Documents and folders on the Project Tab

The Project Tab is the first page you will see when you open any project. It shows you all the different versions of the Bill, Statutory Instrument, Church Measure etc. that you have access to within the project.

There are different kinds of versions shown on the Project Tab: working versions, snapshots and significant versions. Working versions are organised within folders.

This page explains more about the different versions and how you can organise them and rename them.

What do we mean by “working version”, “snapshot” and “significant version”?

A working version is an unpublished document that you can view and edit. Working versions are only ever visible to users in one organisation: the organisation of the user that created the document. But access to a particular working version may be restricted further.

For each working version, Lawmaker also stores a series of related snapshot versions. A snapshot version is a read-only, point-in-time snapshot of the working version. Snapshots are created automatically when certain actions are carried or when the user requests that a snapshot be created.

Snapshots are created when you:

generate a PDF (the snapshot will be called: 'PDF generated')
Download a zip file (the snapshot will be called: 'Downloaded')
Duplicate a document (the snapshot will be called: 'Duplicated')
Share a document (the snapshot will be called: 'Shared externally')
Publish a document (the snapshot will be called: 'Published')
Submit a document to TNA (the snapshot will be called: 'Submitted to TNA')

Lawmaker also stores the auto-saved version of any document you are working on as a snapshot.

Each time you save a working version, Lawmaker creates a backup snapshot (overwriting the existing backup) so if the master document gets corrupted in the save process, the backup can be used to restore the document.

A significant version is a document that has been published, marked as signed, submitted to TNA or shared with another organisation.

These versions are read only which means that the document content cannot be changed. This maintains the data integrity of these versions.

Published significant versions (bills only) are visible to all users in the system.
Shared significant versions are visible to users in the organisation that shared the version and the organisation with which it was shared.
Signed and submitted versions (SI/SSIs only) can only be viewed by users in the organisation that created the document.
You can view the (read-only) Significant version in the Editor together with its (read-only) document information; generate/view a pdf; download a bill bundle or make a duplicate version to continue drafting if necessary.

Working with the Project Tab

Layout

All working versions are shown on the left of the screen. They are divided up into one or more folders. The folders are arranged alphabetically.

Clicking on the black triangle next to the folder name will expand the folder to show all the working versions it contains. Clicking it again will collapse the folder so only the folder name is visible.

Each green tile within a folder is a working version. The working versions are also arranged alphabetically.

Clicking on the black triangle next to the working version description will expand the view to show all snapshot versions relating to that working version. Clicking it again will collapse the view so only the working version is visible.

All significant versions are shown on the right of the screen.

You can use the chevron icons above the working versions and significant versions to show or hide one type of version.

How to rename a folder

Click on the folder name.
Add a new name for the folder.
Click on the save icon that appears.

If you specify the same folder name as another folder in the project, then the two folders will be merged.

How to rename a working version

Click on the working version name.
Add a new name for the version.
Click on the save icon that appears.

The version description must be unique within the project.

How to move a working version to another folder

Select Move version from the Actions menu on the tile of the working version you want to move.
The system will ask you to specify a folder.
When you have provided a folder, click Move.

The system will then move the document to the specified folder.

You can create a new folder to move the working version to by specifying a folder name that doesn’t yet exist.

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