Manage Documents with Folders

This page explains how to manage and secure documents using folders.

When to use folders to manage documents

Use folders when documents are uploaded directly in Appian Designer and are used to build your application, like an image used as the logo in a site page or a PDF template used in a process to generate invoices. These documents need to be deployed to other environments since they are part of the application design.

Why use folders to manage documents

When you use folders to manage documents, you can:

• Deploy documents between environments.
• Organize documents into logical subfolders for easy navigation in Appian Designer.
• Secure documents by inheriting the folder security.

Required objects

To use folders to manage documents, create the following objects:

• Knowledge center to store document folders. The knowledge center is the parent folder where you'll create all document subfolders.
• Document folder to store and organize documents. The document folder is a subfolder of the knowledge center.

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Document security

When you create documents in Appian Designer, they will inherit security from their document folder.

The following table outlines the actions that can be completed for each permission level in a document folder's security role map.

Actions	Administrator	Editor	Viewer	Deny
View the document folder	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
View and download documents that reside in the document folder	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Update documents that reside in the document folder	Yes	Yes	No	No
Create new subfolders and documents in the document folder *	Yes	Yes	No	No
View the security	Yes	Yes	No	No
Update the security	Yes	No	No	No
Move subfolders or documents into the document folder *	Yes	No	No	No
View download metrics for documents that reside in the document folder	Yes	No	No	No
Move documents out of the document folder	Yes	No	No	No
Move and delete the document folder	Yes	No	No	No

Managing documents

In Appian Designer, you can create, update, and delete documents in the following locations:

• The Build view.
• In a document folder.
• In the Application Documentation dialog.
• When creating other objects. For example, uploading a system logo for a connected system.

This section explains how to manage documents from the Build view.

Creating documents

To create a new document in the Build view:

1. Click NEW > Document.
2. In the Create Document dialog, upload a zip file or up to 25 files.
   • Files cannot be larger than your disk quota.
   • Files cannot be larger than 1GB in size.
3. Click NEXT.

4. Configure the following properties:

   Property	Description
   Name	For each file you uploaded, enter a name that follows the recommended naming standard.
   Description	(Optional) For each file you uploaded, enter a brief description of the file.
   Create constants for these documents	Keep this checkbox selected to automatically create a constant for each file. Constants allows you to reference documents in your application, like displaying documents in an interface or referencing them in a smart service. Constants will be added to your current application and its corresponding rule folder. If your application does not contain a rule folder, Appian will automatically create a rule folder and add the constants to it.
   Save In	Browse to and select an existing folder, or click to create a new folder to store the documents.

5. Click CREATE DOCUMENT.

It can take up to two minutes for the document you just created to be visible in any analysis of precedents and dependents.

Viewing document properties

To view a document's properties you must have at least Viewer permissions to the document and its parent folder.

To edit a document's properties you must have at least Editor permissions to the document and its parent folder.

To view or edit a document's properties:

1. In your application, go to the Build view.
2. Select the checkbox next to the document you want to view.
3. Click MORE and select PROPERTIES.

4. In the Document Properties dialog, view or update any document properties.

   

   Note:  The View users who have downloaded this file link displays a list of the users who have downloaded the document. You must have Administrator permissions to the document in order to access this link.

5. Click SAVE.

Adding new document versions

Once a document has been created, new versions of it can be uploaded at any time. See Managing Object Versions to learn more about viewing and comparing document versions.

To upload a new version of a document in the Build view:

1. Select the checkbox next to the document you want to version.
2. Click MORE and select NEW VERSION.
3. For New File, click UPLOAD to select the new version of the file from your local machine. The new file must have the same extension as the original file.
4. For Name, keep the existing name from the file, or modify it as needed.
5. Click UPLOAD.

Deleting documents

A user must have Administrator permissions to the document and its folder in order to delete it. Deleting a document removes the specific file and all of its previous versions.

To delete a document in the Build view:

1. Select the checkbox next to the document you want to delete.
2. Click DELETE.
3. Confirm that the document has no dependents.
4. Click DELETE.

Moving documents

You can move documents to other applications or folders if you have Administrator permissions to the source parent folder and at least Editor permissions to the destination parent folder or knowledge center.

When you move a document, Appian retains the history of previous versions.

Move to different folders

To move a document to a different folder:

1. From the Build view, open the document folder.
2. Select the checkbox next to the document you want to move.
3. Click MOVE and select Move to Folder.
4. For Destination, select the folder you where you want to move the document.
5. Click MOVE.

Move to different applications

To move the document to a different application:

1. From the Build view, select the checkbox next to the document you want to move.
2. Click MOVE and select Move to App.
3. Select the application where you want to move the document.
4. Select Keep objects in current app to have the document in both applications.
5. For Destination, select the folder you where you want to move the document.
6. Click MOVE.

Downloading documents

You can download the contents of entire knowledge centers and folders if you have at least Viewer permissions to them.

To download documents and folders from the Build view:

1. Select the checkbox next to the documents you want to download.
2. Click MORE and select DOWNLOAD.

The files and folders selected for download are packaged in a ZIP file and retain the hierarchy they had in Appian.

Uploading documents and folders into Appian

From a document folder, you can upload a ZIP file containing files and folders. Uploading this zip will create document folders and documents in Appian in the exact structure as the folders and files are inside the ZIP. This is useful when you need to create many documents at once or have a folder structure you want to bring into Appian.

You must have at least Editor permissions to the document folder in order to upload a ZIP. You must also have at least Viewer permissions to all of the folders and knowledge centers that the document folder resides in.

To upload a ZIP file:

1. Compress your files into a ZIP format archive.
2. In the Build view of your application, open the document folder where you'd like create the documents and folders.
3. Click UPLOAD ZIP.
4. For File (ZIP), click UPLOAD to select the ZIP archive from your computer.

5. Keep Add contents to the current application selected to automatically create a constant for each file. Constants will be added to your current application and its corresponding rule folder.

   If your application does not contain a rule folder, Appian will automatically create a rule folder and add the constants to it.

6. Click UPLOAD.

Managing process reports

Process reports are stored as documents in Appian, as Appian Report Files (.arf). They can be created, edited, and moved between document folders just like document objects.

Managing application documentation

Appian stores application documentation as document objects. You can manage your newly uploaded document directly from within the Application Documentation dialog (accessible from the Build and Explore views) or in the objects grid of the Build view.

You must remove the document object from the documentation list before you try to delete the document object or remove the document object from the application. Otherwise, Appian will block the action.

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