Exchange documents in the thread
A file you provide is a document of the folder
To give files to your client, you attach them to a post with the paperclip of the composer: there is no other way in. Every attached file is a document in its own right. It carries its name, which you correct; its retrieval, which you follow person by person; and the request for an approval or a signed version, if you want one.
To ask for files you do not have yet, use a document request: you ask for what does not exist yet, you provide what does. One post can carry both.
How it works
-
Attach
In the composer, the paperclip adds files to the post, or you drop them into the message. Pictures show as thumbnails, other files as cards. The post goes into the thread with its files, complete from the first read.
-
Name
A file’s “…” menu, in the composer as in the thread, offers “Rename”. You change the name, and the extension stays the file’s own. A file that waits for an approval or carries one cannot be renamed, nor can a voice note.
-
Choose who they are for
When the post is addressed to one or more people on the other side, they are the ones who receive the files. The other readers on the other side receive them in copy: they read and download, but they are not counted among the retrieval faces. When the post is not addressed to anyone in particular, every reader on the other side is a recipient.
-
Retrieve
“Download all” takes every file of the post in one ZIP. Opening a file in the folder’s viewer counts as retrieving it. Everyone sees for themselves what they have not taken yet: the file’s name in bold, with a dot before it, and “New” on the version of a file they had already taken and that has been replaced since. On a phone, the action a recipient is expected to take (“Send back”, “Give my approval”), or failing that “Download all” while files are left to take, is the main button, at full width. While files are left to take, the e-mail digest says so: “3 of 10 files left to retrieve, including 1 updated since your download on 26 Oct”.
-
Follow what was taken
As long as “Seen by” is on for the folder, the team that provided the files reads their retrieval under the gallery, with one face per recipient. A full, checked face has retrieved everything, a half face has retrieved part, a faded face has taken nothing yet. One sentence sums it up (“2 of 4 retrieved by everyone”). A click on the faces opens the “Retrieval” detail: who took which file, and on which day, with the people in copy apart. The team supervising the folder without taking part reads the same, with no editing control. When “Seen by” is off, these marks disappear for the team; the recipient keeps their own. The follow-up reminds no one.
No refusal, no replacement
Nobody asked for an attached file, so there is nothing to refuse, on either side. If it was not the right one, say so in a comment; the right file goes out in a new post, which notifies.
There is one replacement only, after a sign-off refused on the file. The author of the post, or the folder’s manager if the author has left the folder, reads “Replace” on the sign-off card and in their Cockpit: the new version takes the file’s place, then “Ask for approval again” submits it once more. A recipient who had taken the old version reads “New” on the replaced file, and their faces go back to half or faded until they have taken the new one.
Add a return action
By default, a file you provide asks for nothing: it is to read or to keep. The “Add a return action…” entry of a file’s “…” menu, in the composer as in the thread, offers two choices. It is reserved for the side that provided the file. The result is an ordinary card of the post, not a state of the file:
- “A sign-off”: an ordinary “Sign-off” card that shows the file. The file then leaves the gallery and reads in the card. The people named give their approval, dated and in their name, with the file’s fingerprint and a certificate; the approval is acquired only once they have all given it. This request is for the team only and covers a single file. See also the sign-off.
- “Send it back completed or signed”: an ordinary line of “Documents requested”, which carries the original to download. You write instructions (“Initial each page and sign the last one”), set a due date and the reminder pace. The recipient downloads the original and sends their version back; one return is enough. See document requests.
Each of these cards lives its own life: its status, its reminders, its place in the Cockpit of the person who has to act.
In the library and in comments
The files provided join the folder’s library, “All documents”. A file your client leaves in a comment asks nothing more of them: your team files it afterwards in the document requested that fits, with “File in…”. It leaves the comment, which keeps the mention “File filed”.
In practice
Mortgage brokers. Before sending the application to the bank, the broker attaches the mandate, the financing plan and the supporting documents to one post. They rename “scan_0012.pdf” to “Mandate”, ask for a sign-off on the financing plan, which becomes a card showing the file, and see over the days who retrieved what. The client refuses the financing plan: the broker puts the new version in its place from their Cockpit and asks for the approval again.
Architects. At handover, the architect attaches the as-built plans, the maintenance manuals and the warranties. The client downloads everything in one click and finds each document under its name.
What it does not do
-
Review on your behalf.
A file you provide has no review: the recipient receives it as is. To get an approval on a document, choose “Add a return action…” then “A sign-off” in the file’s “…” menu.
-
Gather several files under one document.
Every attached file is a document, with its own name and follow-up.
-
Send one e-mail per file.
Your client is told about the post, then about what changes afterwards through their activity summary.
Read also
To receive documents rather than provide them, see document requests. Document confidentiality explains how to keep a post to some of the participants.
The other features
Your next folder, with nothing lost along the way
Not the right time?
Get the link by e-mail and pick up later, from your computer.
One e-mail only, and your address is not kept.