-- How Do I? --

About Placeholder Documents

You can create placeholder entries in the Document Manager for Word, Excel, PDF, or other files that do not currently exist in the client file. Placeholder entries allow firms or engagement teams to create their Document Manager structure regardless of whether the documents exist.

A placeholder entry on the Document Manager can be created with any of the supported methods of adding a new document to the Document Manager, but the Placeholder option in the document properties must be selected.

Placeholder document entries are identified on the Document Manager with a symbol on the document icon ().

Placeholder documents can be created for documents that users do not want to have rolled forward, but still want the Document Manager entry to remain. It serves as a useful feature because it saves time in not having to re-create the Document Manager each year. The documents would already be indexed and cross referenced. Documents can be set up to take advantage of this functionality by selecting both of the following options in the Document Properties dialog:

  • Roll Forward
  • Roll Forward as Placeholder
  • You can copy/paste and drag/drop external documents on placeholder documents to replace placeholders with actual documents.
  • Filters can be set against placeholder documents.
  • Placeholders clearly indicate a missing document vs. manual documents.
  • Document placeholders can provide year over year work flow. For example, a recurring document (such as a bank statement) can be set to Roll Forward as Placeholder prior to a year end close. This removes the original document and creates a reminder in next year's file that a bank statement needs to be collected.
  • Deleted placeholder documents are placed in the Windows Recycle bin.

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