Archivist Reference Guide

Audience: Archivists — people who own and manage a Zeuge family archive.

This guide is a comprehensive reference for every screen, workflow, and feature available to archivists. Use it as a manual — look up the section you need rather than reading front to back.

Table of Contents

  1. Core Concepts
  2. Getting Started
  3. Dashboard
  4. Archives
  5. Batches
  6. Items Tab — Uploading & Managing Photos
  7. Contributors Tab — Inviting Family Members
  8. Responses Tab — Reviewing Contributions
  9. Metadata Tab — Curation & Review
  10. Visual Similarity Analysis
  11. Entity Normalization
  12. Batch Lifecycle & Status
  13. Settings Page
  14. Subscription Tiers

Core Concepts

Archives, Batches, and Items

Zeuge uses a three-level hierarchy to organize content:

Archive
 └─ Batch
     └─ Item (photo/document)
  • An Archive is a top-level container for a family or project (e.g., "The Johnson Family Archive").
  • A Batch is a focused collection of photos within an archive (e.g., "Summer Vacations 1970–1985").
  • An Item is a single photo or document inside a batch.

Contributors are invited per batch and can only see the items in that batch.

Responses

A Response is a piece of memory contributed by a contributor. It can be:

  • Voice — a recorded voice message (transcribed automatically)
  • Video — a camera recording (audio extracted and transcribed)
  • Text — a typed message

One response can cover multiple items (e.g., "This response covers photos 3, 4, and 5 — they're all from the same event").

Curated Metadata

For each item, Zeuge maintains a curated metadata record with these fields:

Field Description
Date When the photo was taken (from contributors' responses)
Location Where it was taken
People Names of people in or mentioned in the photo
Tags Themes, objects, topics (e.g., "beach," "wedding," "graduation")
Description A short factual description
Stories Anecdotes, memories, or narrative context

Each field has a source (auto = AI-generated, manual = archivist-edited) and auto-generated fields are recalculated when you recompute.

Getting Started

Sign Up

  1. Go to zeuge.io.
  2. Click "Sign up".
  3. Enter your email and create a password, or use "Sign in with Google" for one-click access.
  4. You'll land on your Dashboard.

📸 [SCREENSHOT: The Zeuge sign up page showing email/password and Google sign-in options]

Sign In

Return visitors: click "Sign in" on the home page and enter your credentials.

Dashboard

The Dashboard (/dashboard) is your home base. It gives you an at-a-glance view of everything happening across your archives.

📸 [SCREENSHOT: The full Dashboard with all sections visible]

Dashboard Sections

Summary Cards High-level counts: total archives, total batches, total responses, total contributors.

Active Sessions Batches with status "Invited" or "Active" — currently open for contributor responses. Each shows the batch name, archive, status, and a direct link to the batch.

Processing Queue A visual indicator of responses currently moving through the processing pipeline, broken down by stage: Pending → Transcribing → Extracting → Processing → Done / Error.

📸 [SCREENSHOT: Processing queue section showing counts per stage with bar chart or table]

If you see responses stuck in "Error," go to the Responses tab of the relevant batch and use the "Reprocess" option.

Archives

Creating an Archive

  1. Navigate to the Archives page from the sidebar or dashboard.
  2. Click "New Archive".
  3. Enter a name and optional description.
  4. Click "Create".

📸 [SCREENSHOT: The "New Archive" dialog with name and description fields]

Archive Limits

The number of archives you can create depends on your plan:

Plan Archives
Free 1
Starter 3
Pro 10
Enterprise 50

Editing & Deleting Archives

  • Edit: Click the archive name on the archives list to rename it or update the description.
  • Delete: Available from the archive settings. Deleting an archive permanently removes all batches, items, responses, and metadata within it.

Batches

Creating a Batch

  1. Open your archive.
  2. Click "New Batch".
  3. Fill in:
    • Title (required)
    • Description (optional) — context for yourself
    • Prompt (optional) — shown to contributors on their welcome screen

📸 [SCREENSHOT: "New Batch" form with all three fields]

The Batch Detail Page

The batch detail page is where all batch work happens. It has four main tabs:

Tab Purpose
Items Upload and manage photos
Contributors Create and manage contributor invites
Responses Review contributions
Metadata Curate extracted metadata

The batch header shows:

  • Batch title and description (click to edit inline)
  • The batch prompt (click to edit)
  • Status badge
  • Pause/Resume toggle
  • Delete button

📸 [SCREENSHOT: Batch detail header showing title, status badge, and action buttons]

Items Tab

The Items tab lets you upload, view, reorder, and delete photos in your batch.

