View the Discard Pile

Project > Project Data > Discard Pile

The Discard Pile is used to isolate documents that are no longer pertinent to the Project due to routine culling, changes to Project goals or search criteria, or other factors. Users with the needed permission can select documents in Project Data document search results to send to the Discard Pile using the Send to Discard Pile option. This operation allows an optional comment and on User confirmation generates a Work Basket task.

By default, Users in all default roles can list the documents in the Discard Pile, while Users with the needed permission can view their contents, download them, or restore them to the Project. Bear in mind the following important restrictions on and notes about the Discard Pile:

  • The Discard Pile does not support searching.

  • The Discard Pile cannot be deleted.

  • Only individual documents can be sent to the Discard Pile, not families.

  • Sending documents to the Discard Pile or restoring them to the Project triggers recalculation of Email Threads and a check for valid Custodian membership.

  • When a document is sent to the Discard Pile, the metadata created by Users after it was added to Project Data, such as that related to tags and folders, is removed.

Note: If the number of documents in the Discard Pile is very large, you may need to use the Generate Document List button the first time you view a document. This button can reappear when the document list is not cached.

Discard Pile Document Options

The Discard Pile document list displays each discarded document's document number (the value of the docnum metadata field) and name.

Right -click a document in the Discard Pile to use the following options:

  • Open Document Inline – Displays the document in the Document Viewer, above the Discard Pile list, in the current window or tab. Click Exit in the upper left to return to the full Discard Pile list.
  • Open Document in New Window – Displays the document in the Document Viewer, above the Discard Pile list, in a new window or tab. When you use this option, the documents list below it includes columns for the User, comment, and date associated with each document's removal. Close the window or tab to return to the full Discard Pile list.

Using either option, once you have viewed the document you can select another from the list to display it in the document viewer, or open another one in a new window so you can compare the two documents side by side.

Select one or more documents and open the Document drop-down menu to use the following options:

  • Restore – Restores the selected document(s) to the Project Data they were discarded from. When you restore a document, the document maintains its document history (for example, original Add Document operation and any Tag Apply history). The document also retains its Custodian assignment, as long as that Custodian is still available in the Project.
  • Download as PDF – Downloads one or more documents to your local environment as PDFs.
  • Download as Native – Downloads one or more documents to your local environment in their native formats.

For more information about downloading as PDF and Native, see Document Menu Options in Work with Documents in Views of Project Data and About Downloading Documents as PDFs and Natives.