Documents is the shared library for a space. It brings uploaded files, folders, articles, and supported app files into one place, then arranges them by the same spaces, subspaces, and activities that members already use elsewhere in Visual Space.
That shared structure is the important part. A useful image from Chat, a file uploaded for an activity, and an article created for the same work do not need three unrelated filing systems. They can remain close to the community context that gives them meaning, while Documents becomes the reliable place to find them again.
One Library That Follows Your Space
Every Documents location begins with a space area. A small community may keep most of its material at the space level. A larger one can place content in subspaces and activities, where it stays close to the right conversations and participants. Ordinary folders add more organization below those established areas.
This creates a predictable path through the library:
The first three levels are shared with the rest of Visual Space; they are not a separate folder system invented inside Documents. That consistency helps a member infer where something belongs before they know its exact filename or content type. It also keeps articles, discussions, meetings, and files aligned around the same community map.
Folders are deliberately more flexible. Once you are in the right space area, you can create the depth needed for deliverables, references, media, or any other collection your community understands. The Documents Library and Folders explains this structure in more detail.
!Onboarding Documents library with its activity tree, folders, and article cards
The Onboarding location follows the space's activity structure while ordinary folders and an article remain together in one grid.
Understand What You Are Browsing
The word document describes an item in the connected library, not just a word-processing file. A Documents view can contain several kinds of item side by side:
A draft is different from all of these categories: it is a visibility state. New articles and supported app files created from Documents begin as drafts. Their authors can find and continue them in the library, while other users do not see them until they are published. Once published, the same entry becomes normally available to people who can access its location.
An uploaded file and an article created from that file also remain separate. Choosing Publish for an upload starts an article-style draft; it does not turn the original upload into editable article content or remove it from the library. This distinction lets the original asset remain available while the published version gains context and presentation. See App Files and Publishing before publishing material that needs a carefully prepared public story.
Browse By Context, Then Narrow The Location
Open Documents from the space area where the material belongs. The main browser shows a mixed collection, so folders, uploads, and app files can appear together rather than forcing you to switch between separate libraries. Larger collections load progressively, letting you begin browsing before every item has arrived.
!Design Library folder showing a nested Research folder beside an uploaded image
Design Library keeps a nested folder and an uploaded image together without losing the surrounding activity context.
On desktop, the side panel exposes the familiar activity structure and the folders already discovered beneath it. The grid and folder tree are two views of the same library: opening a folder in either one changes the current location. On mobile, the grid and header remain the primary browsing surface instead of keeping the folder tree permanently visible.
Search can help when the name is clearer than the location. Results use file names and available document information, and opening a result can return you to its Documents folder when that context is available. Links also identify the document independently of its complete nested path, so reorganizing material within the same space does not normally make an existing link useless.
For a closer look at preview behavior, downloads, and fallback cards, continue with Files and Previews.
Placement Also Sets The Access Boundary
Documents does not add a second set of privacy controls to every folder. Access is inherited from the space, subspace, or activity that owns the location. A folder beneath a private activity stays within that activity's access boundary, and adding more nested folders does not create new membership rules.
This makes placement a meaningful choice. Moving content between ordinary folders under the same area changes how it is organized without inventing a new audience. Moving it into another subspace or activity in the same space places it under the destination area's access rules. A direct link never bypasses private-area membership, and users only browse or open content available through areas they can access.
The same boundary protects drafts. Even within an accessible area, an unpublished draft stays visible to its author rather than becoming a shared document simply because it has a library location.
Choose the owning space area first, then use folders for finer organization. If you need to reorganize an established collection, Organizing Documents covers selection, movement, folder structure, and the checks that prevent invalid folder moves.
Begin With The Intended Destination
Before adding content, open the space, subspace, activity, or folder where people will expect to find it. Signed-in users can open New to create a folder, upload files, upload a complete folder tree on the web, or begin one of the app-file types available to them.