Uploading

  • Drag and drop files or folders directly onto the items area.
  • Click to browse and select files from your file system.
  • Supported formats: JPEG, PNG, WebP, TIFF, HEIC.
  • Maximum file size: 50 MB per file.

After upload, Zeuge stores three versions of each image:

  • Web copy — max 2400px, optimized for display
  • Thumbnail — max 600px, for grids and similarity analysis
  • Original — your full-resolution file, preserved as uploaded

EXIF metadata (date, camera model, GPS) is extracted and stored automatically.

📸 [SCREENSHOT: Items tab during upload — showing progress spinners and loaded thumbnails side by side]

Reordering Items

Drag items within the grid using the drag handle. The order determines the sequence contributors see in their carousel.

Item Limits by Plan

Plan Items per Batch
Free 20
Starter 100
Pro 500
Enterprise 2,000

Contributors Tab

Adding a Contributor

  1. Click "Add Contributor".
  2. Enter a name (the greeting shown to the contributor, e.g., "Dad" or "Aunt Ruth").
  3. Optionally enter an email (for your reference — no email is sent automatically).
  4. Optionally set an expiration date for the link.
  5. Click "Add".

A unique invite link is generated — copy it and share it via email, text, or any messaging app.

📸 [SCREENSHOT: "Add Contributor" dialog with name, email, and expiration date fields]

📸 [SCREENSHOT: Contributors list showing contributor rows with name, link (with copy button), expiration, and revoke action]

Invite Links

Each invite link is unique per contributor per batch. Do not share the same link with multiple people.

Example link format: https://zeuge.io/c/{unique_token}

Revoking Access

Click "Revoke" on a contributor row to immediately invalidate their link. Their previously submitted responses are preserved.

Saved Contributors

When you add a contributor, Zeuge saves their name and email for quick re-invite on future batches. Look for the "Saved contributors" dropdown when adding a new contributor.

📸 [SCREENSHOT: The "Add Contributor" dialog showing the Saved contributors dropdown with existing contacts]

Responses Tab

The Responses tab shows all contributions submitted for the batch.

Response Card Elements

Each card shows:

  • Contributor name
  • Photos covered (thumbnail stack)
  • Response type badge: 🎤 Voice | ✏️ Text | 🎥 Video
  • Duration (for voice/video)
  • Processing status badge
  • Transcript (once generated)
  • Extracted metadata fields with source badges

📸 [SCREENSHOT: A fully processed response card showing all elements]

Processing Statuses

Status Meaning
Pending Queued, not yet started
Transcribing Speech-to-text in progress
Extracting AI metadata extraction in progress
Processing Final pipeline step
Done ✅ Fully processed
Error ❌ Failed — available for reprocessing

Response Actions

Via the dropdown menu (⋮) on each response card:

  • Reprocess — re-run the full transcription + extraction pipeline for this response. Useful after errors or to retry with improved audio.
  • Delete — permanently remove the response and its associated metadata.

📸 [SCREENSHOT: Response card dropdown menu with "Reprocess" and "Delete" options]

Playing Audio / Video

  • Voice responses: An audio player appears below the transcript. Click ▶ to listen.
  • Video responses: A video thumbnail appears. Click to play.

📸 [SCREENSHOT: Voice response card with audio player visible]

Metadata Tab

The Metadata tab is where you review, correct, and finalize the structured metadata extracted from all contributor responses.

Layout

  • Item grid (left/center): All items with completeness and review status badges
  • Item editor panel (right): Opens when you click an item — full editing controls

📸 [SCREENSHOT: Full metadata tab layout showing grid and open editor panel]

Curated Metadata Fields

For each item, the editor shows six fields: Date, Location, People, Tags, Description, Stories. Each field has:

  • Its current value
  • A source badge: auto (AI-merged) or manual (you edited it)
  • An edit button

Editing Fields

Click the pencil icon on any field → edit → Save. Saved fields become "manual" and will not be overwritten by recompute.

