Public View

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1. Data to be published
2. Comparison table of publishable fields
3. List of data for publishing
4. Setting default values for access restrictions
5. Titling
6. Automatic conversion of published documents
7. Publishing archived objects
8. Document publishing rules
9. Public view functionality
10. Opening public view
11. Filtering by folder in public view

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Data to be published

The organization's document register is a digitally maintained database in accordance with the Public Information Act (hereinafter: PIA) requirements for registering documents received by and created in the organization and for ensuring access to them, which must be maintained by state or local government institutions or public law legal entities. Organizations (information holders) are obliged to register documents created and received in the performance of their duties in the document register. The document register must ensure access to registered digital documents without access restrictions (effective from 01.01.2009) or contain location references for paper-based or other medium documents.

The document register must ensure public access to:

1. metadata describing documents
2. digital documents without access restrictions

Access is not provided to documents containing personal data or trade secrets. However, basic data describing these documents must be published.

To ensure better access to public information and finding necessary documents, the document register keeper must enable access to the document register on the public web, create a content guide and user guide to facilitate document finding, and ensure document finding based on basic data with an IT search system with full-text search¹.

Full-text search involves finding information from the public view of the document register, not from the content of registered documents, as the document register also contains documents with access restrictions, which cannot be accessed through the document register². If access restrictions are imposed on documents, this does not give grounds to not display the existence of documents with access restrictions in the public view of the document register or on the public web³. Documents with access restrictions must be registered in the general order and data about these documents must be visible in the public view of the document register.

The document register must also contain information about the basis and deadline for access restrictions for documents with access restrictions. Access to such documents is not provided through the document register.

Here it should be noted that when publishing the document register (setting up the public view), both the Public Information Act and the Personal Data Protection Act must be harmonized. While on one hand smooth and effective access to organization documents must be ensured for citizens, on the other hand privacy and protection of individuals must be ensured. The Public Information Act requires entering data about the letter sender into the document register, but at the same time the individual's right to privacy must be respected. Therefore, if a person's name who submitted an application for social benefits is in the public part of the document register, and although the document itself has access restrictions, data about the person's private life may be read from some document registers, and in such cases the access restriction on the document may lose its purpose⁴.

Therefore, when registering documents, the person's full data should be used, which can be used in Amphora's internal view for daily work.

According to Public Information Act § 12, the data about incoming and outgoing documents that must be visible in the public view are as follows:

Data	Handling
1) from whom received or to whom issued	the mentioned information is treated as data provided in Administrative Procedure Act § 28 section 2 point 1 (sender's or recipient's name or designation)
2) date of receipt or issue	the mentioned information is treated as data provided in Administrative Procedure Act § 28 section 2 point 2 (date of receipt or sending)
3) in what way the document was received or issued (email, mail, fax, courier or handed over personally)	the mentioned information is treated as data provided in Administrative Procedure Act § 28 section 2 point 9 (in what way the document was received or issued – email, mail, fax, courier or handed over personally)
4) document details	the mentioned information is treated as data provided in Administrative Procedure Act § 28 section 2 points 5, 7 and 10 (document title or brief content summary, date and time if necessary, and reference marked by document sender) NB! Mandatory details are: document issuer's name or designation (author), document date, text, signature or signatures
5) document type (application, memorandum, resolution, information request, letter, etc.)	the mentioned information is treated as data provided in Administrative Procedure Act § 28 section 2 point 4 (document type - application, memorandum, resolution, information request, letter, etc.)
6) access restrictions applicable to the document.	the mentioned information is treated as data provided in Administrative Procedure Act § 28 section 2 point 11 (access restrictions – time of establishment, basis, deadline, declaring access restrictions invalid and other relevant data). If the public part of the document register shows only "For internal use" or "With access restrictions" as access restrictions for the document, then an explanation must be added to the document register user guide about which document series have access restrictions and on what basis. NB! In Amphora, it is possible to pre-configure access restriction bases that can be selected when registering documents and are automatically visible in the public view.
(4) For received documents requiring resolution or response, the document register also includes the legally required resolution or response deadline, responsible for organizing response preparation or resolution structural unit name and official or employee name who prepares the response.*	The mentioned information is usable in the document register as a process, when assigning a responsible person (person responsible for response preparation or resolution) a workflow is initiated

