Empty documents are used as placeholders for documents that have yet to be uploaded into Document Manager. For example, a project or shell manager might create an empty document in a folder and then send an action item to a team member to upload the file into it.
You can also import empty documents. See Import and Export Folders, Properties, and Empty Documents.
Empty documents can be populated with files by revising them (replacing the empty document with the completed document. See Revising Documents.