Tutorial: Your First 30 Minutes
This hands-on tutorial takes you from an empty trial account to a completed document-collection cycle. You play both sides: a firm called Meridian Tax Advisors collecting tax-prep documents, and its client Jordan Ellis uploading them.
What you'll accomplish
By the end of the series you will have:
- A configured workspace for Meridian Tax Advisors, with brand colors, a default workflow, and one invited teammate
- A client record for Jordan Ellis
- A document request built with the AI Request Builder, with per-document checklists, a due date, and automatic reminders
- The request delivered to Jordan by magic link — no client account required
- Files uploaded through the client portal, with a comment from the client
- One file approved and one declined with feedback, then the full request approved
- The request tracked across your Kanban board stages
- A reusable request template and one workflow automation that emails the client on approval
Prerequisites
- A FileOnion trial account. The free trial lasts 15 days and requires no credit card.
- An email address you can read, to use for Jordan Ellis. You will open the client's email yourself in part 4. A plus-alias of your own address (for example
you+jordan@example.com) works well. - About 30 minutes.
Plan choice
The tutorial selects the Professional plan during signup. The trial covers it, and two later steps — workflow email actions (part 6) and publishing templates to the community — are Professional features. On the Personal plan the onboarding wizard skips the teammate-invite step and the default workflow can only be renamed, not customized.
The series
| Part | What you do | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Set Up Your Firm | Sign up, complete the onboarding wizard, invite a teammate | ~5 min |
| 2. Create a Request with AI | Add Jordan as a client, build the request with the AI Request Builder | ~7 min |
| 3. Send It to Your Client | Send the request by magic link, arm reminders | ~3 min |
| 4. The Client Uploads | Open the portal as Jordan, upload files, leave a comment | ~5 min |
| 5. Review & Approve | Review files, approve and decline, watch the Kanban board | ~5 min |
| 6. Organize & Automate | Find files in the File Manager, save a template, add an email automation | ~5 min |
Total: about 30 minutes.
Start here: 1. Set Up Your Firm