Documents
Every client has a document vault on the Documents tab of their page: a folder tree on the left and the documents in the selected folder on the right. Use it for working papers, returns, engagement letters and anything the client sends you. The Documents page in the firm console sidebar shows every client’s vault side by side and searches across all of them.
The vault is built around one rule: nothing you add is visible to the client until you share it, and nothing the client adds is visible to you until they share it.
Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”- To see documents, your role needs permission to view documents. Uploading, organising and sharing need their own document permissions. By default bookkeepers can upload, practice managers can also organise and share, and deleting is reserved for firm owners and admins.
Folders
Section titled “Folders”-
Open the client and go to Documents.
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Click New folder (under the folder list), enter a Folder name, tick Share it with the client straight away if the client should see it, and click Create folder.
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Use the buttons next to a folder to rename it, share it, or delete it.
You can only delete a folder once the documents in it have been moved or deleted.
Folder templates
Section titled “Folder templates”A folder template is a standard structure you set up once - for example “Permanent file”, “Bank statements”, “Tax returns”, “Correspondence” - and apply to each client.
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Go to Templates > Folders and create a template. Give it a Template name and What it is for, add folders, and tick Client sees on any folder that should be shared with the client from the start.
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Tick Use this one by default for new clients on the template you use most, then click Save template.
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On a client’s Documents tab, click Apply template, pick the Template, and click Apply.
Applying a template twice is safe. Folders that already exist are left exactly as they are, and any missing folders are created.
Upload and version documents
Section titled “Upload and version documents”Select a folder and click Upload to add a document. To replace a document with a newer copy, use the upload-new-version button on its row: the new file becomes the current version and every earlier version stays downloadable. The Size and Updated columns always describe the current version.
Share with the client
Section titled “Share with the client”Each folder and document shows its sharing state:
| Label | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Private | Only your firm can see it. |
| Shared | You shared it directly with the client. |
| Shared · via folder | It is inside a folder you shared, so the client can see it too. |
| From the client | The client owns it and has shared it with you. |
To share, click Share with the client on a document or a folder. Sharing a folder shares everything inside it, including subfolders and anything you add to it later. A document that is shared because of its folder cannot be unshared on its own - the folder owns that decision.
To stop sharing, click Stop sharing with the client. Before you confirm, Bokapsys tells you the impact - how many subfolders and documents the client will lose sight of, and how many individual shares will be cleared. Stopping sharing on a folder removes the client’s view of the whole folder and everything inside it.
Documents the client owns
Section titled “Documents the client owns”Clients can create their own folders and upload their own documents in their portal or under My Accountant. Those stay private to the client until they share them with you. Once shared, they appear in the client’s vault labelled From the client. When a client uploads a document that is shared with you, you get a notification.
You cannot change the sharing on a client’s document - only the client can. If they stop sharing it, it disappears from your view.
Files the client uploads in answer to a request arrive the same way.
Delete and restore
Section titled “Delete and restore”Deleting a document moves it to the Bin tab, next to Active and Archived above the folder list. From there you can restore it. Documents in the bin are permanently removed 30 days after they were deleted.
Filing suggestions
Section titled “Filing suggestions”Bokapsys reads each new document’s file name and, where needed, its contents, and suggests a better name, the kind of document it is and the tax year it relates to. Suggestions appear in a filing suggestions list at the top of the client’s Documents tab, labelled from the filename or read the document so you know where each came from.
Nothing is renamed until you accept it. Accept a suggestion to apply it, or dismiss it to leave the document as it is.
Search across every client
Section titled “Search across every client”The Documents page in the firm console sidebar shows one card per client with their documents inside. Type in Search every client’s vault to search all of them at once - by document name, by tag, by the client’s name, and by the text inside the documents. Search matches on meaning as well as exact words, so you can find a document without remembering exactly what it was called.