Deskop platform icon iOS platform icon Android platform icon This functionality is available on Onshape's browser, iOS, and Android platforms.

The Documents page is the first page displayed when you sign in to your Onshape account. The exception is that Enterprise subscription users will land on the Activity page when you sign in. When on any other page in the system, you can click the Onshape logo (or your company logo) to return to the Documents page.

This page lists all of the Onshape projects, folders, publications, and documents, you have any permission to, including just view permission. All Onshape entities missions that are applied automatically upon creation of the document. There's a great deal of flexibility in assigning and revoking permissions, so be sure to check out these topics for details: Share Documents (for everyone) and Understanding and Administering Project Roles and Permission Schemes (for Enterprise users and administrators).

This topic explains the anatomy of this Documents page, explains the tasks you can perform here, how to navigate it and gives a short explanation of using this page to organize and then locate your data using labels, folders, and in some cases projects, and through filters and search functionality.

The page layout is explained below, along with how to navigate and use the specific tools on the page. The platform-specific dropdowns present how to locate the functionality on each platform user interface, as they may differ slightly from each other.

Document page layoutCopy link

This section presents the basic functionality and constructs of the page, and the platform-specific topics below present how to use the functionality for each platform type.

The Documents page is customizable to help you view available documents, folders, and publications with ease. When you select a filter and layout preference, Onshape displays this page that way until you change them again. For example, if you select the List view and your company name filter, the next time you access the Documents page these settings will still be selected.

Screenshot of Documents Page

Documents page with a document selected and the preview visible in the Details flyout

Document thumbnails are of the last Part Studio opened, but you can customize this from within the Part Studio as well. The document name is in bold and the last opened workspace is in light grey beside it. The numerals below explain the matching areas of the Documents page pictured above:

  1. Onshape supplies various filters to sort documents into groups. The selected filter also appears above the list of documents (to the right of the Create button). For information on filters, see Using Onshape Filters.
  2. Regardless of which filter is selected, the top of the documents list displays those documents most recently opened by the current user (Last opened by me). This section is collapsible.
  3. Buttons for:

    List view icon List view - Display the document list in list view (shown above).

    Tile view icon Tile view - Display the document list in thumbnail tile view.

  4. List of projects (for Enterprise accounts), folders, publications, and documents. For more information on folders, see Creating and Using Folders. for more information on projects, see Understanding and Administering Project Roles and Permission Schemes.
  5. The Create button has multiple options:

    Create document icon Document - Click to create and name a new Onshape document and optionally apply an existing label. You can also create a new document using cad.onshape.com/new.

    Create folder icon Folder - Click to create and name a new Onshape folder.

    Publication icon Publication - Click to create and name a new Onshape publication.

    Import files icon Import files - Click to import external files into Onshape.

    Import from iconImport from - Click to import files from Google Drive, Dropbox, or Microsoft OneDrive into Onshape.

    Create project iconProject - Click to open the Create new project dialog box, where you are able to specify the name, description, and permission scheme of your project, as well as who has access to it. This option is available for any user who has been granted the Global permission that enables this functionality.

    Create label icon Label - Click the Create new label icon (Add label button icon) to create and name a new Onshape label.

    The Create button is available for all users; however, when an enterprise user has read-only access to the folder in which they are trying to create, this button is inactive.

  1. The Details flyout Details icon displays more details about the document. It can be toggled off with the Details button. Click this icon to toggle the flyout open and closed.

    Click the Share details icon Share details icon to display the permissions on the document and the folder or project (if any) within which it resides.

    Click the versions and history icon Versions and history icon to display the versions and history of the document. This panel allows you to perform all actions available through the Versions and history flyout in a document, right from this panel. For more information on how to use the Versions and history graph, see Document Management. You can hover over any entry in the graph and see the description as entered into the properties for that Version. For more information on properties, see Versions and History.

    Click the Document name in any of the panels (Details, Share Details, or Versions and history). The Document opens in a new browser tab.

    Hover over the Document name in any of the panels (Details, Share Details, or Versions and history). The Copy link icon Copy link icon becomes visible. Click it to copy the document link to your clipboard.
    Example of copying a link to the clipboard

    When searching on Parts, Part Studios, Drawings, or Assemblies, specifically, the Detail pane for a selected document will include a Properties icon Properties icon:

    Search results in My Onshape panel

    Properties selected in the Detail flyout, above

    Click this icon to view Properties information. Click the Edit link at the top of the pane to edit properties.

    Also, if the search criteria and results include any revision history information (such as State), the Detail panel for a selected document will include a Revision history icon Revision history icon:

    Example of search results in Recently opened panel

Click this icon to view Revision history information. The revision of the selected part (in the search results) is highlighted in blue in the Revision history panel. For example, the selected Part 1 on the left above is highlighted on the right, under Revision history.

Any Categories added to the company or enterprise are also available in the Add criteria selection box in the Advanced search dialog (shown below).

Example of searching for a part

Selecting and opening documents, folders, and publicationsCopy link

Selecting an item (document, folder, or publication) results in the item being highlighted in the list, and when the Details flyout is open, the Details of that item are displayed. Click anywhere in the tile or the table row to select an item. The background of the item name turns blue when selected.

