A virtual document is a file that contains one or more files nested within it. The virtual document is also called the parent document, and the files within it are called descendants or children.

For example, you could create a virtual document for a book, and populate the virtual document with the files that comprise the book’s chapters. Each chapter is a separate file that is nested within the parent document.

The files nested in a virtual document can themselves be virtual documents. This means you can have multiple levels of nesting.

When you check out a virtual document, you can select whether to check out only the parent document, or check out the parent document, and its descendants.

When you view a virtual document, you can select whether to view the document’s structure or its content. When you view its structure, Virtual Document Manager (VDM) opens to display the virtual document’s descendants.

A virtual document can contain descendants of different file formats. For example, a Microsoft Word file could be the parent file, and its descendants could be an Excel spreadsheet, and TIFF image.

You can add, remove, and rearrange descendants in a virtual document. You can convert a virtual document back to a simple document that contains no descendants.

Virtual documents are designated by this icon: