Workflows

Set up document storage

Build a document storage template — the folders, subfolders and document names that project documents are filed under — publish it, and change it safely once activity templates use it.

Admin

A document storage template is a folder structure: folders, subfolders and the names of the documents that go in them. An activity template picks one, its Document Upload tasks say which of those documents each activity collects, and every project made from it files its uploads under the same folders.

You build the structure as a Draft, publish it, and then select it on an activity template. Once an activity template uses it, the structure can still grow but nothing in it can be renamed or deleted.

Before you start

You need Templates: Action page access to create, edit, publish, duplicate or delete a document storage template. With Templates: View you can open every one, drafts included, but only to read it. See Page access.

Unlike an activity template, a document storage template does not belong to the person who made it: anyone with Templates: Action can edit, publish or delete it. Created by on the list is for information only.

Check the list first: an existing structure may already fit. Make one structure for each set of folders you need — a heavily regulated launch, for example, needs more Regulatory subfolders than a packaging-only renovation.
Have the folder names and the exact document names ready. Activity templates pick documents by these names.

Create a structure

Document Storage lists every structure, with its status and the activity templates that use it.

A reminder to make one document storage template for each folder structure you need, then reference it from an activity template.
Opens the form for a new structure. Greyed out with Templates: View.
A Draft is still being built and cannot be used. Once published it is Active and activity templates can pick it.
The activity templates that use this structure, or Not used yet. While it is used, nothing in it can be renamed or deleted.
Open the structure to change it, or copy it into a new Draft. A bin icon also appears on a Draft that nothing uses.

Open Document Storage. It is in the left menu under Templates, below Activity Templates.
Choose + New document storage template. A form opens above the list.
Fill in the form. Give it a Template name (required, and not used by another document storage template) and a Short description. Leave Copy from on Blank, or pick an existing structure to copy its folders, subfolders and document names.
Choose Create. The editor opens on your new structure. It starts as a Draft.

Add folders, subfolders and documents

A folder can hold documents directly, subfolders, or both. A subfolder holds documents only — it cannot have subfolders of its own.

A published structure that two activity templates use: you can add to it, but not rename or delete what is there.

Change the structure's name and short description. This works at any time, even while it is in use.
Copies the whole structure into a new Draft that you own, and opens it.
Names the activity templates that use this structure, and says what you can still do: add new folders, subfolders and documents.
Adds a folder at the end of the structure.
One panel per folder, with its documents and subfolders. Locked replaces the rename and delete icons while the structure is in use.
A document name. In an activity template, a Document Upload task picks it by folder, subfolder and this name.

Choose + Add folder. Type the folder's name and choose Add, or press Enter.
Fill the folder. Choose + Add at the bottom of the folder, then Add a document here or Add a subfolder, and type the name.
Fill each subfolder. Choose + Add document under the subfolder's documents.
Rename or delete while you build. Double-click any name to rename it, or use the pencil icon on its row. The bin icon deletes it: Srishti asks first and names what a folder or subfolder takes with it. A delete cannot be undone.

Names must be unique where they sit: two folders in the same structure, two subfolders in the same folder, or two documents in the same place cannot share a name.

Publish and use it

Clear the checklist. While the structure is a Draft, the top of the editor lists what stops it being published under Before you can publish:. It needs at least one folder, every folder needs a document (directly or in one of its subfolders), and every subfolder needs a document of its own. Publish stays greyed out until the list is empty.
Choose Publish, then Publish again to confirm. The status changes to Active. Choose Not yet to keep it as a Draft.
Select it on an activity template. In the activity template editor, pick it under Document storage template. Only Active structures are listed. Its documents then appear when you add a Document Upload task. See Build an activity template.

Change a published structure

The structure is…	You can	You cannot
Active and Not used yet	Add, rename and delete folders, subfolders and documents; edit its details.	Make it a Draft again, or delete it.
Active and In use by an activity template	Add folders, subfolders and documents; edit its details.	Rename or delete anything already in it.

A structure stays in use until the last activity template that uses it is deleted. A published activity template keeps the structure it has. To use a different structure, duplicate the activity template and switch the copy; remove the copy's Document Upload tasks first, because they point at the old structure's documents.

Even when a structure is not in use, a document that a project, or a deleted activity template, still uses cannot be deleted. Srishti says so and leaves it in place.

Duplicate a structure

To make a variation without touching a structure others rely on, choose Duplicate in the editor or the duplicate icon on the list. The copy is a new Draft that you own, named after the original with (copy) added. The original and the copy are independent from then on: build the copy, publish it and select it on a new activity template.

What happens next

Activity templates can select the structure once it is Active, and the list shows them under Used by.
In each of those templates, Document Upload tasks pick the exact documents to collect: folder, then subfolder or Folder root, then document name.
A project made from such a template shows its documents grouped by these folders on its Documents tab, headed Folder structure from document storage template: and the structure's name.
Documents you add later to a structure in use can be picked by the activity templates that use it.

What can go wrong

Problem	Why	What to do
Publish is greyed out.	A folder or subfolder has no document, or there is no folder yet.	Add a document to each folder and subfolder listed under Before you can publish:.
The structure is missing from an activity template's Document storage template list.	It is still a Draft.	Publish it first.
Folders show Locked and there are no rename or delete icons.	An activity template uses the structure.	Add a new folder or document instead, or duplicate the structure and work on the copy.
… with this name already exists here	Another folder, subfolder or document in the same place has that name.	Choose a different name.
This document is still used by a project or a deleted activity template, so it cannot be deleted.	Something still points to the document.	Leave it in place.
You have view-only access to Templates.	Your Templates page access is View.	Ask an admin for Templates: Action if you need to build structures.

Related