When interpreting the Public Information Act, it is necessary to rely on the list that is clearly stated regarding data to be registered in the document register; also more general requirements such as "Document details" must be considered. It is stated that at least the following data including "document details" are entered in the document register, but their list is not specified. Details are divided into mandatory and recommended, the comparison table below includes a comment containing a publication proposal. It is clear that one cannot proceed from the assumption that all mandatory details must be visible in the public view. A mandatory document detail is text (content), where publication or non-publication must always be considered based on its content.

According to the Data Protection Inspectorate's guidelines⁵ it must be based on the principle that public access through the document register is provided only to digital documents!

The objective is to oblige information holders to publish inter-institutional digital correspondence, i.e., documents that have been received or sent by email. There is no obligation to scan paper-based documents received and they do not need to be published through the document register.

Since providing access to information through the document register (active publication) poses a greater threat to individual privacy than passive publication (requesting information through information requests), the inspectorate recommends considering whether public interest outweighs the individual's right to privacy before publishing information containing personal data through the document register⁶.

Based on the fact that documents containing individuals' names usually also contain the person's contact information (phone number, home address), if access restrictions cannot be imposed on the content of these documents, they still do not fall under publication through the document register. For such documents, we recommend considering imposing access restrictions based on Public Information Act § 35 section 1 point 12.

The Data Protection Inspectorate is of the position that publishing individual contact information (phone number, home address) to an indefinite number of third parties may harm the individual's privacy⁷.

Sources used:

^{1, 4} Public Information Act [last checked 30.08.2018]
^{2, 3, 5, 6, 7} General Guide to the Public Information Act [last checked 30.08.2018]

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Comparison table of publishable fields

The table below describes Amphora data fields compared to the presentation of metadata from the Public Information Act and the document management metadata list.

The comparison results of this table help in configuring publishable data and serve as a basis for Amphora's future terminology harmonization.