The menu reflects both the current location and the user's access. Article drafts are available to signed-in users. Creating an Event or Retrospective requires coordinator eligibility, and Whiteboard appears when that offering is available to the space. Archived activities remain readable where access allows, but they do not accept new folders, uploads, app files, or publishing.
Choose the starting action that matches the material:
Uploads can run in batches, and each file reports its own progress or failure. If a preview cannot be created, the upload can still succeed and appear with a clear fallback card. The walkthrough Upload Files and Folders takes this journey from choosing the destination through checking the result. When the result should become a published article or app experience, follow Create and Publish from Documents.
Organize Without Separating The Story
Documents supports both careful filing and quick cleanup. You can select several visible items with familiar desktop selection gestures, then move or delete the selected set from one compact menu. Dragging a selected item carries the selection, while dragging an unselected item moves only that item. Folders and space areas can also act as destinations when the move is valid.
Moving a folder keeps its contents together. Visual Space blocks destinations that would create an impossible structure, such as placing a folder inside itself or one of its descendants. The interface shows these organization controls to the space owner and members with space-management permission. The owner path is the dependable one today; a permitted non-owner may still have a management action refused and should ask the space owner to complete it.
For a complete outcome—from preparing a folder layout to moving and checking the result—use Organize Documents and Folders.
Uploads, Previews, And Space Storage
Documents accepts common media and document formats while blocking executable and browser-active formats that should not be handled like ordinary shared files. Images and videos have the richest viewing experience. PDFs, readable text formats, and simple table files can receive visual previews when available; other accepted formats remain usable through their file cards and download action.
Storage is measured at the space level. At present, private files and public files larger than 10 MB count toward the space's storage use, while public files at or below that threshold do not. The free-space baseline provides up to 5 GB of counted storage before more capacity is needed. Where storage options are available, eligible spaces can see usage and reach an upgrade path before a full allowance blocks new uploads.
Folders themselves do not consume a second allowance, and nesting a file more deeply does not make it count more than once. Uploads and Storage explains supported uploads, progress, limits, and storage choices in one place.
Share Useful Material And Find It Again
A library becomes valuable when people can return to it from their everyday work. A visible document can be saved to View Later from its menu, then reopened in its Documents context. Documents can also be dragged into Chat: stored media can travel as attachments, while other items can be shared as document links, subject to the message's attachment limit.
Published documents may also be eligible for Expo, the curated showcase for a space. Space owners and members with Expo-management access decide what belongs there. Drafts are excluded, so curation does not expose work that has not been published.
Use Share Documents in Chat for the practical handoff into a conversation, or Sharing and Revisiting Documents for the broader choices around links, View Later, and Expo.
Common Questions
Why does Documents use spaces, subspaces, and activities instead of one free-form folder tree?
Those areas already organize the community's people, conversations, meetings, and published work. Reusing them gives files the same context and avoids several competing structures. Ordinary folders provide flexibility beneath that shared foundation.
Is every item in Documents an uploaded file?
No. The library can contain folders, uploaded files, articles, and supported app files. Each item opens in the experience appropriate to its type.
Is a draft another kind of document?
No. Draft describes the publication state of an article or app file. Its author can continue working on it in Documents, but it is not normally visible to other users until published.
Does moving a document change who can see it?
Moving within ordinary folders under the same space area does not create a new access boundary. Moving to another subspace or activity in the same space places the item under that destination's inherited access rules. The current organization flow does not move documents into a different space.
Can a shared link reveal a private document?
No. A direct link still respects the access rules of the owning space area. People who do not have access cannot use the link as a shortcut around membership or privacy.
What happens when I publish an uploaded file?
Visual Space creates an article-style draft based on the file while keeping the original upload as a separate library item. You can prepare and publish the draft without silently replacing the source file.
Where should I start if a library is already disorganized?
Identify the correct space areas first, then create a small folder structure beneath them. Move related material in coherent groups and verify each destination before continuing. Organize Documents and Folders provides the full workflow.