Workspaces in depth
A workspace groups everything for one document process (mailboxes, templates, categories, dashboard config, send templates, and team access), and you create, shape, and share it entirely through config, not code.
Switching workspaces changes everything you see: the inbox, the available templates, the columns, the filters. Two teams in one organization can run completely different processes through different workspaces (same engine, different config). For the underlying philosophy, see core concepts.
What a workspace owns
- Mailboxes: sidebar entries (Inbox, Archived, Trash, plus custom ones) that group cases.
- Templates linked to the workspace: templates are top-level siblings, not children. A template can be linked or stand alone. New templates auto-tag with your active workspace, scoping their columns, automations, and send-template effects to it.
- Categories: the file labels that route incoming files to templates and to collaborators.
- Dashboard shape: which template fields surface as columns, and the subtitle field and category-chip display on each case row.
- Send templates: saved share presets per workspace (name + tokenized subject + body + per-category source rules).
Creating one
You need to be the owner or a workspace admin. Every account gets its first workspace free (auto-created); a Pro subscription is required to create additional workspaces and to edit settings or delete a workspace. Start by deciding the case identifier: the one field that uniquely names a unit of work (Invoice Number, Permit ID, Vendor Name). It drives categories, templates, and filters. Clicking + next to Workspaces adds a name box straight to the sidebar list, the same way adding a mailbox works. Type the name and press Enter; press Escape to back out without creating anything.
It arrives with default mailboxes (Inbox, Archived, Trash) and an empty case list. The danger zone unlocks only after the workspace exists and has templates assigned.
Naming happens where the workspace lives, so there is no separate identity form: double-click the workspace row in the sidebar to rename it in place, and click its icon to change the icon and accent color from a small popup. The gear on the row opens the settings drawer for everything else (case-list display, send templates, deletion).
To shape a real process, take vendor onboarding (each vendor sends a W-9, a COI, and an MSA): create the workspace, pick Vendor Name as the identifier, build one template per document you handle extracting the fields you care about (tax ID, expiration date, contract terms), then drop one vendor's three files into the inbox and watch them merge into a single case.
How the config drives the dashboard
- Identifier-driven grouping: every case is named by one value, extracted from whichever template field carries the ID type. Files arriving with the same value merge into one case (see how cases merge).
- Filter strips, not stage columns: filters are saved expressions shown as click-to-toggle pills above the table. They're workspace config, so every member sees the same pills.
- Columns from template fields: columns are the union of fields across the workspace's templates (one per output, shared when outputs write the same key). Which fields a given worker or client actually sees is set per person in the dashboard's Team view, not a per-field workspace toggle.
- Sorting: the toolbar sort control orders by date added, last updated, Case ID, or any sortable case-data field (dates, numbers, names) via Case data… (which narrows to cases carrying that value). Sort persists per workspace on your device; unlike filters it's a personal preference, not shared config.
- Send-template reuse: each saved send template captures the share payload structure (a tokenized subject, a default body, and per-category source rules that decide which file categories attach vs. just link), so you never re-write the same subject and body at share time. Who-sees-what (visible categories) and which forms the client can fill are per-collaborator settings on the case's Clients panel, not on the send template.
Sharing with your team
Visibility follows organization membership: add someone and they see every workspace by default; remove them and they see none. To restrict a teammate, open their card in the dashboard's Team view, expand Configure Access, and pick allowed workspaces under Workspace Access (empty = all). Invite via the invite form in the same view, enter an email, and tick Invite as workspace admin only if they should manage the team (ownership isn't selectable; it's the account that created the org). They receive an email and join on first sign-in.
For finer control, toggle Assigned cases only on a worker's profile. They then see only cases where they appear on the case Team panel, narrowed further by their access baseline (set in the dashboard's Team view) and any per-case override on that panel; the layers compose. See workspace roles.
Troubleshooting
My workspace isn't in the sidebar. Workspaces are org-scoped; confirm you're signed in with the right account.
I edited the workspace but old cases didn't update. Edits don't migrate existing data; access and columns update live, but extracted values are case-local, so re-run extraction to refresh.
Two cases that should be one are separate. Check the identifier on each; if it's empty, merge can't group them. Fix it and re-import.
A template is far down a file's list. Every template is offered, best match first; a template built on that document sorts to the top.