---
title: What are documents?
url: https://tideswell.xyz/docs/documents
description: A document is shared writing your whole workspace can read and edit. Use one where a task or a comment would be too small.
---

> Documentation index: fetch https://tideswell.xyz/llms.txt to discover every page before exploring further.

# What are documents?



A **document** is a page of shared writing that everyone in your workspace can open and edit.
Fairgreen Golf Co. keeps its fabric care guide, its returns policy and every shoot brief in
them.

Documents are made of prose rather than fields. That is what separates them from
<Ref to="objects" />, where each entry is a set of answers you fill in.

## What can go in one? [#what-can-go-in-one]

Rich text, written the way you would expect. Headings, bold and italic, bulleted and numbered
lists, to-do lists, quotes, code blocks, dividers and images.

You can also mention and link to other things in your workspace from inside a document, so a
shoot brief can point at the products it is about.

It saves as you type. There is no Save button to find and nothing to lose by closing the tab.

## Why not write it in a task or a chat message? [#why-not-write-it-in-a-task-or-a-chat-message]

Because those are for work and conversation, and a document is for the thing itself.

A task is a job somebody does and then finishes. A chat message is read by whoever is in the
channel that hour and then scrolls away. Neither is where you want the fabric care guide,
because in six months nobody will find it.

The test is whether somebody will need to read it again next quarter. If they will, it is a
document.

## Who can see a document? [#who-can-see-a-document]

Everyone in your workspace. Documents are shared by design, and there is no per-document
audience to configure.

Write with that in mind. A document is the right home for anything the team should be able to
find, and the wrong home for a note meant for one person.

Any member can create and edit documents by default. Removing one is usually a lead's job.

## When is something else the better fit? [#when-is-something-else-the-better-fit]

* **A file somebody sent you**, like a supplier's PDF spec sheet, attaches to the task or
  record it belongs to rather than becoming a document. See
  <Ref to="tasks/files-and-comments" />.
* **A note about one specific record** belongs on that record as a comment, where it stays
  next to the thing it is about. See <Ref to="records/comments-and-history" />.
* **Information with the same shape every time**, like a repair with a date, a customer and a
  fault, is an Object rather than a document. See <Ref to="objects" />.

## Where to go next [#where-to-go-next]

<Ref to="documents/write-and-format" /> covers writing, including the slash menu and the
markdown shortcuts that make it fast.

<Ref to="documents/link-and-find" /> covers getting back to a document later and connecting
one to the rest of your workspace.