Frequently Asked Questions & Best Practices

No. Pressing Ctrl+S saves directly to your computer's local storage folder (default: Documents\WhatsDocs) with 100% native speed and zero network lag. Your changes stay completely on your PC until you choose to publish them. To send an official revision to your firm's central cloud archive, click Update to WhatsDocs on the ribbon.

Use Ctrl+S continuously while working to safeguard every keystroke locally on your machine. Click Update to WhatsDocs whenever you hit a milestone—such as completing a major section, finishing for the day, or submitting work for partner review—so your team has the latest revision in the central archive.

You never lose your work. WhatsDocs instantly activates local safety mode. Native Office Save (Ctrl+S) and Save As proceed immediately without blocking, allowing you to edit and save locally at full speed. When your connection returns, simply click Update to WhatsDocs to sync your new version to the cloud.

Press F12 (or click File > Save As) to open the 4-choice WhatsDocs Save As dialog, and choose Save as PDF. This generates a clean, standalone PDF in any folder you pick, while leaving your working Word, Excel, or PowerPoint document linked to its archive record.

By default, files live in Documents\WhatsDocs inside your personal Windows user profile. You can change this to any folder or hard drive partition (such as D:\ClientFiles) by opening WhatsDocs > Account > Storage Settings. When you pick a new folder, WhatsDocs can automatically migrate your current offline documents over for you.

When a folder is synced simultaneously by OneDrive/Dropbox and WhatsDocs, both background sync services compete to lock the file while Office is running. This can lead to file-in-use errors or messy duplicate files (e.g. "Report-Copy.docx"). For maximum speed and stability, keep your WhatsDocs folder on a normal local drive.

To keep your hard drive clean and avoid hoarding hundreds of old files, WhatsDocs includes an intelligent Retention Policy. Documents you haven't opened in 30 days are cleanly removed from your local computer. Do not worry: the document is permanently preserved in the company cloud and can be reopened in 2 seconds anytime using Open Document.

Never. The retention engine strictly enforces a Zero Data Loss Guarantee:
• Only files confirmed saved in the cloud (synced) are ever eligible for cleanup.
• Any file with pending local edits that haven't been uploaded is strictly protected.
• Any file currently open in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint is never touched.

Click Open Document or By UDIN on the WhatsDocs ribbon. Search by client name, project, or type the 8-digit UDIN. The file will be fetched from the cloud and opened natively in Office in seconds.

For Standard Users, WhatsDocs guides document saving to ensure every client report, proposal, or tax file is properly tagged with a Client, Category, and Financial Year. This prevents critical files from getting lost in personal download folders or disappearing when an employee changes computers.

Project Managers often need to create temporary meeting agendas, rough scratchpads, personal checklists, and quick calculation sheets that do not belong in the formal company archive. Therefore, Project Managers have standard Windows Save/Save As privileges for unmanaged drafting, while retaining the ability to save into WhatsDocs whenever ready.

Yes. When your firm's administrator sets profiling to Strict Mode (such as during regulatory audit periods or across sensitive departments), Project Managers are also guided to profile all documents upon saving, ensuring 100% filing compliance across the firm.

WhatsDocs automatically validates and caches your role privileges for up to 8 hours. If an administrator promotes you to Project Manager, your new permissions will apply on your next sign-in (or automatically when the local cache refreshes).

A Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN) is a permanent, unique identifier (e.g. WD-2026-88421) assigned to every file in WhatsDocs. It provides a single source of truth across Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, making files instantly findable and audit-proof regardless of how someone names the file on disk.

Yes. The document's record identity and UDIN are embedded permanently inside the file's custom properties. Even if you rename the file on your desktop or move it to another local folder, WhatsDocs will recognize it immediately when opened and link it to the correct cloud record.

Clicking From Template opens your firm's shared gallery of approved engagement letters, audit workpapers, financial models, and decks. Starting from a template guarantees that correct corporate headers, updated disclaimers, and standard styling are applied automatically.

Open your document, click Save As ▼ > Save as Template, choose the document category, and enter a template name. It will immediately be available to authorized colleagues under From Template across your organization.

A sync conflict occurs when another colleague uploaded a newer version of the document to the cloud while you were editing your local copy. Click Keep Local Version and use Save As ▼ > Save as New Document to save your copy alongside the team version so you can review both versions side-by-side without overwriting anyone's work.

Clicking Mark Completed seals the document in the archive for regulatory and audit compliance. The central record becomes read-only. If you need to make subsequent revisions, click Save As ▼ > Save as New Document to spawn a new active document with its own unique UDIN while preserving the completed audit deliverable intact.

The Answer Pane is an interactive side form in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint that presents input fields for document placeholders (such as Client Name, Fee Amount, or Year End). Typing answers in the side pane automatically populates all corresponding placeholder fields throughout your document.

Managers can attach standard operating instructions, quality checklists, and review notes directly to a document category. When team members work on that document type, the instructions appear right in the task pane—ensuring procedures are followed without searching through external handbooks.

You do not need to upload files one by one. The separate Windows Desktop Companion App (which runs in your system tray near the clock) includes a dedicated Import Documents from Folder tool. Point it to any existing client folder or network drive—it automatically maps folder hierarchies into structured metadata (Customer, Category, Financial Year), lets you review and bulk edit categories in a spreadsheet-style table, and archives hundreds of documents into WhatsDocs in one click.

Click the companion tray icon > Import Templates from Folder. The tool scans your templates folder, allows you to assign categories (such as Accounting, Audit, Client KYC, etc.) in bulk, and uploads them to the central firm repository. They become available immediately in the From Template ribbon gallery across Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for your whole team.

Yes! Once the companion app is installed, you can simply right-click any file in Windows Explorer (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or PDF) and choose Send to WhatsDocs (or Send to WhatsForm). A quick profiling dialog appears, letting you select the Client and Category and archive the file instantly on the fly.

Yes, for 100% complete peace of mind. Click the companion tray icon > Export Documents to Folder. You can filter by Customer, Financial Year, or Category, choose your preferred folder naming convention (such as Customer / Year / Category), and download your files into standard Windows folders on any local drive or external storage. You always retain complete control and portability over your company's data.

They are designed for two distinct purposes:
• The Office Add-in lives in your Word, Excel, and PowerPoint ribbon for daily work, local editing, and milestone cloud updating.
• The Desktop Companion App lives in your Windows system tray for start-and-end processes: bulk importing legacy files and templates when onboarding, right-click file sending, and bulk folder exporting whenever needed.