Visual Space manual, Docs, Create And Publish From Documents
Documents supports two ways to begin publishable work. You can create an Article, Event, Retrospective, or Whiteboard from `New`, or you can choose `Publish` on an existing upload to make a separate article-style draft around it. Both paths keep unfinished work private to its author until publication. Choose the first path when the work should begin in a Visual Space editor or collaborative app. Choose the second when you already have a source file that should remain available in its original fo
Documents supports two ways to begin publishable work. You can create an Article, Event, Retrospective, or Whiteboard from New, or you can choose Publish on an existing upload to make a separate article-style draft around it. Both paths keep unfinished work private to its author until publication.
Choose the first path when the work should begin in a Visual Space editor or collaborative app. Choose the second when you already have a source file that should remain available in its original form. For a closer comparison of uploads and app files, see App Files and Publishing.
Prepare The Destination And Your Access
The Documents location open when you create a draft becomes its home. Start in the space, subspace, activity, or folder where the published result should be found. Folders organize the content, while the owning space area determines who can access it.
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Sign in - The New app choices and the Publish action are available to signed-in users.
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Open Documents in the intended area - Navigate to the space, subspace, or activity that should own the work, then open the exact folder if you want the draft placed inside it.
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Check the audience - A folder does not create its own access rules. The draft and published result inherit access from the space area above it, as explained in The Documents Library and Folders.
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Check feature eligibility - Articles are available to signed-in users. Events and Retrospectives require coordinator eligibility. Whiteboard creation requires the Whiteboard offering to be included for the space.
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Use an active activity - An archived activity is readable but not writable. It blocks app-file creation, file and folder uploads, folder creation, and publishing an existing upload. Move to an active area before starting.
The current New menu does not include Goals. Create and manage Goals from the Goals experience rather than looking for a Goals entry beside the document app types.
Path One: Create An App File From New
This path begins with a new draft in the current Documents location. The draft appears in the library immediately, but only its author can see it until it is published.
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Open the creation menu - Select New from the Documents header after confirming the current area or folder.
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Choose Article for readable published content - This starts a standard article draft. Use it for an explanation, announcement, guide, or other content that should open as an article after publication.
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Choose Event for scheduled work - This starts a draft event connected to publishable content. The option applies the Event eligibility check before creating anything, so a user who is not coordinator-eligible cannot continue into an inaccessible draft.
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Choose Retrospectives for a board-led session - This creates a Retrospective board with connected article and discussion content. Coordinator eligibility is required.
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Choose Whiteboard for visual collaboration - This creates a collaborative Whiteboard with connected draft content. The space must include the Whiteboard offering before the creation flow can continue.
The current Documents location supplies the creation choices, while the published app file remains listed beside ordinary library content.
Choose only one of the four app types for this journey. If an eligibility message appears, no usable draft has been created; return after the required feature access is available or choose an app type already available to you.
Find And Open The New Draft
After creation, Documents adds the draft to the location you had open. It remains there even if you leave the screen and return later.
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Look for the draft card - The card carries a draft indicator so you can distinguish it from normally published content. A draft without a finished title may also use Draft as its visible label.
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Confirm the location - Make sure the card appears in the intended folder or area before developing the content. Its placement will also set the published item's inherited audience.
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Open an Article or Event draft - Select its card to continue in the publishing editor. Complete the title and the article or event details offered there.
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Open a Retrospective draft - Select its card to enter the Retrospective workspace. Develop the board in that dedicated experience, then use its connected Article area for the publishable presentation.
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Open a Whiteboard draft - Select its card to enter the Whiteboard workspace. Prepare the board, then open its connected Article area when you are ready to finish the published content.
Other members browsing the same Documents folder will not see the card yet. This is true even when they can access the owning activity: area access allows them into the location, but it does not expose another author's unpublished work.
Finish And Publish The App File
Prepare enough context that a reader understands what the published item is for. An Event may need its timing and description, while a Retrospective or Whiteboard may need both the app workspace and its connected article content prepared for the intended audience.
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Complete the draft in its editor - Add the title, supporting content, and app-specific details needed for the result. For Retrospectives and Whiteboards, keep working in the dedicated app when the board itself is the central outcome.
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Review the owning area - Before releasing the draft, confirm that its Documents location belongs to the audience you intend. Publication does not expand a private activity's membership.
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Complete the available publishing flow - Article-style drafts provide their publishing action in the editor. Retrospectives and Whiteboards keep their workspace and connected article together, so open the app's Article area and follow the publication controls available there.
