Requesting documents

Most forms exist to collect documents: statements, IDs, tax returns, policies. A File request field asks your client for a document, and each one you send is tracked on its own, so you always know what has arrived and what is still missing.

Ask for a document#

1. On the form's Build tab, select Add field.
2. Under Documents, choose File request.
3. In Question, say what you need, such as "Your most recent 401(k) statement". Use Help text (optional) to say where to find it.
4. Turn on Required if the client cannot send without it.

Give each document its own file request. One request for "all your statements" can only ever be received or not; separate requests let you see exactly which one is missing.

Choose what files are accepted#

• Accepted file types lists the extensions allowed, such as pdf, jpg, png, heic. Clients often photograph documents on their phones, so keep image formats unless you have a reason not to. Programs and scripts are never accepted, whatever you list.
• Allow more than one file lets your client attach several files to one request, such as every page of a return photographed separately.
• Add to vault when accepted keeps a copy of each file you accept for this question in the client group's vault. Nothing goes in until you accept it. See Client vaults.

Each file can be up to 20 MB.

Show what a good one looks like#

Under Show an example, choose Add a picture to put a small picture beside the question, such as a sample statement with the name, the account ending and the dates showing. Your client sees What a good one looks like beside it, and taps to see the picture full size. Use a sample, never a real client's document: everyone the form is sent to can see it. Remove takes it off the question.

How your client sends it#

Your client can choose a file, and on a phone Take a photo comes first, to scan a paper document page by page. The scanner straightens and cleans up each page and sends them as one PDF.

A client at a computer with the paper in their hand has a third way. Under the question, Use your phone's camera shows a code. They point their phone at it, the form opens on the phone at that question, and what they scan there appears on the computer a few seconds later. It is worth mentioning to a client who says they have no scanner. The steps you can send them are in Uploading documents.

Say what the document should be#

If your firm reads documents as they arrive, a file request also offers This should be. Choose a type, such as W-2, Bank statement, Tax return, Driver's license or passport, Utility bill or proof of address, Voided check, Business formation document or Investment or retirement statement. One type covers every government photo ID, so a client asked for a driver's license who sends a passport is not told it is the wrong document. When you write the question, This should be is filled in from its wording where that names one kind of document, so a question called "Bank statement" expects a bank statement. Change it if that's wrong. A client who uploads the wrong document is told right away, while they still have the right one in front of them, and reminded beside Send before the form goes.

Some types offer checks under Tell the client straight away if:

• it is more than a number of days old, for statements, pay stubs, Social Security statements and proof of address
• it has expired, for a driver's license or passport
• it is not for last year, this year or two years ago, for W-2s, 1099s and tax returns

If your firm has switched reading off, these settings do not appear, because nothing would read the document to check it. See AI summaries and extraction.

How each document is tracked#

When you send a form to a named client, every question and file request on it becomes an item on that request's checklist. Open the request from Requests to see it under What you asked for, with a count such as "4 of 7 settled".

Each item shows where it stands:

• Still needed: nothing has arrived yet.
• Received: something arrived. This does not mean it is the right document; that is your call when you review it.
• Not needed: your firm decided it no longer needs this one.
• Client cannot provide: your client said they do not have it.
• Does not apply: the client's answers meant this was never asked, such as a spouse's documents for a single client.

Reminders are sent while items are still needed. See Reminders and expiry.

When a client does not have something#

Beside each item, your client can select Ask about this to send you a question, I do not have this to tell you they cannot send it, with an optional reason, or, for a document, I’ll send it later. A document they will send later reads Will send later on the request, and they can send the rest without it; ask for it from the request when you need it. A question is emailed to you straight away, because your client is waiting for the answer. They can also press Reply under anything you wrote to them about the item, and their reply sits under it. You are emailed about I do not have this when your client sends the form, along with everything else.

On the request, open the ⋯ menu on the item and choose Not needed to accept that, or Ask for it anyway to put it back on their list. You can also mark any item Not needed yourself from the same menu, with a reason, and Put back on the list later. To write to the client, use the Conversation card under the checklist: type # to name the item, or leave About on Whole request for a message about everything. Tick Keep this internal if the note is only for your team. A message about the whole request appears at the top of your client's form, and they can press Reply under it.

Review what arrives#

When the submission comes in, you accept each document or ask for it again, and can send the packet back for anything missing. See Reviewing a submission and Sending back for changes.

Giving a document rather than asking for one#

To hand your client one of your own documents, such as a disclosure, and have them confirm they received it, use an Acknowledgment field instead. See Sharing firm documents.