# Write and share docs

> Write in the shared editor, use folders and properties, import from Notion or Google Docs, comment and read the history.

Docs is the library of what you and your troop write: plans, briefs, policies, decisions and reports. This page helps
you write a doc, keep docs in order, work on them with people and teammates, and share them.

## Before you begin

- Open **Docs** in the sidebar or on the Products page. Its address in the app is `/documents`.
- Owners and admins open every product. Other people need the Docs product in the workspace. If you do not see Docs,
  ask an owner or admin.
- Owners, admins and members write docs. Viewers and approvers read them. A guest with Docs reads the docs and comments
  on them.

Interviews and research reports are docs too, but each kind has its own page. See
[Keep your interviews](/docs/interviews) and [Get answers with Research](/docs/research).

## The Docs page

| Part                 | What it does                                                                                       |
| -------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **New doc**          | Asks for a title, then opens the new doc.                                                          |
| **Import**           | Brings in a page from Notion or a doc from Google Docs.                                            |
| Folder chips         | Show **All docs**, **Unread**, **Unfiled**, one folder or **Archived**. Each chip counts its docs. |
| **New folder**       | Makes a folder, and opens it.                                                                      |
| **Search docs**      | Finds docs by their words and by their meaning.                                                    |
| **Filter**           | Sorts the docs. It also shows one kind of doc, the docs of people or of teammates, or one option.  |
| **Mark all as read** | Marks each new and changed doc as read.                                                            |
| **Pinned**           | The docs that someone pinned. They show first.                                                     |

Each card shows the first picture of the doc, or the start of its text. Under it are the kind, the title, the author
and the time of the last change. A card also shows the options of select properties, a bot icon when the support bot
uses the doc, and the number of comments. The **...** menu of a card holds the actions of the doc.

The page shows 24 cards at a time. Use **Previous** and **Next** for the other pages. A search shows the 40 best results,
the best first.

## Write a doc

### Make a doc

1. Open **Docs**. Open a folder if you want the doc in it.
2. Select **New doc**.
3. Type the **Title**, and select **Create**.
4. Write in the doc. Troopy saves each change.

In ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows), **New doc** does the same.

### Write in the editor

A doc is always open to write in. It has no Edit button.

- Type "/" to add a block: **Text**, **Heading 1**, **Heading 2**, **Heading 3**, **Bulleted list**, **Numbered list**,
  **To-do list**, **Quote**, **Divider**, **Code**, **Table**, **Image** or **Generate image**.
- Select words to show a toolbar: **Bold**, **Italic**, **Strikethrough**, **Code**, **Link** and **Comment**.
- Markdown that you type or paste becomes blocks. For example, `##` and a space start a heading.
- To add a picture, paste it, drop it on the page, or select **Image** in the "/" menu.

> [!NOTE]
> A picture is a PNG, JPEG, GIF or WebP file of 10 MB at most. A picture from another website shows as a link.

### Move and change blocks

Put the mouse pointer on a block. Buttons show beside it:

- **+** adds a block under it. Hold Alt when you click, to add a block above it.
- Drag the grip to move the block. Click the grip to open the menu of the block.
- The comment button at the right of the block starts a comment with the words of the block.

The menu of a block has **Duplicate**, **Comment**, **Ask** with the name of a teammate, **Generate image**, **Delete** and
**Turn into**. The buttons show only for a mouse, and only when the window has room beside the text.

### How Troopy saves

The first row of the doc says **Saving**, then **Saved**. A short pause in your typing starts a save. The title saves
when you press Enter or leave the title. If you close the tab before a save ends, your browser asks first.

If a person or a teammate saves the doc after your page loaded it, Troopy stops your saves. Then the message says "Someone
else changed this doc while you wrote. Reload to see their version." Copy the words that you typed, then select
**Reload**.

### Choose the kind of a doc

The kind menu under the title says what the doc is: **Doc**, **Brief**, **Article**, **Policy**, **Decision**,
**Project** or **Topic**. The kinds under **Records, in Brain** are **Person**, **Company** and **Product**. A doc of those
kinds leaves Docs and shows in [Brain](/docs/brain). A record has no properties.

## Add properties

Properties are fields at the top of a doc, like the columns of a table. Each doc in Docs has the same properties.
Interviews and research reports have their own sets.

1. Open a doc, and open its **...** menu.
2. Select **Edit properties**.
3. Type the name of the new property, and choose its type.
4. Select **Add**.

The types are **Text**, **Number**, **Date**, **Select**, **Multi-select**, **Link** and **Checkbox**. In the panel, you
can also do these things:

- Change the name of a property where it shows.
- Move a property with the up and down arrows.
- Add an option to a select: type it in **Add an option**, and press Enter. Select the dot of an option to change its
  colour.
- Delete a property with the bin icon, then **Delete from all**.

