Glossary

Overview

This glossary defines the terms and concepts a user meets across Uwazi.

Terms group by product area. Within each area, entries run in alphabetical order for fast lookup. Bold text marks the term. A label in a definition such as Library points to a feature you see in the interface.

Content and structure

These terms describe how Uwazi stores and organizes content.

Term	Definition
Common properties	The three reserved fields on every template: Title, Date added, and Date modified.
Entity	The main unit of content in Uwazi: a record with a title, metadata, files, and relationships.
Generated ID	An auto-generated identifier in the format XXX-XXXX-XXXX, available as a Title option.
Metadata	The set of property values on an entity, such as its dates, locations, and linked records.
Property	A single typed field on a template, such as a date, a number, or a link. Also called a metadata field.
Property type	The kind of value a property holds, such as Text, Date, or Select.
Template	The structure that defines the fields for one type of entity. Also called an entity type.
Thesaurus	A reusable list of values that Select and Multiple select properties draw from.
Title	The required name of an entity, shown across the library and search results.
Value	A single option in a thesaurus, such as one country in a list of countries. Also called an item.

Property types

A property type sets the kind of value a property holds. The table lists the types a user meets when building a template.

Type	Stores
Date	One date.
Date range	One start-and-end date pair.
Generated ID	One auto-generated identifier.
Geolocation	One latitude and longitude point for the map.
Image	One image, uploaded or by URL.
Link	One web address with an optional label.
Media	One video or audio file, with optional time segments.
Multiple date ranges	A list of date pairs.
Multiple dates	A list of dates.
Multiple select	Many values from a thesaurus.
Numeric	One number.
Preview	No value; it shows a related document's thumbnail.
Relationship	Links to one or more other entities.
Rich text	One formatted text value written in Markdown.
Select	One value from a thesaurus.
Text	One line of plain text.

For each type's options, filtering, and constraints, see the property types reference.

Documents and files

These terms cover the files a user attaches to an entity.

Term	Definition
Attachment	Any extra file on an entity that is not its main document. Also called a supporting file.
Document	The main PDF attached to an entity, searchable by its full text.
Full text	The text Uwazi extracts from a PDF, which makes the document searchable.
OCR	Optical character recognition, a service that reads text from scanned PDFs.
Reference	A link between a highlighted passage in a PDF and another entity. Also called a text reference.
Table of contents	A list of sections built from a PDF, shown beside the document.
Thumbnail	A small preview image generated from a document's first page.
Time segment	A start-and-end marker on a media file that points to part of a video or audio clip.

warning

A document can hold up to 300 text references.

Relationships

These terms describe how Uwazi connects entities to each other.

Term	Definition
Connection	A single link between two entities, created through a relationship.
Inherited property	A field from a related entity, shown inline on the source entity.
Relationship	A link between two entities, or between a passage of text and an entity.
Relationship type	A label that describes a relationship, such as "represents" or "authored by".

Library and search

These terms cover how a user browses and finds entities.

Term	Definition
Cards view	The default library layout, which shows each entity as a card.
Default filter	A filter that the library shows open without expanding the filter list.
Filter	A sidebar control that narrows the library by a property value.
Full-text search	A search across the text of documents and the titles of entities.
Library	The main page for browsing, searching, and filtering entities.
Map view	A library layout that plots entities with a geolocation on a map.
Priority sorting	A property set as the library's default sort order.
Relevance	A sort order that ranks results by how well they match the search.
Table view	A library layout that shows entities as rows in a table.

Users and permissions

These terms describe who can see and change content.

Term	Definition
Activity log	A record of important actions in the collection, available to admins.
Admin	A role with full access to all content and to every setting, including users.
Collaborator	A role that creates and edits its own or shared entities but can't publish them.
Editor	A role with full access to all entities and publishing, but not to system settings.
Group	A named set of users that share the same entity permissions.
Permission	An entry that grants a user or group read or write access to an entity.
Published	An entity that everyone can see, including signed-out visitors on a public instance.
Read	A permission level that lets a user view an entity but not change it.
Restricted	An unpublished entity that the current user can't open or find.
Role	A collection-wide access level: Admin, Editor, or Collaborator.
Share	The action of granting a user or group access to an entity.
Two-factor authentication	A second sign-in step using a one-time code from an authenticator app. Also called 2FA.
User	A person with an account on the instance.
Visitor	A signed-out person who sees only published content on a public instance.
Write	A permission level that lets a user view and edit an entity.

