Organizing Documents and Folders

You can organize your documents and folders to make them easier to find. You can create folders to contain documents, move and copy documents and folders, add shortcuts to link a document or folder from another folder, and rename documents and folders.

Creating Folders

In addition to adding documents to your repository, you can also create folders to organize those documents. See Creating Folders for more information.

Using Collections

Laserfiche offers several ways to locate and organize your documents that are separate from the repository folder structure. This can be useful when users want to organize documents in ways helpful to them, but cannot reorganize the relevant folders because they do not have the necesary rights, or because the folder structure cannot be changed because security, records management, or processes rely on it. You can star documents and folders for quick access later on, create personal collections that contain documents you have selected based on whatever criteria you find useful, or view a list of documents that you recently opened. See Collections for more information.

Moving Documents and Folders

You can move a folder in one of two ways: by dragging and dropping, or using the Move To command. To move a document or folder by dragging and dropping, select one or more and drag them to the location you want to place it in, whether in the current folder or in the folder tree to the left. To move a document or folder using the Move or Copy To dialog box, select the document and then select Move or Copy To. Select Move, and then navigate to the folder to which you want to copy the document. Select Save.

You can use directed agents to move documents. This will move the selected documents to the specified folder. If the folder does not yet exist, it will automatically be created. If the destination folder is not within your current folder, you can specify a path using the following syntax: \Folder1\Folder 2\Destination Folder. Note that agents can only move documents, not folders.

Example: A user, Joan, wants to organize documents in their personal folder into subfolders by the year they were created. These folders do not yet exist in her folder. Joan selects the documents in the folders, opens Smart Chat in agent mode, and uses the prompt "Move documents to folders based on the year each document was created." The agent presents her with a list of folders that will be created and the documents that will be moved into those folders. When she confirms the actions, the agent creates a folder for each relevant year and moves the correct documents into them.

Example: A Human Resources manager, Mary, wants to organize a miscellaneous collection of HR documents by template in the Human Resources folder. This folder already contains subfolders with names that match the template names. She selects the folder, opens Smart Chat in agent mode, and uses the prompt "Move all documents to subfolders named after the document's template, in the \Human Resources\ folder." The agent presents her with a list of folders in the Human Resources folder that will be used, and the documents that will be moved into those folders. When she confirms the actions, the agent moves those documents into the appropriate folders.

Copying Documents and Folders

To copy a document or folder to a new location, select the document and then select Move or Copy To. Select Move, and then navigate to the folder to which you want to copy the document. Select Save.

By default, copying a document or folder will also copy security set directly on that document. You can disable this if you do not want security to be copied. To do so, click your user name in the upper right corner and select Options. In the General section, clear the option Copy access rights along with the entries.

You can use directed agents to copy documents. This will make a copy of the selected documents in the specified folder. If the folder does not yet exist, it will automatically be created. If the destination folder is not within your current folder, you can specify a path using the following syntax: \Folder1\Folder 2\Destination Folder. Note that agents can only copy documents, not folders.

Example: Carl, a manager, has a Word document that needs to be copied to several of his employees' folders so that they can fill it out. He uses the prompt "Copy this document to each of the subfolders in the /Human Resources/Employees folder." The agent presents him with a list of copies that will be created and in which folder. When he confirms the actions, the agent copies the documents into the specified folders.

Creating Shortcuts

A shortcut allows you to link a document or folder from another location in the repository. For instance, you might store all contracts in a central Contracts folder, but place a shortcut to a particular contract in the folder of the user who will be handling it.

To create a shortcut to a document or folder, select the document or folder and then select Move or Copy To. Select Copy shortcut, and then navigate to the folder to which you want to copy the document. Select Paste.

You can use directed agents to create shortcuts to entries. To do so, select the entries to which you want to create a shortcut, and specify the path to the destination folder for the shortcut using the following syntax: \Folder1\Folder 2\Destination Folder.

Example: Marco has identified a group of documents that would be useful for his employee Danielle to reference as she works on a specific project. He wants to quickly create shortcuts to those documents in Danielle's personal folder. Marco selects the documents that he wants to copy for Danielle, opens Smart Chat in agent mode, and uses the prompt "Create shortcuts to these documents in the /Sales/Employees/Danielle folder." The agent presents him with a list of shortcuts that will be created at that location. When he confirms the action, the agent creates the shotcuts.

Renaming Documents and Folders

You can rename documents and folders in the Folder Browser, and you can rename documents with pages, PDFs, and Office documents in the Document Viewer as well.

To rename a document or folder in the Folder Browser, select the document or folder and click the Rename button (). Type the new name and click OK.

To rename a document with pages, PDF, or Office document in the document viewer.Select the More Actions button and then select Rename. If you have opened an Office document for editing, click the document name at the top of the document and specify a new name.

You can use directed agents to rename entries. To do so, select the entries you want to rename, and specify how you want them to be renamed. If the names match any document names in the same folder, you will be prompted to supply a different name.

Example: Linda has a large number of documents with inconsistent or difficult-to-understand names. She has already used Smart Fields to extract more appropriate names from the document contents and store it in a "Title" field. She now wants to rename the documents using the same name as that field's value. To do so, she selects the documents she wants to rename, opens Smart Chat in agent mode, and uses the prompt "Rename selected documents using the value in the "Title" field." The agent presents her with a list of new document names to rename them to. When she confirmst he action, the agent renames the documents.