#Folders — Organizing Your Documents

Because "that one document I saved somewhere" is not a filing system.

#What It Does

Folders let you organize your documents into named collections, exactly like file folders on a computer — except these are searchable, the AI knows what's inside them, and they look considerably nicer than a manila envelope. Group your receipts together, keep warranties in their own folder, stash medical records separately, or create whatever structure makes sense for your life.

You can nest folders inside other folders, move documents between them, and let the AI generate custom icons that give you a visual hint of what's inside. It's the kind of organization that feels satisfying without requiring a label maker.

#Document folders and inventory folders

A folder knows what kind of thing it holds — documents, inventory items, or both. That's why the Documents tab and the Inventory tab show different folders: your "Receipts" folder holds documents, your "Music" folder holds items, and neither clutters up the other's view.

Anywhere you pick a destination — moving things, filing a chat attachment, saving a generated image — you'll only be offered folders that can hold what you're filing. A new folder created from one of those pickers is made for that kind.

If you deliberately put an item into a folder that only held documents (by moving it there, or by asking your AI to), the folder simply widens to hold both and starts appearing on both tabs. Nothing is refused, and nothing goes missing — a thing filed somewhere it can't be shown would be invisible, so the folder changes to match what you actually put in it.

#How to Use It

#The Default Folder

Every account starts with My Documents as the root folder. This is home base — all documents land here unless you specify otherwise. You can create as many subfolders as you like inside it.

#Special Folders

Don't Panic — The help guides folder (the one you're reading right now). It's pinned to the top of your documents list so it's always easy to find. You can't accidentally delete or move it, which is exactly the kind of guardrail a help folder should have.
Receipts — A common default for uploaded purchase records.

#iOS App

Creating a folder:

Open the Documents tab in My Things
Tap the New Folder button
Enter a name for your folder
The folder appears in your current location, ready to receive documents

Navigating folders:

Tap a folder card to open it and see its contents
The breadcrumb trail at the top shows your current path (e.g., My Documents > Receipts > 2026)
Tap any breadcrumb to jump back to that level — no need to hit the back button repeatedly

Moving documents:

Enter selection mode by long-pressing a document or tapping the selection icon
Tap to select the documents you want to move
Tap the Move action
Choose the destination folder
Documents are moved instantly

Managing a folder (rename, edit, delete):

Long-press a folder to open its actions sheet
Choose Rename to fix a typo or rethink a name, Edit to change its details, or Delete to remove it
Deleting offers an Undo — if you tap it by mistake, the folder comes right back

This works on both the Inventory and Documents tabs. Selecting a folder is also a route to sharing it — see the Sharing guide — and sharing a folder shares everything inside it, sub-folders included.

#Web

Creating a folder:

Go to the Documents section
Click the New Folder button
Enter a folder name and confirm

Navigating:

Click folder cards to drill down
Use the breadcrumb trail to navigate back up
The folder view shows document thumbnails and counts at a glance

Moving documents and items (drag-and-drop):

Simply drag a document or item card and drop it onto a folder card to move it — or onto a breadcrumb to move it back up a level
This is the fastest way to organize in the web interface — grab, drag, done
Works the same on the Inventory and Documents views

Moving documents and items (folder button):

Hover a card and click the small folder icon (next to the trash icon)
Choose the destination from the folder list — Home appears when you're inside a folder, to move things back to the top level

Moving in bulk:

Click Select, tick the cards you want, then Move to folder — one confirmation moves them all (Inventory and Documents alike)

Managing a folder (rename, edit, delete):

Open a folder's menu (the •••/gear control on the folder card) and choose Rename, Edit, or Delete
The same menu is a route to sharing the folder with a person or group — see the Sharing guide

#Via Chat

Your AI assistant knows about your folder structure. Try:

"What folders do I have?"
"Show me documents in my Kitchen folder."
"How many receipts are in my Receipts folder?"
"What's in the Warranties folder?"

#Via Claude Desktop (MCP)

If you're connected via MCP, the following tools are available:

list_views — List folders at a given level of the hierarchy
get_view — Get folder details and its contents
get_view_tree — See the entire folder hierarchy with item, document, and subfolder counts
get_view_members — Get items and documents in a folder
create_view — Create a new folder (idempotent — won't create duplicates)
update_view — Rename a folder, change description, sort order, or thumbnail mode
reorder_views — Batch update sort order for multiple folders
generate_view_icon — Generate an AI icon for a folder
add_items_to_view — Tag items with a folder (keeps prior memberships)
move_items_to_view — Move items to a destination folder
remove_items_from_view — Remove items from a folder

For the full tool reference, see MCP Tools — Complete Reference.

