Containers are useful because they serve as a primary organizational mechanism for users to group related documents and to manipulate them together. They also aid in locating information by providing a level of scoping for queries. Containers typically present a common set of operations that are available for the contained items.

A container can include other items besides documents and can present items that do not reside locally or together. For example, a container can represent a mail in-box, even though the items presented in the container reside on a specialized mail server.

A container can also be coupled with query objects that are used to specify which items to present in the container. This capability permits new ways of collecting and viewing information. Containers can automate routine user tasks, such as finding all the documents related to a specific project or time period.

A specialized container can be created to serve a very narrow purpose, such as presenting in one location all the People elements and Place elements in an organization. A container can be created to hold or accept only a specific type of object--for example, a card file might be used to hold only business cards (a reference to a People element).

In addition to serving as a reference for its contents, a container can have added functionality for presenting the items within. For example, a folder container can present its contained documents as various sizes of icons, in list or tree views, and more. Different layouts and methods for sorting and filtering items are possible.

Containers play a key role in supporting collaborative work because they provide shared access. By enabling multiple users to see and access contained items simultaneously, a high degree of information sharing is possible. One common use of shared folders is as personal drop boxes, which enable documents to be quickly transferred among users.