The Explore dialog provides access to data and information, beyond what is possible through typical file browse dialogs. This additional and enhanced access, consisting of keyword searching, as well as metadata based querying and full text searches, is provided through the Explore dialog, which is an extension of the standard file dialog and the Organize browser.

A repository is where data, information and associated files are located. There are two out-of-the-box repositories: My Computer and Personal. My Computer is an unmanaged repository. Personal is a managed repository. Additional repositories can be added, such as corporate PLM systems. Out-of-the-box connectors are available for Teamcenter, Windchill and Total Materia. These connectors can be used if existing instances of one or more of these tools is available.

Libraries can be created within a repository to logically organize or group the contents stored within a repository. Repositories can contain one or more libraries.

Contents stored within a library are typed, according to content definitions, based on the Altair Unified Data Model (UDM). The content definitions (for example, Solver Deck, HyperMesh model, and so on) define the metadata, which describes the contents.

A category is a special type of content which can be used to classify or organize other content. For example, parts, materials, or results can be defined as categories. Categories can have a hierarchical structure, meaning that categories can contain other categories in a nested fashion. Contents can belong to any number of different categories.

A folder refers to the physical location of a file on the operating system, in a vault or a workspace. Files may belong to only one folder.

HyperWorks Desktop organizes and provides access to content and files in two different types of libraries: Unmanaged and Managed.

In the unmanaged case, contents are not versioned; whereas, in the managed case contents can be versioned, allowing for full lineage of the content. In the unmanaged case, files are not moved from their current locations on the disk. In the managed case, files are moved to the library’s managed vault.

An area, associated with a repository, where managed content files are moved and stored.

A workspace corresponds to a local directory where files are retrieved from the vault so they can be viewed and/or modified by you. The workspace maintains knowledge of what contents have been retrieved from the repository at any given time.

A parser is a utility used to extract information from files and automatically store this information as content metadata.