How to use Documents

Your Documents library keeps every cover letter and tailored resume you generate in one place — saved to a folder on your own computer and tracked inside Prism Tree so you can find them again later.

This guide covers how Documents works, how files get there, and how it connects to the rest of the app.

Two things are worth understanding up front:

• Your files live on your computer, not in the cloud. Prism Tree saves documents to a folder you choose. We don't store the file contents on our servers — only a small record of each document (company, role, date) so your library list stays in sync.

• It's a library, not an editor. You create and edit cover letters and resumes on each job's page. Documents is where you go to browse, search, preview, and re-open everything you've made.

How Documents connects to the rest of the app

You don't create documents on the Documents page itself — you create them from a job. Here's the flow:

1. Add or open a job, then go to its detail page.

2. In the Documents section of that page, generate a Cover Letter or Tailored Resume. Prism Tree writes it using your Career Profile and the job description.

3. The finished document is saved to your Documents folder (if it's set up) and appears on the Documents page.

So the Documents page is the destination — it's where any saved resume or cover letter you've generated ends up. The quality of those documents is powered by everything else you've built in Prism Tree (your experience, accomplishments, stories, and competency framework), but the Documents page itself is simply your organized library of the results.

Note: Recruiter messages (the short LinkedIn notes you can generate on a job page) are copy-only — they're meant to be pasted directly into LinkedIn, so they are not saved to your Documents folder or library.

One-time setup: choose your folder

The first time you open Documents, you'll be asked to pick a folder where your files should be saved.

• Click Set Up Documents Folder.

• Your computer's folder picker opens. We suggest creating a folder called PrismTree Documents on your Desktop, but you can choose anywhere you like.

• That's it. From now on, generated documents save here automatically.

Prism Tree remembers your folder choice between visits. For security, your browser may ask you to confirm access once per session — if it does, you'll see a short "Re-authorize" prompt at the top of the Documents page. Just click it to continue.

You can change your folder at any time with the Change Folder button in the top right of the Documents page.

How documents get saved

There are three ways a document ends up in your library:

1. Automatically, when you generate it. As soon as you create a cover letter or tailored resume on a job page, a copy is saved to your folder (as long as your folder is set up). No extra step needed.

2. "Save backup." Each cover letter and resume panel has a Save backup button. Use it to save the current version — including any edits you've made in the text box — as a .md file. If you haven't set up a folder yet, clicking it will prompt you to choose one.

3. "Download PDF." Each panel also has a Download PDF button for a polished, print-ready version (more on this below).

Where files are organized

Inside your chosen folder, Prism Tree keeps things tidy with two subfolders:

• Cover Letters/
• Resumes/

Each file is named so you can spot it at a glance: 

{Company} - {Job Title} - {Date}

For example: Acme Corp - Product Manager - 2026-06-20

Download PDF (polished, print-ready versions)

When you want a version ready to send to an employer, use Download PDF on the cover letter or resume panel.

• Your browser's print dialog opens so you can save or print the formatted document as a PDF.
• A styled copy is also saved to your Documents folder (in Cover Letters/ or Resumes/), and you'll see a quick "View Documents →" link to jump to your library.

You can pick from three visual styles using the template selector in the panel:

• Classic — a clean, traditional serif layout.
• Modern — a contemporary look with an accent color. This is the only style that can include a headshot on resumes.
• Minimal — a simple, understated layout.

Your name, email, and phone are pulled into the document header automatically from your profile. To add a phone number or headshot, go to Settings → Profile.

Tip: If you've made edits in the text box, you'll see a note that says "Unsaved edits — these will be included in the PDF." Whatever is currently in the box is exactly what prints, so your latest changes always make it in.

If nothing happens when you click Download PDF, your browser may be blocking pop-ups. Allow pop-ups for Prism Tree and try again.

Using the Documents page

Once you have a few documents, the Documents page helps you find and manage them:

• Filter by All, Cover Letters, or Resumes.

• Search by company name, job title, or filename.

• Click any document to preview it — the content renders right on the page, and you can Copy to Clipboard in one click.

• Jump back to the job a document was made for using the link icon.

• Remove a record with the trash icon.

Removing a document

Removing a document from the list only removes it from your Prism Tree library — it does not delete the file from your computer. Your original file stays safe in your folder. If you want to delete the actual file, do that in your computer's file manager (Finder or File Explorer).

Browser support

Documents uses your browser's built-in folder access, which is supported in:

• Chrome (version 86 or newer)
• Edge (version 86 or newer)
• Safari (version 15.2 or newer)

Firefox is not supported for automatic folder saving. If you use Firefox, you can still download documents manually from each job page — they'll go to your browser's normal Downloads folder.

Quick troubleshooting

My documents list is empty. You haven't generated any cover letters or resumes yet. Open a job, go to its Documents section, and generate one.

A document shows in the list but won't preview. The original file may have been moved, renamed, or deleted on your computer. The library record stays even if the file is gone. You can remove the record, or re-generate and re-save the document from the job page.

I keep getting asked to re-authorize my folder. This is a normal browser security behavior — it can ask once per session. Click Re-authorize to continue. If it persists, try Change Folder and re-select your folder.

Nothing saves automatically. Make sure you've completed the one-time folder setup, and that you're using a supported browser (see above).

Need more help? Reach out to Prism Tree Support and we'll get you sorted.