How to Use Document Central

How to Use Document Central

Overview

Documents is the central library for every file held against your vendors — evidence attached to assessment answers, documents attached to risks, and files you upload yourself.

The page is split down the middle. On the left you pick a vendor; on the right you see that vendor's documents.


Prerequisites

  • At least one vendor added to the platform
  • dashboard:view — the Documents section opens on this permission, not on a documents-specific one
  • One of vendor:assessment:view, vendor:assessment:review or vendor:assessment:add to list the assessment and risk documents and to export them

Opening Documents

Navigation: Sidebar → Documents

  1. Click Documents in the sidebar. The page title reads Vendor Documents.
  2. The left panel lists your vendors with a Company Name column and a Search Vendor box. The first vendor is selected automatically.
  3. Click a vendor to load its documents on the right.

The right panel has two tabs:

  • Assessment & Risk Based Documents — files already attached to an assessment answer or to a risk
  • Unlinked Documents — files that are not attached to anything

Assessment & Risk Based Documents

ColumnDescription
DocumentsThe file, with its name
Document TypeVendor Document (supplied by the vendor) or Private Document (internal to your team)
Approval StatusWhether your reviewer has approved or rejected the document
Uploaded DateWhen the file was added

Above the table you can search and show or hide columns. The search covers the document name, risk title, assessment name, template name, category name and question text.

Seeing where a document came from

  1. Click a row. The Document Details panel opens.
  2. Read the Assessment Name, Template Name, Category Name, Question, Risk Title and Document Name behind the file.
  3. Click View document to open the file in the viewer, or Close to go back.

Viewing a document

Open the actions menu on a row and choose View. The document opens in a viewer inside the page — it does not download automatically.

File typeWhat the viewer does
PDFShows the file using your browser's built-in PDF viewer
ImagesShows the image with zoom in, zoom out, fit to page, rotate and Download controls
Anything else (Word, Excel, CSV and so on)Shows "Preview not available" with a Download button

The viewer also has a full screen control and a close button.

Exporting evidence as a ZIP

  1. Click Export in the tab header. The Export Documents dialog opens.
  2. Under "Please select categories from which you wish to export all documents", choose one or more questionnaire categories.
  3. Click Export.

A ZIP named after the vendor downloads, with one folder per category, and you see "Documents exported successfully."

The export contains evidence attached to assessment answers in the categories you picked. Documents attached only to risks, and unlinked documents, are not included. If the chosen categories hold no documents, nothing is downloaded.


Unlinked Documents

This tab lists files that are not attached to an assessment answer or a risk.

ColumnDescription
DocumentsThe file, with its name
Document TypeVendor Document or Private Document
Uploaded ByWho added the file
Uploaded DateWhen it was added

The row actions menu offers View, which opens the same viewer.

Uploading a document

The Upload Document button appears on the Unlinked Documents tab only.

  1. Select the vendor in the left panel first — uploads are always attached to a vendor.
  2. Open the Unlinked Documents tab.
  3. Click Upload Document.
  4. Drag and drop files onto the upload area, or click it to choose files. You can select several at once.
  5. Check the file list in the dialog and remove any you added by mistake.
  6. Click Upload.
RuleDetail
File typespdf, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, csv and images (jpg, jpeg, png)
SizeShown in the dialog. By default 15 MB per file and 100 MB for the whole batch
VisibilityFiles uploaded here are stored as Private Documents — they are internal to your team and never shown to the vendor

Attaching an unlinked document to a question or a risk

Unlinked files are pulled in from the place you want them, not pushed from this tab:

  • To an assessment question — open the assessment review workspace, select the question, click Upload Document under Private Documents, choose Link Unlinked Documents and pick the file. See How to Review Assessment Responses.
  • To a risk — open the vendor's Manage Risk tab, open the risk, go to Risk Closure, open Private Documents, and under Choose Action select Link Unlinked Documents, then pick the file.

Once linked, the file moves from Unlinked Documents to Assessment & Risk Based Documents.


Documents for a Single Vendor

Navigation: Sidebar → Vendors → [select a vendor] → Documents tab

The vendor's own Documents tab shows that vendor's assessment and risk documents with a wider set of columns:

ColumnDescription
DocumentsThe file, with its name
Document TypeVendor Document or Private Document
Assessment NameThe assessment the document belongs to, with its template, category and question
Approval StatusWhether the document has been approved or rejected
Risk TitleThe risk the document is attached to
Uploaded DateWhen it was added

Click a row or use the row menu → View to open the file in the viewer. The Export button opens the same Export Documents dialog described above.


What Document Central Does Not Do

  • You cannot approve or reject evidence here. Do that in the assessment review workspace.
  • You cannot delete a document from these tables. Private documents are deleted from the question or risk they are attached to.
  • There is no link action on the Unlinked Documents rows — linking is done from the question or the risk.
  • Vendors cannot see this library.

Troubleshooting

The Documents section shows "Unauthorized" → You are missing dashboard:view.

The page opens but the document list stays empty or fails to load → Listing and exporting evidence needs one of the assessment permissions (vendor:assessment:view, vendor:assessment:review or vendor:assessment:add).

The Upload Document button is missing → It only appears on the Unlinked Documents tab. Switch tabs to see it.

Uploading fails with "Issue with vendor information. Please check the vendor details." → No vendor is selected. Pick a vendor in the left panel and try again.

"File type is not supported" → Only pdf, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, csv, jpg, jpeg and png files are accepted.

"File size exceeds the limit" or "Total file size exceeds the limit" → There is a limit per file and a limit for the whole batch. The upload dialog shows both. Remove or split large files and try again.

A document shows "Preview not available" → Only PDFs and images can be shown in the browser. Click Download to open the file on your computer.

"Unable to fetch document!" → The file could not be retrieved. Try again; if it keeps happening, contact support with the vendor and document name.

The export downloaded nothing → The categories you selected have no evidence attached to their answers.

A document does not appear under the vendor I expected → Documents belong to the vendor that was selected when they were uploaded. Check the left panel selection.

I have a long list of unlinked documents → Unlinked files are ones not yet attached to an assessment answer or a risk. Link the relevant ones from the question's or risk's Private Documents panel to keep the library tidy.


Need more help? Contact support@zeron.one