Govinity automatically generates several documents as the meeting lifecycle unfolds — the Agenda Outline, the Agenda Package, and the Transcript. All three appear in the meeting's Documents tab once generated, where you can publish them to the public portal, download them, share them, or delete and regenerate as needed.
This article covers what each auto-generated document is, how it ends up in the Documents tab, the publish/unpublish controls, and how to manage them after generation. The companion article — Adding Your Own Documents to a Meeting — covers uploading your own files (PDFs, public notices, supplementary documents) to the same tab.
Where to find them
On any meeting page, click the Documents tab.
[IMAGE: The Documents tab showing the list of documents with the viewer pane on the right]
The Documents tab is always available regardless of which subscription modules your government has — even governments without the Recording or Agenda modules can use it for storing meeting-related documents. The auto-generated documents described in this article do depend on the modules that produce them (Agenda module for Outline and Package; Recording module for Transcript).
The three auto-generated document types
Agenda Outline
The Agenda Outline is a single-document PDF that mirrors the agenda's structure — section titles, item titles, item codes. No item bodies, no attachments. The "table of contents" version of the agenda.
How it gets here: Click Generate Document on the Agenda tab after finalizing. See Finalizing and Publishing the Agenda for the full workflow.
Document type: Agenda Outline
When you'd regenerate: After making changes to the agenda's structure (which requires Undo Finalize and re-finalizing).
Agenda Package
The Agenda Package is the full agenda packet — the Outline plus every item's documents and attachments combined into one comprehensive PDF. This is what citizens typically read to prepare for a meeting.
How it gets here: Click Generate Package on the Agenda tab after generating the Outline. See Finalizing and Publishing the Agenda for the workflow including the items PDF validation step.
Document type: Agenda Package
When you'd regenerate: After items' documents or attachments change, or after the agenda's structure changes.
Transcript
The Transcript is the AI-generated transcript of the meeting recording, formatted as a downloadable text document.
How it gets here: Click Generate Transcript on the Media tab's Transcript sub-tab. See Transcripts and Timestamps.
Document type: Transcript
When you'd regenerate: If the original transcript was inaccurate or generated from a poor-quality recording, you can delete and regenerate.
Document lifecycle
Each auto-generated document moves through three lifecycle states:
[IMAGE: A document row showing the Pending state with a spinner and "The document is being generated"]
Pending
When you trigger generation, the document appears in the Documents tab immediately with a Pending status. You'll see:
A spinner.
The label "The document is being generated."
No action buttons except the document title and type.
The Documents tab polls every 2 seconds while any document is Pending, so the page automatically updates when generation completes. You don't have to refresh.
For most documents:
Outline: seconds to a minute.
Package: 1-5 minutes for small agendas; longer for large ones with many item documents.
Transcript: several minutes depending on recording length.
Completed
When generation succeeds, the document flips to Completed state with the full action set:
[IMAGE: A document row in Completed state showing Publish, View, Download, Edit, Delete buttons]
Publish / Unpublish — control public visibility.
View — open the document in the right-side viewer.
Download — download the file (signed URL opens in new tab).
Edit — inline form for rename, security level, custom type.
Delete — remove the document.
Failed
If generation fails, the document shows Failed to generate status with only a delete button:
[IMAGE: A document row in Failed state showing the "Failed to generate" message and Delete button]
Click delete to remove the failed document. Then go back to the source (Agenda tab for Outline/Package, Media tab for Transcript) and try generation again. Failures typically indicate a transient backend issue or a problem with the source content (e.g., a corrupted item attachment for the Package).
The Documents tab layout
The page is a split-view that adjusts based on whether you have a document selected for preview:
[IMAGE: The Documents tab layout showing the list on the left and the viewer pane on the right]
Left column — the list of documents.
Right column (when a document is selected) — a PDF or document viewer showing the selected document.
Click View on any completed document to open it in the right viewer pane.
Each document row
Each document in the list shows:
Drag handle — grab to reorder the document list (drag-and-drop sorting).
Document name — typically auto-set on generation ("Agenda Outline - October 15 2025 Meeting"). Editable via the Edit action.
Type badge — Agenda Outline, Agenda Package, Transcript, Public Notice, Other, etc.
Security level badge — Public, Internal, Confidential.
Created date — when the document was generated or uploaded.
Published date (when published) — when the document was published to the public portal.
Publishing a document
The publish/unpublish workflow controls public visibility. Click Publish on any completed document:
[IMAGE: The Publish confirmation prompt]
A confirmation appears: "Publishing this document will make it available to the public." Click Yes.
The document is now publicly visible on the meeting's portal page. Citizens viewing the meeting will see this document listed and downloadable. The Published date appears on the row, and the action button changes to Unpublish.
