Creating and Managing Collections
Collections gather relevant events into a single space so that analysts can tag one another, work together with comments, and attach files. Collections can be thought of as case files or a folder of information. The Collections widget is used to create collections, find and search for existing collections, or customize a workspace containing many collections. Drag collections into the Object Details Viewer to examine them.
At a high level, the Collections widget is used for:
- Attaching events that are relevant to a case or investigation.
- Assigning users as a collection's primary analyst or participant.
- Assigning a custom status through collection tags.
- Assigning labels using system tags.
- Assigning a priority from among high, medium high, medium, medium low, and low.
- Enabling collaborative dialogue between users using the comments functionality with the ability to attach files to comments, and create threads of collapsible comments.
- Utilizing custom fields to capture specific customized information on a collection.
- Exporting to a
DOCX
orPDF
file.
Creating Collections
Collections are highly customizable thanks to custom fields, and can be assigned priorities with a designated status.
To create a collection:
- Add the Collections widget to an open workspace.
- At the top right side of the Collections widget, click the blue + button to create a new collection within the widget.
- Type a Name for the collection.
- Type an optional Description to better define the collection's intended purpose.
- If needed, use Assign to User to select a Workstation user as the collection's primary analyst.
- Users assigned to collections receive system notifications when certain changes occur.
- While not required, assigned users can be helpful for designating a point person responsible for a collection's management.
- If needed, use Participants to identify additional users that may be involved on this collection.
- Assign an optional Priority to designate a collection as Low, Medium-Low, Medium, Medium-High, or High priority.
- Assign tags to the system notification generated for the collection.
- Collection tags are assigned in the Primary Tag field to color code and organize your collection.
- Select one or more system tags in the Additional Tags field.
- When finished, click Create.
Right-Click the collection to Send to Object Details Viewer, Open in new viewer widget, or Send to another Workspace.
Editing Existing Collections
If changes are needed for a collection, drag the collection into Object Details Viewer.
To make edits to collections:
- At the top right side of the Object Details Viewer widget containing a collection, click the pencil icon (✎).
- Make edits to the collection.
- Click Update to update the collection, or Cancel to discard the changes.
Archiving Collections
Collections cannot be deleted from Workstation, but they can be archived. Archived collections can be filtered from the collections widget.
To archive a collection:
- At the top right of a collection open within Object Details Viewer, click the More menu (⋮) icon.
- Click Archive.
- Confirm archival of the collection, or click Cancel to halt archival.
To unarchive a collection:
- At the top right of an archived collection open within Object Details Viewer, click the More menu (⋮) icon.
- Click Unarchive.
- Confirm unarchival of the collection, or click Cancel to keep the collection archived.
Exporting Collections
A collection can be exported if the user has VIEW permissions to Workstation Collections Export.
To export a collection:
- At the top right of a collection open within Object Details Viewer, click the More menu (⋮) icon.
- Hover over Export, and a menu opens containing all possible file formats. This menu includes some export options that are static and others that appear dynamically based on the report types that have been created.
Dynamic fields only show PDF
and DOCX
exports built in report builder. Each template is shown only once.
Selection | Static or Dynamic |
---|---|
Export to a DOCX Template | Static |
JSON Export | Static |
JSON Export with attachments | Static |
Basic (PDF ) template | Dynamic |
Advanced (DOCX ) template | Dynamic |
- Select the file format desired. The file is downloaded.
The Export to a DOCX
Template selection requires the user to have permissions to Workstation: Export Builder, and is used to test a DOCX template. We recommend building an advanced report using Report Builder after validating the test export.