Document Library Guide

The Document Library is one place to keep every document your organization creates or collects, so files stop scattering across laptops and inboxes.

What it is

A per-organization vault. Everyone on your team sees the same library, and each document is searchable, kept with its full version history, and downloadable at any time. It holds two kinds of files: documents your All In One Nonprofit apps generate (letters, plans, board minutes, reports, receipts) and any file you upload yourself (bylaws, your Form 990, scanned signatures, spreadsheets, board packets).

Where to find it

The Document Library is never more than a click away. You can open it from:

• The sidebar of every app, under Dashboard, so you can jump to it without leaving the tool you are in.
• The All In One Nonprofit Apps page, where it is listed alongside your other apps.
• A banner on your member portal, and directly at docs.allinonenonprofit.com.

Collections

The library is organized into purpose-based collections, chosen from a switcher at the top of the list. The library itself stays one place; collections are simply views that keep everyday drafts apart from the records you keep for years and from the blanks you reuse.

• Working Documents (the default): your everyday drafts and the documents your apps generate as you work.
• Organization Records: the records your organization keeps for years, such as bylaws, your IRS determination letter, Forms 990, board minutes and resolutions, policies, insurance, and contracts. Anything that carries a retention category appears here automatically, so your records of record gather in one view without extra filing.
• Templates: reusable blanks you can start from again and again. This collection includes a All In One Nonprofit starter-template gallery of ten ready-made blanks: a donor thank-you letter, a board meeting agenda, a board resolution, a conflict-of-interest disclosure, a gift acknowledgment, a volunteer waiver, a policy acknowledgment, a simple MOU, a donation receipt, and a press release. On each starter, Add to my templates saves an editable copy into your Templates collection, and Use creates a working draft from it.

The switcher also offers quick saved-filter views for Shared with members, Reports, and Signed documents.

Moving documents between collections

Each document has a per-row Move button to send it to Working Documents, Organization Records, or Templates. To reorganize several at once, use the checkboxes to select documents, then move or archive them all in one step.

When you move a document into Organization Records that does not yet have a retention category, the retention editor opens automatically so you can set how long to keep that record while it is fresh in mind.

Build a board packet

Board Packet is its own item in the sidebar. Open it to reach a dedicated builder where you give the packet a title, choose where to save it (Organization Records by default) and whether to share it with members, then pick which documents to include from all of your files using a filter box (it is no longer limited to files you shared first). PDFs are merged into one packet in order; other file types, such as Word and images, are listed on the contents page but not merged. A cover page and a contents page are added automatically, the packet is filed into the library, can be shared with members in one step, and a copy downloads to your device.

Getting documents in

Create a document

If you land here wanting to start something new, click Create a document in the toolbar. It opens a short menu: start from an All In One Nonprofit template, upload a file, or improve an existing document with AI. Most documents are authored inside your All In One Nonprofit apps and then sent here with Save to Library, so the menu also links you to your apps.

Upload

Click Upload, choose any file up to 50 MB, give it a title, and optionally set a type (letter, plan, minutes, policy, and so on) and tags. It appears in your list immediately.

Import from Dropbox or Google Drive

Next to Upload, Import from Dropbox and Import from Google Drive open that service's own file picker. Pick up to 25 files at a time (in Google Drive, click the first file, then hold Ctrl, or Command on a Mac, and click each of the others before pressing Select; Google marks a chosen file only faintly, and the Library confirms how many came in afterward) and they are copied into the Library like an upload, up to 50 MB each, tagged with where they came from. The Library reads only the files you pick, never the rest of your Dropbox or Drive, and it keeps its own copy: a later change in Dropbox or Drive does not change the copy here. A Google Doc, Sheet or Slides file is brought over as a Word, Excel or PowerPoint file, and a Google Drawing as a PDF. For a whole folder, select all of its files in the picker and repeat for the next 25. You can pick from any Google account, not only the address you sign in with here: your sign-in decides which organization the files go into, and the Google account only decides whose Drive you pick from. Google lets the Library read the files you pick for about an hour, and that access is never kept. One exception: if your organization uses Google Workspace and its administrator has blocked outside apps, Google refuses that account; a personal Gmail account is not affected. A short note says this each time you click Import from Google Drive; choose Never show me this again to skip it on that browser.