📸 [SCREENSHOT: A field in edit mode with text input active]

Review Statuses

Status Meaning
Unreviewed Default — not yet reviewed by archivist
Reviewed ✅ Archivist has verified this item's metadata
Flagged 🚩 Needs attention — conflict, incomplete, or requires follow-up

Click "Mark reviewed" or "Flag for review" in the editor panel.

Conflicts

If two contributors gave different values for the same field (e.g., two different dates), a ⚠️ conflict indicator appears. Click "View details" to see each contributor's value and choose which to keep.

📸 [SCREENSHOT: Conflict alert showing two different date values from two contributors, with "Choose" buttons]

Completeness Score

Each item shows a score from 0–3 based on how many of Date, Location, and People are populated. Use this to prioritize which items need more contributor input.

Bulk Actions

Select multiple items using checkboxes, then use the Bulk Action Bar to:

  • Mark as reviewed
  • Flag for review
  • Recompute metadata — re-merges responses into auto fields (manual fields preserved)

📸 [SCREENSHOT: Bulk action bar with multiple items selected]

Visual Similarity Analysis

Find near-duplicate or visually similar photos in your batch automatically.

Running Analysis

From the Items tab, click "Analyze for similar photos". The analysis runs in the background (typically 10–60 seconds depending on batch size).

Reviewing Groups

Proposed groups appear as cards with thumbnail collages. For each group:

  • Click "Confirm" — group is linked in the archive and shown to contributors
  • Click "Reject" — group is dismissed
  • Click "View" — see all items in the group at larger size

📸 [SCREENSHOT: Proposed similarity group cards — thumbnail collages with Confirm/Reject buttons]

Manual Groups

Select multiple items in the grid (hold Shift + click) and click "Create Group" to manually group related photos.

Similarity Engines

Engine Plans Notes
pHash (perceptual hash) All plans Fast; excellent for near-duplicates and scanned duplicate prints
AI Embeddings (Vertex AI) Pro, Enterprise More capable; finds conceptually similar photos even with different compositions

Entity Normalization

Consolidate variant names (e.g., "Bob," "Uncle Bob," "Robert Johnson") into one canonical form across your batch.

Getting Suggestions

In the Metadata tab, click "Get suggestions". Zeuge analyzes all extracted names, tags, and locations across all responses and proposes fuzzy-matched groups.

Reviewing & Merging

The Normalization Modal shows suggestion cards. For each:

  • Merge — accept the suggested canonical
  • Customize — type your own canonical before merging
  • Skip — ignore this suggestion (e.g., false positive grouping)

📸 [SCREENSHOT: Normalization modal showing suggestion cards for people, tags, and locations]

Normalization State

After saving, the Metadata tab shows the current normalization state: canonical names with their known aliases.

Batch Lifecycle & Status

Batches progress through four statuses:

Created → Invited → Active → Complete
Status When What Contributors See
Created New batch, no contributors yet —
Invited First contributor added Can access and contribute
Active First response submitted Can access and contribute
Complete Archivist paused contributions "This collection is closed" message

Pausing & Resuming

  • Pause: Click the pause button in the batch header → sets status to "Complete"
  • Resume: Click the resume button → sets status back to "Active"

📸 [SCREENSHOT: Batch header showing the pause/resume toggle with current status]

Settings Page

Access from the navigation: Settings (/settings).

Profile

  • Display name
  • Profile avatar

Account

  • Account email (used to sign in)
  • Notification email (for system alerts — can differ from auth email)

Subscription & Billing

  • Current plan and its limits
  • Upgrade / downgrade options
  • Stripe billing portal (manage payment method, view invoices)

Sign Out

The Log out button is available at the bottom of the Settings page.

📸 [SCREENSHOT: Settings page showing profile, account, and subscription sections]

Subscription Tiers

Feature Free Starter Pro Enterprise
Archives 1 3 10 50
Batches per archive 3 10 50 200
Items per batch 20 100 500 2,000
Visual similarity (pHash) ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
AI similarity engine ❌ ❌ ✅ ✅

Upgrade your plan from the Settings page.

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