Files overview

Every project has a Files page: its controlled document store. Three things make it different from a shared drive:

1. The folder tree is standard. When a project is created it copies a folder template chosen by your workspace admin, so every project files things in the same places. You can add folders, but the standard skeleton is the same across the estate.
2. Documents have states, not just names. A controlled document moves through a lifecycle — private working copy, issued for information, published for construction, archived — and the state controls who can see it. See Lifecycle & sharing.
3. Every exchange is recorded. Uploads, downloads, issues, shares, transmittals and external links all land in an activity trail and on the project’s exchange register, so “who received what, when” is always answerable.

The three audiences

Audience	What they see
Your team	The whole tree on the project’s Files page, plus lifecycle actions.
Delivery partners (suppliers, consultants)	Their own delivery space — a portal showing only the folders you grant them. They upload into it and receive what you issue. See Delivery partners.
Outside people (no account at all)	A single document via an expiring share link — three protection levels, every open recorded. See Lifecycle & sharing.

Two kinds of document

When you upload a file, its filename decides what kind of record it becomes:

• If the name follows the project’s naming convention (for example P0109-ABF-XX-01-DR-A-0001-S0-P01.pdf), it registers as a controlled (CDE) document with a revision series and lifecycle states.
• Any other file (Kickoff notes.docx, site-photo.jpg) becomes a descriptive document — still versioned, still audited, and in most folders live the moment it uploads. Folders the template marks [workflow] keep a simple draft → issued step for formal documents; see Lifecycle & sharing.

You never have to hand-build the coded name: the Register a document form on the Files page assembles it from dropdowns (originator, volume, level, type, discipline) and shows you the resulting name before you upload. See Working with files.

Note

Whether a badly-named file is refused or just filed as descriptive is a per-project setting — soft (file it as descriptive) or strict (refuse and explain). It lives in Project settings → Filing.

Files feed project intelligence

What you file doesn’t just sit in the tree — it becomes part of what the project knows, with the reading effort matched to the file:

• Text documents (reports, minutes, specifications, correspondence) are read into the project’s knowledge, so chat can quote and cite them.
• Spreadsheets and slide decks also get a structured pass — tables and figures become queryable, not just searchable text.
• Drawings, models, media and zips are catalogued by name and metadata only — no AI pass, no AI cost, however many gigabytes of CAD you upload.

Trust follows the door the file came through: your team’s uploads count immediately; a partner’s upload counts only once they hand it over (issue) — and material from bidders who didn’t win a tender is never read into project knowledge at all. Legal erasure removes a document from project knowledge along with its bytes.

Where things are

The sidebar’s Files group gathers every filing surface:

• All files — the tree, the table, uploads, the details drawer.
• The top-level standard folders — the sections you can access (say 10 Management, 30 CDE) listed as their own sidebar entries, so the day-to-day places are one click away. Everyone sees only their own slice: a partner-facing account typically sees just the CDE section, the project team sees more. Clicking one opens All files scoped to that folder.
• Transmittals — formal numbered issues and their acknowledgements.
• Partners — invite delivery partners, control folder access.
• Exchange register — everything sent and received, exportable.
• Activity — the project’s filing trail.
• Retention — pending deletions and the erasure ledger.

Workspace-wide: Admin → Filing holds the folder templates and naming registers (Filing standards); an organisation’s participant code is set under Clients & vendors.