Field in Amphora	Match from metadata list	Comment	Law	Recommendation
Number	Document reference (22)	Document number assigned in the recipient organization's document register	PIA § 12 section 3 point 4	Public. Recommended document detail
Title	Document title (26)	Document title, designation corresponding to document content	PIA § 12 section 3 point 4	Public. In public view, it must be checked that the title does not contain person's first and last name
Sender number	Cross-reference (33.3)	Document number assigned by the sender organization	PIA § 12 section 3 point 4	Public. Document detail, allows citizens to make queries to the organization about document content more easily
Sending date	Document sending date (30.5)	Date when document was sent out	PIA § 12 section 3 point 2	Public.
Receipt date	Document receipt date (30.4)	Date when document was received by the organization	PIA § 12 section 3 point 2	Public.
Response date	-	Date when document was responded to. NB! System automatically marks when response letter is registered	PIA § 12 section 3 point 2	Public.
Response deadline	-	Date by which the matter must be resolved, i.e., by when the document must be responded to	PIA § 12 section 4	Public.
Digital document format	File format (37)	Format of electronically received document that can be selected when registering document	-	Not public.
Who	Performer role (72.2)	Name of person who registers document in Amphora	-	Not public.
Directory	Document classification unit (23)	Series into which document is registered	PIA § 12 section 4	Public, although the document number itself contains location reference that allows citizens to make additional inquiries if needed
Top level unit	Classification scheme designation (2)	Unit designation, used when one environment has multiple organizations	-	Not public, because Amphora's public view allows placing direct link to specific organization's document register on website
Topic	Document keyword (28)	Allows topic-based publication. Document placed under selected topic is displayed in Public view under left menu sublink	-	Public, located in left menu in public view
Document type	Document type (21)	What type (application, request, etc.) of document it is	PIA § 12 section 3 point 5	Public.
Document date	Document date (30), Document creation date (30.1)	Document creation date that is on the document itself	PIA § 12 section 3 point 4	Public. Mandatory document detail
Recipient/sender responsible person	-	Name of person to whom matter is directed for completion; deals with matter resolution/response preparation	PIA § 12 section 4	Public.
Recipient/sender position	-	Position and structural unit name of person who sent the letter	PIA § 12 section 4	Public, if dealing with incoming letter and no separate marks are made about composer, i.e., they overlap
Composer person	Performer (72), Person name (49)	Name of person who composes response. Usually overlaps with responsible person	PIA § 12 section 4	Public, if Composer and Responsible person overlap
Composer phone	-	Response composer's data	-	Not public.
Composer department	Person name (49)	Response composer's data	PIA § 12 section 4	Public, if Composer and Responsible person overlap
Composer position	-	Response composer's data	PIA § 12 section 4	Public, if Composer and Responsible person overlap
Original file	-		PIA § 12 section 3 point 4 except documents with access restrictions	Public, if information contained in document is not restricted
Response file	-	By default, this field is hidden in policies; according to earlier logic, today's response letter registration logic (Reply button) was not used	-	This field should not be used at all, possible to hide from regular users in policies
Related file	-	By default, this field is hidden in policies; according to earlier logic, there was no Additional files panel	-	This field should not be used at all, possible to hide from regular users in policies
Registration time	Document registration date (30.2)	System's default Amphora registration time, intended for internal use	-	Not public.
Sending method	-	Method by which document was sent	PIA § 12 section 3 point 2	Public.
Recipient/sender organization	Person name (49)	Party data who sent the document or to whom document is sent	PIA § 12 section 3 point 1	Public.
Recipient/sender person	Person name (49)	Party data who sent the document or to whom document is sent	PIA § 12 section 3 point 1	Public. NB! When marking access restrictions, Amphora automatically generates initials from person's first and last name!
Recipient/sender address	-	Party data who sent the document or to whom document is sent	-	Not public.
Recipient/sender email	Email address (67)	Party data who sent the document or to whom document is sent	-	Not public.
Recipient/sender department	Person name (49)	Party data who sent the document or to whom document is sent	-	Not public.
Recipient/sender phone	Phone number (65)	Party data who sent the document or to whom document is sent	-	Not public.
Comments and additions	Document external organizational context (33)	Brief summary of document, used for organization's internal workflow	-	Not public.
Content	Document external organizational context (33)	Text editor content where data is entered, for example, from email content (body) when registering email		Not public, because usually contains other party's appeal. Added documents (attachments) go to Additional files panel where they can be separately marked as public/non-public
Panel Signatures	-	Contains added digital signature	-	Not recommended to mark as public, because signatures contain person's name and personal code. Here there is contradiction by legislator – on one hand personal code may be public, on the other hand it is protected.
Panel Versions	-	Contains different versions of documents; in legal acts management functionality, different revisions are displayed in this section	-	Public, if legal acts management functionality is used (revisions)
Panel Relations	Relation start date (81), Relation end date (82)	Links documents, initiation and response letter are connected through this panel	-	Public. Allows moving directly from initiation letter to response letter in public view
Panel History	-	Different actions performed with documents are visible – modification, delegation, etc.	-	Not public.
Panel Amphora: HTML editor	-	Document content if Amphora is used for document creation	PIA § 12 section 3 point 4	Public, if information contained in document is not restricted
Panel Process	Performer (72)	Contains process information – persons in process circle and task descriptions given to them	-	Not public, Responsible person info is visible in public view
Panel Additional files	Document additions (34)	Additions added to document	PIA § 12 section 3 point 4	Public. Each additional file can be marked whether specific additional file is public or not. Use primarily for electronically sent documents, as email attachments are added when registering email
Panel Parties	-	Information on contract registration form where contract parties can be entered	PIA § 12 section 3 point 4	Public.
Panel Restrictions	Access restriction (45)	Access restriction panel where document can be marked For internal use and basis can be added	PIA § 12 section 3 point 6	Public.
Panel Directory rights	-	Information showing which users/user groups have been given directory rights	-	Not public.
Panel Rights	-	Information showing which users/user groups have been given document rights	-	Not public.
Panel Responsible organization/involved organization	-	Panel made as special development for ELIS system, not usable for regular Amphora users	-	This field should not be used at all, possible to hide from regular users in policies
Panel Cases	-	Shows list of created cases (files) for specific document	-	May be public if Case view is used for publishing meeting agendas
Panel Case objects	-	Shows list of documents in case (file)	-	May be public if Case view is used for publishing meeting agendas

