# Group related documents with packets

Packets assemble themselves — every document sharing a key field value belongs, automatically — so this page explains the packet template behind that, the Packet Search page, and the completeness checking that's the feature's real payoff.

Product: content-central · Versions: 7.x · Audience: user · Time: 10 minute read · Last verified: 2026-09-05

Canonical: https://help.ademero.com/content-central/documents/group-related-documents-with-packets

**By the end of this page you'll know the one idea that makes packets click — membership is automatic, driven by a shared field value — and how to use Packet Search's Complete/Incomplete verdict to answer the real question: "what's still missing from this file?"**

## The idea: packets assemble themselves

A packet is every document whose **key field** carries the same value, measured against a **packet template** that lists which document types belong. A loan packet template might say: key field *Loan Number*; required types *Application*, *Appraisal*, *Note*, *Closing Disclosure*. The moment a document is filed with Loan Number `20260147`, it's in that loan's packet — no adding, no dragging, nothing to maintain.

That's the part that surprises people: **you never create a packet or put documents into one.** File documents with the right field values and the grouping is just *true*. It also means the reverse: a document with a mistyped key value is missing from its packet until [the field is corrected](/content-central/documents/change-a-document-after-filing).

## Find a packet

1. Open **Packet Search** (under **Search** in the menu).

2. Pick the **Packet Template**, enter the key field's value, and click **Search**.

**What you should see:** the packet's contents — and its verdict. A **Complete** badge means every required document type is present; **Incomplete** comes with a count and the missing types shaded red in the results.

*[Screenshot: A vendor packet keyed by PO number: the Purchase Order is Found, and the four other required types read Missing in red. That one screen replaces a folder-by-folder completeness check.]*

That verdict is the feature's payoff. "Is this loan file complete?" or "which employee files still lack an I-9?" stops being a folder-by-folder inspection.

## From a document you're already viewing

- When an open document belongs to a packet, its right panel gains a **Packet** tab listing the other members — missing required types appear as placeholders.
- **View Packet** in the document's actions menu opens the full packet view: a completion meter, the documents, and the missing-types list, each member a click away.

## Capturing toward completeness

Scanning a stack that belongs to one packet? The **QCard Packet** capture type (under **Capture New**) works from a packet template: enter the key value once and the documents you capture all carry it — arriving already grouped.

## For administrators: the template

Packet templates live under **Administration** > **Packet Templates**. A template is: a name, the **Key Field** (a global field), and the list of document types in the packet — each marked required or not — plus sort order for the packet view and an optional system field that surfaces the packet's status on its documents. Guidance that matters more than the mechanics:

- **Pick a key field that's truly shared and reliably filled** — required at capture on every participating type. The template is only as good as the field discipline beneath it.
- **Mark "required" honestly.** Required types drive the Complete/Incomplete verdict; padding the list with nice-to-haves makes every packet read Incomplete forever.

## What's next

- [Set up your first catalog, fields, and document types](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/administration/set-up-catalogs-fields-and-document-types)
- [Change a document's type, catalog, or fields after filing](https://help.ademero.com/content-central/documents/change-a-document-after-filing)