Manage Document Hubs

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

Customer Managed Applies to customer-managed instances of Alation

Enabled by default from Alation version 2025.3

In General Availability from Alation version 2024.3.2

In Public Preview from Alation version 2024.1 to 2024.3.1

Important

You are viewing documentation for Alation’s Classic User Experience.

This page has information about best practices for Document Hubs and how to manage Document Hubs.

For help with other Document Hub tasks, see the following pages:

Create a Document Hub

You must be a Catalog Admin or Server Admin to create document hubs. Document hubs start in a draft state and aren’t visible to regular users until you publish them.

To create a document hub:

  1. Click the gear icon on the top right of the toolbar. The Admin Settings page opens.

  2. Use the search bar at the top of the page to find Custom Templates, or locate it manually. Click Custom Templates to open that page.

  3. Scroll to the Document Hubs section.

  4. Click Create New Hub on the right of the Document Hubs section title. A new hub template opens in draft state.

  5. In the Hub and Navigation Name field, enter a name for the hub. Alation uses this name in the catalog navigation and search results, so choose a name that reflects the hub’s purpose and is meaningful for your users.

  6. In the Folders are called fields, enter the singular and plural names for folder objects in this hub. For example, you could enter group and groups, or project and projects. These names appear on the hub’s catalog page and should help your users understand the purpose of the folders in this hub.

  7. In the Documents are called fields, enter the singular and plural names for document objects in this hub. For example, you could enter topic and topics or term and terms. These names appear on the hub’s catalog page and should help your users understand the purpose of the documents in this hub.

  8. Click Save in the top right. The hub is saved as a draft and you return to the Custom Templates page.

  9. Once the hub is saved, you can set up templates before publishing. See Manage Templates in a Hub.

  10. When you’re ready for users to see the hub, open the hub template and click Publish in the top right. The hub becomes visible in the catalog and a Visit Hub link appears next to the hub title. Click it to go to the hub’s catalog page.

  1. Click on the Settings icon in the top right corner.

    ../../../_images/TopNavigationBar_Gear.png ../../../_images/TopNavigationBar_Gear_Neo.png

  2. Catalog Admins: A dropdown menu appears. Click Customize Catalog.

    Server Admins: The Admin Settings page appears. Under the Catalog Admin section, click Customize Catalog.

  3. Click the Custom Templates tab. The Document Hubs section will appear on the left. You may have to scroll down to see it.

  1. Click the plus icon next to the Document Hubs title.

    ../../../_images/DocumentHubs_NewHub.png

  2. In the Create Document Hub dialog, enter the document hub’s Name.

  3. Click the Create button. The document hub editor appears, and a preview of the hub appears at the bottom of the page. The hub is in a draft state at first and won’t be visible to regular users until you publish it.

  4. Customize the names of the hub’s folder and documents. Click on the pencil icon next to the default folder and document names, then enter a singular and plural version of the name.

    Note

    These names appear in the left navigation and search. As a best practice, they should be unique and meaningful for your organization and match the intended purpose of the document hub. For example, you could call folders groups, applications, categories, or projects. You could call documents metrics, policies, or help topics, whatever helps your users understand their purpose.

  5. Customize the folder and document templates for this document hub. You can add custom fields and rearrange the fields to suit your needs. You can add, rearrange, and remove fields, but the template is only associated with this specific document hub. See Manage Templates for help.

  6. You can add multiple document templates to your hub by clicking the plus icon next to the Document Templates heading.

    ../../../_images/DocumentHubs_NewDocumentTemplate.png

    Once you’ve added more templates, you can change the default document template if desired. Click the drop-down menu next to Default document template to choose a default template for new documents.

  7. You can preview Document Hub by clicking the Visit Hub link. With the hub page open, you can create folders and documents. At this point, when a Document Hub isn’t published yet, only admins can view it from this link.

  8. When you’re ready for your users to see the document hub, click the Publish button.

    Important

    In 2024.1.1 and earlier, publishing is permanent. You can’t unpublish a published document hub, but you can repurpose the hub by renaming it.

    Starting in 2024.1.2, you can unpublish a document hub.

The document hub will become visible to all users in Alation.

Once you’ve published the document hub, you can adjust the default table view and create folders as desired. Then users with the Steward role can edit folders and create documents in the new document hub.

Manage Templates in a Hub

Managing templates in a document hub directly is a New User Experience feature. To manage document and folder templates, see Manage Templates.

When you create a document hub, two default templates are added to it: one for folders and one for documents. You can add new templates, and edit or delete existing ones.

To add a template:

  1. On the Custom Templates page, click the hub name under Document Hubs. The hub template opens.

  2. Next to Templates, click New Document Template or New Folder Template. The template editor opens.

  3. Create the template as needed. For help, see Manage Templates.

To edit a template:

  1. On the Custom Templates page, click the hub name under Document Hubs. The hub template opens.

  2. Under Templates, hover over the template name.

  3. Click the three dots icon on the right.

  4. Select Edit Template. The template editor opens.

  5. Add or remove fields as needed.

To delete a template:

  1. On the Custom Templates page, click the hub name under Document Hubs. The hub template opens.

  2. Under Templates, hover over the template name.

  3. Click the three dots icon on the right.

  4. Select Delete Template.

Note

You can delete the default templates once you’ve created custom templates for the hub.