Languages and translation

These terms cover how Uwazi handles many languages.

Term	Definition
Automatic translation	A service that translates chosen template fields into the collection's languages.
Content translation	A translation of entity and thesaurus content, such as titles and values.
Default language	The main language of the collection, used when no other applies.
Inline translation	A mode that translates text directly on the page as a user edits it.
Language	One of the languages a collection publishes content in.
RTL	A right-to-left language, such as Arabic or Hebrew, that the interface adapts to.
System translation	A translation of the Uwazi interface labels and messages.

Pages and navigation

These terms cover custom pages and the navigation menu.

Term	Definition
Basic page	A page that uses HTML and can embed maps, charts, and entity lists.
Entity view page	A page set as the display layout for entities of one template.
Landing page	The first page a visitor sees, which defaults to the library.
Menu	The links in the top navigation bar, set under Settings.
Page	A custom web page in the collection, with its own content and address.
Release	A published version of a page that a user can restore later.
Rich page	A page that uses Markdown for simpler, text-based content.

Collection and settings

These terms cover instance-wide configuration and branding.

Term	Definition
Analytics	Settings that connect the collection to Google Analytics or Matomo.
Character support	A setting that improves field names for non-Latin scripts.
Collection	A single Uwazi deployment, with its own templates, entities, and settings. Also called an instance.
Cookie policy	A setting that shows a cookie consent banner to visitors.
Custom CSS	A setting that adds custom styles to the collection's appearance.
Custom JS	A setting that adds custom JavaScript to the collection.
Date format	The setting that controls how dates appear across the interface.
Favicon	The small icon shown in a browser tab for the collection.
Favorite	A personal bookmark that marks an entity for quick return.
Map provider	The map service used for geolocation display: Mapbox or Google.
Public instance	A collection where anyone can view published content without signing in.
Settings	The area where admins configure the collection.
Site logo	The logo shown in the top navigation bar.
Sync	A feature that pulls content from another Uwazi instance.
Synced template	A template that comes from a sync and that the receiving instance can't delete.
Theme and branding	The settings that control the collection's colours, logo, and favicon.

warning

A public instance exposes every published entity to anyone on the internet.

Information extraction

These terms cover the tools that suggest metadata from documents.

Term	Definition
Accuracy	A measure of how often a suggestion matches the value a person confirms.
Auto-accept	An option that applies suggestions to entities without a manual review.
Extractor	A configuration that pairs templates and a property with an extraction model.
Information extraction	A feature that suggests metadata values by reading an entity's documents.
Paragraph extraction	A feature that pulls paragraphs from documents and saves each as an entity.
Segmentation	A service that splits a PDF into paragraphs for extraction.
Suggestion	A candidate value that an extractor proposes for an entity's property.
Training	The process of teaching an extraction model from confirmed examples.

Importing and exporting

These terms cover moving content in and out of Uwazi.

Term	Definition
Custom uploads	Files uploaded for branding, such as logos and favicons.
CSV export	A download of the current library results as a CSV file.
CSV import	A bulk creation of entities from a CSV file mapped to one template.
Translations CSV	A CSV file for importing or exporting the collection's translations.
ZIP import	A CSV import packaged with the attachment files it refers to.

Public access

These terms cover how signed-out people interact with a collection.

Term	Definition
CAPTCHA	A check on a public form that blocks automated spam submissions.
Public form	A form that lets signed-out people submit a new entity using an approved template.
Whitelisted template	A template approved to accept public form submissions.

Related

• Property types reference
• Collection settings reference
• User roles and permissions reference