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List of data for publishing

Publishing in Amphora is configurable through multiple views where default publicity can be set for documents on a series basis, while it is also possible to separately mark the publicity or non-publicity of each document.

Data publishing in Amphora occurs at the following levels:

1. Publishing at directory (classification unit) level
2. Setting up public lists (registry data)
3. Setting up public data (document detail view)
4. Setting default values for access restrictions

Each level requires setting a range of configurations necessary for public view setup and data display in public view.

Publishing at directory (series) level

For each directory (series), it is possible to define whether it is a public directory and whether documents in this directory are public [Admin -> Directories -> select directory -> Edit].

The following criteria can be set here:

• Directory view checkbox Public directory – by marking this, document metadata registered in this series are visible in the public view. The list of metadata and their publicity can be configured in public data settings, where the publicity/non-publicity of each metadata field can be defined separately.

If the directory may contain documents with access restrictions, then the corresponding mark must be made for the document (in public view, only title, number, party initials and access restriction info are displayed).

• Directory checkbox Files public – by marking this, all document files are visible in the public view. If a document with access restrictions is registered in this series, the corresponding mark must be made for the document (in public view, only title, number, party initials and access restriction info are displayed).

Such files should be added to the Additional files panel, where each file can be marked for its publicity depending on the document content and related circumstances.

Directory checkbox Passive directory marks a series that has been removed from active use; this series info is no longer usable in Amphora. Mark this only if the series is no longer in use.

Setting up public lists

Here you can define which data are visible in the public view document register list. This list data is also displayed in the primary view of performed searches.

From the list, you can move to the selected document's detail view, where more data about the selected document is displayed. When setting up lists, the recommended data volume according to module is as follows:

• Documents – Number, Title, Document date
• Correspondence – Number, Title, Recipient/Sender organization, Recipient/Sender person, Sending date, Receipt date

Setting up public data

When setting up public data, you can define metadata displayed in the public view document detail view. The amount of metadata in the public view can be set separately for each document type.

In the public view, only metadata that is filled when registering the document are displayed in the detail view. It is recommended to activate the maximum amount of metadata for publishing, because the public view does not display metadata fields that are not filled. This means empty/unfilled metadata field names do not appear in the public view (for example – if the Responsible person field is unfilled in Amphora, then the "empty" Responsible person field is not displayed in the public view of the specific document's detail view).

Each form can be modified separately by clicking on the form title:

On the document form, panels can be made public by going to the Panels panel and checking the corresponding boxes.

To publish a document form static field, you need to open the field data editor by clicking on the wrench.

Then check the Visible in public view box and click the green checkmark to save the field change.

To save form changes, you need to click Save again.

