---
title: "Binders"
description: "How Docket Navigator binders hold searches, profiles, analytics, tabs, folders, saved research, shared work, alerts, and multi-step research workflows."
---

A **binder** is the workspace that holds related Docket Navigator research.

Search results, profiles, and analytics open inside binders. A binder can contain multiple tabs, so a user can preserve one result set while opening additional searches, charts, or supporting records beside it.

Binders are central to the Docket Navigator interaction model because they preserve research context across multiple steps.

## A binder is a container for tabs

Each research view in a binder appears as a tab in the binder's Table of Contents.

Tabs can contain different kinds of content, including:

- search-result lists;
- profile overviews and profile-specific results;
- analytics charts and data tables;
- related searches opened from another result;
- additional searches added while the research develops.

The Table of Contents shows the tabs in the binder and, where applicable, the result count associated with a tab.

## Search-result tabs and analytics tabs

A binder can mix record-level research with analytical views.

**Search-result tabs** contain lists of records such as cases, docket entries, pleadings and orders, determinations, remedies, or other searchable data.

**Analytics tabs** summarize filtered data as charts and tables.

Keeping both in the same binder allows a user to move between the summary and the records that support it without rebuilding the research in a separate workspace.

[Learn how analytics tabs work](/analytics/how-analytics-tabs-work/)

## Adding research to a binder

Use **Add New Tab** to add another search or supported research view to the current binder.

This lets a binder grow with the research question. For example, a user might begin with a list of cases, add a documents search, open analytics based on those criteria, and keep each stage available as a separate tab.

Use **New Folder** to group related tabs in longer binders.

## Tabs preserve distinct research states

Each tab represents its own research view and filter state.

Changing filters on one tab does not redefine what another existing tab means. This allows a user to keep a broad result set in one tab while creating a narrower or differently filtered view in another.

Rename tabs when descriptive names will make the research easier to follow later.

## Using one result set in later research

Docket Navigator supports multi-step research in which the results from one search can inform another search.

In supported workflows, a user can add a new tab and use a previous search result as a criterion for the new search. This is sometimes described as a **sub-search** or **using previous search results**.

Conceptually, this allows a binder to express relationships such as:

- start with documents matching a text or legal criterion;
- identify the cases associated with those documents;
- use that case set as the input for a new search or analysis.

Because the source tab remains in the binder, the chain of research can be inspected later.

## Profiles are pre-built binders

A Docket Navigator profile opens as a binder that has already been populated for a specific subject.

For example, a judge profile can contain an overview, case lists, decision-related tabs, timing analytics, and other views already filtered to that judge.

The profile provides the starting structure. The user can add new tabs and additional research to the same binder.

When a user wants to preserve a customized version of a profile, saving a copy keeps those additions and changes as a separate research artifact.

[Learn how profiles work](/profiles/how-profiles-work/)

## Saving a binder

Saving a binder preserves the current research so it can be reopened later.

A saved binder can preserve:

- its name;
- its tabs and folders;
- the searches and analytics represented by those tabs;
- filter states and other saved result settings;
- additional research added to a profile or shared binder.

Docket Navigator's saved searches are therefore represented as saved binders rather than as isolated query strings.

Use **Save As** when a separate copy of existing research is needed.

## Finding saved research

Saved binders can be accessed from Docket Navigator's saved-binder or binder-management views.

Because binders are associated with the library in which they were created, the library is part of the context for finding and continuing saved work.

[Learn how libraries work](/getting-started/libraries/)

## Sharing a binder

A saved binder can be shared with other users.

Sharing allows another user to inspect the same collection of tabs and research context rather than reconstructing the searches independently. Docket Navigator supports sharing within a user's group and, where permitted, sharing a binder outside the group.

A binder can also be transferred to another owner through Binder Information when the research should belong to a different user.

## Binders and alerts

Alerts are closely related to saved research.

A user can create alerts from supported searches, and saved binders can be used to manage alerted research. The binder name is also used as the alert subject line in the current alert workflow.

This means the binder can serve both as the saved research definition and as the place a user returns to when the monitored question needs to be reviewed or changed.

## Binders and Docket Navigator MCP

Where the connected Docket Navigator MCP workflow supports binder actions, an AI assistant can save useful Docket Navigator research as a binder and organize later refinements as additional tabs.

This makes the binder the persistent Docket Navigator artifact behind a conversational research workflow. The conversation can change, while the binder preserves the actual Docket Navigator result sets selected during the research.

## Interpreting a binder correctly

A binder can contain tabs created at different points in the research process. Do not assume every tab has the same filters simply because the tabs appear in the same binder.

To understand a particular tab:

1. identify whether it is a search-result or analytics tab;
2. inspect the tab's active filters;
3. identify any profile subject or previous result set used to create it;
4. follow links to the underlying records when verification is needed.

The binder preserves the relationship among the research steps. The active filters preserve the meaning of each individual result.

:::note
Binder controls and sharing options can depend on account permissions and library access. If a UI instruction is unclear or has changed, verify it against the current product before documenting the exact menu path.
:::