How do I send documents in Onside?

Storing and managing your documents in Onside is great, but the real cherry on top is that you can share and receive documents from your contractors and clients.

Adding your contractors and clients

Before you can start sharing documents, you'll need to be connected with your clients in Onside. Watch this video for more info, or follow the steps below.

1. As a Company admin, log into your Onside web portal and click 'Companies' in the side menu.
2. Click the 'Add company' button and do a search first to see if your client's company is already in Onside. Select them if they are and continue to step 3.
3. If it's not, click 'Add details' to enter their company name and the best email contact you have for their company. You also have the option of bulk inviting your clients by downloading the template, completing it, then uploading.
4. You can then copy an invite link which you could use in your own emails to your contractors, or you can click 'Send Invite' to send invites to their company admins. If they don't have an Onside account yet, they'll receive an email like this. If they're already using Onside, they'll get this email instead.

Adding documents

Before you get sending, it's best to organise your Documents area. Click on the Green 'Add' button at the top right of the page and create folders for your documents. This is completely optional, but it will help a lot when you're working with dozens of documents.

1. Next, you'll need to add your documents, click on the 'Add' button and select 'Upload'.
2. You can drag and drop files here or click to open folders on your computer. In both cases, you can upload multiple files at once.
3. Once you've selected your documents, you'll see a pop-up like this
   
   
   For each file, select the file name on the left to then update the details on the right (title, version, folder, expiration date, and if you want clients to acknowledge the document). 
   
   When you're done, click 'Upload documents'.
   
   

Sending documents

To get a full picture of sending and receiving documents, as well as our shared workspace functionality, watch this video, or follow the guide below.

Send from your shared workspaces

1. Go to 'Companies' in the side menu.
2. Click on the name of the company you want to send to and it will bring up your shared workspace. This is where documents sent and received with that specific company can be found, as well as outstanding requests.
   
   
   
   

3. Before you send across your documents, check if there are any outstanding actions, such as forms to complete or documents to acknowledge. You can find this under the 'Actions required from you' section.

   

4. If you still need to send documents, click 'Send documents' in the top right of the page and choose if you'd like to send individual documents or a whole folder (if you've already created a folder in your Documents area).
   If you don't have any documents in your account yet, you'll be able to upload them now and also add an expiration date and version.
5. Once you're done selecting documents, click 'Continue' and you'll have the option of adding a message with the document.
6. Click 'Send'.

Send from your Documents page

1. Click on the document and go to the green 'Send' button in the top right of the page (or from the quick access 3-dot button).
2. Click 'Send to company' and select the company's name.
   
   If the company name is not showing, add the company from the 'Company' page first.
3. Once you're happy with the list of recipients, add a message to give more context. You can also set if they need to acknowledge the document, as well as by when.

If you will need to send many documents, you could share them all at once with folders.

1. Click on a folder you want to send then the white 'Requests' button
2. Click 'Send folder'
3. Continue with steps 2 and 3 from above.

Receiving documents

As a company admin, when you're sent new documents, you would be notified by email. To access the document:

1. Click on 'Companies' in the side menu.
2. Find and click on the company name in the list to access the shared workspace.
3. If they need you to acknowledge a document or complete a form, it will be in the 'Overview' tab. Otherwise, select the 'Shared documents' tab to see all documents sent and received between your company and theirs.
4. Click on the the document name and then on the file type icon (pdf, .doc, etc) to preview and download it.
   
   If there is an 'Acknowledge' button at the top right of the page, you need to acknowledge the document as part of their process.
   
   If it's a form, it will take you straight to completing the form.
   
   

If you have any questions or need any help, you can reach us on 0800 ONSIDE (NZ), 1800 112334 (AU), or email Support@onside.co

If you have an idea for an improvement to Onside, let us know here.