Organizing Documents
Why Organizing Documents
As your document library grows, finding the right policy or procedure quickly becomes essential. CalmCompliance uses categories, tags, and search to help you organize and locate documents—no folders required. Categories group documents by broad theme (e.g., "Health & Safety", "HR Policies"), while tags add flexible labels for filtering. Combined with text search and the ability to follow documents you care about, you can keep your library manageable and easy to navigate.
How to Organize with Categories and Tags
When creating or editing a document, set its Category (one per document) and Tags (multiple allowed)
Categories are configured in Settings > Documents—your administrator defines them
Tags are created in Settings > Tags and can be applied across documents, risks, and forms
Save your changes—the document will appear when you filter by that category or tag
See Document metadata and properties for how to edit these fields and Creating organizational tags for setting up tags.
How to Find Documents
Go to Documents > All Documents
Use the search bar at the top to search by document name or description
Use the sidebar to filter:
Category — click All, Uncategorized, or a category name to see documents in that group
Followed — show only documents you follow (click the bookmark icon on a document to follow it)
Tags — select one or more tags; documents with any of those tags appear
Combine search and filters—e.g., filter by "Health & Safety" then search for "fire" within those results
Sort by Name, Category, or Updated using the column headers
Results update as you type and change filters. To clear filters, click the X on a tag badge or Clear all filters.
Before You Start
Categories: Your site administrator must create document categories in Settings > Documents before you can assign them
Tags: Create tags in Settings > Tags first—they won't appear in the tag selector until they exist
Following: You need Member access to Documents to follow documents; following is personal to you
Common Questions
What's the difference between categories and tags? Each document has one category (broad groupings like "HR" or "Safeguarding"). Documents can have many tags (flexible labels like "annual review", "fire safety"). Categories can have access controls; tags cannot. On multi-site organisations with cascade available, categories also control whether child sites can file under them and whether documents in them appear on open child sites. See Share documents with child sites.
Can I create folders? No. CalmCompliance uses categories and tags instead of folders. Use categories for main groupings and tags for cross-cutting themes.
Why don't I see a document when I filter by category? The document may be in a category with restricted access. Only users in groups assigned to that category can see those documents. Ask your administrator to add you to the right group.
Does search look inside document content? No. Search matches document name and description only. Use tags and categories to make documents discoverable.
See Use categories and tags to organize records for a cross-module guide covering all record types that support categories and tags.