---
title: "Managing document types"
description: "Administrators create, edit and delete the document types that categorise working agreements, and decide which types go through a governance proposal before they are published."
category: structure-governance
section: policies-and-publications
tags: [admin]
type: Tutorial
lastUpdated: 2026-08-26
locale: en
canonical: https://support.talkspirit.com/en/structure-governance/manage-publications-types
---

# Managing document types


## Managing document types

A document type is the category a working agreement carries: **Policy**, **Procedure**, or any type your organisation invents. Administrators manage the list in **Structure settings**, and each type decides two things: the label readers see on the working agreement, and whether creating or editing one is saved straight away or goes through a governance proposal first.

You need administrator rights. The settings page and all three actions on it are reserved for organisation administrators, and the list applies to the whole organisation: document types cannot be configured circle by circle.

## Where document types live

1. Open the **Structure** app.
2. Click **Structure settings** at the bottom of the left sidebar.
3. Select **Working agreements**.

![The Working agreements Settings page in the Structure module, showing the Document Types card with one system type and two custom types, and the Add Type button](/images/structure-governance/manage-publications-types/01-document-types-settings.png)

Each row shows five things:

- **Name** and, underneath it, the description you wrote.
- **Slug**, the fixed identifier used behind the scenes.
- **Status**, Active or Inactive. Only Active types are offered when someone creates a working agreement.
- **Type**, System for the types Talkspirit ships and Custom for the ones you create.
- **Workflow**, Direct or Governance. See the last section.

The starting list depends on your organisation. A new organisation is seeded with five system types: Working Agreement, Procedure, Policy, Technical Doc and Other. An organisation migrated from Holaspirit keeps the types that came across with its content instead, so your list may be shorter.

Your organisation can also rename "working agreement" and "proposal", so the page title and the switch below may use your own words.

## Creating a document type

1. Click **Add Type**.
2. Enter a **Label**. This is what members see.
3. Check the **Slug**. It is filled in automatically from the label, in capitals with underscores. You can change it here, but not after the type is created, so get it right now.
4. Add a **Description** if you want one. It appears under the name in the list and helps administrators tell similar types apart.
5. Turn on **Require proposal workflow** if documents of this type need circle consent before they are published.
6. Click **Create Document Type**.

![The Create Document Type dialog with Label filled in as Meeting Notes, the Slug auto-filled as MEETING_NOTES, an empty Description, and the Require proposal workflow switch turned off](/images/structure-governance/manage-publications-types/02-create-document-type-dialog.png)

**Tip:** use the description to say what belongs in each type. It is the fastest way to stop two administrators creating near duplicates.

Two rules the form enforces. A slug must be unique in your organisation, and it must be capitals, digits and underscores only, starting with a letter. Every type you create here is a Custom type.

## Editing or deleting a document type

1. Click the three-dot button at the end of the row.
2. Choose **Edit** or **Delete**.

![The document types table with the row menu open on a custom type, showing the Edit and Delete options](/images/structure-governance/manage-publications-types/03-document-type-row-actions.png)

**Edit** reopens the same form. You can change the label, the description and the proposal switch. The slug is greyed out and cannot be changed.

**Delete** asks you to confirm, then removes the type permanently. Two things will stop you:

- **System types have no Delete option.** You can edit their label and workflow, but you cannot remove them.
- **A type still used by at least one working agreement cannot be deleted.** Move those working agreements to another type first, then delete.

## Direct and Governance workflows

The **Require proposal workflow** switch is what the Workflow column reports:

- **Direct** means a working agreement of this type is saved and published straight away.
- **Governance** means creating or editing one opens a governance proposal, so the circle consents before the change takes effect.

One thing to know before you rely on it: the proposal route needs a circle to govern the decision. A working agreement created outside any circle is saved directly even when its type is set to Governance.

## What's next?

- [Publications Overview](/structure-governance/publications-overview)
- [How do I add and publish a publication?](/structure-governance/how-to-add-and-publish-a-publication)