By contrast, to open an item, click the actual item name either in the table or the tile. When you have the cursor positioned correctly, the item name is underlined.

Navigating documents, folders, and publications

You can use the arrow keys to navigate up and down the list of documents, folders, and publications.

You can select multiple documents, folders, and publications (or a mix among all 3):

  • Use Ctrl+click to select more than one at a time.
  • Use Shift+click (or Shift-arrow) to select a range.

Inline commands

You can use the following commands to the right of the document, folder, or publication:

  • Share - Share a private document, folder, or publication with other users, and assign permissions per user. Send an email link to any person. If they are an Onshape user, they can click the link and open the document in Onshape. If they are not yet a user, the document opens in View-only mode. For more information, see Share Documents.

  • Delete - When a document or folder is highlighted, you can use the Delete key to move the document to Trash, or click the Trash icon (shown in the image below):

    Sending a document to trash

    To delete multiple documents/folders, select them using Ctrl+click or Shift+click (as outlined above), and click the Trash icon in the Details panel on the right:

    Sending multiple documents to trash

  • Labels - Select labels to apply to the selected document(s). Labels cannot be applied to folders.

Context menu commandsCopy link

Select one or more documents, folders, or publications (or any mix among all 3), and right-click to access the context menu, with the following commands.

The available commands depend on the filter context, type of container (document, folder, publication), and number and mix of container type(s) selected.

  • Open - Open the selected item.
  • Open in new browser tab - Open the selected item in a new browser tab.
  • Rename document/folder/publication - Provide a new name for the selected item.
  • Copy workspace - Available only for documents; makes a copy of the document default workspace. If you have Edit permission on the folder, copies are placed in the same folder as the document being copied. If you do not have Edit permission on the folder, the copy is placed at the root level of your Onshape account.

    After you copy a workspace, a pop up message will indicate the copy was successfully created and provide a link to the copied workspace. The link will open the copied workspace in a new tab.

  • Details - Show the Details flyout for the selected item.
  • Versions and history - Available only for documents; view a list of all the versions of a particular document. For more information, see Document Management.
  • Labels - Select labels to apply to the selected document(s). Labels cannot be applied to folders.
  • Share - Share a private document, folder, or publication with other users, and assign permissions per user. Send an email link to any person. If they are an Onshape user, they can click the link, and open the document in Onshape. If they are not yet a user, the document opens in View-only mode. For more information, see Share Documents.
  • Move to - Move the selected item to a folder. You can also use drag and drop for this action.
  • Transfer ownership - Transfer the ownership of the item to an individual or a company.
  • Unshare with me - Available only if the selected item was shared with you; removes you from the item's share permissions.
  • Make public - Available only for private documents; makes the document publicly available to all Onshape users in view-only mode.
  • Send to trash - Move the selected item to trash. You can also drag and drop items in the Trash filter to delete them.
  • Once in Trash, an item can be Restored or Deleted (individually), or you can use the Empty trash button to delete all items from Trash at once.

  • Remove from recently opened - Available for documents and publications; removes the item from your Recently opened filter.

The actions available to you may change based on permissions.

Thumbnail images and Detail pane sizeCopy link

To change the thumbnail that is displayed, open the document, right-click on the tab you wish to use as the thumbnail and click Select as document thumbnail. Keep the following in mind:

  • If the tab selected is deleted or moved to another document, the thumbnail reverts to the most recently opened tab.
  • Edit permission on the document is required in order to select a new thumbnail.

To adjust the size of the Details flyout and the documents list, place your cursor on the splitter bar between them, then click and drag either left or right. Keep in mind:

  • The Details flyout can be resized no smaller than 340px.
  • Once the Details flyout is resized, the new position of the splitter bar will be maintained when the flyout is opened again, and when the you sign in again.

While in the company filter (shown below in bold blue text), the top of the window displays thumbnails of the last documents opened by you (regardless of ownership). As many thumbnails are shown as will fit in the window at the time.

Example showing the last few documents opened, with thumbnails

SearchingCopy link

Use the search bar at the top of the Documents page to search for a document within the active filter, as stated in the search bar:

Search bar

Use the down arrow in the Search bar to activate an advanced search menu to search for an Onshape tab type (Document, Part, Part Studio, Assembly, Drawing, or all types) within the active filter and refine the search using additional relevant search criteria.

Advanced search dialog

For more information on what additional search criteria may be used, see the topic Advanced search.

When using the search box to search for a document, the search is conducted within the currently selected filter

NotificationsCopy link

The upper-right side of the title bar includes a bell icon indicating notifications (when there are notifications). A number beside the icon indicates unread notifications. Notifications are automatically deleted after 14 days, whether they are read or not.

Notifications shown in the title bar

Notifications may include:

  • A comment on the document - Open to read and mark as read
  • Status of an upload - Open to read (mark as read, or delete)
  • Status of an export - Open to read (mark as read, or delete)
  • Workspace status - If the workspace falls out of date with the most current Onshape release, it is noted here. An out of date workspace could be the result of: 
    • Branching from a version created before the last update
    • Restoring to a version created before the last update

    Information about updating is displayed.

For an additional Learning center resource, follow the learning pathway course here: Document Management (Onshape account required).