Controlled Folders

Watch the video! Controlled Folders in File Manager

There are four folder types available in the File Manager app in Kahua. In this article, we will review the Controlled Folder type. For more general information on working with folders and files in File Manager, refer to Viewing files in File Manager.

Controlled Folders are optimized to be used as robust Drawing Logs, but they may be used to manage any type of document. You can create as many Controlled folders as you need (just as you can with standard ‘Files’ folders), and each folder can be associated with different document types, each of which may have their own workflow, their own set of reviewers, and their own default distribution.

Other unique features of the ‘Controlled’ folder type include:

  • The ability to set up a document register (e.g., a “Drawing Log”), to identify documents before they’re actually received, to use due dates to drive submissions, and to help better enforce nomenclature of inbound documents.

  • Tracking of the data associated with each revision and multiple version of each revision of a drawing or document.

  • The ability to use the optional QA Check process workflow.

  • The ability to split uploaded multi-page PDF files and ZIP files with multiple drawings or other file types into individual files.

  • The use of Title Block Extraction to automatically extract information directly from a drawing, including Drawing Title, Sheet Number, Revision Number, Date, etc.
    Refer to Title Block Extraction.

For more information on adding records and files to Controlled Folders, refer to Adding Records and Files to Controlled Folders. For more information on the approval workflow for files added to Controlled Folders, refer to Controlled Folder Review Workflow.

How to . . .

Your domain administrator can enable controlled folders by navigating to the Configuration app > Applications > File Manager app. In the Workflow tab, under Enabled, select Controlled.

Controlled folders are created in the same way other folders are.

  1. Ensure that you are in the correct project or partition.

  2. Navigate to the File Manager app.

  3. In the file folder structure, select the location to place the new folder. There are no limitations on where different file types are placed (i.e., Controlled folders can be created under a Files type folder, and vice versa).

  4. Select Create Folder.

  5. Under File Type, select "Controlled" and enter a Folder Name.

  6. Click Ok. The folder will be saved and appear in the selected location. Controlled folders are indicated by the plan folder icon .