Working on Documents & Collaboration

1. Everyday Editing & Local Saving

Work with total confidence:

• Zero-Latency Local Speed: When you open a WhatsDocs document, it runs natively in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint with full formatting, macro, and add-in capabilities.
• Instant Local Save (Ctrl+S): Pressing Ctrl+S saves directly to your computer's Documents\WhatsDocs\ folder without making network requests.
• Cloud Revision Milestones: Whenever you finish drafting, click Update to WhatsDocs to publish an official version to the cloud archive.

2. Automated Variable Population (Answer Pane)

Eliminate manual find-and-replace errors in client deliverables. When you create a document from an automated blueprint template (or click Answer Pane on the ribbon):

How the Answer Pane Works

1. Dynamic Form Display

   The Answer Pane displays structured fields defined in the template (e.g., Client Name, Engagement Year, Signatory, Audit Fees, Address).

2. Real-Time Local Draft Auto-Saving

   As you type into the Answer Pane, your responses are debounced and auto-saved locally to sidecar storage (Documents\WhatsDocs\_sync). If you close the pane or reboot, your draft answers restore automatically.

3. Click Submit Answers

   WhatsDocs automatically locates all matching {{variable}} placeholders in your document and replaces them with formatted values.

4. Post-Submission Tamper Protection

   Submitted variables are locked to prevent accidental modifications.

3. Standard Operating Guidelines (SOPs)

Ensure firm-wide quality and compliance by reviewing standard operating instructions directly beside your document:

Steps

1. Click Guidelines

   In the Work group on the ribbon.

2. Review Drafting Guidance

   The task pane displays instructions, checklists, and statutory notes specific to this document category.

3. Edit SOPs (Authorized Users)

   Senior managers and partners can edit and update guidelines to keep procedures up to date.

4. Collaborative Team Discussions & Audit Notes

Keep review comments and review notes permanently attached to the document record rather than lost in separate email threads:

Steps

1. Click Discussion

   In the Work group on the ribbon.

2. Post Formatted Comments

   Leave notes for reviewers, partners, or assistants with support for bold, italic, bulleted lists, and numbered points.

3. Audit Log Association

   All comments are stored centrally with timestamps and user identities linked to the document's UDIN.

5. Mark Completed & Permanent Read-Only Protection

When a deliverable has completed all partner reviews and is finalized for client issuance:

Step-by-Step Completion Workflow

1. Click Mark Completed

   The last button in the Work group on the ribbon.

2. Review the Final Lockdown Warning

   A confirmation dialog explains that completing the document will permanently prevent all future uploads, edits, or overwrites.

3. Confirm Completion

   WhatsDocs invokes the server completion endpoint, verifies the completion timestamp, and stamps the document as permanently completed.

4. Permanent Lockdown Enforced

   The Update to WhatsDocs and Mark Completed ribbon buttons disable immediately. The completion audit entry is written to %LOCALAPPDATA%\WhatsForm\lifecycle-completion.log.

5. Read-Only on All Future Opens

   Whenever any user opens this document from the central archive, it opens in native Office read-only mode.