The Document Center
Every tab in the document archive and which ones you will actually open.
The Document Center is the firm-wide view of every file you hold. Ten tabs, of which most people use three.
Where to find it
The three you will use
Library — everything you hold, searchable and filterable across all clients. This is the tab you'll live in.
Client Uploads — what's arrived and needs a decision. Covered in its own article.
Trash — deleted documents, recoverable. Deletion isn't immediate destruction, which is what makes deleting safe.
The ones that matter occasionally
Quarantine — files blocked by scanning. Usually empty. Worth checking the same day when it isn't.
Retention Review — documents reaching the end of their retention period, surfaced for a decision rather than deleted automatically. Nothing goes away because a timer expired.
Exports — bundles you've generated. Producing a full client file is a job that runs in the background rather than a download that times out.
External Shares — documents shared outside your firm and outside the portal, with a record of what went where. If you've ever wondered whether a file was sent to a lender in March, this is the tab that answers it.
The ones you will rarely touch
Audit Log — who did what to which document. Access-gated, and the thing you'll want the one time it matters.
Legal Holds — documents preserved against deletion for a matter. Setting a hold overrides retention, so nothing disappears while a hold is in force.
Storage — how much you're using and where it's going.
Folders
Documents live in a folder structure, and folder templates let you apply a standard structure rather than rebuilding it per client. Set them up once and every new client gets the same shape.
Consistency here pays off in search. A firm where every client has the same five top-level folders can find anything. A firm where each client's structure reflects whoever set it up cannot.
Notes and limits
- Documents belong to a client. There's no firm-level document with no client attached.
- Deleting moves to Trash rather than destroying, and Trash is recoverable until purged.
- Retention review surfaces documents for a decision — it doesn't act on its own.
- A legal hold overrides retention. Documents under hold aren't offered for deletion.
- Tabs you lack permission for don't appear.