The AI navigates your folder structure automatically when answering questions about your documents.

#Folder Features

#Thumbnails & Icons

Folders display a collage of document thumbnails so you can see at a glance what's inside — a folder full of receipts looks different from one full of product manuals. If a folder has fewer documents, it shows individual thumbnails instead of a collage.

#AI Folder Icons

The system can generate a custom AI icon for your folder based on its name and contents. A folder called "Kitchen Appliances" might get a toaster icon, while "Travel Documents" might get a suitcase. These are generated automatically but can be regenerated if you'd prefer a different look.

#Document Counts

Each folder card shows the number of documents it contains, so you can quickly gauge which folders are growing and which are sparse. Counts include documents in subfolders.

#Nested Folders

Folders can contain subfolders for deeper organization. A structure like Receipts > 2026 > March is perfectly valid if that's how your brain works. The breadcrumb trail keeps you oriented no matter how deep you go.

#Seeing where an item is filed

Open any inventory item and you'll find Filed in just under Category, naming the folder it lives in. Tap it to jump straight to that folder. If the item isn't in a folder at all, it reads Home.

An item can be in more than one folder — filed under both "Pool" and "Spares", say — in which case you'll see something like Pool +2, and tapping opens the folder picker so you can see and change the full set.

Filed in is about organization; Last seen further down the same card is about physical location — the Zone a beacon last spotted the thing in. They're different questions, which is why they have different names.

Search results carry the folder too, as a small line under each result. That's where it does the most work: when two similar-looking things come back, the folder is usually what tells them apart. Inside a folder, results don't repeat it — every row would say the same thing.

Your AI knows this as well now. Ask "which folder is my salt cell in?" or "what's in the garage that's expiring?" and it can answer directly, including through Claude Desktop and other connected apps.

#Tips & Tricks

Keep it flat unless you have a reason not to. A handful of well-named top-level folders (Receipts, Warranties, Medical, Home, Work) is usually better than an elaborate hierarchy. You can always add depth later.
Use descriptive folder names. "Stuff" and "Misc" are the enemies of future-you. "Kitchen Appliance Manuals" is a folder name that pays dividends when you're troubleshooting your dishwasher at 10 PM.
The Don't Panic folder stays pinned at the top. No matter how many folders you create, the help guides are always right there. It's the one folder that genuinely wants to be found.

#Options

Setting	What It Does	Default
Default upload folder	Where new documents go when you don't choose a folder	My Documents
AI folder icons	Whether the system generates custom icons for folders	On

#Known Limitations

~~No drag-and-drop on iOS~~ Drag-and-drop works everywhere now. On iOS, long-press a card for a moment and drag it onto a folder or breadcrumb; the web interface supports the same gesture with the mouse on both Inventory and Documents. Selection mode + Move remains available on every surface for bulk reorganizing.
Deeply nested folders can be hard to navigate on mobile. The breadcrumb trail helps, but on a phone screen, four or five levels deep starts to feel cramped. Consider flattening your structure if you find yourself scrolling the breadcrumbs.
Deleting a folder keeps your stuff. A folder is a grouping, so deleting one removes the grouping and sends the folder to Trash (with an Undo right there if you slipped) — the items and documents that were in it stay in your library, just no longer filed under that folder. To remove the contents too, trash them separately.
Same-name folders collapse to one. If you (or an AI on your behalf) try to create a folder that already exists with the same name in the same parent, you'll get the existing one back rather than a duplicate. Names are matched after trimming whitespace.

#Version History

Version	Date	What Changed
8	2026-08-11	New "Seeing where an item is filed" section — Filed in on item detail (iOS + web), the folder on search results and chat item cards, and folder names now reaching your AI and connected apps (AMB-702)
7	2026-07-26	New "Document folders and inventory folders" section — destination pickers offer only folders that can hold what you're filing, and a folder widens to hold both kinds when you deliberately file the other kind into it
6	2026-07-05	Added folder management (rename / edit / delete with Undo) on iOS long-press + web menu; folder is a route to sharing; clarified that deleting a folder keeps its contents (AMB-429/430/432, v0.13.2)
5	2026-07-02	Web: item drag-and-drop + folder button + bulk move (parity with documents); iOS drag-and-drop limitation lifted (AMB-420)
4	2026-06-07	Terminology: "Admin Web" → "Web" (the web interface)
3	2026-05-27	Updated MCP tools section with current view/folder tool names (AMB-188)
2	2026-05-02	Note same-name folder collapse (AMB-106)
1	2026-03-01	Initial guide

Folders — Organizing Your Documents