Use File relationships to associate files

File relationships
allow you to create and track links between two or more files e.g. amendments to documents, or to see that a file was created from a certain contract template.

File relationships (external video link)

HighQ provides system-defined document relationships, and you can also create custom document relationships, such as heads of terms and supporting schedules.

A file can have multiple types of relationships defined, each related to a different file (e.g. as both a parent-child relationship and as a duplicate of another file)

Relationships are displayed in the Related
tab on the

Details

panel of the Document viewer. On this tab, you can also use the View by relationship type
dropdown list to filter relationships, Delete
individual relationships, and Delete all relationships
.

HighQ provides these types of relationships by default (these are 'system-defined')

Parent/child
- when a file creates or amends another

Sibling
- a user can create a relationship to show files are associated with another

Duplicate
- the file was copied from another file

Doc Auto parent/child
- this relationship shows when a document is automatically created from a Doc Auto Contract Express template; this type cannot be added manually

You may also create custom relationships so that you may:

Define custom relationship types based on business needs

Benefit from a central source of relationships for consistency

Reuse system-defined relationships

Define relationships based on matter needs

Create other relationships between documents

System and site settings for File relationships

File relationships are enabled by default. System and site options allow a system or site admin to control access.

To change the setting at system level, select your Profile
, then System admin
. Select System settings
then go to the File relationships section.

By default, Enabled, default ON in every site
is selected. Select the option to change access to File relationships.

Select Save
.

Access relationship types at system level

To change the definition of system-created relationships, or add custom relationships for all sites, select your System admin
from your Profile
menu. Select File relationships
.

The

File relationships

window allows you to Add
or Edit
relationships available for each site on your instance. Both system-defined and custom relationships can be changed.

Select More actions
then Edit
to edit a system-defined relationship type.

On the the

Edit relationship type

window, you can change the Relationship name
of the relationship type, and how the relationship is described in the site and document viewer (in Related to
and Related by
):

Select Save
to confirm changes to the descriptions.

Add, edit or delete custom relationship types

Select Add
to add a custom relationship type

You can enter the Relationship name
of the relationship type and how the relationship is described (using Related to
and Related by
) in the site and document viewer:

Select Add
to confirm the descriptions.

After you have added the relationship type, select More actions
, then Edit
or Delete
the type, or to view a Site list
of sites that use the relationship type.

Check for sites that use a custom relationship type

You can see which sites have files that use custom relationship types. This allows for easier management should you need to edit or delete the option.

Select More actions
then Site list
to view a list of sites that use the selected relationship type.

Select the Site name
to open File relationships
settings for that site.

Access relationship types at site level

To change this setting at site level, go to Site admin
and select Relationships
from Module
sections, then files.

Enable or disable File relationships at site level

Select or clear the Enable file relationships
checkbox, then Save
to enable or disable File relationships
:

When you select Enable file relationships
, you can also choose one of the following:

Only users with permission to 'Update' files can add or delete file relationships
Users with permission to 'View' files can add or delete relationships
.

Select the required option to control which users can add or delete file relationships.

Select Save
to confirm your changes.

Creating a custom relationship type in a site

The File relationships
page allows you to Add
or Edit
relationships available on the site. Both system-defined and custom relationships can be changed.

The page gives a list of relationship types by Relationship type name and shows their Related to and Related by relationships.

Select More actions
then Edit
to edit a system-defined relationship type (system-defined types are marked with a grey background).

You can change the Relationship name
of the relationship type, and specify the relationship using Related to
and Related

Select Save
to confirm changes to the descriptions.
Add, edit or delete custom relationship types
Select Add
to add a custom relationship type:

You can add the Relationship name
of the relationship type, and how the relationship is described in the site and document viewer by using the Related to
and Related by
fields:

Select Add
to confirm the descriptions.After you have added the relationship type, you can select More actions
then either Edit
or Delete
.

Add a relationship to files

You can add and remove relationships, including relationships created by Doc Auto Contract Express, in the files and folder list and the Document viewer.

In the Files module, select More actions
then Add related files
.

The

Add related files

window opens.

The window shows the relationship types for each file in the list. For example, "

Relationship type: Associated with

". If a file in the list is not related to the selected file, then it will show "

Relationship type: None

". Use the This file
dropdown list to choose the type of relationship from:

None selected

Is a parent of

Is a child of

Duplicated by

Duplicated from

Associated with

Similar to

Then select one or more files to assign this type of relationship. Use the Recent
, Browse
, and Search
tabs to select files from across the site.

Add a Description of related files
to help identify the relationship.

Relationship information in the file and folder list
Files with relationships include additional information under the file name in the list of files. This information shows how many files are related to the file, such as "1 relationship" or "2 relationships". Open the file for more information.

Automatically generated relationships

Some system-defined relationships are added automatically in the scenarios described below:

Duplicate files

The system-defined Duplicate
relationship is automatically added to both files when a file is copied, or a duplicate file is uploaded.

Copying a file

The

Duplicated by

tag is added to the original file and the

Duplicated from

tag is added to the copy.

'Added after copying'

description is also added to both files.

Uploading a file

If a file is uploaded to a folder where a file already exists with the same name (including the file type), both files are marked as related.

The Duplicated by
tag is added to the older file, and the Duplicated from
tag is added to the newly uploaded file. An '

Added after a duplicate file was detected

' description is added to both files.

File relationships from Doc Auto (powered by Contract Express)

When a file is created by Doc Auto (powered by Contract Express), the system-defined Doc Auto Parent/Child
relationship is added automatically. In the list of files, an additional tag will appear next to the number of relationship. For example,

'1 relationship'

'Is a Doc Auto parent of'

View related files in the Document viewer

Open a file and select the Related
tab to view related files.

If a file has many related files, you can use the View by relationship type
dropdown list to filter them.

Click the name of the related file to open it, or click the download icon to download a copy.

Delete relationships with other files

In Document viewer, select Remove
to delete the relationship to a single file.

Changes are reflected in both the edited and the related file.

This article applies to:

Product: HighQ
Subject: Documents, File Exchange

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