital content and records are safe and fully preserved in the cloud in alignment with NDSA and OAIS ISO 14721.

By using Preservica Starter, you can be sure you are aligned to the highest levels of the NDSA’s Levels of Preservation. Preservica Starter has been assessed against the latest NDSA Levels of Preservation 2.0 self-assessment spreadsheet, the full results of which can be found here. You can also find out more about how Preservica Starter aligns with the NDSA Levels of Preservation in our article here.

The how-to videos accessible via the links below explain all the basic functions in Starter – from uploading and preserving your first file to creating collections, describing your assets, viewing them and sharing them with the public. It’s best to watch them from within the product, but you can also access them here. Helpful dialogs in the product then guide you through your first steps.

First Steps in Preservica Starter

Create your first collection in Preservica Starter

Making content public or private in Preservica Starter

Optimizing your metadata with a controlled vocabulary

If you are really stuck, please have a look at our community hub that features a large amount of help articles. You can also access the community hub by clicking on the icon or sidebar in the Starter product. If you need further help, please contact starter.info@preservica.com. We are happy to assist you with any issue or query you may have.

Some, but not all, web browsers place restrictions on the maximum size of files that can be uploaded through them. Typically, if a limit is in place, this is up to 4GB, but this can vary depending on the specific web browser.

Yes, you can easily toggle folders or individual files to make them private or to make them public through your built-in online access portal.

To find out more, please watch this video.

Preservica Starter allows you to preserve and render a large and diverse range of file formats, including but not limited to video, text, images, emails, websites and obsolete files.

Descriptions of specific terminology used in Preservica Starter can be found in our Glossary, which you can access via our community hub here.

Your upload may fail if you have exceeded your available capacity (5GB for free users). If this is the case, please contact starter.team@preservica.com to discuss options to help you progress or visit our pricing page to select your upgrade option.

If your upload issue is unrelated to storage capacity, please raise this on our community hub where a member of the team will be happy to help.

Yes, you have complete control and will never be locked into your account. If you decide to move away from Preservica Starter then you will receive the folder and asset structure, all descriptive metadata for all folders and assets, the audit trail on all items, all your files (original and derived) plus the associated technical metadata and checksums. This is returned using an Open Preservation Exchange format that is fully described on our website so it can be easily read as you wish.

We are sorry to see any of our users go, but if you want to leave then you can do so at any time by completing this form and our operations team will work with you to close your account and ensure you receive a zip file containing all of the above quickly and securely.

You can quickly find answers to your questions from your Starter homepage, using the Community Hub toolbar, or alternatively you can visit the Community Hub by clicking on the Hub icon at the top of your Starter homepage. The Community Hub is packed full of tips, best practice, documentation & how-to videos.

You are not alone! As a Starter user you get direct access to the Preservica Community Hub, connecting you with 1,000's of archivists & digital preservation practitioners from the Starter community. Learn and Share digital preservation best practice, access self-service support, build your digital preservation knowledge and have your say on the future direction of Preservica solutions.

If you need more storage you can add more with our ultra-low cost capacity upgrade packages or step up a level to Starter Plus or Professional - learn more about adding storage capacity here

Yes, by upgrading to Starter Plus or Professional you can brand your access & discovery portal to include your own logo, site header image, site title and supporting descriptive information – as pictured in the example below. You can also view a wide range of live access portals in our public access showcase.

Starter Plus enables you to have up to 3 users.

More information on Starter Plus can be found here.

Yes – as your collections grow or when you need our more advanced functions you can seamlessly upgrade to Professional or Enterprise editions, and still use the content and metadata you uploaded to Preservica Starter.

More information on our Professional edition can be found here and for Enterprise edition and a full solutions comparison you can learn more here.