To set a value, select it under the title of a doc. An empty value says **Empty**. In a select, type a new name and pick
**Create** to add that option. A value saves with the text, so History keeps it.

> [!WARNING]
> **Delete from all** removes the property and its values from every doc. An option that you remove leaves every doc too.

Teammates read the values of properties, but they never set them. On the Docs page, **Filter** shows the docs with one
option of a select property.

## Keep docs in order

### Folders

1. In the row of chips, select **New folder**.
2. Type the **Folder name**, and select **Add**.

To move a doc, open its **...** menu, and pick a folder under **Move to folder**. **Unfiled (no folder)** takes the doc
out of its folder. **New folder** in that menu makes a folder and moves the doc into it.

When a folder is open, **Rename** and **Remove folder** show above the cards. A removed folder leaves its docs unfiled.
Folders have one level only.

### Pin and archive

- **Pin to top** shows a doc first, under **Pinned**, for everyone in the workspace. **Unpin** takes the pin away.
- **Archive** takes a doc out of the library and out of search. Teammates do not read it. The **Archived** chip lists
  the archived docs.
- An archived doc is read-only. Select **Restore** on the doc or in its menu to bring it back.

A pin, an archive or a folder does not change the words of a doc. Thus the doc does not become unread for other people.

### See what changed

- A blue dot on a card marks a doc that is new to you, or that changed after you last opened it.
- The **Unread** chip lists these docs. The number beside **Docs** in the sidebar counts them, up to 99.
- Your own changes never make a doc unread for you.
- **Mark all as read** marks every doc as read, and you do not open each one.

## Import from Notion or Google Docs

1. On **Docs**, open the folder for the new docs, if you want one.
2. Select **Import**, then **From Notion** or **From Google Docs**.
3. Pick the pages or the docs to import.

Troopy copies each page one time, with its pictures. The doc shows **From Notion** or **From Google Docs**, with a link to
the original. A second import of the same page says "Already imported as" and the title of the doc, with **Open it**. See
[Notion](/docs/apps/notion) and [Google Docs](/docs/apps/google-docs).

## Comment and ask a teammate

1. Select **Comments** in the first row of the doc. The comments open at the right edge.
2. Type your comment.
3. Select **Comment**, or press Enter.

To comment on some words, select them in the doc, then select **Comment** in the toolbar. The comment quotes those words.

To ask a teammate, type @ and pick the teammate. Troopy starts a conversation with the teammate, with the doc attached.
The answer of the teammate comes back as a comment. **Asked** with the name of the teammate opens that conversation.

Type # to link a doc in a comment. The # menu also works in the chat of a teammate, on Home and in the troop chat.

- A comment holds 4,000 characters, and it asks 3 teammates at most. A doc keeps 500 comments.
- An archived doc takes no new comments.
- The author of a comment, owners and admins delete it. The answers of teammates go with it.
- The comment of a guest asks no teammate.

## Add dated notes

A dated note is one line of what happened, with its date, such as "Pro plan: was $49 a month, now $59". The text of the
doc says what is true now. The dated notes say what happened, and when.

1. Open the **...** menu of the doc, and select **Add a dated note**.
2. Type **What happened**.
3. Change the date if it happened on another day.
4. Select **Add**.

**Dated notes** in the first row opens the notes, when the doc has some. Teammates add notes as they work, with no
approval, because a note never changes the text.

> [!NOTE]
> You cannot change or delete a dated note.

## Read and restore the history

1. Select **History** in the first row of the doc.
2. Pick a version in the list. The newest version is first.
3. Select **Restore** to put that version back.

The version shows what it changed. Added words have the colour of their author, and removed words have a line through
them. Clear **Show changes** to hide the marks. After a restore, **Undo** puts back the text from before.

Each version names its author: a person, a teammate, or an API key or app, such as "Ada via Claude Code". On a version of
a teammate, **How it was made** opens its run. **Name** gives a version a name of up to 80 characters.

A version is the end of one sitting of a person, or one write of a teammate or the API. A sitting ends after 10 minutes
with no save, or after 30 minutes of typing. Troopy keeps every version for 30 days. After that, it keeps the last
version of each day, and 1,000 versions at most. A named version stays.

## Share a doc

### With a guest link

1. Open the **...** menu of the doc, and select **Share with a link**.
2. Select **Anyone with the link**.
3. Select **Copy link**, and send the link.

Anyone with the link reads the doc with no account: its title, properties, text, pictures and dated notes. The link shows
no comments and no author. Nobody can change the doc through it, and search engines do not index it.

**Make a new link** ends the old link. **Off** ends the link. A shared doc shows **Shared** under its title. An archived
doc shows nothing through its link until you restore it.

