System and method for automatically linking items with multiple attributes to multiple levels of folders within a content management system

A system, method, and computer program product are provided for automatically linking items with multiple attributes to multiple levels of folders within a content management system. The present system extends automatic linking to support multiple levels of folders and multiple attributes. One feature of the present system is to supplement the implementation of the automatic linking plan without user involvement so that the user is not required to know the rules for creating or nesting folders. A system defined attribute is used to indicate that the folder item was created by the present system. In addition, the present system automatically moves an item from one folder to another when the item is changed to a different type if the item was first added to the folder by the present system. When an item's attributes are changed or the item is redefined as a different type, the item is re-indexed. The present system then changes the item's link from the original folder to a new or different folder that matches the item's new attributes or definition. If no correspondence folder exists for this customer, the present system creates a new folder with the proper attributes. If the result of removing an item from a folder results in an empty folder and if the folder was originally created by automatic linking, the present system deletes the empty folder. When the present system creates a new folder, the "automatic linking" rules for that item type are checked by the present system. This process is executed recursively.