Clients often need to transfer large volumes of files to the Veridian team—whether it’s source images for digitization or data for ingestion into a Veridian collection (e.g. METS/ALTO files or born-digital PDFs).

While tools like Google Drive or Dropbox can be used, we recommend Amazon S3, a secure and reliable cloud storage service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS).

This guide explains how to upload data to an Amazon S3 bucket using Cyberduck (an S3-compatible client) on Windows or macOS.

What you’ll need

Veridian will provide you with the following:

Path to your S3 Bucket (e.g. /upload.4225.dlconsulting.com)
Access Key ID (e.g. SampleAccessKeyId)
Secret Access Key (e.g. SampleSecretAccessKey)

There are two upload methods to choose from

There are two upload methods available:

Copy (anchor link)
Synchronize (anchor link)

While both methods are effective, synchronization offers two important advantages:

Resumable uploads: If the connection is interrupted for any reason, the synchronization will automatically resume the upload from where it left off once the connection is restored—saving time and avoiding the need to start over.
Selective uploads: You can exclude specific files from the upload (e.g. large archival TIFF files) from the transfer.

How to install Cyberduck

Visit https://cyberduck.io/download and download the appropriate version for your operating system.
Cyberduck is free to use (a donation is optional).

Connecting to Veridian’s S3 Bucket

Open Cyberduck
Select “File” from the main menu
Choose “Open Connection…”

You’ll then be presented with the connection window:

In the connection window:

Choose “Amazon S3” from the dropdown of available connection types. Once selected “Server”, “URL” and “Port” values will be automatically populated
Enter your “Access Key ID” and “Secret Access Key”
Leave “Anonymous Login” unticked
Leave “SSH Private Key” set to None
Click on more “More Options”
Add the file path to your S3 Bucket e.g. "/upload.4225.dlconsulting.com".*
“Connect Mode” and “Encoding” can be left with default settings.
Click “Connect”.
You should now be able to see the contents of your S3 Bucket.

*Note: For macOS you cannot add a file path. Once connected you will locate your designated Bucket (e.g. upload.4225.dlconsulting.com) from the directory list. Alternatively, you can search for the Bucket name in the top-right search box if needed.

macOS find bucket

Upload Method 1: Copying data to S3 Bucket

In Cyberduck select “File” from the main menu.
Choose “Upload”
You’ll then be taken to your computer’s file browser—Windows Explorer or macOS Finder—where you can navigate to the location of the file/folder you want to upload and share with Veridian.
Once you have located and selected the file/folder you want to upload, click “Choose”
The upload will then start and you will be notified when completed. You should see the freshly transferred file/folder sitting within your designated Bucket.
Once you’ve confirmed that your file/folder has been successfully copied, please email your Veridian contact to let them know the transfer is complete. We’ll then proceed with processing the data on our end.

Upload Method 2: Synchronize to an S3 Bucket folder

When uploading large volumes of data, the synchronization feature can help avoid restarting the entire upload if your connection is interrupted—saving valuable time.

First create a folder to Sync to:

In Cyberduck, go to “File” in the main menu
Choose “New Folder”
Name the folder clearly (e.g. Batch2-2025-05-05)

Setup the synchronization

Select the folder you just created.
Go to “File” in the main Cyberduck menu
Select “Synchronize”
You’ll then be taken to your computer’s file browser—Windows Explorer or macOS Finder—where you can navigate to the location of the folder you want to create a synchronized upload with Veridian.
Once you have located and selected the folder you want to establish a synchronized upload, click “OK”
A window will then open where you will need to select the synchronization type: a. Choose “Upload”
Finally click “Continue”
The transfer and synchronization will then start and you’ll be notified once complete.
If your internet connection is interrupted during the upload, you can simply re-run the synchronization—only files that haven’t been uploaded will be transferred again, saving significant time.
Once you’ve confirmed that your files are successfully synced, please email your Veridian contact to let us know the transfer is complete. We’ll then proceed with processing the data on our end.

How to Upload Data to Veridian using Cyberduck