The recommended configuration set in document detail view is as follows (open in Amphora Admin -> Public view -> Public data setup):

• Complex incoming
  Static fields: Number, Title, Sender number, Sending date, Receipt date, Response deadline, Document type, Document date, Recipient/Sender responsible person, Sending method, Recipient/sender organization, Recipient/sender person, Additional files panel, Relations panel, Restrictions panel

• Complex outgoing
  Static fields: Number, Title, Sending date, Document type, Document date, Response deadline, Recipient/sender responsible person, Sending method, Recipient/sender organization, Recipient/sender person, Composer person, Composer department, Composer position, Additional files panel, Relations panel, Restrictions panel

• Document received via DHX
  Static fields: Number, Title, Sender number, Sending date, Receipt date, Response deadline, Document type, Document date, Recipient/Sender responsible person, Sending method, Recipient/sender organization, Recipient/sender person, Additional files panel, Relations panel, Restrictions panel

• Document sent via DHX
  Static fields: Number, Title, Sending date, Document type, Document date, Response deadline, Recipient/sender responsible person, Sending method, Recipient/sender organization, Recipient/sender person, Composer person, Composer department, Composer position, Additional files panel, Relations panel, Restrictions panel

• Legal act upload
  Static fields: Title, File, Type
  Form fields: Number, Date, Effective date, Valid until, Act issuer designation, Additional files panel

• Protocol upload
  Static fields: Title, File, Type
  Form fields: Number, Date, Organization designation, Additional files panel

• Contract upload
  Static fields: Title
  Form fields: Number, Contract object, Date, Effective date, Valid until, Additional files panel, Parties panel

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Setting default values for access restrictions

The complete list of access restriction bases is established in the Public Information Act (PIA), which the organization administrator can pre-enter in Amphora [Admin -> Organization settings -> Choice field content].

In this case, it is possible to use pre-defined values when registering documents, which allows the document enterer to select an appropriate justification at the time of registration.

When entering documents with access restrictions, you need to mark the document form as For internal use and add the access restriction basis related to the document.

By default, the following bases are entered in the access restrictions panel in Amphora (environments from January 2009):
PIA § 35 section 1 point 11 - information containing sensitive personal data
PIA § 35 section 1 point 14 - information about applying for social assistance or social services

Setting access restriction basis and deadline

Based on document content, an access restriction may be imposed on information until the need passes, but not longer than five years. After five years, the information access restriction deadline may be extended for another five years if the reason for imposing the restriction persists. Personal data is subject to access restrictions for 75 years from receipt or documentation.

Access restriction establishment bases for information intended for internal use and most commonly used in local government:

• documents and guidelines prepared by the information holder for internal workflow organization, basis PIA § 35 section 2 point 3;
• drafts of legal acts with explanatory notes before sending them for coordination or submission for adoption, basis PIA § 35 section 2 point 1;
• personnel orders, basis PIA § 35 section 1 point 12;
• information containing sensitive personal data, basis PIA § 35 section 1 point 11;
• information containing personal data if providing access to such information would significantly harm the data subject's privacy (personal code, contact data), including documents received from notaries and reflecting private life in detail, basis PIA § 35 section 1 point 12 and PIA § 35 section 1 point 14;
• information containing data about provided social services or social assistance, basis PIA § 35 section 1 point 14;
• personal names of private individuals who contacted the information holder, basis PIA § 35 section 1 point 12 (point 19 Personal Data Protection Act);
• information holder's internal documents (opinions, notices, discussions, memos, explanations, advice, reports that at least partially relate to data provided in previous points), basis PIA § 35 section 2 point 3;
• information whose disclosure may harm trade secrets, basis PIA § 35 section 1 point 17.

The information holder declares public information containing data meeting the listed criteria as for internal use, and if the information requester requests access to such information with an information request, the information holder refuses to fulfill the information request according to PIA § 23 section 1, because access restrictions apply to the requested information and the information requester has no right to access the requested information.

For so-called ordinary personal data, i.e., data that is not sensitive, when publishing information, the legislator has left the right for the information holder to assess or weigh interests whether providing access to information would significantly harm the data subject's privacy or not (PIA § 35 section 1 point 11). One must proceed from the content of requested personal data (what the disclosed information allows to know about the person, for example, residence, which kindergarten or school their children attend, where their spouse works, etc.), volume (how large amount of data subjects' data is requested, issuing any lists should be carefully considered), information requester and information acquisition purposes (who and for what wants to use the requested information) and whether data subject's or data recipient's interests are more important.

See Public Information Act and General Guide to the Public Information Act.

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Titling

In the public view, document titling plays an important role in finding data in the document register. To ensure quick document finding, the information contained in the title must be marked as specifically as possible.

It is clear that if information seekers are shown a list of dozens of documents titled Contract in the register view, this information is not very useful for them.

On the other hand, the document title must not contain data that is too directly related to specific individual data. Such titling as Appointing guardian to Pilleriin Tamur is in conflict with requirements from both the Public Information Act and the Personal Data Protection Act.

Some keywords for document titling:

• As short as possible
• Generally opens the document's main content
• In nominative case
• No period used at the end of the title
• Large and multi-topic documents may have subtitles

Web title - allows using an approach where in Amphora's internal view, the document can be titled as informatively as possible from a workflow aspect.

At the same time, the Web title field can be marked with the document name in a form that would be visible to citizens in the public view. Web title configuration is done in Admin -> Organization settings -> General settings panel.

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Automatic conversion of published documents

This functionality allows automatic conversion of documents to .pdf/.html format when publishing. Every document marked as public is in .pdf or .html format in the public view after adding to Amphora, not doc, rtf, etc. Automatic file conversion to .pdf or .html format is created so that viewing published documents does not require MS Office and other office software on users' computers.

Enabling conversion is done in Admin -> Organization settings, General settings panel.

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Publishing archived objects

In Amphora, it is possible to define whether archived objects are visible in the public view. At the time of archiving, Amphora automatically removes objects from the public view if publishing of archived objects is deactivated in the environment settings.

Since this setting cannot be changed through the user interface, you should contact Amphora client support if you wish to publish archived objects.

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Document publishing rules

When publishing a document, Amphora checks the date. Messages are public by default for up to 5 years. This check applies both during full synchronization and when publishing individual documents -- older messages cannot be made public if the general rule restricts it by time.

Additionally, it is possible to configure automatic depublishing of documents starting from a specific date. This means that documents older than that date will automatically become non-public and will not be visible in the Public View.

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Public view functionality

PDF preview

In the public view list view, PDF files can be opened in the preview window. Converted PDF file icons are visible in the list view even when the document's main file is in another format (e.g., .docx). In the document view, the PDF file can also be opened in the preview window.

Signature container in public view

The signature container is visible in the public view when the signatures panel has been made visible in the public view in form settings (Admin -> Form configuration) and the document's main file is public. When the main file is public, all signature containers are visible, including those that do not contain the main file.

Responsible person in public view

On each form, the responsible person panel can be made visible in the public view. To do this, go to Admin -> Form configuration and in the form panel settings make the Responsible person visible in the public view. In the object modification view, there is no need to separately publish the responsible person.

Access-restricted document information

In the public view, the access-restricted document view displays the list view fields.

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Opening public view

Amphora users can access the public view (document register) through the menu. Usually, the organization's public view web address is added to the organization's homepage (e.g., municipality, city government) so that ordinary citizens can find it more easily.

The object's public view link consists of the object ID and the organization ID. When composing the link, Amphora uses the organization of the object's location (folder). Therefore, when opening the object in the public view, the correct organization is selected by default.

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Filtering by folder in public view

First, we need to find out the folder ID. To do this, we need to go to Admin -> Directories and click on the folder. On the right side, we should see the folder metadata.

Copy the folder ID number. Then open the public view. By default, the URL should be:
atp.amphora.ee/viljandilv/index.aspx?o=767&u=-1&o2=12565&hdr=hp&tbs=all

Now we add &f=10036 to the end of the URL, i.e., &f=Folder_ID. The new URL should look like this:
atp.amphora.ee/viljandilv/index.aspx?o=767&u=-1&o2=12565&hdr=hp&tbs=all&f=10036

Press the Enter key.

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Last modified: 09 July 2026, 11:55:18

v2026.08.25 · 9f360f5