Document Hub Basics¶
Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation
Customer Managed Applies to customer-managed instances of Alation
In General Availability from Alation version 2024.3.2
In Public Preview from Alation version 2024.1 to 2024.3.1
Important
You are viewing documentation for Classic Alation.
Document Hubs are Alation’s new feature set for creating custom types of documentation. Included within Document Hubs is the Glossary Hub, which is the default hub for managing business term definitions.
Document Hubs will eventually replace articles. Until you are fully ready to transition to Document Hubs, articles remain in the catalog. However, articles are only visible in the classic user experience. Document Hubs are available in both the new user experience and the classic user experience.
Where Are Articles¶
When you’re in the New User Experience, articles aren’t findable through the main menu. You can use Alation’s search to find them. All links to articles will open the article in the classic experience.
When you’re in the Classic User Experience, find articles through the left-side navigation and search.
Note
We offer an in-product migration solution to help you transition from Articles to Document Hubs. See Migrate Articles to Document Hubs for more information.
Document Hub Overview¶
With Document Hubs, you can create your own documentation types—whatever you need for your organization. You can create multiple document hubs for different purposes. For example, you might have a hub for policies and procedures, another for technical documentation, and another for business term definitions.
Document Hubs come with a built-in, customizable Glossary Hub for your business term definitions. If you’ve already been using the existing Glossaries and Terms feature, it will automatically become part of Document Hubs. See the Documentation topic for more information about the relationship between Document Hubs and Glossaries and Terms.
Each document hub appears as a top level item in the catalog’s left navigation menu, and you can use document hubs to filter Alation’s search results.
The following sections describe the main features of Document Hubs:
For administrators:
Document Hub Basics¶
Hierarchical Structure¶
In 2024.3.2 and newer, you can nest folders and documents in Document Hubs. Folders can have subfolders, and documents can have subdocuments. A folder can contain both documents and subfolders.
A document must have a single parent folder. Documents can inherit permissions, domains, and workflows from their parent folder only. Documents may also have navigation links to other folders within a document hub.
The top level of the document hub itself can also contain documents directly, although this is discouraged as it makes the documents less discoverable and prevents them from inheriting permissions, domains, and workflows from a parent folder.
In 2024.1 to 2024.3.1, Document Hubs had a simple three-layer structure:
Hubs are the top-level containers. Document hubs are made up of documents and folders.
Beneath hubs are folders. Folders contain documents.
Documents hold your written content.
Manage Documents through Folders¶
Folders help you manage the documents they contain. You can manage permissions, domains, and workflows on the folder level and enable documents to inherit the folder settings. You can also manage these things on the document level if desired.
Customized Names¶
Alation admins can customize the generic names document hub, folder, or document. You may not see the generic names in Alation unless you’re an admin. However, you may still see the generic names in certain cases, such as:
When the admin hasn’t customized the names
When document hub objects are referred to outside the context of a specific hub
Admins can’t change the icons associated with these objects, so you can use the icons shown above to tell whether something is a document hub, folder, or document.
Permissions¶
Folders and documents are visible to everyone by default, but admins can restrict them to certain users if needed. If you don’t have permission to view a folder or document, you won’t be able to see it anywhere in the Alation catalog. See Document Hub Permissions for more details.
Mentions¶
Like other catalog objects, documents and folders can be @-mentioned in text fields throughout the catalog, enabling you to link to relevant documentation.
You can also @-mention other catalog objects within the description or other rich text fields in documents and folders. Starting in 2024.1.3, when a catalog object’s template includes the Mentions field, it will list all documents and folders that @-mention the object. This makes it easier to find relevant information.
Navigate Document Hubs¶
All document hubs appear in the left navigation menu.
If the left navigation isn’t visible, click the left navigation icon.
In the left navigation, document hubs have bookshelf icons and appear near the bottom in order of their creation date.
Click the arrow next to a document hub to see its contents in the left navigation. The left navigation shows a list of all the folders in the document hub, with an arrow to show or hide the documents in each folder. In 2024.3.2 and newer, you can use the arrows to navigate down to subfolders and subdocuments. Click Show <Documents> if needed to see all the documents in a folder (the actual name of the link depends on the customized name that admins have chosen to call documents in a particular hub).
Click the name of a document hub to open the document hub page on the right. The document hub page on the right lists all the document hub’s folders at the top and its documents at the bottom. Click a folder or document title to open it.
All document hubs appear in the Apps menu. They’re located near the top of the menu and have bookshelf icons. Here’s an example showing three document hubs with some custom names:
Click a document hub to open the document hub page. The document hub page lists all the document hub’s folders at the top and its documents at the bottom. Click a folder or document title to open it.
In 2024.3.2 and newer, catalog pages for folder and document may show subfolders or subdocuments:
A folder catalog page displays a list of its subfolders at the top and its documents at the bottom. If there are no subfolders, the page lists only the folder’s documents. An admin can move the location of these lists up or down in the hub’s folder template.
