> A collection groups a project's memos for your team and your AI. Create one from the sidebar or All collections, then use + Add to collection.

# Organise memos into collections

A collection groups a project's memos so your team and your AI work from the same set. Put a client's meeting notes, proposals and files in a collection and everyone who can open it sees the same list, the same board and the same rules for how things are filed. A memo can sit in several collections at once, so a decision can live in the client's collection and in your team handbook without being copied.

Each collection has its own people, views, properties and standing instructions. This page covers creating one and filing memos into it. For the rest, see [Share a collection with your team](https://help.fieldwerk.ai/vm1glqkmoq/share-a-collection-with-your-team.md), [See a collection as a list, board, table, calendar or timeline](https://help.fieldwerk.ai/riqjfipirh/see-a-collection-as-a-list.md) and [Give a collection standing instructions](https://help.fieldwerk.ai/wn60xwy68v/give-a-collection-standing-instructions.md).

## Create a collection

Start one from wherever you are:

- **In the sidebar**, while you're looking at your collections: hover the list's heading and click **+**, or open its **⋯** menu and choose **New collection**.

- **On the All collections page**: click **New collection**.

- **From a memo**: open **+ Add to collection**, type a name such as "Acme rebrand" and choose **Create "Acme rebrand"**. The memo goes straight into it, and you stay on the memo. **Open collection** in the message that appears takes you there.

- **From anywhere**: press **Cmd+K** and choose **New collection**.

The **New collection** dialog asks for two things. Type a **Name** and press Enter or click **Create**. **Share with everyone in** your workspace is on by default; turn it off to keep the collection to yourself for now. If you already have a collection with that name, the dialog says so under the name, so pick another.

If you started from **+** on a tag's heading in the sidebar, the dialog shows the tag the new collection will get.

Fieldwerk then opens the new collection. A description and standing instructions are set from there: the empty collection offers **Add a description** and **Write instructions**, alongside **New memo** for its first memo.

## Add a memo to a collection

1. Open the memo.

2. Click **+ Add to collection**.

3. Pick a collection, or type a new name and choose **Create** to make one on the spot.

Repeat to add the memo to more collections. To file a new memo straight into a collection, use **New memo** from inside the collection instead.

If the collection is published, Fieldwerk asks **Add to a published collection?** first, because the memo may become visible to anyone with the collection's link.

## File new memos somewhere by default

If most of your writing belongs in one collection, stop filing by hand:

1. Open **Personal settings** (in your account menu, or from **Cmd+K**).

2. Under **General**, find **Default collection** and choose where **New memos file here**.

Choose **None (leave memos unfiled)** to stop filing them automatically.

## Keep the important ones at the top

- **Pin a memo** inside a collection with **Pin** on its row. Pinned memos stay at the top.

- **Favourite a collection** with **Add to favourites** in the collection's menu. Favourites get their own section at the top of the sidebar.

- **Tag collections** with **Edit tags** in the collection's menu, then use **Group by tag** in the sidebar or on **All collections** to group them.

![The sidebar with Favourites at the top, then collections grouped under their tags, Client work and Studio](https://img.fieldwerk.ai/memos/m6ygilwhsg/f52dd303f55a4375c476ea63@2x.png?px=248)

## Archive a collection

When a project ends, choose **Archive** from the collection's menu. It disappears from the sidebar and pickers, but nothing is deleted: its memos stay where they are. Archived collections sit under **Archived** at the bottom of **All collections**, where **Unarchive** brings one back.

## Have your AI do it

With your AI connected (see [Connect Claude to Fieldwerk](https://help.fieldwerk.ai/pz1hhc2mwy/connect-claude-to-fieldwerk.md) or [Connect ChatGPT to Fieldwerk](https://help.fieldwerk.ai/exh83fg13f/connect-chatgpt-to-fieldwerk.md)), set up a project's collection and its rules in one go:

```prompt
In Fieldwerk, create a new collection for a project. Ask me what to call it and whether to share it with everyone in my workspace. Suggest standing instructions for it and save them once I agree, then offer to file any of my existing memos that belong there.
```

Tidy up what's already there:

```prompt
In Fieldwerk, show me my collections and ask which one to check, then list its memos that have no owner set and tell me which ones look like meeting notes.
```

A good habit: write the collection's standing instructions the day you create it. Your AI files things the way your team does from the first memo instead of guessing.

To keep the collections you use most at the top of your sidebar, see [Keep the collections you use close at hand](https://help.fieldwerk.ai/pen05he959/keep-the-collections-you-use-close.md).