Finding the documents of your whole population

The All documents screen brings together in a single list the documents of everyone in your population: contracts, amendments, payslips, expense receipts, performance files and so on. Instead of opening files one by one, you search, filter and open documents from one place, and you can download a whole selection as a ZIP file. This article explains how to read the list, search for a document, filter by status and category, open a document and export a selection. It is intended for HR teams, payroll managers and auditors.

Before you start #

• The Documents module must be installed and open to you. The screen opens from HR access › Documents.
• Required permission: View the documents of my whole population (“All documents” view), Access level. The supplied Administrator, HR Manager, Payroll Manager and Auditor roles carry it.
• Additional permissions, Access level: Search / filter documents (search fields), Categories — View (category filter), Download a document (open a document) and Download the whole “All documents” selection as a ZIP (ZIP export, supplied to the Administrator and HR Manager roles).
• Scope: each row is exactly what you would see by opening the person’s file. Permissions apply role by role and category by category: if one of your roles shows you the contracts of one population and another the payslips of another, the list respects both. See Defining a role’s target population.

Reading the list #

1. Open HR access › Documents. The All documents screen appears, with the reminder “Documents of the people in your population, according to the rights of each of your roles.” under its title.
2. The Documents card shows the total number of documents found. Each row gives the Document name, the Person it belongs to (with their photo or initials), its Category and its Date.
3. Beyond 20 documents, pagination appears below the list.

Searching for a document #

Two search fields appear if your role carries the Search / filter documents permission.

• Search a document searches document names. The list updates as you type.
• Search in content searches the text of the documents themselves: the text of PDF and Word files, and the text of photos and scans, read by AI. Words are matched whole, and all of them must be present in the document. Sensitive categories are not read by AI. When a document matches, an excerpt of its content appears under its name, with the searched words in bold.

The two fields combine with each other and with the filters.

Filtering by status and category #

1. The first list filters by employee status: Active (the default), Former or All. Former employees are within your scope: choose Former or All to find their documents. Their name then carries the Left badge.
2. The second list, All categories, narrows the list to one document category (for example Expenses or Performance). It appears if your role carries the Categories — View permission.

Changing a filter takes you back to the first page of results. Filters are kept in the page address: you can bookmark it or share it with a colleague who has the same permissions.

Opening a document or a person’s file #

• Click the eye icon (Open) at the end of a row: the document opens in a new tab. The icon only appears if your role carries the Download a document permission.
• Click a person’s name: their file opens on their documents tab. That is where write actions take place (uploading, renaming, deleting a document), according to your permissions on that person.

Downloading a selection as a ZIP #

1. Set the search and filters to get exactly the documents you want.
2. Click Download as ZIP at the top right. The button only appears if there is at least one document and your role carries both the ZIP export permission and the download permission.
3. The file documents-YYYY-MM-DD.zip downloads. It contains exactly the documents in the list, arranged in one folder per employee, then per category.

A ZIP holds at most 300 documents and 500 MB. Beyond that, a message asks you to narrow the filters: split your selection, for example by category.

Good to know #

• The screen is read-only: it adds, changes and deletes no document.
• Every display of the list is recorded in the GDPR audit log, with the filters used. Every ZIP export is recorded there too, and each exported document is marked as downloaded in its own access history, as with a one-by-one download. See The GDPR audit log.
• The list only shows documents filed in a person’s file: each row belongs to an employee.

Frequently asked questions #

I can find a document in an employee’s file, but not in All documents. Why? #

Check the status filter: a former employee only appears with Former or All. Also check the selected category and the search fields.

Search in content finds nothing, although the word is in the document. #

The search matches whole words: “contract” does not find “contractual”. All the words entered must appear in the document. A photographed or scanned document in a sensitive category is not read by AI.

The Download as ZIP button does not appear. #

Either the list is empty, or your role lacks Download the whole “All documents” selection as a ZIP or Download a document. Both are required.