Ask a client for information

Who acts next?

1. 1
   OfficePrepare and send

   Choose the documents, preview the request, and send the link.

2. 2
   ClientAnswer and upload

   The client opens the link and supplies the requested information.

3. 3
   OfficeReview what arrived

   Check the response and ask for a replacement if needed.

Prepare the request

1. Open Information collection and start a new request.
2. Choose Request files or Ask questions.
3. Choose one client, several clients, or an open intake.
4. Select the client and respondent where required. The respondent is optional. WhatsApp needs a linked contact and a suitable conversation.
5. Add the requested files or questions. You can start from a published form template.
6. Until the request is created you can return to any step: click Back, or a completed step at the top of the window.

Choose a respondent, or add one on the spot

In Respondent, search by name, email, or phone. The client’s own contacts come first. Contacts of other clients appear under Other contacts in the firm, and picking one also links them to this client.

If the person isn’t in Office yet, choose New contact. What you typed in the search fills in the name, email, or phone. When the client has no contacts at all, an Add contact button shows under the field. The new contact is saved, linked to the client, and selected as the respondent. To send without a respondent, choose No contact.

A request, from sending to reviewIllustration · fictional details

1Make it clear2Share the link3Review the response

SmartBill OfficePreparing

July bank statement

Client

Noga Studio

Instructions

Please upload the full July statement.

Name the document and period. Until you send, you can go back and change it.

Explain what to answer and attach

Every question and document can have a short Explanation for the client and a Link to a full explanation, on your own site or anywhere else. The client sees the explanation only after tapping the info button next to the question, so the form stays uncluttered.

When a question asks for a file, the file reuses the question’s explanation by default. To describe the file itself, such as which form and where to find it, turn off Same explanation as the question on the Documents step and write a separate one. On WhatsApp, the explanation and link are sent under the question.

Send it

On the Send step of a single-client request:

• Copy link copies a secure form link to paste into your own message. A copied link has not been delivered by itself, but automatic reminders still go out.
• Send on WhatsApp or Send by email opens the Send to client screen with the link: choose a contact, check the preview, and send.
• Answer in WhatsApp chat shows for questionnaires when the client has a suitable WhatsApp conversation. The client answers in the chat, one question at a time.
• Done creates the request if nothing has yet, and opens the request page. You can still send the link from there later.

The questionnaire counts as sent only once the link reaches the client: when the WhatsApp or email message actually goes out, or when you copy the link (it then says Link copied with the date). Opening the send screen and closing it without sending changes nothing, and the questionnaire still shows Waiting on you and Send the questionnaire to the client.

The first action creates the request, and later ones reuse the same link. From then on the earlier steps are locked, because the client may already have the link.

For several clients, Create request & copy link creates one request per client and copies all the links. For an open intake it creates one open link and copies it.

File-only requests use a secure form link.

After sending

Open the request to check its status and progress. To change the questions, click Edit questionnaire on the request page. The link the client already has shows the updated questions, and answers they started are kept. Later template edits do not change a request already sent.

From the moment you send, the system reminds the client to finish until they submit the form. See Automatic client reminders.

Once the client has answered, the whole questionnaire is not sent again: Ask for what is missing asks them for only what you pick, now or on a day you choose. See Ask the client for what is missing.

Next: Review what comes back.