Your first request in ten minutes

The fastest way to understand Cartenda is to send a request to yourself and fill it in as a client would. This walks you from a ready-made form to your own submission in about ten minutes.

Start from a template#

1. In the sidebar, open Forms, or select Build your first form on your setup checklist.
2. Select New form.
3. Choose your kind of firm across the top, then pick one of the ready-made forms, such as New client onboarding, Tax organizer or Loan application documents. Each one lists exactly what it asks for. Select Use this.

The form opens in the builder on its Build tab. Everything on it is yours to change. Rename it, remove a question, or add a document request with Add field. The builder saves as you go, and the preview beside it shows what your client will see. See Building a form.

If you would rather describe the form in your own words, select Build my own beside the starters and use Describe your form instead. See Templates and AI drafting.

Open it and send it to yourself#

A new form is a draft, and clients cannot open a draft.

1. At the top of the form, select Share.
2. You are asked Open this form to clients? Select Open and share. The Share dialog opens.
3. Under Send to clients, type your own email address and choose Send to a new client.
4. Select Send.

Opening a form to clients is held to owners and admins, and to any role your firm has given Build and change forms. If you are a member without it, ask one of them to open the form. You can send it yourself once it is open.

Sending needs an active trial or subscription. If sending is not available, the Share dialog says why.

See what your client sees#

1. Open the email Cartenda sent you. It carries your firm's name (your own name, until you name the firm), or your logo once you have added one.
2. Follow the link. There is no account to create.
3. Answer a few questions and attach a document or two. A photo taken on your phone works.
4. Close the page partway through, then open the link again. Your answers are still there.
5. When you are done, send it.

See what comes back#

1. In the sidebar, open Requests.
2. Open the request you just sent.

You will see your answers and documents together. If your firm reads documents, each one is labeled with what it is and summarized, which can take a moment after it arrives. From here you can accept a document, ask for it again, or send the whole packet back. See Reviewing a submission.

Before you send to a real client#

• Add your branding. An owner or admin sets your logo, colors and the email address client replies reach. See Branding your forms.
• Invite your team. Members are unlimited on every plan. See Inviting your team.
• Check the form once more. Anything you change on a form clients already have is held as unpublished changes until you select Publish, so you can edit safely.

The setup list on your dashboard ticks off Put your branding on the form once it is done. After your first submission arrives, even a test one, the list moves below your numbers under Finish setting up and stays until that step is done. Every step is a suggestion, so you can select Dismiss to take the list off your dashboard at any time.