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Wait for the draft state to end - After publication completes, return to Documents and confirm that the item no longer carries the draft indicator.
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Open the published item - A regular Article opens in its reading experience. Event content and linked app files open in the experience suited to them, including the Retrospective or Whiteboard workspace where relevant.
Publication changes visibility, not placement. The item becomes normally available to people who can access its owning area and the relevant app experience; it does not move to a different folder or become unrestricted.
Path Two: Publish An Existing Upload
Use this path when a PDF, image, video, office document, or another uploaded file should remain available as an asset, but people also need an article-style presentation around it. Publishing the upload does not replace or convert the original file. It creates another Documents item with its own lifecycle.
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Find the source upload - Open the Documents location containing the original file. If the file is hard to recognize, use its preview or file details before starting; Files and Previews explains the available opening behavior.
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Open the file menu - Use the menu on the raw uploaded file and choose Publish. This action is blocked when the file belongs to an archived activity.
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Wait for the new draft - Visual Space creates an article-style draft using the source file as its topic, adds that draft to Documents, and opens the publishing editor. The original upload stays where it was.
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Prepare the presentation - Add a clear title, explanation, and any context readers need. Do not assume that complex office formatting, tables, or embedded media have been turned into a complete polished article automatically.
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Publish the new item - Choose Publish Document after reviewing the draft. If you close the editor first, reopen the card marked as a draft in Documents and continue from there.
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Confirm both items remain - Return to the source location and find the original upload alongside the newly published document. Seeing both is expected: one is the preserved asset, and the other is its article-style presentation.
The two items stay independent after publication. Editing or deleting the published document does not rewrite the original upload. Moving or removing the upload does not silently move or remove the published item. Organize each one deliberately if they should live in different folders.
Verify Publication And Access
A successful publish should be clear both to the author and to an intended reader. Check the result instead of treating the editor's close as the only confirmation.
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Check the Documents card - The published item should remain in the intended location without its draft indicator.
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Open it as the author - Confirm that the item now opens its reading or app experience instead of returning you to an unfinished article-style draft.
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Check with an eligible member - Ask a member who can access the owning space area, and the relevant app when applicable, to browse the same Documents location and open the item. The card that was hidden during drafting should now be available to that member.
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Test the real access boundary - If the item belongs to a private subspace or activity, verify with someone inside that audience. A direct link cannot grant access to someone outside the area's membership.
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Check the source-file pair when applicable - For the upload-based path, make sure the original file still previews or downloads independently and the new published item opens as an article.
If another eligible member still cannot find the item, first check whether the draft indicator remains. Then confirm that both people are browsing the same space area and folder. Publication never overrides inherited access rules.
Resume Or Delete An Unfinished Draft
Leaving the editor does not make a draft shared. The private draft remains in Documents for its author and can be resumed later.
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Resume from Documents - Return to the same area or folder, find the draft indicator, and select the card. Article-style drafts reopen the Publish Document editor; linked Retrospectives and Whiteboards reopen their dedicated workspaces.
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Delete an abandoned draft - Open the draft card's menu and choose Delete when you no longer intend to publish it. The draft disappears from Documents, and a linked app draft is removed with its connected entry.
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Preserve the source upload when needed - Deleting the article-style draft created through Publish does not require deleting the original upload. They are separate items, so remove only the draft if the source file should remain available.
Delete only after confirming that the draft is no longer useful. An unpublished draft is already hidden from other users, so you can leave it private while deciding instead of publishing incomplete work merely to keep it.
Solve Common Problems
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New is unavailable - Check whether the current activity is archived. Move to an active space area or folder before trying again.
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Event or Retrospectives will not start - These creation paths require coordinator eligibility. The access check stops the flow before an inaccessible draft is created.
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Whiteboard will not start - Confirm that the space includes the Whiteboard offering. Being signed in is not enough when the offering is unavailable.
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A colleague cannot see the draft - This is expected before publication. Drafts are author-only, even inside a shared Documents location.
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A colleague cannot see the published item - Confirm the item's location and the colleague's access to the owning space, subspace, or activity. For app files, also confirm that the relevant app experience is available to them.
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The upload and article look duplicated - They are intentionally separate. Keep both when readers need the original asset and a published presentation, or remove and organize them independently.
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The item was created in the wrong folder - Creation uses the Documents location open at the time. Return to the intended location before creating another draft, or use the available organization controls to relocate the existing item.
To add source material before publishing, follow Upload Files and Folders. After publication, Sharing and Revisiting Documents explains how visible documents can move into conversations, personal return paths, and eligible space showcases without changing their source location.
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