How do I ask a client for documents, and review what they send?

Getting documents from a client and reviewing them is two separate steps in two different places: you ask for them while you are working, and you approve or reject what comes in from the Documents tab.

Ask a client for documents

The quickest way is from the task you are already on. In your workspace, with a task open, the Task Controls column on the right has an "Ask the customer for" box. Click Documents in it.

If you have no task open, start from the customer instead: open their record, then their Files tab, then click Request documents.

Both open the same box, and from there:

1. Tick which kinds of document you need.
2. Add a message if you want to explain anything extra.
3. Send it.

The client gets a secure link by email, no account needed on their end. The request is saved on that customer's record either way, so asking from a task and asking from the record produce exactly the same thing.

If the customer already has a request still waiting, asking again adds the new documents to that request instead of starting a second one. They get one email listing everything still owed, and the link they already have keeps working. If everything you ticked is already on it, you'll see "Already requested" and nothing is sent.

The link opens their progress page, not an upload box

The email sends them to their own private progress page, the one that shows where their work stands. Your request sits at the top of it under "What we still need from you", with an Upload button that opens the secure upload page. See What does my customer see they still need to do?.

That is one extra click, and it buys something worth having. A client you are chasing for two documents and a payment gets one address for all of it, instead of three separate emails carrying three separate links that each stop working once they are used.

The two pages run out at different times, and neither is set on this screen. The progress page lasts about a month, and every fresh email you send starts that month again, so a client who is still hearing from you always has a working link. The upload page behind it runs out sooner, three days after you asked, which is what "Send a fresh link" resets.

Upload a file yourself

If a client emails you a document instead of using their link, or can't manage the upload page themselves, you don't have to wait on them. Open their record, then their Files tab, and click Upload document. Pick the file from your computer and it lands straight in their file list, marked as uploaded by you.

If you opened the upload from a task that lists documents it needs, pick which one you're supplying and it's checked off the list for that task the moment it's in.

Each file can be up to 4 MB, and the same limit applies either way, so anything that fits through the client's own secure link fits here too.

Resend the link

If a link expires or a client says they never got it, open their Files tab and click "Send a fresh link" next to that request.

If your plan changes to one without the back office, open request links stop taking files. Nothing is deleted, and they work again if you upgrade before the link runs out.

Review what comes in

1. Open TMS, then the Documents tab.
2. You land on Pending review, the documents waiting for a decision, oldest first, across every customer.
3. Click a file's name to open and check it.
4. Add a note if it's useful for the record.
5. Click Approve or Reject.

Your decision is saved immediately, and the document moves into the Approved or Rejected tab, where you can find it again any time.

As soon as the client has sent a file for every document you asked for, the request shows Completed and their link closes, before anyone reviews the files. If you reject a file, the request opens again so they can send a new one.