> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.labatlas.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.labatlas.com/using-lab-atlas/studies/study-collections.md).

# Study Collections

Study Collections are a simple way to organize studies that span multiple projects or contexts. A collection can represent a meta-study, group the studies backing a regulatory filing, or just gather work you want to keep an eye on in a single place.

A study lives in exactly one project. That is the right model for ownership, but it is a poor fit for the many reasons you might want to look at a set of studies together. Collections solve that: a study can belong to any number of collections, and adding it to one changes nothing about the study itself.

## Collections versus projects

Reach for a **project** when you are deciding where new work belongs. A project owns its studies, supplies the code prefix, and determines where storage and notebook folders are created.

Reach for a **collection** when you want to view existing work through a different lens. Collections own nothing, create nothing, and can be made and discarded freely. The same study can sit in a discovery project, a regulatory-submission collection, and a personal reading list at the same time.

## Creating a collection

Click **Collections** in the sidebar, then **New Collection**.

* **Name** — what the collection is for.
* **Description** — optional, but worth writing. Collections are often assembled for a reason that will not be obvious to a colleague six months later.
* **Visibility** — see below.
* **Members** — the users who can contribute, for Protected and Private collections.

## Visibility

Visibility controls both who can see a collection and who can change what is in it.

| Visibility    | Who can see it                   | Who can add or remove studies                |
| ------------- | -------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| **Public**    | Everyone in your organization    | Anyone in your organization                  |
| **Protected** | Everyone in your organization    | You and the users assigned to the collection |
| **Private**   | You and the users assigned to it | You and the users assigned to the collection |

Use **Protected** for a curated set that others should be able to read but not reshape — a regulatory bundle, for instance. Use **Private** for work in progress or anything sensitive.

{% hint style="info" %}
A collection never widens access to a study. Someone who cannot see a study in the first place will not see it through a collection, no matter how the collection's visibility is set.
{% endhint %}

## Adding and removing studies

Open the collection, click the **Actions** menu, and choose **Manage Studies**. The dialog lets you search for studies across every project you have access to, and add or remove them in one pass.

Removing a study takes it out of the collection only — the study, its assays, notes, files, and notebook entries are untouched.

Because a study can be in as many collections as you like, there is no cost to adding it to a second one.