Project Folders
Last updated: October 19, 2026
A project folder holds everything for one opportunity: the questionnaires you need to answer, the supporting documents that came with them, and the deal details. Each questionnaire inside the folder becomes its own project, and every project in the folder can draw on the same supporting documents. Click Projects in the sidebar and you land on the folders list.
Response files and Context files
When you add a file to a folder you mark it as one of two things:
A Response file is a questionnaire for Iris to answer. It goes to the staging area so you can confirm which cells or lines are questions, and then becomes a project. See Staging Area and Question Mapping.
A Context file is reference material for this deal: an RFP appendix, a statement of work, the customer's own security overview, a questionnaire you completed for the same customer last year. Iris reads it but does not try to answer it.
Here is what Iris does with a Context file. It reads the whole file, writes a summary, and indexes the contents for this folder only. When it answers a question in any project in the folder, it has that summary in front of it and pulls in the passages that match, on top of the Knowledge Map content your tags select. Context files never enter the Knowledge Map and are never used by other folders. Response files get the same treatment, so a second questionnaire in the folder can lean on the first.
A file's type cannot be changed after upload. If a Context file turns out to be a questionnaire, delete it and add it again as Response.
Each file in a folder is marked Response or Context when you add it.
Creating a folder
Click New Project Folder, give it a Name, Due Date and Deal Owner, drop in your files and mark each one Response or Context, then click Create Project Folder. Iris creates one project per Response file and opens the staging area. Files can be PDF, Word, Excel, CSV, text or Markdown, up to 100 MB each. The step-by-step version is in Completing an RFx or Security Questionnaire in Iris.
The folders list
The Projects page opens on the Folders tab. The counts at the top are Total Project Folders, Due Today, Overdue and Total Projects. Due Today and Overdue count only folders with work left in them, so a folder whose projects are all approved drops out even if its date has passed. Click a count to filter the list.
The folders list. Status shows how many projects in the folder are at each stage.
All Folders shows every folder you can see; My Folders shows the ones where you are the deal owner or a participant. Search by name, or filter by Date Range, Deal Owner, Approver and Status. Each row shows the due date, deal owner, customer, a Status summary such as Ready to Review: 2, and % Complete, the share of questions approved across the folder. A folder has no status of its own; the Status filter matches on the least-advanced project inside it.
The Projects tab lists every project across all folders with a Project Folder column, for when you are after one questionnaire rather than one deal.
Inside a folder
Open a folder and you'll see its name and due date at the top, with the customer if you entered one, then two sections.
A folder with one project and two Context files. Both files are available to every project in the folder.
Projects lists each questionnaire with its due date, deal owner, approver, answers pending approval, percent complete and status. The menu at the end of a row has Edit Project, Download Original File, View Project Report and Delete Project. A folder with a single project that is ready to review or complete opens straight into that project.
Files has two tabs, Context Files and Response Files. Each file shows its format and a processing label: Processing while Iris reads it, Done when ready, Failed or Invalid if it could not be read. Response files also link to their project, or to the staging area if it has not been started. You can download or delete a file here. Deleting a Response file deletes its project with every question and answer in it; Iris warns you first.
Adding files later
Click Add Files at the top of the Projects section. A new Response file becomes a new project and opens the staging area. A new Context file starts processing and is available to every project once done. While Context files are processing, a notice at the top of the folder tracks how many are ready, and in the staging area Start Project waits for them. You can keep marking cells in the meantime.
Add Files takes the same mix of Response and Context files as a new folder.
Editing and deleting a folder
From the folders list, the menu at the end of a row has Edit and Delete. Edit Project Folder covers the name, due date, deal owner, customer name, deal size and description. Changing the due date, deal owner or customer here changes them on every project in the folder too. The approval workflow and participants are set at creation; change them per project through Edit Project.
Deleting a folder deletes every project inside it, so check the Projects section first.
What projects take from the folder
A new project copies the folder's due date, deal owner, customer details, approval workflow and participants. Everything that shapes the answers is per project: Project Reviewer, Tags, Project Context and instructions are set in Project Content Details when you start the project and changed later in Edit Project. See Understanding Project Context and Custom Instructions. Inside a project, Back to Project Folder at the top returns you to the folder.
Who can do what
Folder access is set per role in Settings: View, Create, Edit and Delete Project Folders. If New Project Folder is missing from your Projects page, ask your Iris administrator. See Roles in Iris.