A document catalog page shows a list of its subdocuments in the Sub-<Documents> field (the actual name depends on the customized name that admins have chosen to call documents in a particular hub). By default, the subdocument field appears in the right sidebar. An admin can customize the location of this field in the document’s template or choose to remove it completely.
Navigation Links¶
You can link documents to multiple folders, enabling better findability and indicating that a document is related to more than one folder. The folder catalog page lists all linked documents with a link icon next to their names.
The document catalog page lists all navigation links in the Properties field.
Search Document Hubs¶
In Alation’s search, you can filter the results to specific document hub content.
To filter search results by document hub content:
Click on the search box, then click Search Alation, or enter a search term and click See all results.
Expand the Object Type menu on the left.
To filter the search results to all document hub content, select the checkbox next to Documentation. This will search the contents of all document hubs.
To filter to a specific document hub, click the arrow next to Documentation and select the checkbox next to a specific document hub. This will search all the folders and documents in that hub. You can select multiple hubs.
To filter to just folders or documents within a given hub, click the arrow next to a document hub and select the checkbox next to Folders or Documents for that hub. You can make multiple selections.
Click on the search box, then click Search Alation, or enter a search term and click See all results.
Click Documentation from the list of filters at the top.
To filter the search to specific document hubs or to just folders or documents within a given hub, select the corresponding checkboxes. You can make multiple selections.
To filter to just the contents of a specific folder or to documents based on a given template, click the See [#] More Filters button in the Filters panel on the left. The left panel expands. Scroll to find the folder or template you want to filter to and select the checkbox next to it.
Adjust the Document Hub Table View¶
Document hub pages contain tables showing the folders and documents in the hub. Folder pages contain a table of documents (and subfolders, in 2024.3.2 and newer) in the folder. Admin users determine the default view for these tables, but individual users can temporarily adjust the view as needed.
Add, Remove, and Rearrange Columns¶
Starting in 2024.1.3, you can add, remove, and rearrange the columns in a document or folder table. To do this, click the column icon next to the search box.
The Column Organization menu opens. It contains a list of all the custom and built-in fields in the available templates.
If the list of available columns is long, use the search box at the top of the menu to find the column you’re looking for.
To add a column, select the corresponding checkbox in the list. To add all available columns, select the checkbox at the top of the list.
To remove a column, clear the corresponding checkbox in the list. You can’t remove the title column. To remove all available columns, clear the checkbox at the top of the list (it can’t be completely cleared, since you can’t remove the title column).
To change the order of the columns in the table, hover over the column name in the Column Organization menu and drag it to a new place in the list.
To return the column organization back to its default settings, click Reset.
To finish adjusting the column settings, click away from the Column Organization menu.
Filter¶
At the top of each document or folder table is a box for searching or filtering the table. Enter a term in the box. The list of documents or folders will be filtered to show those that match the term.
In 2024.3.2 and earlier, the filter looks for matches on the title, description, and custom field values.
In 2024.3.3 and newer, the filter only returns matches on the title, and titles that match the beginning of the filter term appear at the top of the results. To find documents or folders based on the description or custom field values, use the full search instead.
Sort¶
By default, document and folder tables sort their contents alphabetically by title. You can reverse the sort order by clicking the title header.
In the New User Experience, and the Classic User Experience from 2025.1.1, you can also sort by the Created Date and Last Updated columns. Click the column header to sort by that column. Click it again to reverse the sort order.
View Document Counts¶
Available in the New User Experience
Available in the Classic User Experience from 2025.1.1
On a document hub or folder page, you can configure the folder table to show a count of documents in each folder. You can also configure the document table to show a count of how many subdocuments a document has.
To show document counts:
Click the column icon above the folder table.
The Column Organization menu opens. Select the checkboxes next to the following columns:
<Documents>: The number of documents that are direct children of the folder, including subdocuments of the direct children. Doesn’t include navigation links or documents in subfolders.
Note
The actual name of the column depends on the customized name that admins have chosen to call documents in a particular hub.
Nav Links: The number of documents that have navigation links to the folder. Doesn’t include navigation links in subfolders.
Total: The total number of documents in the folder, including documents, subdocuments, and navigation links. Includes counts from all subfolders.
Click away from the Column Organization menu to close it.
To show subdocument counts:
Click the column icon above the document table.
The Column Organization menu opens. Select the checkbox next to Children.
Click away from the Column Organization menu to close it.
View Top-Level or All Children¶
Available in the New User Experience
Available in the Classic User Experience from 2025.1.1
On a document hub or folder page, you can choose whether to view just the top-level children or all children down the hierarchy (including subfolders and their documents). By default, the table shows all children. To change this setting, click the toggle button above the table.
Enable Document Hubs¶
For help enabling Document Hubs, see Enable Document Hubs.
Create and Configure Document Hubs¶
For more about creating and configuring Document Hubs, see Manage Document Hubs.