Using Folders

In the "Folders Overview" article, we explored how folders can streamline our workflow and navigated through the Workspace screen to understand the folder structure. In this article, we will delve into the following topics:

Creating a New Folder

To create a new folder follow the below instructions:

  1. Go to the Workspace screen and select any folder from the left side.
  2. Click the 'Create New' button and select 'Folder' from the dropdown. 
  3. You are then presented with the "Create New Folder" UI.
  4. Enter all the details on the screen.
  5. Click 'Create'.

Override Icon

Override Icon - The override icon toggle allows the default icon shown on a component's card to be altered. The default icon is dependent on the type of component. When the toggle is turned on there are two options to associate a new icon with the component, depending on the position of the existing Icon toggle:

  • On - This allows the user to search icons that have already been uploaded to the environment and associate one with the current component. 
  • Off - This allows the user to upload a new icon for the component. When uploading a new icon it must be given a name so that it can be referenced and searched for and thus is available to be reused on different components.

Sharing Folders

When creating a new app or resource, the sharing option selection will be available to make the component available as Private, Public, or Group. Regardless of the selection, a user with the role of System Admin will always have access to all apps and resources.

The sharing option selected at the time of creating the component can be changed by the owner or a system administrator. The owner of the app or resource is by default the user that is creating the component. This can be changed, if needed, by the owner or the system administrator, after the component is created.

When editing a component, the owner and sharing option is visible and can be changed by the owner or system administrator. For other users, when editing a component, the sharing option and owner settings are hidden.

  • Private - Private can be set by the owner (or the system administrator) to limit access to the component only to the owner. System administrators can also access components set to private.
  • Public - Public is the default setting and is the behavior of all components before Syntasa 5.2, i.e. before the sharing functionality was available, as all users have access to the component (except apps that are in a module, Synthesizer, Composer, Orchestrator, and the user's role is such that they do not have access to that module).
  • Group - Group can be set by the owner (or the system administrator) to limit the access to the component to the user group(s) assigned to the component. As with private, the system administrator can view components with the sharing option set to group regardless if they are a member of the group.

Favorite Folders

Just like with apps or notebooks, you can designate any folder as a favorite by enabling the star icon in the tile or list view. All folders marked as favorites will appear on the left side under the "Favorite folders" accordion.

Let's use the screenshot below as an example to understand folders:

  1. We created a folder named 'Car' under the 'home' directory.
  2. Within the 'Car' folder, we created 2 subfolders named 'BMW' and 'Tesla'. Additionally, we marked 'BMW' as a favorite by enabling the star icon.
  3. The favorite folder is displayed on the left side. In this example, 'BMW' is marked as a favorite, so it appears under 'Favorite Folders'.
  4. You can also see the count of components and folders contained within each folder by observing the count on the folder tile.

Note: Favorite folders are specific to each user. Each user can mark any folder as a favorite and it will appear under the 'Favourite folders' list whenever they log in, but they cannot view the favorite folders of other users.

Moving Components To a Folder

You can move the component to another folder in 2 ways:

  1. By Updating the folder path
  2. Using Drag and Drop feature.

Updating the Folder Path
When creating any component such as an app, notebook, dashboard, or folder, you'll have the option to change the directory path. Similarly, for existing components, you can modify the path by editing the component. For instance, in the screenshot below, you can select a new folder path for an existing app:

Using Drag and Drop feature.
You can also move the app by using the drag-and-drop feature. You can select any component and drop it to the folder of your choice. You can also drag and drop the component to any folder displayed on the left side. In the example below, we are moving the app 'SyntasaAppDemo' from the 'Car' to the 'Tesla' folder.

Deleting a Folder

You can delete the folder by hovering over the Folder tile and clicking the 'Delete' icon, as demonstrated in the screenshot below:

You can also delete the folder from the table view as shown below in the screenshot:


Note: If a folder or its subfolder contains any component such as an app, dashboard, or notebook, the folder cannot be deleted. It's necessary for both the folder and its subfolders to be empty before deletion is allowed.