Hiding a Document until Approved in the Document Management System

Sometimes a file needs to have its distribution restricted until it has gone through some form of approval process. This is accomplished using the workflow feature to hide the document from access in the FileHold records management system.

This allows a given version of a document to be hidden from all users except for the document owner, workflow participants, workflow observers and designated library administrators until such time as it is signed off as “Approved”. If the file is approved the document reappears in the folder and is marked as approved. If the file is not approved and the workflow terminated then the document will remain hidden to all but the workflow participants.

Note: If the workflow is terminated, a new version must be created before another attempt is made to have it approved via a new workflow instance.

Hiding the Document During the Approval Process
Users can find the "hide this document  setting is found in 3 locations:
a) The document schema level.
b) The workflow template level.
c) The workflow instance level. (If the Library Administrator has made the workflow uneditable then this will be grayed out.)

Setting the "Hide this Document" Command at the Workflow Template Level
If set at the workflow template level, the only document that is hidden during the workflow process is the latest version that is awaiting review or approval. That document version will hide from general view in the document management system until it is approved - while all other versions will be available for use.

Setting the "Hide this Document" Command at the Document Schema Level
If set at the document schema level all versions of the document will become hidden from regular users' views until the process is completed. This means that all the versions of the document will be hidden when that workflow instance is started.

Setting the "Hide this Document" Command when Initiating a Workflow Instance
Users can set the hide this document command when they initiate a workflow as long as the library administrator has set the workflow configuration to allow it.

If set by the workflow initiator the document associated with this workflow instance will be hidden from all users aside from the observers, participants, initiator, document owner or a designated library administrator.

For more information on Workflow Templates