---
title: "05 Collections"
canonical_url: https://mdflow.cz/share/c/h0L7MvX5Cy5sST3qPnApqHOmrQ36JTVy169qJMtDMya9Kc30zm04cg9OuPSSPwvj/8044ae40-6ec5-4dcc-b604-efea20829d93
md_url: https://mdflow.cz/share/c/h0L7MvX5Cy5sST3qPnApqHOmrQ36JTVy169qJMtDMya9Kc30zm04cg9OuPSSPwvj/8044ae40-6ec5-4dcc-b604-efea20829d93.md
visibility: public
---

# Collections

A collection is a named set of documents, assembled independently of how those documents are filed in folders.

Collections exist to solve a specific problem: **how you organize your work and how you present it to a reader are different problems.** Your folder tree is for you. A collection is for someone else.

## Building a collection

- **Add individual documents**, or **add a whole folder** to include every document inside it.
- **Pick from across all of your workspaces.** The picker groups options by workspace. A collection is not limited to the workspace you happen to be viewing.
- **A document can belong to more than one collection**, without being moved or duplicated.
- **Rename and delete** collections freely.

Duplicate collection names get an automatic numeric suffix.

## What a collection does not do

A collection is a *view*. It does not:

- move or copy the underlying documents,
- change how they are filed,
- create a second version of anything.

Delete a collection and its documents are untouched. Edit a document and every collection containing it shows the update.

Collections cannot nest — there are no collections of collections.

## Sharing a collection

Two ways:

- **A public link** — read-only, opens without an account, with optional commenting. Turning the link off permanently invalidates it; turning it back on generates a fresh URL.
- **Privately by email** (Pro) — the whole curated set behind one private link, for named people.

See [03 Sharing Collections](/doc/669c61d4-1297-48e1-8e75-e82c10a2e60f) for both in detail.

## What readers see

Readers open a clean reader with a **file list**, and read each document with the same options as a single shared document: rendered preview, markdown source, side-by-side split, download as `.md`, and PDF export.

Internal links between documents **in the same collection** resolve to their siblings, so a hub-and-spoke set of documents works as a small website. See [03 Linking Documents Together](/doc/6a2085ea-444c-44ae-b9d2-43965e1ce5b6).

## Knowledgebase share mode (Pro)

A collection share renders in one of two presentations, chosen on the collection page:

**Folder structure** (the default) — the reader browses the folder and document tree.

**Knowledgebase** (Pro) — a proper documentation site:

- You pick a **homepage document**, which renders directly at the share link's root URL.
- The sidebar gains a **Home** entry.
- Visitors get **full-text search** across the collection's documents.

The search is language-neutral, diacritics-insensitive and prefix-matching — typing `private` finds `privately`, and `resume` finds `résumé`. Encrypted documents are never searchable.

The mode applies to **both** the public link and private email-ACL views.

If your Pro plan lapses, the share **automatically falls back to the folder structure without losing the stored settings**. Nothing breaks and nothing is lost; resubscribe and Knowledgebase mode returns as it was.

## A worked example

This documentation is a good illustration. The folders are numbered and nested for *your* benefit as the author. To publish it, you would:

1. Create a collection and add the whole documentation workspace's folders.
2. Switch the share to **Knowledgebase** mode.
3. Set [01 Welcome to MDflow](/doc/b00ab4c8-4e44-4ced-b124-7654441968aa) as the homepage.
4. Share the link.

Readers land on the welcome page, search across everything, and never see your other workspaces.