Why we're doing this

Too many files. Which one is current?

A big shared Drive fills up with years of docs, and there's no reliable way to find this season's canonical version for each team — the current roster, the current plan, the current schedule.

Two native Google Workspace features fix this together — nothing outside the Drive:

1
A “Season” label — a real, searchable tag with year values (2026 / 2025 / 2024 / Archive).
2
Tag the canonical docs — one click in the doc or in Drive.
3
Search by season — one filter shows only the current set, hides the rest.
4
A Google Site — browse by department & team, linking to the tagged docs.
5
Then both together — how the search layer and the browse layer combine, and who benefits from each.
Every screen here is a faithful mockup of the real Google Workspace UI. Click around — the dropdowns, the search filter, and the site nav actually work.
Step 1 · Admin console (one-time)

Create the “Season” label

Only an admin can do this — Security → Access and data control → Label manager. They publish it once; everyone uses it after.

Admin · Label managerStatus: Draft
Label name
Season
· field type
Badge list (single-select)
Options (the values a doc can carry — one each):
20262025 2024Archive
In real life: click Add field → Badge list, use Paste multiple to add the years, delete the placeholder options, then Publish. Drafts can't be applied or searched.
Why a badge list? A year is mutually exclusive — a doc is the 2026 plan, not both. Single-select keeps the taxonomy honest and shows a colored chip. (We compare this to “a label per year” in Step 5.)
Step 2 · Inside any Doc (anyone with edit access)

Put a season on a document

File → Labels opens a panel. Apply Season, pick the value. That's it.

👆 Try it — click “Apply label”, then pick a year
📄Dispatch Charter 2026
Dispatch Charter 2026

Dispatch team charter — shift conduct, hand-off protocol, escalation paths. (fictional demo doc)

Labels ✕
Field ‘Season’ saved
Same thing from the Drive file list: right-click → Organize → Labels → Season → 2026.
Step 3

Where the tag shows up

Once applied, the season rides along everywhere the file appears.

Drive · My Drive
Tagged files carry a colored Season chip. The untagged Handbook (DRAFT) has none — and won't show when you filter by season.
It also shows inside the doc (the Labels panel from Step 2) and as a filter chip in search — next.
Step 4 · The payoff

Search filtered to one season

In Drive search, filter Labels → Season → is → 2026. Only the current canonical set survives.

👆 Click a season chip — watch the list filter live
Season: All is 2026 is 2025 is 2024 is Archive
This is the whole point. “Find the 2026 dispatch plan” stops being a scavenger hunt — the 2024/2025 versions and the untagged draft simply aren't in the way.
Step 5 · A design fork

One “Season” label, or a label per year?

Could 2026 just be its own label? Yes. Here's the trade — flip between them.

📄Applying it
    Step 6 · Google Sites (no code)

    Build a site that browses to the docs

    The label handles search. A Google Site handles browse — departments → teams, each pointing at the tagged docs. Here's how it's built, then a working preview.

    Create a blank site & name it sites.google.com → Blank.
    🌐 Site name: Operations Wiki
    Add a page per department Pages panel → ＋ → name it.
    Home
    Operations
    Access
    Nest each team under its department On the department page: ⋮ → Add subpage. Sites turns nested pages into a dropdown menu automatically.
    Operations ▾
    — Dispatch · Logistics · Safety · Comms · Medical · Volunteers · Training
    Access ▾
    — Entry · Perimeter · Egress
    On each team page, embed its current Drive docs Insert → Google Drive → pick the team's 00_Current folder (or a specific Doc/Sheet).
    📁 embed: Dispatch / 00_Current — live, auto-updating folder list docs tagged 2026
    Publish to your organization Publish → web address → “Anyone at your org can view”.
    🔒 sites.google.com/yourdomain/operations-wiki · viewers: your org
    👆 The result — click “Operations ▾”, then pick a team
    Operations Wiki Home Operations ▾
    Dispatch
    Logistics
    Safety
    Comms
    Medical
    Volunteers
    Training
     Access ▾
    Entry
    Perimeter
    Egress
     🔍

    Home

    The maintenance trick: embed each team's 00_Current folder. Drop a new doc in the folder and it appears on the page — the curator maintains folders, not pages.
    Step 7 · The two layers

    How the label and the site work together

    They're not two competing systems — they're two layers over the same Drive. One is for browsing, one is for finding.

    🧭 The Site

    Browse layer

    The front door. Navigate by department → team to the page you want. No filenames to know.

    → points into →

    🗂 The Drive

    The documents

    Where the real Docs & Sheets live. The Site links/embeds them; the label rides on them.

    ← indexed by ←

    🏷 The Season label

    Search / freshness layer

    Tells you which one is current. Powers “show me only 2026,” and keeps the Site's embedded folders showing the right docs.

    One sentence: the Site is the map, the label is the index, the Drive is the territory. Browse when you don't know the filename; search when you do; the label keeps both honest about what's current.
    Who benefits from which

    Different people reach for different layers

    This person……reaches for…because
    New / occasional member🧭 The SiteDoesn't know what files exist — browses to their team and clicks the current doc.
    Someone who knows what they want🏷 Drive search by SeasonFastest path straight to “the 2026 dispatch plan,” no clicking through pages.
    Team lead keeping things current🏷 The labelTags this year's canonical doc; retires last year's to Archive so it drops out of view.
    The curator / owner🧭 + 🏷 BothMaintains the Site's structure and the labels' currency — that's the whole job.
    Workspace adminThe native stackEverything lives in Drive — nothing external to govern, secure, or worry about.
    That's the whole system

    Recap & who makes what change

    ✓
    Season label — native, searchable, admin-published.
    ✓
    One-action tagging — File → Labels, or right-click in Drive.
    ✓
    Filtered search — one season at a time; old & untagged drop away.
    ✓
    Browse site — departments → teams, each linking to the tagged docs.
    ✓
    Two layers, one Drive — browse + search over the same files.
    Roles

    Who makes what change

    A
    Workspace admin (super-admin or “Manage Labels” privilege)
    Creates & publishes the Season label; sets the year options; grants “can apply” to the team; confirms the edition supports Drive labels. Only the admin can do this.
    C
    Curator / page owner
    Builds the Site (departments → teams), tags the canonical docs, curates each team's 00_Current folder, retires old docs to Archive.
    T
    Any team member (edit access to the file)
    Applies Season to their own team's docs (Step 2) and searches by it (Step 4). One click, no admin involved.