Document Sharing is now available in the Client Portal! Your clients, or end users of the Portal, can uploads a variety of file types and you can configure very specifically how VineConnect syncs those uploads to your Filevine Org. AND you can hashtag documents within Filevine to share directly with your client in their portal.
Document Upload supports many files types and multiple uploads at a time - up to 25 documents can be uploaded at once with drag-and-drop style. Single doc uploads are limited to 20MB.
Doc Uploads can be accessed on the front end of the Client Portal by clicking on the Menu > Document Uploads. You must enable Doc Uploads from your VineConnect Admin page for Document Uploads.
Once enabled, you can create an organizational scheme for uploads. If you don't create this mapping, all uploads will simply sync to the Docs section's root folder for the associated project.
Hashtag for Document Sharing
When you want clients to have access to documents, you can do it very quickly from Filevine with a simple 'tag' on the document itself. First you will determine the hashtag you want used from the Filevine side to initiate sharing in the client portal:
Once you do this you can then 'tag' a document from Filevine which will then be present on the front-end of the portal for the client to use.
Organizational Schemes
An organizational scheme for Doc Uploads tells VineConnect how to sync the file to Filevine. It starts with creating file grouping/folder that you will define:
Think of creating document groupings that can be handled together, here are some ideas:
Medical Records (PI)
Photos & Videos (PI)
Proof of Assets (Family Law)
Court Records (Immigration practice)
Contracts for Review (Business Litigation)
Discovery Requests
Client Mail Received
...any anything else you might want to collect from your clients!
After you create these categories, you'll map each one to an available upload scheme VineConnect offers through the API:
Upload to Root Folder for the project
Upload to a single doc field in a Static Section
Create a Collection Item and attach the doc to a single doc gen field
For each of these options, you'll have the opportunity to Hashtag the uploaded file. If uploading to a Static Section, you'll be required to choose the Section and the Field. If creating a Collection Item, you'll be required to choose which Collection Section to create an item for and the Field to attach the document.
Create an upload scheme for every document category you created, and you're done:
A well-defined Organization Scheme example.
CLIENT VIEW of Document Sharing
When a Client navigates to the portal they can select the Menu dropdown and see Document Share:
When they land on that page they will see a few things they can utilize:
The Document Scheme you've built in a dropdown to select.
Documents that have been Shared from the Filevine Project with the hashtag you determined in settings which they can Download.
Documents the Client has uploaded previously.
Encouraging Your Clients to use Document Sharing
Getting your clients to use Doc Uploads is easy! Use our other VineConnect features to create engagement and encourage usage. Here are some ideas:
Require it. For some documents, like asking the client to send you mail they receive from insurance companies, require that the client use the Doc Upload in Client Portal.
Mass Text to collect something important from everyone at once. If you need to collect something specific from all your clients at once, use the Mass Text tool to solicit the request!
Use a Banner Message for less timely requests. Our Banner Messages are sticky messages at the top of the Portal every user sees when they login to the Portal. Create a message to request a document you need from every client that isn't necessarily time sensitive.
Make requests for specific clients using Notes from Filevine. Our Team Messages features allows you to send your client a message or request within Client Portal from a Note created on the Filevine Project feed hash tagged as #clientportal. Create your request as a note from Filevine and let VineConnect do the rest by sending the client an automated text to prompt them to login.
Tie a request to a Project Phase change. Our Phase Change SMS features will text a specific message to the client based on a particular Filevine Project Phase change. Tell your clients what to upload in the text itself.
Use Workflows to create automated actions. With Automated Workflows, you can create intricate automated actions based on common triggers that occur in Filevine. There are several ways to make a document upload request with Workflows, including taskflow buttons, created collection items, and other pre-set triggers!
