Repository and search
What this page is — the filing view over every Papers document you can access: a folder tree, keyword and semantic search, filters, saved searches, bulk operations, per-document AI actions, and briefcase import and export.
What it is for — so a document written two years ago by someone who has since left can still be found, filed and governed by whoever needs it.
The problem it solves — documents written by people who have since left become impossible to find or govern.
Route: /org/papers/repository · Permissions: View this project's documents. to browse
(Show the Repository sidebar entry. for the sidebar); Manage folders, tags, move/file and bulk operations. for folders,
tags, moves, archive and import; Use AI drafting/extraction/Q&A for documents. for semantic search, Ask the repository and the
AI column.
1. What it is
| Screen | Is for | Search covers |
|---|---|---|
| Documents list | Work in progress | Title and number, newest 500 |
| Repository (this) | Finding and organising everything | Title, number and field values — every document in scope |
| Semantic search | Finding by meaning | Indexed passages of finalized documents |
| Ask the repository | An answer, with citations | Same index |
Folders are a filing hierarchy. A document lives in at most one folder, and selecting a folder lists the documents filed directly in it — not in its subfolders.
A folder can carry governance meaning: if a file plan maps it to a record series, moving an unclassified document into it classifies the document.
2. Why you would use it
- Nothing leaves scope, nothing is hidden. You see exactly the documents you may open, across the projects you belong to.
- Bulk work is safe. Changing any filter clears the selection, so an action never silently includes rows you can no longer see.
- Filing can classify. Moving documents into a mapped folder starts their retention in the same step.
- Documents travel between environments. Export a briefcase from staging, import it into production as a fresh draft.
- Saved searches make recurring work one click — and a shared one gives the whole team the same view.
3. Step by step
Find — type in the search box, narrow with State, Family and Tag, or pick a folder. Criteria combine.
File — tick documents → Move to folder → pick the destination, or leave it empty to unfile.
Tag — tick documents → Add tag → type a tag or click an existing chip.
Archive — tick documents → Archive → confirm. Documents whose lifecycle does not allow it are skipped and reported.
Save a search — Save this search → name it → optionally Shared.
Export — tick documents → Export briefcase. Import — Import briefcase → pick the ZIP → read the preview → Import.
4. Field reference
Table
| Column | Holds |
|---|---|
| Document | Title, with the folder path in grey |
| Family | From the type |
| State | Lifecycle state, colour-coded |
| Number | — until finalized |
| Tags | Blue chips |
| Updated | Default sort; relevance ranks first when searching |
50 documents per page. Selection survives paging; the header checkbox selects the current page.
Folders
| Action | Refusal |
|---|---|
| New Folder — pre-parented under the selected folder | parent folder not found |
| Rename / move | cannot move a folder into itself · cannot move a folder into its own subtree |
| Delete | folder contains n document(s); move them first · folder has n child folder(s); move or delete them first |
Documents are never deleted with a folder.
Bulk actions
| Action | Rules |
|---|---|
| Move to folder | One destination; empty = root (unfile) |
| Add tag | One tag per run; existing tags offered as chips |
| Archive | Per-document; disallowed transitions skipped — document is already archived |
| Export briefcase | At most 10 per run; one ZIP per document |
Every bulk action reports N succeeded, M failed with the first reason.
AI column
| Action | Utility | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Suggest title | papers_auto_metadata | 450 credits est. · 1,800 max — nothing applied until you accept |
| Retention | papers_retention_advisor | 450 · 1,800 — advice only |
| Reindex | — | No credits. Rebuilds the document's semantic index now |
Briefcases
| Export contains | Import creates |
|---|---|
| Document metadata and field values, versions, events, transitions, obligations, sealed PDFs, a manifest | A new draft with the field values and open obligations |
Import matches the document type by code — with no active type of that code, import stays disabled. Versions, events, transitions and sealed PDFs are not re-created: they are the source environment's legal history.
5. Worked example
A legal operations lead inherits an unfiled repository of 300 documents.
- Filters Family = Agreement, State = executed → 64 documents. Save this search as Executed agreements, Shared.
- Creates folders Legal/Contracts and Legal/NDAs. The records team has mapped Legal/Contracts to the Legal — contracts series.
- Searches
nda, selects the 18 executed NDAs across two pages, Move to folder → Legal/NDAs. - Selects the remaining 46 contracts → Move to folder → Legal/Contracts. Result: 46 succeeded. Each was also classified into Legal — contracts, because the folder is mapped.
- Tags them all
fy26, clicking the existing chip rather than typing FY-26. - Tries to delete the old Misc folder: folder contains 3 document(s); move them first.
A colleague in another project opens the shared saved search and sees 51 documents, not 64 — they cannot see one project's agreements. That is correct.
6. The admin contract
| Must be true | Where | What breaks without it |
|---|---|---|
| The role holds Manage folders, tags, move/file and bulk operations. | Role editor | No folders, moves, tags, archive or import |
| The role holds Use AI drafting/extraction/Q&A for documents. | Role editor | No semantic toggle, Ask, or AI column |
| The document type exists in the target environment | Type Designer | Briefcase import stays disabled |
| File plan mappings are intended | File Plan | Moves classify documents into series nobody expected |
7. Downstream
| When you… | Then |
|---|---|
| Move into a mapped folder | Unclassified documents are classified and retention starts |
| Archive | Documents move to archived where their lifecycle allows |
| Reindex | Semantic search and Ask use the current content |
| Import a briefcase | A fresh draft, with its own lifecycle from the start |
8. Don't confuse this with…
| Documents list | Work in progress, capped at the newest 500 |
| Records | Retention and disposal. Folders are for finding |
| Knowledge graph | The things documents mention, not the documents |
| Digital Assets | Media files, not documents |
9. Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Cause |
|---|---|
| A folder looks empty | Its documents are in subfolders — the list shows direct children only |
| A document is not found by keyword | Keyword search covers title, number and field values, not the body wording |
| Moving into a folder classified documents | The folder is mapped to a record series |
| Only 10 briefcases downloaded | The per-run cap — run again for the rest |
| Import is disabled | No active type with the briefcase's type code |
| A colleague sees different results | Project access differs |