Cabinet Folders are generally used when workspaces are not used for organization. Cabinet Folders are setup however you design with multiple levels and contain documents similar to what you see in the Windows filing system.
The Administrator can design the cabinet such that shared Top-level folders can only be created by the Administrator. Other users can create sub-folders under those top-level shared folders. Generally when cabinet folders are used, documents are added directly to the folder.
Once the documents are in the folder, you can browse to the folder to locate the documents or you can use the quick or advanced search to locate documents.
Documents in the folder are sorted alphabetically by default. You can also re-sort them temporarily by recently modified date if you choose.
All options are available in the documents options panel either from the folder or from a search results page.
Cabinet folders are available when using workspaces, but they are not used generally when a cabinet is designed to use workspaces. Consult with your Administrator if you want to use cabinet folders and your cabinet has workspaces enabled.
When using Cabinet folders with no workspaces, custom Profile values are generally not available or used. Custom Profiles are values associated with each document to help classify and search for it. They are generally used in conjunction with workspaces.