The person who made the doc, owners and admins turn the link on and off. Other members see the link, and can copy it.

### With the support bot

**Show to the support bot**, in the **...** menu, lets the support bot of your website tell visitors what the doc says.
The bot reads the title and the text. It never reads the dated notes, the comments or the authors. **Hide from the
support bot** stops that at once.

- The person who made the doc, owners and admins decide.
- A record of a person or of a company never goes to the bot.
- The card and the page of the doc show **Shown to the support bot**.

See [Answer visitors with a support bot](/docs/customer-support).

## Export or print

- **Export as Markdown** downloads the doc as a Markdown file, with its properties and its dated notes.
- **Print or save as PDF** opens the print dialog of your browser, with the doc alone.

Both are in the **...** menu. Viewers, approvers and guests can use them too.

## Work with your teammates

- Teammates read docs when they work, and find them with brain search.
- Teammates write new docs and add dated notes as they work.
- A teammate that wants to change the words of a doc waits for your yes. The approval in
  [Needs you](/docs/needs-you) shows the change.
- The briefs, copy and X articles of teammates go to Docs. Such a doc names its task, such as **From ACME-12**. When you
  open the doc of a brief, the brief leaves Needs you.
- **Ask** with the name of a teammate, in the first row, opens the chat of that teammate. "Update this doc:" is in the
  message box, and the doc is attached.

The teammate that **Ask** names is the teammate that wrote the doc. For other docs, it is the Chief of Staff.

### Ask for pictures

- **Generate image**, in the "/" menu or in the menu of a block, asks a teammate for a picture at that place. The
  picture is a stock photo, a card in the look of your brand, or art. Art waits for your yes.
- **Regenerate**, in the menu of a picture, asks the teammate that wrote the doc to make the picture again.
- **Make the pictures** and **Regenerate all pictures**, in the **...** menu, ask for all the pictures of the doc.

Each request is a comment, and the answer comes back in the comments. These actions need a teammate that puts pictures in
docs, such as the Content writer or the Social media manager. See [Write articles for X](/docs/x-articles).

## Who can do what

| Action                                        | Owners and admins | Members        | Viewers and approvers | Guests |
| --------------------------------------------- | ----------------- | -------------- | --------------------- | ------ |
| Read, export, print and see the history       | Yes               | Yes            | Yes                   | Yes    |
| Write, file, pin, archive and restore         | Yes               | Yes            | No                    | No     |
| Change properties and folders                 | Yes               | Yes            | No                    | No     |
| Comment                                       | Yes               | Yes            | No                    | Yes    |
| Ask a teammate in a comment                   | Yes               | Yes            | No                    | No     |
| Delete a doc                                  | Yes               | Their own docs | No                    | No     |
| Share with a link, or show to the support bot | Yes               | Their own docs | No                    | No     |

A person who is not an owner or admin also needs the Docs product.

## Limits

| What                            | Limit                                                         |
| ------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Text of a doc                   | 200,000 characters                                            |
| Picture                         | 10 MB, as PNG, JPEG, GIF or WebP                              |
| Folders                         | 50 for each workspace, with names of 60 characters            |
| Properties                      | 30 for each collection, with 50 options for each select       |
| Comments                        | 4,000 characters each, and 500 for each doc                   |
| Teammates that one comment asks | 3                                                             |
| Dated note                      | 2,000 characters                                              |
| Name of a version               | 80 characters                                                 |
| Versions                        | All for 30 days, then the last of each day, and 1,000 at most |

## Problems

| Message                                                                           | Why                                                         | What to do                                     |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| "Someone else changed this doc while you wrote. Reload to see their version."     | Someone saved the doc after your page loaded it.            | Copy your new words, then select **Reload**.   |
| "Images can be at most 10 MB."                                                    | The picture is too large.                                   | Make the picture smaller, and add it again.    |
| "A workspace keeps 50 folders at most. Remove one first."                         | The workspace has 50 folders.                               | Remove a folder that you do not use.           |
| "A collection of docs has 30 properties at most. Delete one to add another."      | The collection has 30 properties.                           | Delete a property that you do not use.         |
| "A doc keeps 500 comments. Delete some first."                                    | The doc has 500 comments.                                   | Delete old comments.                           |
| A comment that asks a teammate is too long.                                       | The comment, its quote and the doc must fit in one message. | Write a shorter comment, or quote fewer words. |
| "You don't have Docs in this workspace. Ask an owner or admin to give it to you." | You do not have the Docs product.                           | Ask an owner or admin of the workspace.        |

## Related

- [Keep your interviews](/docs/interviews)
- [Notion](/docs/apps/notion)
- [Google Docs](/docs/apps/google-docs)
- [Answer what needs you](/docs/needs-you)
- [Teach the brain about your business](/docs/brain)
