# Organize a record's files in folders

Open the files of a client, look inside the folder that holds this year's papers, come back to all the files, then make a folder for contracts and see how a file is moved into it.

Every record that has a chatter keeps its files in the **Files** box of that chatter: a client, a case, a contract, an invoice. **Attachments and folders** adds folders to that box, so the files of one record can be sorted the way the team looks for them: one folder per year, per kind of document or per stage of a matter. This walk-through uses the demo client Silverbay Logistics Co., whose files are already sorted into two folders, 2025 and 2026, with two more files left outside them.

## Before you start {#before-you-start}

- Any internal user can make folders on a record they can open. Moving or deleting the files themselves needs the right to edit the record, as for any attachment.
- Folders live in the chatter of a saved record: a record that is still being created shows the folder button only once it is saved.
- The paperclip opens the **Files** box only when the record already has a file; on a record without files it opens your file picker instead. [Follow a record with the chatter](/docs/essentials/follow-a-record-with-the-chatter) explains the paperclip, the **Files** box and the buttons of each file.

## Step 1: open the record and its files {#open-the-files}

1. Open **Contacts/Contacts**, search for Silverbay Logistics and open Silverbay Logistics Co.
2. Look at the top bar of the chatter. just before the magnifier (**Search Messages**) sits a folder icon with a small plus sign: **New folder**. It is there on every record that has a chatter, in every app.

![The chatter of the client, with the New folder button just before the search magnifier.](https://jaah.app/web/image/12512-37477518/attachments-folders-on-a-record-chatter_bar-en.png)

On a phone, the chatter sits below the form: scroll down to reach its top bar.

3. Click the paperclip (**Attach files**). Its number, 5, counts every file of the record, whether it sits in a folder or not. The **Files** box opens with the folders first, each shown as a card with the number of files it holds, then the files that are in no folder.

![The Files box shows the folders first, each with its number of files, then the files that are in no folder.](https://jaah.app/web/image/12516-267db225/attachments-folders-on-a-record-files_box-en.png)

## Step 2: look inside a folder {#open-a-folder}

1. Double-click the **2026** card; on a phone, tap it twice. The tooltip of every card says the same: **Double-click to open**.
2. The box now shows only the two files of that folder, the power of attorney and the engagement letter. Above them, **All files** and the name of the open folder tell you where you are.

![The open folder shows only its own files; All files leads back.](https://jaah.app/web/image/12520-9472dda0/attachments-folders-on-a-record-folder_open-en.png)

While a folder is open, **Attach files** at the bottom of the box adds the files you pick straight into it. Each file keeps its usual buttons, **Download** and **Remove**, inside a folder as outside.

3. Click **All files** to come back to the folder cards and the loose files.

## Step 3: make a new folder {#new-folder}

1. Click **New folder** in the top bar. A new card appears after the other folders, its name box already holding "New Folder", selected.
2. Type Contracts and press Enter. The folder is saved under that name.

![The new folder, saved with its name, after the two others.](https://jaah.app/web/image/12524-ed21a0b9/attachments-folders-on-a-record-new_folder-en.png)

The new card shows no number yet: the number appears once the folder holds a file. The folder belongs to this record only; another client's chatter has folders of its own.

## Step 4: put a file in the folder {#move-a-file}

There is no menu to move a file: it is moved by dragging its card.

1. Drag a file card, for example meeting-minutes-0914.pdf, onto the **Contracts** card. The folder card grows slightly while the file is over it; release the mouse there.
2. The file leaves the root of the box, and the **Contracts** card now shows 1.
3. To take a file out again, open its folder and drag the file onto **All files**.

The paperclip still shows 5: a folder changes where a file is shown, not the record it belongs to. A file dropped onto the chatter straight from your computer always lands outside the folders, even while a folder is open. To file new documents in one go, open the folder first and use **Attach files** inside it; this is also the simplest way on a phone.

## What you have done {#what-you-have-done}

You opened the files of a record, looked inside one of its folders, came back to all the files and made a folder of your own, and you know how a file goes in and out of it. The user guide takes each part further: [Create and rename a folder](create-and-rename-a-folder), [Put files in a folder](put-files-in-a-folder) and [Delete a folder](delete-a-folder). [How folders work on a record](how-folders-work) explains what a folder is, who may change it and what it does not do.

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- Source: https://jaah.app/docs/attachments/folders-on-a-record
- Updated: 2026-10-27
- Version: Attachments and folders 19.0.1.0.0
- Verified: 2026-10-27