---
title: Getting started with company documents
description: What the company documents library is for, its two screens, the permissions it requires and who sees which document.
url: "http://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/company-documents-getting-started/"
updated: "2026-11-11"
category: "Core HR services / Storage & e-signature"
---

# Getting started with company documents

**Company documents** is the library of texts that HR makes available to employees: internal rules, policies (remote work, expenses, IT…), welcome or manager guides, FAQs. Each document is published for a specific audience, and each employee only sees the documents intended for them. This article gives an overview of the library: what it is for, its two screens, the permissions it requires and what each profile sees. It is aimed at the administrators and HR staff who set it up, and at anyone who wants to understand what they will find in it.

## The library at a glance

The library has two screens: one for reading, one for managing.

- **Company documents**, in the main menu: the reading screen. Documents are grouped by category — **Rules**, **Policies**, **Guides**, **FAQ**, **Other** — with their effective date, version number and size. A search covers both the title AND the text of the documents, and shows the passage found with its page. See [Reading and searching company documents](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/company-documents-reading-and-searching/).
- **Settings › Documents › Company documents**: the management screen. This is where you publish a document for an audience, edit its details, upload a new version, unpublish it or delete it. See [Publishing a company document and choosing its audience](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/company-documents-publishing/) and [Replacing, unpublishing or deleting a document](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/company-documents-versions-and-withdrawal/).

![The Company documents screen as seen by an employee: a Search the documents field, an All categories list, then four sections — Rules (Règlement intérieur), Policies (Politique de télétravail), Guides (Guide d’accueil) and FAQ (Congés et absences — questions fréquentes) — each document with its effective date, version, size and an Open button.](https://i0.wp.com/illizeo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/documents-entreprise-01.en_-scaled.png?resize=800%2C423&quality=80&ssl=1)
The library as an employee sees it: their documents, grouped by category.

## Before you start

- The library is part of the document management module: it must be subscribed to and enabled for your account. If the module is removed from you, the menu entry disappears, even if your role carries the permissions below.
- To read, you need the **View the company documents intended for me** permission at the **Access** level. The **All employees** role carries it, so in practice every employee has the menu entry. Without it, the entry does not appear.
- To manage, you need the **Publish, replace and unpublish company documents** permission. The **Access** level opens the management screen read-only (the list and the version history); the **Execute** level lets you publish, edit, replace, unpublish and delete. The **Administrator** and **HR Manager** roles carry it at the Execute level.
- The management screen is located in **Settings**: your role must also give you access to Settings.
- Permissions are set in the permission matrix, Documents section: see [Setting permissions in the matrix](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/roles-permission-matrix/).

## Who sees which document

The reading permission opens the screen; it does not widen anything. What an employee sees there depends solely on each document’s audience. A document is shown to you when all four of the following conditions are met.

1. It is **published** (an unpublished document disappears for everyone) and it has a current version. Only the current version can be read; previous ones are kept for the management screen.
2. It is intended for **All employees**, or for one of your roles, or for one of your employee groups (whether you are named in the group or one of your roles has been added to it).
3. If it targets **sub-companies**, you belong to one of them, through your employee record or a current contract.
4. If you are an **external worker** (with no internal contract), the document was published with the **Also for external workers** option.

This rule applies everywhere: to the list, to opening the file, to searching the text, to the “new document” notification and to the assistant’s answers. A document that is not intended for you does not exist for you, even if you know its link.

### What each profile sees

- **Employees** see the documents published for them, search them and open them. They see neither unpublished documents, nor previous versions, nor the chosen audience.
- **Managers** also see the documents published for their role, for example a manager guide.
- **HR and administrators** see, in Settings, every document, published or not, with its audience, versions and status. On the reading screen, however, they follow the same rule as everyone else: they only see what is intended for them.

![The Company documents management screen in Settings: a Publish a document button and a table with the columns Document, Category, Audience, Version and Status. Five documents have the status Published and the audience All employees or 1 role(s); Charte informatique, at version v2 for 1 group(s), is unpublished and offers the icon to republish it. Each row has five icons: versions, edit, new version, unpublish or republish, delete.](https://i0.wp.com/illizeo.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/documents-entreprise-04.en_-scaled.png?resize=800%2C296&quality=80&ssl=1)
The same set as HR sees it in Settings: every document, its audience and its status.

## Accepted formats

A document is a **PDF**, **Word** (.docx) or **text** (.txt) file of up to 20 MB. When it is published, Illizeo reads its text once and for all — page by page for a PDF — and keeps it for searching. A scanned PDF without text can still be opened but can only be found by its title; the management screen flags it with “text not read (scan): found by its title only”.

## The “new document” notification

When publishing, HR can tick **Notify the audience (bell and email)**. Active employees in the document’s audience then receive a notification in the bell and an email, which give the document’s title but never its content. The link opens the library with that document at the top and highlighted. Everyone can choose whether to receive this notification in their preferences, under **Documents › New company document**: see [Choosing your notifications](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/notifications-my-preferences/). The email text can be customised in the email settings.

## Documents and the assistant

When the Illizeo assistant is available in your workspace, it can answer a question about a company rule (remote work, leave for family events, working hours…) by searching the documents you are allowed to read. Its answer quotes the passage and the document; the source opens the library on that document, at the page of the quoted passage. It never searches employees’ personal documents, and if it finds no passage, it says so rather than answering from memory.

## Good to know

- A document’s audience is chosen from the roles, employee groups and sub-companies of your workspace: see [Creating employee groups](https://illizeo.com/en/centre-aide/roles-employee-groups/).
- The library does not replace employees’ personal documents (contracts, payslips, files in their record): it only holds texts published for an audience.
- The text of the documents is kept for searching, so do not publish personal data in them.

## Frequently asked questions

### An employee cannot see a document I published. Why?

Check on the management screen that the document is **Published**, then check its audience: the employee must hold one of the chosen roles or belong to one of the chosen groups, belong to one of the targeted sub-companies if any were chosen, and, if they are an external worker, the **Also for external workers** option must be ticked.

### I work in HR: why does the reading screen not show me every document?

The reading screen applies the same rule to everyone. To see every document, whatever its audience, open **Settings › Documents › Company documents**.

### Can I publish a document in several languages?

Each document has one language (French, English, German or Italian). To offer a text in two languages, publish two documents, each with its own language and, if needed, its own audience.

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