Working in Xtendis revolves around working with the documents that are available in the system.
On a typical working day, you might want to focus on a specific set of documents, such as documents that need some kind of action from you, documents that have been added recently that you want to be aware of, documents that other users have shared with you, and so on.
One way of working with these documents is through the use of folders through which the documents you want to work on can be accessed.
This article describes how to work with folders.
The following topics are discussed:
- Folders versus dossiers
- Folder basics
- Opening a folder
- Creating a folder
- Copying a folder
- Editing folder settings
- Marking a folder as favorite
- Refreshing the folder content count
- Advanced use of folders
- Managing folders in bulk
- Additional actions
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Folders versus dossiers
In a way, folders and dossiers are very similar in the fact that they both group together documents.
There are minor differences though in their functionality and therefore in the way they are used:
- Folders group any document in the system, whether they are related or not. They are typically based on a search query as explained below, made personal for your use only, or shared with other users.
- Dossiers can only group documents that are related to each other, such as an employee, or a project. Dossiers also hold specific properties such as the date of birth of an employee or the type of employment. Documents that are added to the dossier automatically inherit these properties.
Folder basics
The typical way of working with folders is that the documents that are shown when opening the folder are based on a search query.
Example: A folder can be based on a search query that looks for all documents of a particular company or customer, or all documents that have been added in the past week.
Note: Such folders are also referred to as 'Search folders'.
Most, if not all, folders that you work with in Xtendis will be a folder of this type.
Opening a folder
Folders that you have access to can be quickly accessed by clicking them via the Dashboard:
- Folders that have been marked as favorite (see below) are shown below the quick search field. When the folder contains documents, the total number is shown as a badge.
- An overview of all folders is accessed by clicking 'Go to folder overview' on the Dashboard (in Xtendis 7.2.11 and lower, this is called 'Show all folders'). Here, hover the mouse pointer over a folder title and click 'Open folder →' that appears.
- When viewing the Dashboard as a toolbar, clicking the Folder icon shows the folders that have been marked as favorite (see below). Clicking More/fewer... shows the full list of folders that you have access to. Click a folder to open it.
Figure: The Dashboard with folders marked as favorite, and the icon for accessing the full list of folders.
Figure: Viewing the full list of folders
Figure: Quickly accessing a folder via the Folder menu on the Dashboard as a toolbar.
Note: It is not possible to use the search features (such as those for searching for documents) to search for folders and to open them from the search results.
Tip: Changing the column view can be done in the same was as the column view in the search results.
Additional search parameters
Sometimes, the query that searches for the documents to show in a folder needs additional information such as a time period or the name of an employee or project.
When this is the case, a panel appears when opening a folder in which this information needs to be entered.
Figure: An example of entering a value when opening a folder. Here, the subject for the documents need to be specified.
Clicking Find then searches for the documents based on that information and opens the folder.
Refreshing a folder
To refresh the content of a folder while having the folder open, do one of the following:
- Hover the mouse pointer over the folder icon to the left of the folder name and click the Refresh icon that appears.
- Click the folder name and from the menu that appears, choose Refresh.
Info: This feature requires Xtendis 7.1.14 or higher (see how to check which version of Xtendis you are using).
Creating a folder
Creating a folder can be done in the following ways:
- By using the Create new folder option
- By using the Advanced search option
Using the Create new folder option
Step 1. On the Dashboard, click the three dots of the Add button and from the menu that appears, choose New folder.
The New folder panel appears.
The options in the panel are grouped in tabs.
Step 2. In the General tab, set the options as described below.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | Enter a descriptive name for the folder. |
| Description |
Optional. Describe what the folder is used for. This is particularly recommended when sharing the folder with other users (see the Shared folder option below). |
| Owner |
Leave this set to your name. Note: When not setting yourself as the owner or not sharing the folder and including yourself in the group of people who can see the folder, you will not have access to the folder after creating it. |
| Entity |
Choose if the folder should contain only documents or only dossiers. Note: This setting cannot be changed once the folder has been created. |
| Type |
Leave this set to Search folder. The other option Regular folder is part of the advanced use of folders. |
| Shared folder |
Only available when Entity is set to Document. Enable this option if you want to share the folder with other users or user groups in the system. When a folder is shared, the folder appears in the list of folders on the Dashboard of that user. |
| Preferred function |
Only available when Entity is set to Document. Leave this set to Open folder. Note: The other options that can be chosen here are used when specific tasks need to be performed. These are not typically used on a daily basis. They are explained in Folder settings in Xtendis 7. |
| Default archive | Only available when Entity is set to Document. Choose the archive in which the folder should be stored. |
| Color |
Folders appear on the Dashboard so that they can be easily accessed. To make a folder stand out when it contains content and to differentiate it from the other folders, the folder can be given a color. Choose the color that you want to give the folder. |
| Icon | The type of content that the folder contains can be visualized by adding an icon. Choose one from the set of icons. The icon appears for a folder on the Dashboard, or when viewing the overview of all folders on the Dashboard. |
Step 3. Access the Query tab and define the search query that finds the documents that should appear in the folder. For details about how to do this, see Using criteria when searching in Xtendis 7.
Step 4. (Optional, only when the Shared folder option has been enabled in the General tab) Access the Permissions tab and define the settings for sharing the folder with other users or user groups. For details, see Folder settings in Xtendis 7.
The settings in the Columns tab can only be changed after the folder has been created.
Step 5. Click OK to save the folder.
Step 6. (Optional) Configure how the columns that appear in the list of documents or dossiers that are shown in the folder by doing the following:
Step 6a. Do one of the following:
- On the Dashboard, hover the mouse over the folder, click the 3 dots that appear and choose Configure from the menu that appears. In the Configure folder panel that appears, click the Columns tab.
- Open the folder by clicking it on the Dashboard. Click the 3 dots above the column view and choose Edit layout from the menu that appears.
The panel contains the following options:
| Component | Description |
|---|---|
| Allow grouping | Controls if the search results can be grouped by one or more columns (see below). Enabled by default. |
| Allow filtering | Controls if columns can be filtered (see below) by manually entering text to filter on. Enabled by default. |
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Document Dossier General Order |
With these tabs, the columns (in the form of properties) that are shown or hidden are controlled, as well as the order in which they are shown. See below.
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| Restore default setting |
(Only available when opening the folder and choosing Edit layout from the folder menu.) Click this to discard any changes that were made and to use the default settings. |
| Save layout | Click to save the settings. |
| Save layout for... |
(Only available for functional managers.) Click to save the settings for all users. |
Step 6b. Set the options as needed and when done, click Save to save the changes.
Using the Advanced search option
A folder can also be created when creating an Advanced Search by clicking the 'Store as query folder' option.
Copying a folder
Info: This feature requires Xtendis 7.2.13 or higher (see how to check which version of Xtendis you are using).
When an existing folder has many of the settings set that a new folder should also have, a copy of that folder can be created.
This saves time by not having to manually create and configure the new folder.
Step 1. Access the Configure folder panel as explained in Editing folder settings in the section below.
Step 2. At the bottom next to the Delete button, click Copy.
Step 3. Confirm that you want to create a copy of the folder.
A new folder is created with the exact same settings as the folder that was copied.
Step 4. Adjust the settings as needed.
Editing folder settings
Once a folder is created, its settings can at any time be edited.
Note: The settings 'Entity' and 'Type' cannot be changed once a folder is created.
Do one of the following:
- On the Dashboard, hover the mouse over the folder, click the 3 dots that appear and choose Configure from the menu that appears.
- From the overview of folders on the Dashboard, click the 3 dots of a folder, and from the menu that appears, choose Configure.
- In an opened folder, click on the folder name at the top of the screen, and from the menu that appears, choose Configure.
The Configure folder panel appears. For details about the options that can be set, see Folder settings in Xtendis 7.
Marking a folder as favorite
Folders that you use often can be marked as 'Favorite'. These then appear on the Dashboard so that they can be easily and quickly accessed.
Setting a folder as favorite
To mark a folder as Favorite, do one of the following:
- In the folder, click the star icon at the top of the screen, to the right of the folder name. The icon changes to a solid star.
- In the folder overview list on the Dashboard, click on a hollow star to turn it into a solid star.
- In the folder overview list on the Dashboard, click on the 3 dots of a folder and from the menu that appears, choose Add to favorites. The icon changes to a solid star.
Removing the favorite status
To remove the favorite status, do one of the following:
- In the folder, click the star icon at the top of the screen, to the right of the folder name. The icon changes to a hollow star.
- In the folder overview list on the Dashboard, click a solid star icon for a folder. The icon changes to a hollow star.
- In the folder overview list on the Dashboard, click the 3 dots of a folder and from the menu that appears, choose Remove from favorites. The icon changes to a hollow star.
Refreshing the folder content count
Info: This feature requires Xtendis 7.2.10 or higher (see how to check which version of Xtendis you are using).
Folders that have been made favorite appear on the Dashboard for quick access.
The total number of dossiers or documents that the folder contains is indicated in the bottom right corner. This number is static and may therefore not always represent the actual number when the folder would be opened.
To quickly refresh the count, hover the mouse over the folder, click the 3 dots that appear and from the menu that appears choose Refresh total.
Advanced use of folders
Apart from the method of working with folders described in this article, folders can also be used in more advanced ways for performing specific tasks such as indexing documents, splitting documents, and creating a folder report.
Such tasks are typically performed by power users and are therefore described separately.
For more information, see Advanced ways of working with folders in Xtendis 7.
Managing folders in bulk
Info: This feature requires Xtendis 7.2.12 or higher (see how to check which version of Xtendis you are using).
Sometimes you may need to work on the folders rather than their content. Think of making folders favorite for yourself or other users, deleting folders, adding new folders, or creating a report of the folders that exist in the system.
How this is done is explained in Managing folders in bulk in Xtendis 7.
Additional actions
Many of the actions that can be performed in a folder are the same as those when viewing search results. These are described elsewhere. For details, see the following articles:
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