Your main library lists all of your documents and uses the options on the Settings page. The Library Builder creates additional libraries, each with its own documents, its own options and its own embed code.
Use it when different pages need different sets of documents, for example a public policies library on one page and a password-protected forms library on another.
Create a library
Go to Libraries → Create Library. The Library Builder opens and takes you through six steps. Click Next to move through them, and Save when you finish.
Step 1: Create a library
Library name - Name the library so that you can identify it on the Libraries screen. Visitors never see this name in an embedded library. If you use the library website that comes with your account, the name is used as the page title.
Step 2: Choose a layout
- Layout - Choose Table (a sortable, searchable list) or Grid (documents shown as cards). See document library layout.
- Group documents into collapsible folders by category - Arranges this library into a folder tree, which visitors open one folder at a time. Folders and filter dropdowns cannot be used together. See document folders.
Step 3: Choose your documents
Skip this step to include every document in your account. To list specific documents only, use any of these options:
- Categories, Tags and Authors - Tick the terms to include. A document appears when it matches any of the terms you tick.
- Exclude categories - Tick any categories to leave out of this library.
- Published in year and Published in month - Limit the library to documents added in a particular year or month.
- Only show these documents and Hide these documents - Pick individual documents by name, which is useful for a short library such as the documents for one product.
See scoping documents into your libraries for more about combining these options.
Step 4: Display options
The options here depend on the layout chosen in step 2.
- Columns (table layout) - Use the column builder to choose which document data appears, and drag and drop to reorder it. Click the pencil icon on a column to rename it, hide its heading, set its width, or control which devices it appears on. See document library content.
- Number of columns (grid layout) - Choose Automatic, or between one and four columns.
- Card content (grid layout) - Tick the information to show on each card.
- Documents per page - How many documents appear before a visitor moves to the next page. See changing the number of documents in the library.
Step 5: Links and downloads
- Download link style - Show the document link as a Button, a Text link or Icon only.
- Button text - Set the wording on the link, for example Download or View document.
- Display download icon - Adds a download icon to the left of the text.
- Add a preview button - Lets visitors read a document in a lightbox instead of downloading it. See document preview.
- Let visitors select and download several documents together - Adds a checkbox to each row and a button which downloads the selected files as one zip file. See how the multi-download checkboxes work.
Step 6: Library controls
Controls are the elements above and below your documents which visitors use to search, filter and page through the library. Hiding them suits a short library.
- Allow users to filter the library - Switches on the filter dropdowns for this library. Tick Display filter dropdowns above the library, Show filters in column headers, or both, then add your filters in the builder underneath. See document library filters.
- Filter options - Allow more than one value per filter, display the filters a visitor has applied, and show the number of matching documents next to each option.
- Show additional controls - Reveals the rest of the controls: The search box, the “show N entries” selector, the result count, the column headings row and a footer row beneath the library. See document library controls.
Add your library to a page
Each library you build gets its own embed code and its own page on your library website. Copy the code from the Embed code column on the Libraries screen, then paste it into any page which accepts HTML. See publishing your library.
Your main all-documents library works differently. Its embed code is on the Publish Library page, and its options are on the Settings page rather than in the Library Builder.
Edit or delete a library
Open a library from the Libraries screen to change any of the options above, then save it. Deleting a library removes the library and its embed code, and your documents are untouched.