The Requests list

The Requests list is where you see everything you have asked clients for and everything they have sent back, in one place. It is sorted by whose move it is, so the first view you see is the work waiting on you. In the sidebar, open Requests.

Each form's own Requests tab is the same list for that form. When the form has sends lined up for later or a schedule that repeats, they are listed at the top of that tab, under Waiting to go out and Send on a schedule. See Sending to many clients, and scheduling.

New people#

When somebody replies through a form's open link from an email address you have no client for, they are listed above the views under New people until you say whether they are a client. Press Decide to choose. Their reply is not in any view, and can't be read, until you confirm them. See Open links.

The four views#

Tabs across the top split the list by whose turn it is. Each shows a count.

• Needs you. A client has sent something back and your firm has not finished with it. This is where the list opens.
• Waiting on client. Not opened yet, partway through, or sent back to them for more.
• Done. Nothing more is needed from anybody.
• Everything. Every request and reply, including canceled ones.

What each status means#

Each row carries a badge saying where it stands:

• Not opened yet. Sent, and the client has not opened the link.
• Started. They opened it but have not sent it. What they have typed so far stays private to them until they send it. You see counts only.
• Ready to review. They sent it and nobody at your firm has looked at it yet.
• In review. Someone marked it reviewed but has not marked it complete. It stays under Needs you until it is complete. Mark complete beside it closes it in one click.
• Asked for more. You sent it back for something specific, and they have not returned it yet.
• Done. Marked complete. The client's request is closed and reminders have stopped.
• Canceled. Withdrawn. The link no longer works.

A few other badges flag things the status alone does not show:

• Did not arrive. The email or text could not be delivered.
• Link expired. The client's time ran out. See Reminders and expiry.
• Open link. It came through the form's public link rather than a named request. See Open links.
• Overdue for us. Past the date your firm set for itself.
• "2 to look at". Reading the documents turned up something worth checking.

Ready, or needs attention#

When a client sends a request back, Cartenda checks it against everything the request had to establish:

• each thing you asked for;
• each fact the form keeps on the client's record;
• each account you have on file, where the form asks about accounts;
• the signature, where the form asks for one.

It checks by fixed rules, not by the AI's opinion. The row then says one of three things:

• Ready. Everything the request had to establish is there, and nothing is waiting on a person. It is ready for your own work.
• "2 to resolve". Something needs a person first. Examples: an account on file that nothing this year accounts for, an account nobody had on file, a document that says something different from the client's answer, a statement too old to go by, or a document that looks like the wrong one.
• Reading documents. The documents are still being read, so nothing has been ruled in or out yet.
• Waiting for a signature. Everything else is settled, and someone asked to sign alongside the client has not signed yet. It counts as neither ready nor needing attention, because it is not yours to settle.

Once anything under Needs you is ready, Filters offers Ready to work on, which narrows the view to what needs attention or to what is ready, with a count beside each. Requests sent before this checking existed, and replies through an open link, always count as needing attention. Nothing has been checked for them, so they are never shown as ready.

Where a row says something like "3 of 7", that is how many of the things you asked for have arrived, not a count of files. The row also shows how many reminders have gone out and who is following it up.

Narrow the list#

• Search by client, answer or document.
• Filters holds everything else that narrows the list:
  • Mine shows requests you are following up.
  • Overdue for us shows requests past your own due date.
  • On Waiting on client, you can pick out clients nobody has chased in over a week.
  • On Needs you, Ready to work on splits what has come back by whether anything stands in the way.
  • Tag shows requests carrying one of your firm's tags. See Tags.
  • Form, then filters that only apply to what clients have sent: when it Arrived, Needs a look, Documents, Document type and Reviewed by.
• Each filter you set shows as a chip under the search box. Click a chip to remove it, or Clear all to remove them all. You stay on the tab you were on.

Sort at the end of the row changes the order. The Needs you and Waiting on client views put whoever has waited longest first. The other views show the newest first.

Open a request#

A request that several people answer is one row. Under the name, a line says where each of them stands, such as "Dana: Replied · Sam: 2 of 5 answered", in the same words the request's page uses. Where your client is answering someone's part for them, the line says so ("Sam: Dana is answering"). Once somebody has sent their part, the line also says how many parts are ready to read: you can open the request and read them before the others are in. It shows counts only, never what anybody is still typing.

Click a row. Every request opens on one page, whichever state it is in. It shows:

• who the request is about, with a link to the client's page, the client group they were asked on behalf of, and the form that asked;
• how far it has got, as a line of steps: sent, opened, replied, reviewed and done, with a step for each time you sent it back and for their return. A step that has not happened yet is an empty circle, and one that needs you says why, such as not opened yet, not delivered or link expired. A canceled request stops at the step it reached. On a request several people answer, the line has a started step too, and each person is shown at the step they have reached instead of a time, as Several people, one request explains. Below the line: the reply-by date, how often they were reminded, and where they were reached;
• what you asked for, and which items are settled;
• what came back, once something has: the answers and documents, ready to review. See Reviewing a submission;
• anything they wrote back;
• a dated record of everything that happened.

If you chose to text a client whose number hasn't yet replied YES, the request's page says Text waits until they reply YES. It isn't a fault. The request is texted when they reply, and goes by email until then wherever there is an address. See Text messages.

When a link has expired, the page says when it ran out, whether your client opened it anyway, and whether they pressed Ask for a new link on the closed page; Reminders and expiry explains what happens when they do. From the request's page you can Remind now, Give them more time, Correct the address, or Cancel request. Canceling needs permission to manage forms, which owners and admins have. You can also change who follows it up and your firm's due date, which your client never sees. If the request was closed because your client's unsent draft was deleted, its page says so and offers Send again, which sends a new request for the same form to the same client. Retention explains when that happens.

To change the date your client sees, press More, then Set a reply-by date or Change reply-by date, choose a day, and press Save. To take the date away, press Remove the date. Your client is not messaged when you do this. Their form shows the new date straight away, and the next reminder says it. You can do this only while the request is still open, and the date has to fall before the link expires.

Clear several at once#

Press Select, tick the replies, then choose Mark reviewed or Mark complete. Marking several complete asks you to confirm first, because it closes each client's request and stops its reminders. If your firm has connected a drive, owners and admins can also copy the selected replies to it. See Copying documents to your drive. Only rows with something sent back can be selected.

Export#

Owners and admins can press Export CSV for a spreadsheet of the replies matching your current search and filters. See Exports and reports.

Press Send a form at the top to start a new request. It stays grayed out until one of your forms is accepting submissions.