Introduction
This article teaches you how to manage and work with Astrato collections.
You may also want to read: Creating and managing User Groups
Collection Display
Collections always display their Name, Description, Creation Date, and the number of items they contain. If you hover the cursor over a collection (Figure 1), the Open button will appear, and there's also an Options menu, which you opens by clicking the buttons with 3 dots in the top right corner.
Figure 1: Collection Display
Starred Collections, Open, Manage Workbooks
Click the star above the collection name to "star" it, a bit like adding a bookmark for a website (Figure 2).
Click Open to display a screen with options to edit the collection name and buttons to help you Manage Workbooks.
Click Manage Workbooks and use the add and remove buttons to select the collection's workbooks. When you've made your changes, click Done and use the arrow to return to the collections page.
Figure 2: Starred Collections, Open, Manage Workbooks
Options Menu
Click the 3 dots in the top right, you'll open the Options menu (Figure 3).
Click Edit to make changes to the collection name and description.
Click Delete to delete the collection. Once you confirm, the deleted collection will no longer be displayed.
Figure 3: Options Menu
Multi-Level Collections
Multi-Level Collections allow you to organise workbooks into logical hierarchies using forward slashes (/) in the collection name.
How it works
Collections remain the same underlying object as before.
Folders are virtual and are generated automatically based on the collection naming convention.
For example:
Collection Name | Visible Structure |
Marketing/Advertising | Marketing → Advertising |
Marketing/Email-CRM | Marketing → Email-CRM |
Marketing/Advertising/Performance | Marketing → Advertising → Performance |
No separate folder creation step is required.
Creating Multi-level / Hierarchical Collections
When creating or renaming a collection, enter a path using forward slashes.
Examples
Marketing/Advertising
Marketing/Advertising/Performance
Sales/EMEA
The hierarchy will be created automatically.
Collection Creation Helper
A helper message is displayed beneath the collection name field:
To have nested collections, simply use a slash e.g. Collection/Sub-Collection
Permissions
Important
Permissions are applied to collections, not folders.
Virtual folders exist only for organisation and do not have their own security settings.
Permission Behaviour
Permissions are:
Set per collection
Managed independently
Not inherited from parent collections
Not inherited by child collections
Example
Collection | Members |
Marketing/Advertising | Marketing Team |
Marketing/Email-CRM | CRM Team |
Marketing/Advertising/Performance | Performance Team |
Each collection can have completely different permissions.
Having access to one collection does not automatically provide access to another collection within the same folder structure.
Visual Example
Marketing
├── Advertising
│ └── Performance
└── Email-CRM
Behind the scenes:
Marketing/Advertising
Marketing/Advertising/Performance
Marketing/Email-CRM
Only the collections above exist.
The Marketing folder is a virtual organisational container and does not have its own permissions or access controls.
Best Practices
Organise by Team
Marketing/Advertising
Marketing/Email-CRM
Marketing/Brand
Organise by Geography
Sales/EMEA
Sales/APAC
Sales/North America
Organise by Business Function
Finance/Board Reporting
Finance/Forecasting
Finance/Budget Planning
Organise OEM Content
Customers/Acme Corp
Customers/Global Retail
Customers/Healthcare Group
This helps keep large workbook libraries organised while maintaining independent access control for each collection.
Astrato Collections Articles
You can find more articles about Astrato Collections in the Astrato Help Center.