Folders & files
The document hub is where you can store all resources, documents and policies to support volunteers and volunteer managers during their volunteering. Its volunteer-centric design makes it much easier for volunteers to find what they're looking for, as well as making it easier for you to present resources that they may not know about.
Rather than just having one central store of everything that every volunteer could possibly need, each file is assigned roles and/or teams who would need it. In this way a Welcome Volunteer, for example, doesn't need to go through folders of instructions only needed for a treasurer or admin volunteer. And with fewer resources visible, it's easier for volunteers to see what's important too. These access settings, combined with an accurate description of each file, makes searching and finding easy for volunteers.
To manage the document hub, including uploading documents, you need to have the relevant permission, so please contact your organisation if you have any questions about this.
Adding new folders
Select the Hub Home and click the Add folder link at the top of the page and follow the onscreen instructions.
Sub-folders
Select the folder where you want to add the sub-folder and click the Add folder link.
You can add as many folders and sub-folders as you need; volunteers will only see a folder if there's an item in it that they have access to. As a result, it's often easier to have fewer folders with more general headings eg Safe & Legal could store health and safety items for shop volunteers, fundraising rules for fundraisers and risk assessment templates for activity coodinators. Meanwhile all volunteers would be able to see the GDPR guidance.
Empty folders will only be visible by managers with the edit permission.
Delete
Select the item you want to delete and click the Delete button at the top of the page. The link will only be displayed if the selected item can be deleted and you have the edit permission.
Folders can only be deleted if empty
Upload
Select the folder where you want to store the file and click the Upload file button at the top of the page.
Tip
Although most file formats can be uploaded, for maximum accessibility across platforms and devices, it's a good idea to PDF most items, including Powerpoint presentations. Word forms can be saved with form fields too. Please remember to use tagging and other accessibility tools so screen readers work smoothly.
Editing
When the file is successfully uploaded, you will be redirected to the file edit mode screen.
NB Even if you don't save details here, the file has been uploaded so you'll need to delete it if you've uploaded the wrong file.
You can change access to a file or its description at any time. You can also replace a file with a new version. To open the edit screen, find the relevant file in the Document Hub and then click the Edit button.
- Managers with editing permissions will see a file's type, size, the date created (added to Assemble), expiry date (if set), owner (if set) and how many times its been downloaded.
- You cannot see who has downloaded a file, although this information is shown in an individual user's Logs.
- Other users will only see the file type, size, and created and expiry dates.
- You can set a reminder against a file which will appear in the "Reminders" list on your dashboard. Clicking the reminder takes you to directly to that file.
If you don't restrict a file to any team or role, the file will be available to anyone inside the organisation with access to the document hub.
Display name: you can change this to be a more user-friendly name, although it's best to keep it close to the file's actual name. When downloaded the file name will show in the volunteer's downloads folder, not the Display name.
Description: add a few sentences to explain clearly what the file is. The contents of the description, as well as the Display name, are used in the search. Carefully writing this description, using all of the terms that a volunteer may use, is really important to enable the correct results to be presented following a search.
Tip
Think about the search from a volunteer's perspective, to make sure that your files can be found when required. When might they need the file? What words may be used? For example, volunteers may know they need to use the pink form to report when someone has tripped on something in the shop. They may not know that it's called an Incident Recording Form 3a, so including the words trip, slip, broken, hurt, first aid, and even pink would make it more likely that they'd find the correct form.
Expiry date: if you add a date here, the file will no longer be visible to volunteer users after that time. It is not deleted and you can add a later date after its expired.
Owner: you can record who the owner of the file is. It's a good idea to record a job title, team or department here to allow for staff changes.
Review date: entering a date here allows you to make sure that your files are reviewed periodically for accuracy and relevance. A review date does not affect the display of the file to volunteers. The information is available in the Document Hub Report export.
File location(s): check the folder or folders that you want the resource to be available in. Please note, multiple locations will give access to all of those locations to the volunteers eligible to see the file.
Teams: if you want to restrict a file to one or more team, select them here. Do not select any team if you want everyone to have access.
Roles: if you want to restrict a file to one or more role, select them here. Do not select any role if you want everyone to have access.
NB Selecting a team and role will allow everyone in that team and everyone with that role to see the file.
Save the file info - this button will only be available to click if you have made changes.
Deleting
Click the delete button and follow the onscreen instructions.
The main search bar and the contextual search on the Document Hub page will search the file title and description to retrieve on the results, file content won't be considered.
Required permission(s)
- The hub:
- Manage folders
- Upload file
- Delete file