Document Management Overview
August uses project-based organization to keep your matters separated and your documents easy to find. Within each project, use folders to organize source documents, and attach them to Assistant or Tabular Review when you're ready to work.
Projects and Workspace Structure
Each user starts with a default Personal project, a private starting point for early work. Create additional projects as needed to separate matters and keep context focused.
Projects share a common sidebar structure so teams can navigate consistently. Use project boundaries to separate matters and keep context focused. Consistent project structure improves discoverability and handoff.
This video demonstrates how to create and manage projects.
Navigating Projects in the Sidebar
The sidebar shows all projects you have access to, organized for quick navigation:
Personal project: Your private project stays pinned at the top for easy access.
Pinned projects: Projects you've pinned appear below Personal, ordered by when you pinned them (most recent first). Pinning keeps important matters visible regardless of when you last worked on them.
Unpinned projects: All remaining projects appear below pinned ones, ordered by last activity (most recently used first).
Use the project dropdown menu to Pin to Sidebar or Unpin from Sidebar to customize which projects stay prominent. You can also Hide from Sidebar for projects you want to archive from quick navigation.
For the complete list of projects including hidden ones, click All Projects from the sidebar or navigate to the full project index.
Folders vs. Projects: Key Differences
Understanding when to use Projects versus Folders helps you organize work effectively:
Aspect | Projects | Folders |
|---|---|---|
Purpose | Top-level workspace boundary for matter separation | Document organization within a project |
Scope | Contains all related documents, chats, and outputs | Groups files by client, matter, or document type |
Permissions | Project-level sharing and access control | Can be shared individually; files inherit access from their folder |
Use Case | Separate different matters, clients, or cases | Organize documents within a single matter |
Rule of thumb: Create a new Project for each distinct matter or client. Use Folders to organize documents within that project by type (e.g., "Correspondence," "Agreements," "Due Diligence").
Folders and Subfolders
Folders are accessible from the sidebar and support document organization:
Create folders to group documents by client, matter, or document type.
Upload files by drag-and-drop or the upload button.
Create subfolders when matter structure requires layered organization.
Folder views show item counts and when items were last updated.
Well-structured folders improve downstream review efficiency. For the full set of folder actions, see Navigate and Manage Folders.
This video shows how to upload folders with documents in them.
Uploading Documents
Files can be uploaded through multiple paths:
In Assistant: Click the plus button to upload files directly into a conversation. ZIP archives can't be uploaded here; upload them to a folder.
In Folders: Drag and drop or use the upload button to add files to organized containers.
Each file can be up to 2 GB, and audio files up to 1 GB. When you upload a ZIP file, we extract it into the destination folder and recreate its folder structure. Legal production archives aren't supported; contact support for help importing one.
If a file is password protected, August asks for the password in the Unlock files dialog, or marks the file Password required in its folder so you can unlock it later with Enter password. See Supported File Formats for details.
Uploads are used as source context for analysis, review, and drafting. In diligence and litigation workflows, upload document sets early for orientation.
Use clear naming and grouping to support retrieval later. Source-grounded output quality depends on clean document inputs.
File Naming Best Practices
Include the correct file extension in every filename you upload. August uses extensions to determine how to process and open files. Supported extensions are .pdf, .docx, .doc, .xlsx, .xls, .csv, .pptx, .ppt, .txt, .md, .html, .htm, .json, .msg, .eml, .zip, .zipx, images (.jpg, .jpeg, .png, .gif, .bmp, .webp, .tif, .tiff), and audio or video (.mp3, .m4a, .wav, .opus, .ogg, .mp4).
A file without one of these extensions isn't uploaded. For files already in August, we detect the actual content type so they open and download correctly even if the name is wrong, but always include the correct extension for consistent behavior.
Attaching Files and Folders to Assistant
Assistant supports attaching individual files and whole folders to query context:
Click the plus button in Assistant.
Select files or folders to attach.
Use @mentions and search to pull in specific items quickly.
Folder attachment is useful when answers depend on multiple related documents. Use attachment scope intentionally to reduce irrelevant context. For large sets, start with orientation requests before deep analysis.
Pair attachment workflows with citations for verification.
Document Organization Best Practices
Organize by matter: Keep documents grouped by client or matter number.
Use consistent naming: Include document type, date, and version in file names for easy search and @mention retrieval.
Prefer pass-based workflows: Orient first, then extract or compare, then summarize.
Maintain precedent sets: Keep precedent sets and recurring templates maintained for reuse.
Treat organization as a prerequisite for reliable AI-assisted review.
Supported File Formats
August supports a range of file formats for document analysis, review, transcription, and drafting:
Format | Use Case |
|---|---|
DOCX | Drafts, agreements, tracked changes, editable outputs |
Finalized agreements, scanned documents, OCR processing | |
TIFF/Images | Document productions, scanned filings, OCR extraction |
EML | Email productions, correspondence analysis |
ZIP | Bulk uploads; we extract the archive into folders that mirror its structure |
Audio and MP4 video | Transcribed on upload, with speaker labels, so you can ask about the recording in Assistant; also used by Live Assist if your firm has it enabled |
For detailed format guidance, see Supported File Formats.
Some files finish importing even though August cannot analyze them. An audio or video file with no speech, or any file with no readable text, completes its import and shows No readable content in the folder, with the note that the file has no text or speech to index. You can still download and view the original, but Send to → Assistant and Send to → Tabular Review are not available for it.
What to Read Next
Assistant Overview for document analysis workflows
Tabular Review for multi-document comparison
Integrations to connect SharePoint, Outlook, and other systems