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 presents a table-based view holding existing collections, and allows users to create new ones. Use this widget to search for or filter existing collections, or to 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 collection's status.
• 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 or PDF file.

Creating Collections

Working with a collection usually requires two widgets: Object Details Viewer, and the Collections widget. The Collections widget is a table-based view of existing collections, and it's also the primary method to create a new collection.

To create a collection:

1. Add the Collections widget to an open workspace.
2. At the top right side of the Collections widget, click the blue + button to create a new collection within the widget.
3. Type a Name for the collection.
4. Type an optional Description to better define the collection's intended purpose.
5. 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.
6. If needed, use Participants to identify other users that may be involved on this collection.
7. Assign an optional Priority to designate a collection as Low, Medium-Low, Medium, Medium-High, or High priority.
8. 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.
9. When finished, click Create.

Finding Existing Collections

The Collections widget table contains existing collections, with the following columns visible by default:

Name	Date Created	Assigned To	Priority	Status
The name of the collection.	The datetime stamp of the collection's creation.	The user the collection is assigned to.	The collection's designated priority.	A tag assigned to the collection that conveys its status at a glance.

Analysts can use this table to identify and view the details of the collection, either by:

• Dragging the collection row into other open Object Details Viewer widgets or by clicking the eye icon
• Clicking the More menu (⋮) icon to Send to Object Details Viewer, Open in new viewer widget, or Send to another Workspace. Additionally, users can:
  • CTRL + left click (Windows) / COMMAND (⌘) + left click (Mac) on the eye icon to open the collection in a new browser tab.
  • SHIFT + left click to open the collection in a new browser window.

If multiple Object Details Viewer widgets are open, clicking the eye icon will reveal a sub-menu to select a specific Object Details Viewer to send the collection to.

In the More menu (⋮), users can also select from these options:

• Open in New Browser Tab - Opens the selected collection (or event) in a new browser tab.
• Copy Link - Copies a permalink URL of the collection to your clipboard.
• Open in New Viewer Widget - Opens a new Object Details Viewer widget that contains the selected collection's details.
• Send to Viewer Widget - Select from any already opened Object Details Viewer widget.
• Send to Another Workspace - Send to any Object Details Viewer inside of a workspace that the user has access to.
• Archive - Archives the selected collection.
• Export - Exports the selected collection as the selected format.

note

When a collection or event (referred below generally as object) is opened in a new tab, the following is true:

• The object that has been opened has its own link that can be shared. This link is not permanent. For a permalink to the object, click the More menu (⋮) and select Copy Link.
• All functionality typically available in either Collections Details Viewer or Event Details Viewer is available when opened in a new tab. This includes opening additional objects in a new tab.
• The original object opened within a tab can open related objects within the same tab.
• With a second object open, when a new object is opened from that second object, the tab will open the new object as though the page has been refreshed.
• No more than two objects can be opened within the same tab.
• Clicking the X button will result in different behavior depending on the situation. Clicking the X button of the originally opened object will close the tab. Clicking the X button on a newly opened object will close it.

Editing Collections Widget Columns

At the top right side of the widget, find the Columns icon. Click this icon to add or remove columns from the available list of fields.

The following system fields are possible to show or hide:

• Assigned To
• Collection ID
• Date Created
• Date Updated
• Description
• Name
• Num Items
• Participants

A column can be pinned to its position. Hover over the column and click the pin icon once to pin the column in place, and again to unpin the column.

Pinning Columns

Pinning a column keeps it in place while scrolling through other system field columns.

To pin columns:

1. In the Collections widget, locate the column to pin.
2. At the top of the column, hover to reveal the pin icon and click it to pin the column.
3. Click the pin again to unpin the column.

Hiding Columns

Columns can be hidden to focus on other priority data fields, or simply to arrange and personalize a workspace.

To hide columns:

1. In the Collections widget, locate the column to hide.
2. At the top of the column, hover to reveal the More menu (⋮) and click it to open the more menu.
3. Select Hide Column to hide the selected column.
4. To unhide a column, use the columns icon to add the unticked/hidden column.

Sorting Columns

Column values can be sorted in either ascending or descending order, affecting the display of columns.

To sort columns:

1. In the Collections widget, locate the column to sort.
2. Click the column to sort by ascending order.
3. Click the column a second time to sort by descending order.
4. Click the column a third time to return to default sorting.

Or, use the More menu (⋮):

1. At the top of the column, hover to reveal the More menu (⋮) icon. Click it to open the More menu.
2. Select your sort method.

note

Sorting will work on alphanumeric strings, floats, integers, and timestamps.

Editing Existing Collections

If changes are needed for a collection, drag the collection into Object Details Viewer.

To make edits to collections:

1. At the top right side of the Object Details Viewer widget containing a collection, click the pencil icon (✎).
2. Make edits to the collection.
3. 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:

1. At the top right of a collection open within Object Details Viewer, click the More menu (⋮) icon.
2. Click Archive.
3. Confirm archival of the collection, or click Cancel to halt archival.

To unarchive a collection:

1. At the top right of an archived collection open within Object Details Viewer, click the More menu (⋮) icon.
2. Click Unarchive.
3. 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:

1. At the top right of a collection open within Object Details Viewer, click the More menu (⋮) icon.
2. 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.

note

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

3. Select the file format desired. The file is downloaded.

note

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.