Collections let you create sub-groups inside a single object type. They are best for manual curation when you want to organize a type into meaningful sets.

If you need to group content across different object types, use tags.

What collections are

A collection is a manual group within one object type.

Examples:

• Meeting object type: 1:1s, Team Retros, Customer Calls
• Book object type: Currently Reading, 5-Star Books, To Revisit
• Person object type: Advisors, Close Collaborators, People to Follow Up With

You cannot make one collection that mixes books, meetings, and people. Collections are for object types, not individual objects.

When to use collections

Use collections when you want:

• curated subsets of one object type
• quick access to important groups
• multiple overlapping groups without duplicating content

Objects can belong to more than one collection.

For example, one Book object can be in both 5-Star Books and Books to Recommend.

Collections vs folders

Collections are more flexible than folders:

• objects can be in multiple collections
• collections are groups, not storage containers
• they are not nested folder trees

If you catch yourself wanting many levels of nested collections, that usually means you should revisit your object-type structure or use queries.

For example, if you start building something like Work > Projects > Active > Q3, that is usually a sign to use properties and queries (or a new object type), not deeper collection nesting.

How to work with collections

You can:

• create collections from object dashboards
• add/remove objects manually
• update collections in bulk via bulk actions
• embed collections on pages for focused views

For grouping behavior in views, see Group by Collections.

Collections and queries

Collections are manual and curated. Queries are automatic and rule-based.

When your grouping rules become consistent and repetitive, move from a manual collection to a query.

Example:

• collection: Favorite Articles (manual, taste-based curation)
• query: All articles tagged #Personal Finance created in last 30 days (automatic, rule-based retrieval)

Collections and object-type design

Collections are often a good first step. But if your collections start representing fundamentally different structures (different properties, workflows, or lifecycles), it is usually time to create a new object type.

See:

• When to create a new object type
• Custom content types

FAQs

• I am manually maintaining a collection like "In Progress". Should this be a query instead?
  In many cases, yes. If membership is based on a rule (for example, all projects with Status = In Progress), a query is usually better than a manual collection.
  Use collections for hand-picked curation. Use queries when the grouping is rule-based and should update automatically.

Related pages

• Tags
• Organizational structures
• Tags vs. Collections