---
alias: user-guide-document-index
description: "This documentation outlines managing documents, including versions, metadata, and contextual relationships within the system"
---

# Document

:lock: Document.**Show**

!!! info
    Document Management is a Critical Manufacturing optional module.

## Overview

A **Document** consists of an external link or binary content, such as a PDF or Word document, as well as some associated metadata, such as author and date of creation. For a list of all the supported document types please refer to the section [[user-guide-supported-document-types]]. The binary content is stored centrally in the server and can be accessed by any client application that has the necessary privileges. Each **Document** version contains two URLs (one for the particular version and another for the most effective version/), which makes it very easy to access the document content from an external application such as from an email client or an intranet web site.

A **Document** can have an Owner Role. If an Owner Role is defined, only users from that Role are allowed to make change to any version of the document.

A **Document** can be viewed, downloaded, browsed in a folder structure. A **Document** can also be viewed in relation to a context: be it **Material** or **Resource**.

## Versioning

A **Document**, being a change-controlled object, contains global and versioned data components as shown in the next picture.

```mermaid
graph TD
subgraph Document
Main1["Global Data<br>(Without Change Control)"] --- A1[Folder<br>OwnerRole<br>IsExecutable<br>DistributionListsForNewVersion<br>DistributionListsForNewEffectiveVersion<br>GlobalURL]
Main2["Versioned Data<br>(With Change Control)"] --- A2[Content<br>Group<br>Author<br>Checksum<br>Keywords<br>VersionURL]
end


classDef mermaid_title color:#000, fill:#fafafa, stroke:#fafafa, stroke-width:0x, font-size:100%, font-weight:200;
classDef mermaid_start color:#000, fill:#fafafa, stroke:#fafafa, color:#fafafa, stroke-width:0x, font-size:100%, visibility: hidden;
classDef mermaid_businessdata color:#000, fill:#65CDE8, stroke:#65CDE8, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_nonbusinessdata color:#000, fill:#B7DEE8, stroke:#B7DEE8, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_entity color:#000, fill:#FB9F53, stroke:#FB9F53, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_entitylinked color:#000, fill:#FCD5B5, stroke:#FCD5B5, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_context color:#000, fill:#B9CDE5, stroke:#B9CDE5, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_optional color:#000, fill:#B7DEE8, stroke:#65CDE8, stroke-width:1px, font-size:100%, stroke-dasharray: 5 5;
classDef mermaid_state color:#000, fill:#d7e4bd, stroke:#000, stroke-width:1px, font-size:100%, font-weight:300;
class Main1,Main2 mermaid_entity
class A1,A2 mermaid_entitylinked
```

## Tying Everything Together

```mermaid
graph TD
    N1[Folder] --- Main[Document]
    A1[Employee] --- Main
    A2[Role] --- Main
    N1 --- N1
    Main -.- C1[Material Document Context]
    Main -.- C2[Resource Document Context]

classDef mermaid_title color:#000, fill:#fafafa, stroke:#fafafa, stroke-width:0x, font-size:100%, font-weight:200;
classDef mermaid_start color:#000, fill:#fafafa, stroke:#fafafa, color:#fafafa, stroke-width:0x, font-size:100%, visibility: hidden;
classDef mermaid_businessdata color:#000, fill:#65CDE8, stroke:#65CDE8, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_nonbusinessdata color:#000, fill:#B7DEE8, stroke:#B7DEE8, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_entity color:#000, fill:#FB9F53, stroke:#FB9F53, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_entitylinked color:#000, fill:#FCD5B5, stroke:#FCD5B5, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_context color:#000, fill:#B9CDE5, stroke:#B9CDE5, stroke-width:0px, font-size:100%;
classDef mermaid_optional color:#000, fill:#B7DEE8, stroke:#65CDE8, stroke-width:1px, font-size:100%, stroke-dasharray: 5 5;
class Main mermaid_entity
class A1,A2,A3,A4,A5,A6,A7,A8,A9,A10,A11,A12 mermaid_businessdata
class L1,L2,L3,L4,L5,L6,L7,L8,L9 mermaid_entitylinked
class C1,C2,C3,C4,C5,C6 mermaid_context
class N1,N2,N3,N4,N5,N6 mermaid_nonbusinessdata

click Main "../../business-data/document"
click A1 "../../business-data/employee"
click A2 "../../administration/security/roles"
click C1 "../../administration/tables/smart-tables/materialdocumentcontext"
click C2 "../../administration/tables/smart-tables/resourcedocumentcontext"
```

## Sequence Of Steps

The necessary steps for correctly using a **Document** are the following:

1. Create the **Document**. Make sure the document content is available.
2. Approve the **Change Set** which contains the **Document** Version that has been created.
3. Optionally, associate the **Document** to a **Material** via the Material Document Context or to a **Resource** via the Resource Document Context.

!!! info
    For convenience, the Document can be configured to use implicit Change Sets. For more information, see [[user-guide-change-set-index]].

!!! info
    When viewed within the context of other entity pages (for example, Checklist), the viewing panel includes an option that allows you to open the Document in a separate tab for an easier viewing experience:
    ![Open Document in new tab][document_open_new_tab]

[document_open_new_tab]: ../../images/document_open_new_tab.png

{{ generate_index() }}