A secure document portal is the piece a small firm adds when it realises that storage keeps files and does not keep the record of who saw them. This page says what a secure portal for file sharing and a secure portal for sharing documents must log, what the file sharing portal the client uses should look like from the client's side, and how file sharing portals differ from a folder link, which is the thing most firms are using when they think they have a portal. The free document capture worksheet on this site sizes the backlog; Batesio Pro keeps the portal for $19 a month for the whole firm.
What the portal must log
Every open and every download against a named person and a date; every upload against the client who made it; every link with its recipient and expiry; every withdrawal. That log is the portal's product. A secure portal for file sharing that shows a folder and a share button has the storage half; the log is the half a firm is asked for when a client disputes what they received or when the firm's own adviser asks who had access.
The client's side: no account, one page, one number
The file sharing portal the client uses should be one page reached from a link to their own email address, with no account to create, where they upload or download and see the Bates number on what they receive. Every extra step is a client who emails the file instead. A secure portal for sharing documents is judged by whether a client who is not technical uses it without a phone call, and the firm's record depends on that more than on any setting.
File sharing portals against a folder link, and the price
A folder link shares whatever is in the folder with whoever has the link, and logs nothing. File sharing portals tie the link to a person, expire it, log the open and let the firm withdraw it. Dropbox publishes its Standard team plan at $15 per user per month as the storage rate; Batesio Pro is $19 a month for the whole firm and is the portal on top of the storage, with the Bates number on every page, the access log and the retention record, and an export.
Questions people ask about secure document portal
Is a shared folder link a secure document portal?
No; it shares the folder with whoever holds the link and logs nothing. A portal ties the link to a person and logs the open.
Does the client need an account for a file sharing portal?
They should not; a link to their own email address and one page is the whole of it.
What should a secure portal for sharing documents show the firm?
The log: who opened what, when, and which clients have uploaded.
Is Batesio a secure document portal?
Yes; the portal both ways, the log, the numbering and the retention record, on top of the firm's storage.