File categories and routing
Every file has a category. The category is the join key that decides which templates can process the file, which automation tagged it, which case it joins, and which audiences see it.
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Every file has a category. The category is the join key that decides which templates can process the file, which automation tagged it, which case it joins, and which audiences see it.
A category looks like a label, but it drives the workspace. Get the category right and the rest of the system routes the file automatically. For the operational side — how to create, rename, and control visibility — see Creating and managing categories.
What a category is
A workspace-scoped record with a name (Vendor Invoice, COI), a stable ID, a color, and per-audience visibility. Files reference categories by ID, so renaming a category doesn't break anything.
How a category gets assigned to a file
Two paths:
- Manual upload — you pick the category in the Create Case modal or the Edit Case → Upload File section.
- Automation — a Gmail or Drive automation tags the file with the category configured on the automation. If the automation has no category set, the system falls back to the category on the linked template's source. Automations fail closed: if either the category or the template can't resolve, the file is skipped and never lands in a case. There is no AI guess for the category, and no default-template fallback.
What the category drives
| Subsystem | What the category controls |
|---|---|
| Autofill picker | Filters template list to those whose inputs include this category |
| Gmail/Drive automations | Tags incoming files; routes to the configured extraction template |
| AI extraction | Picks the right template's field schema by matching category |
| Send templates | Attachment rules pull files by category (Send Invoice Batch attaches every Vendor Invoice) |
| Case-detail visibility | Per-audience toggles decide whether admins, workers, or clients see the file |
Walkthrough: routing vendor invoices from Gmail
Goal: invoices arrive via Gmail, get tagged Vendor Invoice, and flow into a case in the AP workspace.
- Open the AP cover sheet template's settings drawer. Type
Vendor Invoiceinto the Output Category field — the category is created and linked. (For a template that consumes a category as input, add a source tab pointing at a workspace source with that category, or set the category on an existing source tab via its chevron popover or⋯menu identity section in the document bar above the preview.) - From the workspace sidebar, open the Automations drawer and add a Gmail automation: subject filter
invoice, target categoryVendor Invoice, target templateAP Cover Sheet. - Send a test invoice. The automation ingests it, tags it
Vendor Invoice, the cover sheet template runs extraction, and a case appears in the AP workspace.
Common patterns
One category per document type, not per workspace. Vendor Invoice, Permit Application, W-9, Inspection Report. The same category record can be linked to templates in many workspaces.
Stream first, manual fallback. Recurring document flows belong on automations — vendor invoices arriving via email, contracts dropping into a Drive folder. Manual upload is for the leftover one-offs.
Renaming is safe. Templates and files reference categories by ID, so a rename doesn't break links. Use the freedom to keep names tidy.
Troubleshooting
The autofill picker is empty for a file.
The file's category isn't on any template's input list. Either change the file's category (Edit Case → file row → category dropdown) or update one of the template's source tabs to consume that category (open the tab's chevron popover or ⋯ menu in the document bar → identity section).
A file got the wrong category. Open the case in edit mode. In the Files section, each file has a category dropdown — switch it. The change preserves source metadata; the new template list resolves automatically.
An automation matched but the file never appeared in a case. Either the category or the template failed to resolve, so ingestion fail-closed-skipped the file. Open the automation and confirm both Target Category and Target Template are set (or that the linked template's source tab carries the right category). Once both resolve, the next ingestion lands.