Documents list and board
What this page is — the index of a project's documents, as a filterable table or a Kanban board, with the filters written into the address so any view can be bookmarked or shared.
What it is for — so "has the Fabrikam agreement been signed yet?" is answered in ten seconds by anyone, instead of by asking the person who sent it.
The problem it solves — finding out whether an agreement is signed means asking whoever sent it, and waiting for a reply.
Route: /org/papers/documents · Permissions: View this project's documents. to see the
list (and .menu for the sidebar entry); Create documents from a type. for New Document
and Capture Inbox.
1. What it is
This is the authoring view: documents you and your team are working on. Clicking a row opens the document's workspace. There are no per-row actions on purpose — everything you can do to a document lives inside it, where the lifecycle rules apply.
It sits next to three screens it is easy to reach for by mistake:
| Screen | Answers | Searches |
|---|---|---|
| Documents list (this) | Where is this document, and what state is it in? | Title and number |
| Repository | Find it among thousands, file it, bulk-act on it | Full text and meaning, across projects |
| Approvals inbox | What is waiting on my decision? | Your queue only |
| Reports | How many, by what, over which period? | Aggregates |
Every row carries two badges, and they measure different things:
| Badge | Measures | Comes from |
|---|---|---|
| State | Where the document is in its type's lifecycle | Authored per type in the Type Designer — so types differ |
| Stage | What physically exists: a seal, a signature ceremony | Derived — the same five for every type |
2. Why you would use it
- One answer for a mixed project. A project holding NDAs, MSAs and invoices has three different lifecycles. Stage puts all of them on one comparable scale: draft, finalized, awaiting signature, signed, declined.
- The board shows where work is stuck. A column of eleven cards in Awaiting signature is a chasing list; you do not need a report to see it.
- Views travel. Every filter, grouping, board setting and expanded group is in the URL. Paste it to a colleague and they see what you see; open a document and press back and your view is still there.
- Legal holds are visible at a glance — a lock beside the title, and a filter to show only held documents.
3. How it spreads
| From this list you reach… | Via |
|---|---|
| The document's workspace | A row or card click |
| Create a document | New Document |
| The Capture Inbox | Capture Inbox — for files that arrived from outside Papers |
| The Approvals inbox | Approvals — a separate page, not a filter |
4. Step by step
Find a document — type in Search title or number…. It matches titles and document numbers, not the body.
Narrow the list — open Filters and combine any of: state, stage, document type, family, confidentiality, updated within, and legal hold only. Filters combine with AND.
Group — pick a dimension in Group by. Groups start collapsed; expand the ones you need.
Switch to the board — List / Board. Pick what the columns mean, and the grouping becomes the swimlanes.
The page loads the project's newest 500 documents by last update and filters, searches and groups within that set. When a project has more, a banner says so: "Showing the 500 most recently updated documents. There are more."
A search that finds nothing may simply mean the document is older than the 500th. Use the Repository to search everything.
5. Field reference
Columns
| Column | Holds | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Document | The title | A lock icon means it is under legal hold |
| Type | The type it was created from | Falls back to the family when the type has been retired |
| State | Lifecycle state | Underscores shown as spaces — pending_signature reads "pending signature" |
| Number | The document number | — until finalize allocates one |
| Updated | Last change, in your timezone | The list's sort order |
State badge colours
| Colour | States | Read as |
|---|---|---|
| Green | executed, active, accepted, filed | Settled and good |
| Red | rejected, expired, voided, revoked | Ended badly or withdrawn |
| Grey | draft, archived | Not in play |
| Amber | Every other state | In flight, waiting on someone |
Because amber is the catch-all, a custom state your type designer invented always reads as in flight.
Stage — how it is derived
| Stage | When | Colour |
|---|---|---|
| Signed | The signature ceremony completed | Green |
| Signature declined | A signer declined, or the request expired | Red |
| Awaiting signature | A request was sent, or partly signed | Amber |
| Finalized | A sealed artifact exists, no signature yet | Blue |
| Working draft | None of the above | Grey |
The first match wins, top to bottom.
Filters and their URL parameters
| Filter | Options | URL |
|---|---|---|
| Search | Title or number | q |
| State | Every state present | state (comma-separated) |
| Stage | The five above | stage |
| Type | Every type present | type |
| Family | Every family present | family |
| Confidentiality | public, internal, confidential, restricted | conf |
| Updated within | Any time, 24 hours, 7, 30 or 90 days | updated |
| Legal hold only | On / off | hold=1 |
| Group by | None, State, Stage, Document type, Family, Confidentiality, Month updated | group |
| View | List or Board | view=board |
| Board columns | Stage (default) or State | col=state |
| Expanded groups | — | open |
Board columns
| Columns by | Shows | Use when |
|---|---|---|
| Stage | Working draft → Finalized → Awaiting signature → Signed, then Signature declined | A mixed project — one board for every type |
| State | Each type's own lifecycle states | Watching a single type through its steps |
6. Worked example
A commercial lead wants to chase every supplier agreement still waiting on a signature this month.
- Filters → Stage = Awaiting signature, Family = agreement, Updated within = Last 30 days.
- Group by → Document type. Three groups: Services Agreement (4), Mutual NDA (2), Supply Agreement (1).
- Board → columns by Stage. With the stage filter on, one column remains, with three swimlanes.
The address bar now reads
/org/papers/documents?stage=Awaiting+signature&family=agreement&updated=30&group=type&view=board.
They paste it into the Monday team channel as "chase list".
A colleague opens it, spots "Supply Agreement — Northwind Traders" with a lock icon and knows before opening it that it is under legal hold — so it is not one to chase.
The next week the same lead cannot find "Fabrikam NDA 2024" by search. The banner is showing: the project has 740 documents and that NDA is older than the newest 500. They find it in the Repository.
7. The admin contract
| Must be true | Where | What breaks without it |
|---|---|---|
| A project is selected in the top bar | Global switcher | The list shows that project, or organisation-level documents only |
| The role holds View this project's documents. and Show the Documents sidebar entry. | Role editor | The page or its sidebar entry is missing |
| The role holds Create documents from a type. | Role editor | No New Document or Capture Inbox button |
| At least one type is active with a published version | Type designer | The empty state tells you to publish one first |
| Signature requests go through Papers | Sending for signature | Documents signed elsewhere never leave Finalized on the stage scale |
| A user holds grants for any security tag a document carries | Security tags | That document is invisible to them here, and everywhere else |
8. Don't confuse this with…
| Repository | Searches content across the whole estate, with no 500 limit |
| Approvals inbox | Your decisions queue. The Approvals button goes there — it does not filter this list |
| Obligation register | Dated commitments inside documents, not the documents |
| Records | Retention and disposal. This list is about work in progress |
9. Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause |
|---|---|
| The list is empty | Wrong project in the top bar, or filters restored from the URL — clear them |
| A document cannot be found by search | It is older than the newest 500 (§4) — use the Repository |
| A document I created is missing | It was created under another project, or a security tag hides it |
| A signed document shows Finalized | It was signed outside Papers, so no ceremony is recorded |
| A custom state shows amber | Every state not on the green, red or grey lists is amber (§5) |
| Columns by state shows dozens of columns | Each type contributes its own states. Use columns by stage on a mixed project |
| New Document is missing | Your role lacks Create documents from a type. |
| The filtering says "server-side" in the in-product help | The help predates the 500-document window. Filtering is done in the browser over that set |