What is a collection?
Collections are named groups of documents that are conceptually related. Any document can be dragged into one or more Collections, but when this is done, the underlying source file does not actually move. Collections group documents through soft links. The documents are not physically moved from their folder in the Platform system when placed in a Collection. A document can be part of multiple Collections.
A document that has been moved into a Collection is referred to as a 'collection item' within the collection, and as a 'source document' within the Folder where the original file resides.
Collections thus provide a way to assemble documents into hierarchical structures without touching the underlying documents or their positions in folders. There are two types of collections:
- Unnumbered Collections provide a top-level container for documents (the 'collection') and optionally a tree of sub-sections for a more structured arrangement of documents. The documents in unnumbered Collections are identified by the properties of the source document.
- Numbered Collections add the ability to have identifiers ("section numbers") on each section and/or on each document ("document numbers"). For a hierarchical Collection, the number of an item is the concatenation of the number of its parent section with its own local number. Numbered Collections are used in various solutions to create bundles or binders, depending on the use case and jurisdiction, but can be used for any conceptual grouping of documents that require an id or short-code organising system.
Numbered Collections
Numbered Collections and their subsections are further split up into those that are automatically numbered and those with manual numbering. There is no manual numbering option on individual collection items: if they are numbered, the numbers are always automatically applied depending on how the collection and subsection has been configured.
Numbering a Collection is available as an option when creating a new Collection, or numbering may be applied to existing Collections in the 'edit collection' dialog. Both options require the toggle 'Number sections or documents' to be switched ON.
The following options are available when configuring the numbering of a Collection. In the below table 'Collections' refer to the top-layer (parent) Collection, and 'Sections' refer to any subsection (child, grandchild, etc.) of that top level
| Property | Applies to | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Collection number / delimiter | Collections only | 'Collection number' refers to the primary identifier of the collection number sequence. It does not need to be an actual number, it may also be a sequence of letters, or a combination of numbers and letters. Only top level (main) Collections have this option in the configuration options dialog. The delimiter refers to the character that will follow from the main Collection number in the sequence (often a forward slash or a dot). It can be any character, or none. |
| Number / delimiter | Sections only | 'Number' functions identically to Collection number, but refers to the identifier of any individual section only. This configuration option is only available if the section configuration is set to 'Number sections individually'. |
| Sections | Collections only | Refers to the numbering (or naming) of Sections within the Collection. Manual numbering will result in each Section having the option to define its own parameters on creation. Sequential sets the numbering logic as part of the main Collection. Any Sections added to a Collection will be numbered according to the setting defined on the Collection, which can be numbers, letters (uppercase and lowercase) or roman numerals (uppercase and lowercase). |
| Sub - sections | Sections only | Refers to the numbering (or naming) of Sub-sections within the Section. Manual numbering will result in each Sub-section having the option to define its own parameters on creation. Sequential sets the numbering logic as part of the parent Section. Any Sub-sections added to a Section will be numbered according to the setting defined on the Section, which can be numbers, letters (uppercase and lowercase) or roman numerals (uppercase and lowercase). |
| Documents | Collections and sections | Refers to the numbering (or naming) of documents that are added to the Collection or Section. Un-numbered will result in documents not receiving individual numbers. Sequential applies a numbering logic to the documents applied to that Collection or Section. This can be numbers, letters (uppercase and lowercase) or roman numerals (uppercase and lowercase). |
| Inserted documents | Collections and sections | If a Collection has had its numbering locked, but new additions are still allowed, any Documents added to the Collection or Section will be considered an 'insert'. Inserted Documents will be numbered according to the parameters defined here. The delimiter will be used to denote the insert and additional numbering logic. The insert numbering can be numbers, letters (uppercase and lowercase) or roman numerals (uppercase and lowercase). |
| Pages within documents | Collections and sections | This refers to how document pages across a Collection or Section should be numbered. As defined on the Document will mean each individual document starts on page 1. Continue counting across documents will count page numbers across the whole Collection or Section. If the first and second document both have 5 pages, the first document will contain pages 1-5, the second document will have pages 6-10, and so onwards. |
| Number sections individually | Sections only | This option allows each Section within a Collection to define its own numbering parameters according to the options described |
| Include as part of parent sequence | Sections only | This option addresses the case where collection items are organised into separate sections for convenience, but where the numbering should not reflect the allocation to separate sections. Marking a section to be included in the parent sequence causes the items in that section to be treated as though they were actually in the parent section. When this option is set on a section then the section does not support its own numbering options and all such options in the user interface are disabled. |
Collection specific metadata
In addition to section and document numbering collections also have the option of applying metadata directly to the collection items that will not affect the underlying document. This is done by assigning one or more document types to the collection. When editing a collection item, the user can then enter values for the fields in the applied types. If a value for the field is also set on the underlying document, then this will show by default for the collection item. But any value set directly on the collection item takes precedence.
Making annotations on Collection items
Users can make annotations on source documents and manage access on who would be able to see them. If a source document has been added to a collection, further annotation made in the source document will not be reflected in the collection item. Users can make annotations on collection items. If a collection is set as ‘apply to source document’, annotations will reflect on the source document. If a collection is set as ‘apply to collection item only’, annotations will stay in the collection item and will not reflect on the source document.
Deleting Collection items
If a source document is deleted from the Folder section, the document will automatically disappear in any of the collections that it has been added to. No indication will show if a source document has been removed from the collection. If a document has been removed from a collection, it will not affect the source document.
If a source document is deleted from the Folder section, this will affect the document in the collection. The document will show as ‘not available’ as it will no longer be able to open and review. If a document has been removed from a collection, it will not affect the source document.
Access control can be set on collections and on individual documents within collections. Access can be given to individual users or for named groups of users.
Users can set access restrictions on a collection when creating it. Clicking on the 
icon in the collection section will open up the ‘create collection’ dialog. Collections are accessible to all project users by default. Users can select individual users or groups in the “Accessible to” input. Both users and groups are selected or displayed in the same input.
An 
icon will appear next to a collection if it has restricted access. When a section is added to a collection, its access will be set to match to its parent, while users can still manage the access of it. If a section has different access to its parent (while parent is restricted as well), an 
icon will display in orange color. Hovering over the icon displays a tool tip listing the users or groups that have access to the collection.
Edit collections access
A collection or section access may be viewed or edited by clicking the 
icon of it and choose ‘Set access’ to open up the ‘set access dialog’.
The 
icon allows additional users to be added to the list, while the 
icon allows additional groups to be added to the list. When users or groups are selected, an 
option will appear to the right side of these selections. Clicking it removes the users or groups from the list.
Access control on individual documents within collections
A document in a collection may have access restrictions that differ from that on the same document in its source folder. Below are two scenarios and use cases on document restrictions to show how different access control affect the display of documents.
Scenario 1: Restricted access on some source documents, and they are added to a collection that is available to all users. Users who are not given access to the documents can see the documents in the collection, yet it only shows their Opus ID with the word ‘not available’. As some users do not have the access to the source document, they can see the document arrangement but not the documents themselves.
Use case: This may happen when documents contain confidential information and are not available to everyone in the project, but it has been added to a collection as part of the document groups.
Scenario 2: Source documents and collections are open to everyone in the project. If document in a collection has restricted access, it will not show up on the collection to users who are not given access to.
Use case: This may happen when users would like to work on a document as a draft and would like to share the work to the team afterwards.