Documents

Documents are records that capture information in tangible or digital form. They serve as evidence, instructions, agreements, and references across personal, organizational, and public contexts. Documents range from handwritten notes and printed pages to electronic files stored on computers or in the cloud.

Common types include legal instruments (contracts, deeds), administrative records (policies, forms, memos), technical documents (manuals, specifications), and communications (reports). They can be created by individuals, teams, or institutions and may be formal or informal in tone and structure.

Formats and structure: Digital documents appear as PDFs, word processor files, plain text, and multimedia files; paper documents may be scanned into images or PDFs. Documents typically carry metadata such as title, author, date, version, provenance, and access rights, which aids discovery, provenance, and lifecycle management.

Management and governance: Effective document management involves organization, version control, review cycles, controlled access, retention schedules, archiving, and secure disposal. Standards and practices, including information governance frameworks and metadata standards (for example Dublin Core and ISO 15489), support interoperability and long-term preservation.

Security and accessibility: Documents may require confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity protections. Digital documents should be protected from tampering, backed up, and accessible to authorized users, with formats and interfaces that accommodate accessibility needs and assistive technologies. The document lifecycle encompasses creation, use, revision, storage, and eventual disposition.