Folders and documents

Teamspace members can share documents that have been added to the teamspace. In general, any member of the teamspace can add a document. Members can group documents into a hierarchy of folders to make it easier to organize the information.

See Documents tab for information on specific procedures related to folders and documents.

Viewing documents

You can display either the information about a document or the content of a document:

The TCM application displays the content of a document using the FileNet Workplace viewer, the browser, or the native application associated with the file's MIME type. If no matching application is found, you are prompted to select an application. You may be prompted to sign in to FileNet Workplace before you can view the document.

Using subscriptions with folders and documents

Once you add a document, other members can set up subscriptions so that they can be notified when various events occur. For example, some members may want to be notified when the document changes or when a new document is added to a folder. See Documents tab for more information on setting up subscriptions.

Document and folder security

Documents can be made available within a teamspace as follows:

As a teamspace member, you are assigned a role within the teamspace. Your teamspace role controls your ability to view, create, edit, and delete folders and documents. Different teamspace roles provide different security permissions, and these different roles allow an administrator to control access to documents.

Within the TCM application, documents reside in folders and generally inherit their security from the parent folder. This is also the case for folders within other folders. These folders inherit the security of the parent folder, by default. The creator of a folder can modify the security on folders within the teamspace to limit access to the folder and its contents. If the folder's security is customized, security is no longer inherited from the parent folder.

Only the creator of the folder (and those members who have custom security rights) can make changes to the security properties of folders. Other users who can access the folder can view the current settings, but they cannot make changes. (An administrator can change this default behavior by customizing security roles.)

Documents filed in folders with customized security do not appear in the Search results for users who do not have permission to view the contents of the folder.

In practice, if you want to apply special security rules for a set of documents that differs from the security applied to other documents in the teamspace, create a special folder for those documents. Customize the security for that folder to meet the requirements for that set of documents (such as limiting the users who can see the documents). Documents added to that folder inherit the security of the folder. Once a document has been created in this restricted folder, it will still be restricted even if it is copied via the TCM clipboard into another less restricted folder. See Viewing or editing the security on a folder or document for instructions on setting security on a folder.

NOTE  You cannot create a folder in a teamspace with another application such as Workplace or Workflow. These applications can only add documents to existing folders.

Document types and icons

The TCM application uses different icons to differentiate documents that are contained in a teamspace and thereby managed by that teamspace folder, and documents that are filed in a teamspace folder from either an external location, or from another folder or teamspace. A document icon (such as or ) indicates a document that resides in the folder and is managed by folder and teamspace security. The shortcut indicator is superimposed on the document icon to indicate that the object is a shortcut to a document that resides outside the folder or teamspace.

A shortcut to a document is added to a teamspace by doing any of the following:

Document checkin and checkout

The TCM application provides checkin and checkout functionality so that you can check out a copy of a teamspace document to your local system, make changes to it, then check in the new version.

NOTE  Only documents that are contained in or managed by the teamspace can be checked out or checked in from within the TCM application. To check out a document that is not managed by the teamspace, use Workplace or another application that can check in or check out the file.

When you check out a document, two processes take place. First, the document is locked so that other users cannot make changes to the same version of the document. Then you are asked whether you want to create a local copy of the document. Even if you cancel the process, the document remains locked. If you continue with the checkout, the document is copied to the location you specify. Use the cancel checkout action to unlock the file and retain the current version. (By default, only the user who checked out a document can cancel a checkout.)

NOTE  Those familiar with the concept of versioning in the Content Engine should be aware that the TCM application adds only major versions of a document. The TCM application does not support minor versions (drafts). Use FileNet Workplace or another application to create and edit minor versions of your documents. (If the current version of a document is a minor version, the message "a draft is in progress" appears below it in the TCM application. The TCM application cannot display a document that does not have a major current version.) TCM users always access the last released version of a document.

Use the download action to obtain a copy of a document without locking it.