Libraries FAQ
Answers to common setup and operating questions about Libraries.
For what the app is and how to set it up from scratch, see the
Libraries Overview.
Setup
Do I need to configure anything before employees can browse libraries?
Yes. Libraries requires a licence and is disabled by default. An admin must enable it in the Apps Marketplace, then create at least one library with a category and one or more items. Without a category, items have nowhere to live and nothing appears on the dashboard.
What is the default permission level for new libraries?
The Default Permission for New Libraries setting in Libraries Settings controls who can add, edit, and delete items in newly created libraries. It defaults to Admins only. The four choices are Any Network User, Admins & specific users, Admins only, and Domain Admins only. You can change the level per library after creation.
Permissions and access
Who can create and manage libraries themselves?
Platform admins, Libraries app admins, and users assigned the Manager role in a library’s audience rules can edit or delete that library. Regular employees cannot create or modify a library even if they can manage items inside it.
What is the difference between visibility and management level?
Visibility controls who can see a library: All Users or Specific Audiences. Management level controls who can add, edit, and delete items inside it. The two are independent. A library can be visible to everyone while only admins can change its contents, or it can be visible to a department while any viewer can contribute.
How does the “Admins & specific users” management level work?
When you set management level to Admins & specific users, only platform admins, app admins, and users whose audience rule assigns the Contributor or Manager role can add, edit, or delete items. Everyone else with visibility can browse but not change anything.
What audience dimensions can I use to target a library?
You can target by individual user, group, department, location, job family, job title, organizational role, or platform role. Each audience rule also carries a role: Viewer, Contributor, or Manager. Rules are combined with OR logic — a user matching any rule sees the library.
Day-to-day
What types of items can I add to a library?
Eight types: Link (any external URL), File, Form, Survey, Wiki, Post, Image, and Video. Form, survey, wiki, post, and file items link to an existing record inside MangoApps. Image and video items accept uploaded media files. If a library is set to the Images and Videos type, only image and video items are allowed.
Can I disable a library without deleting it?
Yes. Admins can toggle a library between enabled and disabled. A disabled library is hidden from regular users but still visible to admins on the dashboard, where the enable control is. Items, categories, and audience rules are preserved.
What view modes are available?
Three dashboard-level views: Modern (card grid), Classic (accordion), and Tree (collapsible hierarchy). The default is set in Settings under Default Library View and defaults to Modern View. Within each category you can also choose a layout mode — Grid, Large (default), or Compact — and a sort order of Admin Defined (manual drag-and-drop), A to Z, or Z to A.
When something looks wrong
Why can’t I find a library I know exists?
Three common causes. The library may be disabled — only admins see disabled libraries. Its visibility may be set to Specific Audiences and you are not in any matching audience rule. Or the library may belong to a different business in a multi-tenant setup.
I added a link to a form, but the item says the source is unavailable — what happened?
Libraries checks whether linked resources still exist and are active. If the form was unpublished or deleted after you added it, the item is flagged as a Missing source (critical severity) during a governance review. Re-publish the form or replace the item with a current link.
“I searched for something and got no results — is search broken?”
In-app search matches item titles and descriptions using keyword matching. If the term does not appear in either field, it will not match. When the Libraries AI Agent is enabled and embeddings are available, the agent uses semantic (meaning-based) search, which finds related content even without exact keywords. Admins can also turn on Include Libraries in Global Search in Settings to make library items appear in the platform-wide search bar.
Why are employees getting notifications for every new item?
The Notify Users When New Items Are Added setting in Libraries Settings is turned on. It defaults to off. When enabled, every user who can see the library receives an in-app notification and, if not opted out, an email for each new item. Turn the setting off if the volume is too high.
Governance and gap analysis
What does governance automation do?
When Enable Governance Automation is turned on in Settings, Libraries schedules periodic review reminders and checks for broken or inactive sources. The review interval is set in days (7–365, default 90). Broken source detection flags items whose linked form, survey, or other record has been deleted (critical severity) or deactivated (medium severity). Review reminders are sent to the library’s managers, or to Libraries app admins, or to business admins as a last resort.
What is knowledge gap analysis?
When Enable Knowledge Gap Analysis is turned on, Libraries tracks searches that return zero results. The Insights page summarizes what employees searched for but could not find, so you know which content to add. Search queries are stored anonymously unless gap analysis is enabled, in which case the searching user is recorded.
Licensing and limits
Does Libraries require a licence?
Yes. Libraries is part of MangoApps Workforce but is disabled by default and requires a licence that an admin enables per tenant.
Are there limits I should know about?
Library names can be up to 100 characters and descriptions up to 500 characters. Uploaded image and video files are capped at 100 MB per item. Accepted image formats are JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, and SVG. Accepted video formats are MP4, WebM, QuickTime, and AVI. Governance review intervals can be set from 7 to 365 days (default 90). The AI agent’s gap analysis report covers 7 to 90 days of search history.
More help
- Libraries Overview
- Ask AI — the assistant answers Libraries questions from these articles.