Save to Library from any app

When one of your apps generates a document, the export menu (alongside Copy, Word, Print, and Email) includes Save to Library. Choosing it sends that document straight here, tagged with the app it came from, so you do not have to download and re-upload it.

Signed e-signature documents arrive automatically

You start a signature request from the app that created the document (a board officer role agreement, a conflict-of-interest disclosure, a volunteer waiver, a policy acknowledgment, a board resolution, and so on) or from the Signatures app, not from the Library itself. Once every signer has signed, the finished signed PDF is filed here automatically and appears in the Signed collection. That PDF is the original document plus an appended signature page recording each signer's name, their typed or drawn signature, the date, their consent, and an ESIGN/UETA audit line. There is nothing to download and re-upload; your signed records simply show up in the Library.

Training certificates and strategic progress reports file in automatically too

The same hands-off filing applies to other finished records. When a member completes a training module, their certificate of completion is filed here automatically. And when you generate a board report from the Strategic Progress tracker, that strategic progress report PDF is filed here as well. Like signed documents, these arrive on their own, so your completed records stay together without any extra steps.

Improve with AI

You can bring an existing document and have AI make it better, not just generate one from scratch. Click Improve with AI next to Upload to start from a fresh file, or click Improve on a document already in your library.

Upload and read your document

Provide a Word .docx, a text-based PDF, or a plain text file. The text is read right in your browser, so the AI sees the document's content. (A scanned image-only PDF has no readable text yet, so save or export it as Word or text first.) Set the document type so the review fits, then run it.

The document types it knows

Bylaws are the flagship: they are reviewed for the 501(c)(3) and governance provisions a nonprofit should have, such as the exempt-purpose and dissolution clauses, conflict-of-interest handling, quorum, officer and director terms, indemnification, and the amendment process. It also has tailored reviews for a conflict-of-interest policy, document retention policy, whistleblower policy, gift acceptance policy, employee handbook, and board handbook. Any other type still gets a solid general review.

What you get back

The review returns two things: a prioritized list of recommended changes, each with the reason it matters, and a clean revised draft you can read and edit before you keep it.

See the changes and choose how to save

Use the Show changes view to see a redline right on screen (added text highlighted, removed text struck through). When you are ready, you can download the result three ways:

• Clean Word file: the finished revised document, ready to use.
• Redline Word file: a marked-up copy that visually shows what was added and removed.
• Tracked-changes Word file: a Word document with native tracked changes, so you or your attorney can Accept or Reject each edit individually in Word.

What the clean version keeps, and what it does not

The clean version is your original Word file with the wording replaced, not a new document built from scratch. Your letterhead, cover page, header, footer and page setup all survive exactly as they were, because the original file is reused rather than rebuilt.

A document that arrived without a header still has none afterward. Nothing is added that was not already there, so improving somebody else's document does not stamp your branding onto it.

What cannot survive is formatting inside the wording, because the AI returns plain text. Headings, bold and tables in the body need re-applying after you keep the draft. The redline and tracked-changes files are review copies and are always plain.

If you started from a PDF or a text file there is no Word document to preserve, so the result is plain, which is the same as what you gave it.

Saving keeps your original

When you save, your original is preserved in version history and the improved draft is stored as a new version, so you can always go back to the document you started with.

You can also start this flow straight from the apps where these documents live: the Formation Assistant (Improve Bylaws with AI), the Board Handbook app, and the Document Retention app each deep-link into the improve dialog with the right type preselected.

Finding documents

The list shows each document's title, source app, type, date, who added it, and size. A prominent search box at the top searches across every collection by name, so you can find a document even when you do not know which collection it is in. While you search, a "Showing matches across all collections" note appears with a Clear or Back-to-collections link. You can also narrow the list with the app, type, and tag filters.

Use Group by to organize the list into collapsible sections by None (a single flat list), Source app (the app each document came from), or Type (letter, plan, minutes, policy, and so on). Each section can be expanded or collapsed, and Expand all / Collapse all opens or closes every section at once, so you can scan a large library quickly.

Click the Document, Updated or Size column heading to sort the list. Document sorts A to Z, Updated newest first and Size largest first; click the same heading again to reverse it. The choice is remembered on that browser, and it applies inside grouped sections too.

Previewing & opening documents

There is no separate "open" button. To read a file you either Preview it in the browser or Download it. A Preview button appears on documents the browser can display, and opens a viewer right inside the Library so you can read a document without downloading it:

• PDFs open in a built-in page-by-page viewer.
• Images (PNG, JPG, GIF) display directly.
• Text and CSV files show as plain text.
• Word (.docx) and Excel (.xlsx) render right in the browser as well. This happens entirely on your device, so the file never leaves your storage.

PowerPoint (.pptx) and other file types do not have an in-browser viewer yet, so they keep Download only. Inside the viewer you can also Open in new tab or Download the file.

Because the Library is a records system, editing still happens the deliberate way: download a document, edit it (usually in Word), and re-upload it as a new version. Preview is for reading, not editing, which keeps a clean version history and audit trail. See Versions & check-out.

Archive & delete

To clear documents you no longer need day to day, click Archive on the row. Archived documents move out of your main list into the Archived tab, where you can Restore one back to the active list or Delete it permanently. A permanent delete removes the document and all of its versions for good, so use it when you are sure you no longer need the file.

Versions & check-out

These are files people download, edit offline (usually in Word), and re-upload, not files co-edited live in the browser. So the Library uses versioning, not locking:

• Every re-upload of a document creates a new version. Nothing is overwritten; open Versions to see the history, download any past version, or make an older one current again.
• Mark a version as Final so everyone knows which copy is the official one.
• A soft check-out signal lets the team see when someone is working on a document. It is a courtesy heads-up, not a lock, and it expires on its own after a few hours so nothing ever gets stuck.

Review & approval workflow

Beyond storing and versioning files, the Library can run a formal review-and-approve flow, so "final" becomes an actual decision with a record, not just a filename.

• Submit any document for approval and assign one or more approvers. Approvers on your team approve from an Awaiting my approval view; outside approvers get a private link by email, no account needed.
• Each approver approves or requests changes with a comment. Every document carries a clear status (Draft, In review, Approved, or Changes requested) and a dated record of who approved which version.
• All assigned approvers must approve before a document reaches Approved, and reaching Approved also marks the document Final. Automated weekly reminders chase anyone still pending.
• Good for board minutes adopted at the next meeting, a policy adopted by the board, or a grant report signed off before it goes out.

Storage & limits

Documents are hosted securely by All In One Nonprofit and encrypted at rest. Each organization gets a generous storage allowance that grows with your plan:

A typical generated document is well under 1 MB, so even the 2 GB base holds thousands of files. Documents are never deleted for reaching a cap; you can free space, move up a plan, or (in a later release) switch to keeping files in your own Google Drive or Cloudflare account instead.

Access & privacy

The Library is scoped to your organization: every member of your team can view and download the organization's documents, since these are organizational records. Owners can delete. Every document is downloadable individually at any time, so hosted storage is never a lock-in.

Share with members

Documents are private to your team by default. To make a specific file available to your board members and volunteers in the member portal, turn on Share with members for that document; a Shared badge marks it in your list. Shared files then appear on the member's Documents card for them to view and download, while everything you do not share stays visible only to your team.

Looking for help beyond the platform?

See our Helpful Resources page for vetted external resources on legal and tax filing, funder research, governance training, insurance, technology discounts, and more.