A file in a folder is found by somebody who knows which folder. A file on a record is found by somebody who opened the record — which is everybody, eventually.
How it works
Every record with a Files tab can hold attachments: customers, leads, deals, vendors, projects, and every sales and purchase document. Upload there and the file is stored in the document store and pinned to that record.
It is one file, not a copy. Its sharing, its versions and its trash behaviour are exactly the same as anything else here.
What to put where
| Record | What belongs on it |
|---|---|
| Customer | The signed contract, the PO they sent, their GST certificate. |
| Vendor | Their registrations, insurance, the rate agreement, a cancelled cheque. |
| Invoice | Proof of delivery, the signed challan, the photograph. |
| Project | The brief, the approved design, the sign-off email. |
| Lead or deal | Whatever they sent that explains what they want. |
The test for which one
Ask who will look for it, and how.
- If somebody will look for it by opening a record — attach it to that record.
- If somebody will look for it by thinking about the topic — put it in a folder.
- The company handbook is a folder. This customer’s contract is a record.
Do not make a folder per customer. It is the commonest mistake here. It looks organised, it becomes four hundred folders, every one needs sharing, and the file is still only findable by somebody who knows the customer’s name. Attach it to the customer instead.
Why this matters more than it sounds
The value of a document store is not storage — storage is cheap and you already have some. It is that the right person finds the right file at the moment they need it, without asking anybody.
The moment somebody needs a customer’s contract is the moment they are looking at that customer, usually on a call. Anything that requires them to open a second screen and guess a folder name will not happen; they will ring whoever they think uploaded it.
Where to go next
Something missing or wrong here? Tell us. A question that needed asking usually means a page that needed writing.