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6. Organize & Automate

Goal: locate the approved files in the File Manager, turn your request into a reusable template, and add one workflow automation that emails the client whenever a request is approved.

Time: ~5 minutes

Find the files

  1. Open File Manager in the sidebar. Because you enabled Group files in part 2, Jordan's uploads were organized into folders automatically as they arrived. Browse into the folders to find the approved files — this is your firm-wide home for everything collected across requests, with search and folder navigation. More in the File Manager guide.

Save a reusable template

  1. Go to Templates → My Requests and click New. The template builder is the same composer you used in part 2, minus client-specific fields. Name it Small Business Tax Prep, add the same documents and checklists you sent to Jordan (the From Template button in the Documents card can pull in saved document sets), and click Save.

    Next time you draft a request you can skip this page entirely: in the composer, choose Save → Save as template to capture what you just built.

  2. Your template now appears as a card under My Requests. Its menu offers Create request from template — next tax client, the whole request takes one click plus a recipient.

    Share it with the community

    On Professional and Enterprise plans, the same card menu includes Publish to Community, which lists your template in the Template Library under your firm's name for other firms to use. You can unpublish at any time.

Add one automation

  1. Open Settings → Workflows (Owner and Admin only — Workflows also appears in the sidebar). On the Stages tab, click Add Stage and create a stage named Client Signature: pick a color and click Create Stage. Your pipeline already includes defaults like Sent, Needs Review, and Approved; custom stages like this one make the board mirror how Meridian actually works. Adding custom stages requires the Professional plan or higher — which you chose in part 1.

  2. Now automate the good news. Go to the Actions tab, find Add New Action, and choose the Email Notification action type. Fill in the form:

    • Action Name: Notify client on approval
    • From Stage: Any Stage — To Stage: Approved
    • Email template: Request Approved (one of the pre-built templates, so there is no HTML to write)
    • Recipients: click Add and choose Client

    Personalize the subject or body by clicking variable chips such as {{clientName}} and {{requestTitle}}, preview the result with the eye icon next to "Email Preview", then click Create Action.

  3. That's the whole automation. From now on, whenever any request moves into Approved — by drag on the Kanban board or by clicking Approve All Documents — the client gets a branded approval email without anyone at your firm writing it.

Checkpoint

The File Manager shows Jordan's approved files in folders, Templates → My Requests contains your Small Business Tax Prep template, and Workflows → Actions lists an active Notify client on approval email action on transitions into Approved.

Where to go next

You have now run a complete collection cycle. Keep going with the feature guides: