A document lifecycle is a sequence of states a file goes through between its creation and expiration. When you create a file, the system assigns a document lifecycle to the file and puts the file into the first state in the lifecycle.

Typical lifecycle states include WIP (Work In Progress), indicating a document is in its draft phase, and Staging, indicating a document is complete and ready for approvals. By default, Webtop does not let you make changes to an item that is in the Staging lifecycle state.

A file advances through its lifecycle states through either manual or automatic promotion. Typically, a document lifecycle is incorporated into a workflow, and you are alerted to your role in a file’s lifecycle when a workflow task appears in your Inbox.