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Folders

Folders let you organise entities into a hierarchical tree structure within the workspace. They are visible in the Explorer left pane and provide a file-system-like navigation model alongside the flat Library search surface.

What is a folder?

In MatStream, folders are first-class entities. They are stored in the same database tables as parts, assemblies, and documents — they just belong to a Folder family category. This means folders can have properties, lifecycle states, file attachments, and any other behaviour that regular entities have.

The Explorer left pane shows the workspace folder tree. Click a folder to load its contents in the centre pane. Expand a folder by clicking the arrow to see child folders.

The last folder you selected is remembered and restored when you return to the Explorer.

Folder context menu

Right-click any folder in the tree to access:

Action Description
New Folder… Create a child folder — you are prompted for a name
Add Files… Upload one or more files directly to this folder
Rename Rename the folder inline
Move To… Move the folder to a different parent (see below)
Delete Delete the folder and all its contents (with confirmation)
Change Category… Reassign the folder entity to a different category
Details… Open the full entity edit dialog to edit properties

Moving a folder

Select Move To… from the folder context menu to open the Move dialog. The full folder tree is shown in the dialog. Select a target folder and click Move Here.

Rules: - A folder cannot be moved into itself. - A folder cannot be moved into any of its descendants (prevents circular nesting). - Moving a folder to its existing parent does nothing.

After a successful move, the folder tree refreshes to show the new position.

Attaching files to folders

Use Add Files… from the context menu to upload files directly to a folder entity. Uploaded files are attached to the folder's current entity version. This is useful for storing project-level documents, specifications, or reference files that belong to a project folder rather than a specific part.

Entity placeholder (file family)

Entities of the File family type support an IsPlaceholder flag. A placeholder entity reserves a slot in the folder tree without having an attached file yet. This is useful when you know a file will exist (e.g. a drawing is being created) but it is not ready to upload.

Visual indicators in the Explorer grid distinguish placeholders from entities that unexpectedly have no file:

  • Placeholder icon — intentional placeholder, file not yet available
  • Warning icon — file entity with no file attached (unintentional gap)

Folder permissions

Folder access follows the same permission model as all other entities: role capabilities, lifecycle-state permissions, and entity-level grants. If a user does not have read access to a folder entity, it does not appear in their Explorer tree.