Linking documents together

The ability to link documents together is a key feature that helps to organize documents into logical groups. Links give users quick and efficient access to files that are related to the document they are working with no matter where the file is stored in the Library. For example, a master contract document may be linked to its amendments.

Linking can be accomplished:

Manually linking documents together from a view.
Automatically by matching common metadata field values from within the same schema, a non-matching schema, or all schemas. Common metadata field values can also be searched on from the metadata pane.

A user can also find related (linked) documents from the metadata pane.

Linked documents can be viewed in the Linked documents pane. The Linked documents pane can be pinned in place using the Pin icon Pin .

To view linked documents

Do one of the following:

Right-click on a document and select View Linked Documents.
From the Linked column, double-click on the “linked” number.
Search for linked documents from the metadata pane.

The Documents linked to…<document name> pane opens. All of the documents that are linked to the selected document are shown.
Click on the Up or Down arrow in the Parent/Child column to view the parents (Up red arrow) or children (Down green arrow) of the linked document.
Click the pin icon

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to keep the pane in place.
Click Close

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to close the pane.

Manually linking documents

Manually linking documents allows users to maintain a parent-child relationship between the documents that are linked together. In other words, one document, the “parent”, serves as the main document that all other files, the “children”, refers to. When linking two or more documents together the user must specify the parent document in the linking relationship.

The Linked column is visible in most views and shows the total number of documents that are directly linked to that document. These links may be of either parent or child relationship.

You are able to link documents that are in the same folder or from disparate areas of the library such as the search results, virtual folder or document tray.

To create a link between two or more documents in the same folder

Select the files that are to be linked within a folder. At least two files must be selected.
Click Link .
In the Create Links Between Documents window, select the “parent” document from the list and click Link. The other files are considered “children” to the “parent” file. The documents are linked.

To create links between documents found in a search

Run a search.
Select the documents to link together and click Link. At least two files must be selected.
In the Create Links Between Documents window, select the “parent” document from the list and click Link. The other files are considered “children” to the “parent” file. The documents are linked.

To link documents in the document tray

“Move” all of the documents you want to link into the document tray.
In the Document Tray, select the files you want to link and right-click to select Link Documents.
In the Create Links Between Documents window, select the “parent” document from the list and click Link

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. The other files are considered “children” to the “parent” file.
The documents are now linked. You can see how many files a document is linked to in the Linked column.

To search for linked documents

From the Advanced Search screen, select the search criteria Special Fields > Has Link.
Select Yes or No from the drop down list and click Search.

Linking by metadata field

Since users are typically looking for related documents, FileHold can show documents in the Linked documents pane that are related by:

A metadata field value in all schemas.
A metadata field value and matching schema.
A metadata field value and not match the schema.

This reduces the manual effort of users to manually link documents together.

The selected linking option is maintained when the Linked documents pane is opened. The default is saved across sessions. If the default linking option cannot be applied, documents related to the first metadata field value in the schema is used.

To view documents linked by metadata field values

In a view, right-click on a document and select View Linked Documents.
In the Linked documents pane, select the Linked by options:

Select the metadata field name from the list.
- Alternatively, select Manual links to view links manually created by users.
Select which schemas to match to:
- All schemas – Finds all matching metadata field values in all schemas.
- Matching schema – Finds all matching metadata field values in the same schema as the selected document.
- Not matching schema – Finds all matching metadata field values that are not in the same schema as the selected document.

The related documents are displayed in the Linked documents pane.

Removing document links

Links can be removed from documents that have been manually linked together and have a parent/child relationship. Removing the link removes the relationship between the documents.

To remove document links

In the Linked documents pane, select the documents and click Remove Link

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. The link is removed.

Finding related (linked) documents from the metadata pane

Options are available in the FDA metadata pane that allow users to find documents with related (linked) metadata. A user can right-click on a metadata field in the pane and select one of the options: