Why look for an alternative
Email, and WeTransfer for large files, remains the default channel for the messages, decisions and documents of a client folder. Everyone has it and knows how to use it. A decision carries neither a status nor a person responsible: an approval sent by email can be read at the wrong moment, noted elsewhere or forgotten in a crowded inbox. Documents scatter across messages and transfer links, some of which expire, and neither the professional nor the client has an overview of what is still pending.
What email does
Nothing to install, nothing to learn: everyone has an address and knows how to attach a file. For a one-off exchange, it is more than enough. It is also the channel most of your clients already use.
How Kolinea differs
Kolinea keeps email as the way in: the link received by email opens the folder, with no account to create (see client access without an account). What is exchanged from then on takes the form of a request with a recipient, a status (to do or done) and an optional deadline. Documents are uploaded to the folder thread, next to the exchange that prompted them, and automatic reminders go out two days before the deadline, on the day, the day after, then seven days later, and stop as soon as the request is done. An attachment gets lost in an inbox; here, a closed folder stays readable by its participants as long as the professional's space exists, as closing and archiving explains.
Documents for a loan, a year-end, a fellow lawyer in copy
A mortgage broker is waiting for a couple's payslips and tax assessment (avis d’imposition): by email, they count for themselves what has arrived and what is missing. With a document request, the list exists before the files and each expected document has its place (see the mortgage broker page).
At year end, an accountant chases the clients who have not sent their supporting documents. The “Waiting” view shows what each client still owes and what is late, without digging through the inbox (see the accountant page).
A lawyer exchanges documents with a client and a fellow lawyer: by email, every transfer leaves the folder. With document confidentiality, a confidential document is read only by the team and the participants it names (see the lawyer page).
When to stay with email
For a single question or a document sent once, an email is enough, and creating a folder would be one formality too many. Kolinea does not replace your mailbox and does not handle your other correspondence. It earns its place when a folder runs over weeks or months, with several documents, several decisions and several appointments to follow in parallel.