Collect Documents from Clients: Email and Client Dashboard
To collect documents from clients without digging through inboxes and chats, give every request a home in Planfix. A recurring task emails the client on a schedule, and whatever they send back, from the client dashboard in Planfix or by plain email, lands in the same task. This two-minute video shows how the document exchange works and how to set it up.
What you’ll learn: how to collect documents from clients in Planfix
- How a request travels: task, email, then a reply from the client dashboard or by email (0:05).
- Setup: the client company, a recurring task template, date variables and the recurrence (0:44).
- Where all of a client’s documents end up (1:44).
What the client sees: one request, two ways to reply
Planfix creates the task on a schedule and emails the client. When the client clicks the Full conversation history link in that email, they are asked to log in to the client dashboard, their personal account in Planfix. It works as Planfix’s built-in client portal, and every contact you communicate with through Planfix gets it automatically and free of charge. There the client can write to your team, send documents straight to the right task, read earlier messages and download files.
Clients who prefer email can simply reply with the documents attached. The reply appears in the relevant task automatically, and the attached files are uploaded to Planfix. More on working with email in Planfix.
Inside the task, your team discusses details, attaches files in various formats and brings in other employees.
How to set up document exchange with a client in Planfix, step by step
Step 1. Add the client company to Contacts
Open the Contacts section and create a new company. Enter its name and the client’s email address, where Planfix will send your requests. If needed, give your employees access to the contact. Don’t give several contacts the same email address: Planfix sends to the first match.
Step 2. Create a recurring task template
Document requests run on recurring tasks: at each interval, Planfix creates a similar task and notifies the assignee. Go to the Tasks section, create a new template for a recurring task and give it a unique name. Then set up who takes part:
- Set the client as the assignee, so they get an email every time the task is created.
- Add the employee responsible for communicating with the client.
- Create a project where Planfix will keep all recurring tasks for this client.
Being the assignee matters in the dashboard too: an assignee sees the task description there, while a contact who is only a participant sees the task name but not the description.
Step 3. Write the email subject and body
The task name becomes the email subject, and the description becomes the email body, so write them as a message to the client: which documents you need and what to do next. To fill in the date automatically each time a task is created, use Planfix variables: click to insert one and select the variable you need.
Step 4. Set the recurrence and save
Set the recurrence date and time for the task and click Save. That’s the whole setup: Planfix now creates the task on the schedule you set, and the client gets the request by email.
Step 5. Review the client’s document history
Every message and file stays in its task. To see the full history of documents from a client, open their project or their contact card. The Documents section also groups files by projects and contacts.
Collecting client documents: who this is for
- Accounting firms: request paperwork from each client company on a fixed date and keep every period’s files in that client’s project.
- Agencies: gather briefs and materials in one task instead of long email threads.
- Service businesses: collect contracts and other documents from customers who prefer to stay in their inbox.
- Account managers: pick up a colleague’s client and see the whole communication history in one place.
FAQ: collecting documents from clients
Does the client need a Planfix account to send documents?
No. The client doesn’t need to be an employee or an external user: every contact you communicate with through Planfix gets the client dashboard automatically and for free, and clients can also just reply by email. Learn how to work with clients by email. If you want a client to sign in to Planfix itself, give them external user access; how many external users you can link depends on your plan.
Do I need a separate client portal to collect documents?
No. The client dashboard already does this job inside Planfix. It’s free for every contact, each notification email links to it as Full conversation history, and files uploaded there or sent by email land in the same task.
Can clients see our internal discussion?
Not if you hide it. When writing a comment, use the slider next to the employee list to make it hidden (private), and the client won’t see it. Account administrators can still read all comments, including hidden ones.
Set up your first document request
Pick one client who sends you documents regularly and create a recurring request for them. To see everything a client can do in their account, read the Help Center article on the client dashboard. For all recurrence options, watch how to schedule recurring tasks. New to Planfix? Start your free trial.
This video was featured in What’s New in Planfix: December 2025.