Unpublishing
Click Unpublish to pull the document back. A confirmation appears: "Unpublishing this document will hide it from the public." The document remains in Govinity but isn't visible publicly.
Publishing in practice
A typical pattern:
Agenda Outline — published when the agenda is published (often automatically as part of the agenda publish flow).
Agenda Package — same. Published when the agenda is published.
Transcript — published manually after the meeting once you've reviewed the AI-generated transcript for accuracy.
You can also un-publish any document if you need to pull something back (e.g., a transcript with a sensitive disclosure that needs redaction).
Editing a document
Click Edit (pencil icon) on any completed document to open the inline edit form:
[IMAGE: The inline document edit form with Name, Security Level, and Type fields]
Name — rename the document for clarity. Useful for distinguishing "Agenda Outline" vs. "Agenda Outline - REVISED".
Security Level — set Public, Internal, or Confidential.
Type (for Other documents) — assign a custom type for sorting/filtering.
Save to commit.
A note on Security Level vs. Publish state:
Security Level controls who within Govinity can see the document (Public = visible to all staff regardless of role; Internal = restricted; Confidential = restricted further).
Publish state controls whether citizens see the document on the public portal.
A document marked Internal and Published would be visible to citizens on the portal but only certain Govinity users could see it internally. Less common; typical pattern is Public + Published or Confidential + Unpublished.
Deleting a document
Click Delete (trash icon, red) on any document. A confirmation appears: "This action cannot be undone." Click Yes and the document is removed.
Deleted documents can't be recovered through the UI. For auto-generated documents (Outline, Package, Transcript), you can regenerate from the source tab if you change your mind.
The viewer pane
When a document is selected for preview (via the View button), the right column shows the document inline:
[IMAGE: The document viewer pane showing a PDF rendered in the browser]
PDFs render as interactive pages with zoom and page navigation.
Other formats (rarely needed for auto-generated docs since they're all PDFs) may render differently.
The viewer makes it easy to review documents without downloading. Useful when checking generation results before publishing.
Document ordering
The Documents tab is sortable via drag-and-drop. Grab the drag handle on any row and reposition. The order applies to what citizens see on the public portal — typically you want the Agenda Outline first, then the Package, then any other documents, then the Transcript.
The order persists across sessions and applies to the public-facing view.
Common patterns
A few patterns that come up:
"I just published the agenda; let me verify the Outline and Package look right before they're visible." The Outline and Package are typically generated before publish. Open the Documents tab, click View on each to preview in the viewer pane. If they look right, the agenda publish step makes them publicly visible.
"The Transcript came out wrong; let me regenerate." Delete the existing Transcript document. Go to the Media tab → Transcript sub-tab → Generate Transcript. The new transcript replaces the old one.
"I need to add a confidentiality stamp to the Package before publishing." This isn't supported within Govinity — the Package is a generated PDF, not editable in-app. Download the Package, mark it up in Acrobat or similar, then upload the marked-up version as a new "Other" document and publish that instead. Delete the original Package.
"The Agenda Outline already exists from a previous regeneration — does the new one replace it?" Yes. When you generate a new Outline (or Package), it overwrites the existing one. The system maintains one of each type per meeting.
"I want to publish only the Outline, not the Package." Publish them individually using the Publish button on each row. They have independent publish state.
Common questions
Can I have multiple Agenda Outlines for one meeting? No — there's one Outline and one Package per meeting. Each regeneration replaces the previous.
Can I generate documents in advance without finalizing the agenda? No — Outline generation requires the agenda to exist; Package generation requires finalization. The lifecycle is enforced.
What happens to documents if the meeting is deleted? The documents are deleted along with the meeting. Make sure you've downloaded anything important first.
Can I move a document from one meeting to another? Not within Govinity. Download from the source meeting and upload to the destination meeting as an "Other" document.
How long does Govinity keep meeting documents? Indefinitely. Storage is part of your subscription.
Can citizens search across documents on the public portal? Each meeting's documents are listed on the meeting page. Across meetings, search functionality is part of the public portal — see public portal documentation.
What this article doesn't cover
Uploading your own documents — see Adding Your Own Documents to a Meeting.
Generating the Outline and Package — see Finalizing and Publishing the Agenda.
Generating the Transcript — see Transcripts and Timestamps.
Setting document security levels by user role — see admin documentation.
What to read next
Adding Your Own Documents to a Meeting — the upload-side companion to this article.
Finalizing and Publishing the Agenda — the source flow for Outline and Package.
Transcripts and Timestamps — the source flow for Transcript.
Need help?
If a document keeps failing to generate, the most common cause is an upstream issue — the agenda has a malformed section, an item has a corrupted attachment, or the recording has a codec issue. Look at the source content and resolve the issue, then retry. For anything else, reach out to Govinity support.