Documents comprise both content (information) and context (metadata, or 'information about information'). KnowledgeTree's search functionality searches a document's content and/or document metadata to return relevant results.

KnowledgeTree captures user-input metadata through document types, fieldsets, and related fields. The system administrator creates this metadata structure by adding the document types, and then planning and creating associated fieldsets. One or more related fields are added to each fieldset, and then the fieldsets are associated with one, more, or all document types in the system.

Field level metadata may include, for example: the name of the author, the date the document was created, the last time the document was modified, the version number, and the document type (e.g. Invoice). Groups of one or more related fields are added to each fieldset - for example, you may want to create a fieldset called 'Customer Details', and add fields such as 'customer name', 'address', and 'contact number'.

Every fieldset may be associated with one or more document types; then, when adding documents and selecting the document type, the user is presented with related fields to fill out to capture the document metadata.

The design of your document management file structure provides a context for documents stored in the system. For example, by adding an invoice to a folder called 'Invoices' in a higher level folder called 'Accounts', the document file path may be included in search criteria to find relevant documents.

Some organizations use a shallow folder structure and rely mostly on document metadata to store, manage, and retrieve documents in KnowledgeTree. This structure has implications for the security of your system because permissions are allocated at the folder level and anyone who has permissions on a folder also has those permissions on all content in the folder. Deepening the folder structure (i.e. root - folder - sub folder - sub folder - document, instead of root - document, or root - folder - document) thus allows greater control on content through the permissions system.

Other organizations employ a deeper folder structure and combine the use of metadata and the logical file system to organize documents and folders in the system. This structure typically models the file structure used in your existing paper filing system, creating a familiar environment for new users used to browsing a system to find specific documents and folders, and helping to convey the concept of the document management system as an electronic version of the paper-based filing system.