Document Management

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.

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

Inherits project permissions

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 creation timing.

Well-structured folders improve downstream review efficiency.

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.

  • In Folders: Drag and drop or use the upload button to add files to organized containers.

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 include .docx, .xlsx, .pptx, .pdf, .txt, .msg, .eml, and common image and audio formats.

If a file lacks a recognizable extension, August may still open it correctly by detecting the actual content type. However, uploads through Genius Mode require filenames with real extensions. For consistent behavior across upload, viewing, and download, always include the correct extension.

Attaching Files and Folders to Assistant

Assistant supports attaching individual files and whole folders to query context:

  1. Click the plus button in Assistant.

  2. Select files or folders to attach.

  3. 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

PDF

Finalized agreements, scanned documents, OCR processing

TIFF/Images

Document productions, scanned filings, OCR extraction

EML

Email productions, correspondence analysis

Audio

Live Assist transcription for depositions and calls

For detailed format guidance, see Supported File Formats.

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