# Introduction - Documents

Documents lists every file in the workspace, whether it is attached to a record or standing on its own.

It is not only a second view of your attachments. Files reach this list two ways: by being attached to a record, and by being uploaded here directly, and the list is where you find either of them again.

![The Documents screen, subtitled All files attached across your workspace, with an Upload action at the top right. A row of type chips reads All 6, Images 1, PDFs 3, Docs, Sheets and Other 2, beside a More filters control. Columns read File, Associated To, Uploaded By, Uploaded and Folder. Files include depreciation-schedule-Q3.csv, fleet-insurance-schedule-2026.pdf, fuel-receipt-31-aug.png, halberd-delivery-note-PR00005.pdf and hudson-valley-invoice-9341.pdf, each showing its size and type. Associated To names the record behind each file, such as Bill IVB-0024 for Kelso Industrial Fasteners or PR-00005 for Halberd Bearings Ltd with Purchase Receive beneath it, while one row reads Standalone in italics. Every row offers Add to folder.](https://www.sorviai.com/help/inventory/documents/documents-list.png)

*The Associated To column is the whole point: it says which record a file is evidence for, or that it belongs to none.*

## Attached or standalone

- **Attached** (evidence for a record): Added from a purchase receive, a shipment, a bill or an item. The Associated To column names the record and the kind of record it is, so the file can be traced back.
- **Standalone** (filed here and nowhere else): Uploaded straight into Documents. It belongs to the workspace rather than to any one transaction, which suits a policy, a certificate or a price list.

> **Tip:**
>
> **Attach rather than upload, when there is a record to attach to**
>
> A standalone file is findable only by its name and its date. Attached to the receive it belongs to, it is findable from the receive, from the vendor and from this list, and it explains itself to whoever opens it next.

## What is worth attaching in a warehouse

| Record | What tends to be attached to it |
| --- | --- |
| Purchase receive | The vendor's delivery note, signed |
| Shipment | Proof of delivery, or the carrier's label |
| Sales return | Photographs of what came back, and its condition |
| Stock adjustment | The stocktake sheet the difference was found on |
| Item | A specification, a data sheet or a certificate |
| Bill or expense | The supplier's invoice, or the receipt |

The pattern is the same in every row: the file is the evidence for a document whose numbers somebody may query later.

## Filing by type, and by folder

The chips across the top count the files by kind, so **PDFs** or **Images** narrows the list in one click. A chip with nothing behind it is greyed rather than hidden, which is how you can tell there are none rather than that you have missed the control.

Folders are the other axis, and they are yours to invent: a file can be filed into one from the list, and a new folder is created at the moment you first need it.

> **Note:**
>
> **Shared, like everything else in the suite**
>
> A file attached to a record in Inventory is the same file in Finance. Attaching a vendor's delivery note to a receive puts it in front of whoever is checking the bill against it, without either of them uploading anything twice.