Set the Default Table View

You can set the default view for the documents table in your document hubs. As part of the default view, you can choose which columns are visible by default, along with their order. Settings for each document hub must be configured separately. Users can customize their own view, which overrides the default view.

You must have a Catalog Admin or Server Admin role to set the default view for document tables.

To set the default view for the document table:

  1. Open a document hub’s catalog page.

  2. Add, remove, and reorder columns on the document table as desired. See Add, Remove, and Rearrange Columns for help doing this.

  3. Above the documents table, a Save Table View for Everyone section will appear. You can now save your settings as the default for the document hub catalog page, the hub’s folder catalog pages, or both.

    1. To apply your column settings as the default for the document hub catalog page, click Save.

    2. To apply your column settings as the default for all the folders in the document hub, click Apply view for all Folders.

Rename a Document Hub

You must have a Catalog Admin or Server Admin role to rename a document hub.

To rename a document hub:

  1. Click the gear icon on the top right of the toolbar. The Admin Settings page opens.

  2. Use the search bar at the top of the page to find Custom Templates, or locate it manually. Click Custom Templates to open that page.

  3. Under Document Hubs, click the name of the hub you want to rename. The hub template opens.

  4. In the Hub and Navigation Name field, enter the new name.

  5. Click Save.

  1. Click on the Settings icon in the top right corner.

    ../../../_images/TopNavigationBar_Gear.png ../../../_images/TopNavigationBar_Gear_Neo.png

  2. Catalog Admins: A dropdown menu appears. Click Customize Catalog.

    Server Admins: The Admin Settings page appears. Under the Catalog Admin section, click Customize Catalog.

  3. Click the Custom Templates tab. The Document Hubs section will appear on the left. You may have to scroll down to see it.

  1. Click the name of the hub you want to rename. The hub details will appear on the right.

  2. Edit the name of your hub in the Hub & Navigation Name field.

  3. Click Save.

Unpublish a Document Hub

You can unpublish a document hub, making it no longer visible to users. You must have a Catalog Admin or Server Admin role to unpublish a document hub.

Note

You can’t unpublish the built-in Glossary document hub.

Unpublishing a document hub removes it from the catalog navigation, the full search page, and anywhere else it was available. It will still be visible in draft mode to users with a Catalog Admin or Server Admin role on the Custom Templates page.

To unpublish a document hub:

  1. Click the gear icon on the top right of the toolbar. The Admin Settings page opens.

  2. Click Custom Templates. The Custom Templates page opens.

  3. Under Document Hubs, click the name of the hub you want to unpublish. The hub template opens.

  4. Click Unpublish in the top right. The hub is unpublished immediately and goes into draft mode. You can continue configuring the hub and publish it again later.

  1. Click on the Settings icon in the top right corner.

    ../../../_images/TopNavigationBar_Gear.png ../../../_images/TopNavigationBar_Gear_Neo.png

  2. Catalog Admins: A dropdown menu appears. Click Customize Catalog.

    Server Admins: The Admin Settings page appears. Under the Catalog Admin section, click Customize Catalog.

  3. Click the Custom Templates tab. The Document Hubs section will appear on the left. You may have to scroll down to see it.

  1. Click the name of the hub you want to unpublish. The hub details will appear on the right.

  2. Click the Unpublish button near the top right. The hub will be unpublished immediately and go into draft mode. You can continue configuring the hub as needed and publish it again later.

Delete a Document Hub

You can delete a document hub that contains no folders or documents. You must have a Catalog Admin or Server Admin role to delete a document hub.

Note

You can’t delete the built-in Glossary document hub.

To delete a document hub, you must first delete all folders and documents from the hub. Once the hub is empty, you can delete it. See Manage Folders and Manage Documents for help deleting folders and documents.

To delete a document hub:

  1. Click the gear icon on the top right of the toolbar. The Admin Settings page opens.

  2. Click Custom Templates. The Custom Templates page opens.

  3. Under Document Hubs, click the name of the hub you want to delete. The hub template opens.

  4. Click the three dots icon in the top right.

  5. Select Delete Hub. A confirmation dialog appears.

  6. Click Delete Hub in the confirmation dialog. The hub is soft deleted. You can still reach it using the catalog URL, but it won’t appear in the catalog navigation or search results.

Note

If the hub isn’t empty, you’ll see a message indicating that you need to delete all folders and documents before you can delete the hub. See Manage Folders and Manage Documents for help.

  1. Click on the Settings icon in the top right corner.

    ../../../_images/TopNavigationBar_Gear.png ../../../_images/TopNavigationBar_Gear_Neo.png

  2. Catalog Admins: A dropdown menu appears. Click Customize Catalog.

    Server Admins: The Admin Settings page appears. Under the Catalog Admin section, click Customize Catalog.

  3. Click the Custom Templates tab. The Document Hubs section will appear on the left. You may have to scroll down to see it.

  1. Click the name of the hub you want to delete. The hub details will appear on the right.

  2. Click the Delete button near the top right. A confirmation dialog will appear.

    Note

    If the Delete button is disabled, check if you’re trying to delete the built-in Glossary document hub. You can’t delete the Glossary hub.

  3. Click Delete Hub in the confirmation dialog. The hub is soft deleted. You can still reach it using the catalog URL, but it won’t appear in the catalog navigation or search results.

    Note

    If the hub isn’t empty, you’ll see a message indicating that you need to delete all folders and documents before you can delete the hub. See Manage Folders and Manage Documents for help deleting folders and documents.