Document Container Portlet

Before adding a document to your page, make sure the document is necessary. All PDFs and other documents must meet accessibility standards, or else we will be out of compliance with federal law.

The best practice is to include information directly within the content of the site when possible. This makes it easier for users to find and access. It also makes it easier for Content Managers and Editors to review and maintain.

• Write out the content on the webpage if the document is a few pages or less. You can still include a PDF for download if necessary.

When downloadable documents or forms are required, they should be in an accessible PDF format. Other document formats, including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are strongly discouraged. Not all users have access to Microsoft Office to view these documents.

You must run an accessibility check on your document and fix all issues before uploading it to the site. Providing accessible PDFs and documents is required by law.

If you have a large number of related documents that must be uploaded as documents, it may make more sense for you to use a Document Container portlet.

A Document Container allows you to quickly and easily upload numerous documents and even organize them into folders. 

Note: Documents uploaded to the Document Container only exist within that portlet on that page. This means you cannot link to these documents from another page.

If you delete the portlet or the page, the file will also be deleted. If you delete a file from the portlet, you will not be able to recover it from anywhere else.

How to add a Document Container portlet

To add a new Content portlet, turn on Design Mode.

• If you do not see the lower bar with portlets, make sure you click Enable drag & drop on the right side of the screen under the toolbar to expand the toolbar.
• Click the Portlet Library tab at the bottom (may already be selected).
• Click the Collaboration tab at the top.
• Select the Document Container portlet.
• Drag the portlet down to a content region in the page below where you want the portlet to appear.

How to add documents to the Document Container

You must run an accessibility check on your documents and fix all issues before uploading them to the site. Providing accessible PDFs and documents is required by law.

Click +Add in the top left of the portlet and select File to add files.

You can drag and drop files into the popup window, or you can click the Add Files button and find them on your computer. Either way, you can add multiple files at once.

Click the Start Upload button once you have added all the files. Click Close when all files have uploaded.

If you would like to organize the files into folders, click +Add > Folder and create a new folder. You can drag and drop files into the folder, or you can click the three dots next to a file and click Move To... 

The order of the files/folders defaults to alphabetical order. We recommend keeping this setting and renaming files or folders if you would like them to appear in a different order.

• Click the three dots next to a file or folder and then click Edit below the file/folder to rename it.

You can change how the files are ordered in Display Settings, but the options are limited.

How website visitors see the Document Container

Visitors to the website will see the Document Container differently. They will only see the Subscribe button in the top right, which allows them to be notified if new documents are added. 

When they click the three dots next to a file, they will have the option to copy the link to the document, download the document, or subscribe to notifications about the document.