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Documents — post-enable runbook

Documents was just enabled. The library is empty by default — the next half hour is about uploading the handful of files officers and members will reach for in their first week.

For the surface-level overview, see the Documents module reference.

Prerequisites​

Before uploads will work, confirm:

  • Storage is configured and verified for the org. Documents live in your S3 / MinIO bucket, not in the platform's database.
  • An org admin or chapter officer is on hand to upload. Members cannot upload documents themselves.

Who can enable it​

Only a platform admin can toggle the Documents module for your org. Org admins request the change through their platform admin.

What gets auto-created​

Enabling Documents does not create any records. The library starts empty. The toggle exposes the Documents sidebar entry and allows the related endpoints to respond.

What appears in the sidebar​

A single Documents top-level item appears for org admins, regional admins, chapter officers, and members.

First 30 minutes — required steps​

  1. Open Org → Documents. Confirm the empty state renders without errors. If you see an upload failure, jump to Settings → Storage and re-test the storage connection before adding files.
  2. Upload your most-requested file (usually the constitution or bylaws). Pick the document type (Constitution, Bylaws, Standing Rules, Policy, or Other), set scope to Organization, and choose visibility Public so every member can read it.
  3. Paste the key text of the document into the Content field as well as attaching the file. The platform searches the content field, not the binary attachment — text-only entries are searchable, PDFs are not.
  4. Upload a second file scoped to a single chapter so you can verify chapter-only visibility works the way you expect. Pick a chapter, set visibility to Chapter, save, and confirm members of other chapters cannot see it.
  5. Upload one officer-only file (e.g., a contract template). Set visibility to Officers to confirm the role gate works.

First 30 minutes — recommended next steps​

  • Upload the rest of your governance set in one sitting — constitution, bylaws, standing rules, risk-management policy. Keeping them together lowers the chance officers go looking in old email.
  • Use consistent titles. "Spring 2026 Bylaws (current)" is easier to scan than "bylaws_v3_final_FINAL.pdf".
  • If you are also running AI Services, give the chatbot a few minutes to index. The chatbot's document search runs over embeddings, so freshly uploaded files become AI-searchable on the next embedding refresh.

What happens if you disable​

Turning Documents off hides the Documents sidebar item and returns 403 on the related endpoints. Files and metadata are preserved — both the database rows and the bytes in your storage bucket are untouched. Re-enabling restores access.

Common gotchas​

  • There is no folder hierarchy. Documents are flat, organized by type, scope, and visibility. If you want grouping, lean on titles and the type field.
  • Attached PDFs are not full-text searched. Paste the text into the Content field if you want the file to be findable by keyword.
  • Versioning is per-document. Editing a document creates a new DocumentVersion row; the previous version stays in history. Use the change summary to leave a paper trail.
  • Chapter-scope documents need a chapter. If you switch visibility to Chapter without selecting one, the save will fail validation.
  • Storage is the dependency to watch. A large library can quietly exhaust a small bucket. Track usage in Settings → Storage.

Where to go deeper​

Last verified against v0.62.1 (2026-05-10).