Sharing Employee Documents (Beta)

Sharing documents using Employee Collaborate allows you to store files securely on SharePoint for employees to access, rather than attaching documents directly to an email.

Sharing a document will upload the file to the Employee Collaborate site on SharePoint, and allow you to send recipients an email containing links to the files. The employee can click the link, and after logging in, access the document.

The Share No Email function allows you to share files to the Employee Collaborate site without sending an email. This is best used when you just need to upload files immediately and email the employee later, once all files have been added.

Sharing Employee Documents Overview

When sharing documents:

• You can send one or multiple documents at the same time, for any type of document, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF. The document is placed in the employee's folder. Documents will be uploaded to the folder for the the employee based on where the document is filed in FYI.
  Note: Documents currently being edited, including internally co-edited, cannot be shared. Documents must be finished editing before sharing.
   
• We recommend ensuring the files do not exceed 100MB, and uploading files individually using Share No Email if required.
   
• Users with access to the Share Folder will be able to see all documents that have been shared (even if no email notification was sent). To provide access to individual documents only, do not add the user to the Share Folder. Follow the instructions below to share access to documents only.
   
• To send a private document not available to anyone else, the document should be sent via email. Refer to Sharing Documents with External Users.
   
• To send documents to external users without giving them access to the Share Folder and all documents within, add the external user's email address as an additional "To" recipient. Do not add the user to the Sharing Settings window.
   
• Documents will be uploaded to the Employee Collaborate site with a File Name format of the Document Name, followed by the FYI Document ID, for example, Employee Contract (FYI-120941961).docx. This ensures document filenames are unique, and multiple documents with the same name can be uploaded successfully.
   
• Practices can customise the Display Name of the Guest User to whom the documents are being shared, without impacting the Employee name stored in FYI. 

Automatic Access to Employee Documents

When sharing documents to the Employee Collaborate folder, the following users will be granted automatic access to the files and folders:

• FYI Admins
• Employees assigned to a User Group with the Employee - Management permission enabled
• The employee's Partner
• The employee's Manager

Important: If the employee's Partner or Manager changes, you will need to delete the Sharing Settings for all users, and reshare the folder and documents. Refer to Removing access to the Employee Collaborate Folders (Beta). New Managers or Partners will receive automatic access to newly shared documents only.

Sharing Documents via Collaborate

When sharing documents using Employee Collaborate, you have the option of notifying the user immediately via email or just sharing the document only (no email).

• Share and Email
• Share No Email

When a new version is added in the Versions section of the FYI drawer, a version number is automatically appended to the file name. This ensures employees always see the most up-to-date document, even if it has been shared multiple times.

The document that was shared will be displayed in the Employee - Collaborate tab.

Note: If a document is archived, or the employee is made inactive in FYI, the employee will continue to have access to the document or any shared folders. You must unshare documents or remove the employee from Share Settings.

Share and Email Documents

1. Select one or more documents from the Documents list. 
   Note: Up to 10 documents can be shared at one time. To share more than 10 documents, refer to Share No Email below. 
    
2. Click the Share button in the toolbar to display the Create Email drawer.
   
   Note: If the Share button is disabled, ensure that the selected documents have finished editing before sharing.
    
3. If required, you can select additional recipients, for example, external users, to send the email to. These users will have access to the document only.
   
   Note: Recipients added in the CC field cannot access the files.
   
   Ensure that all intended recipients are selected so the document link is generated for each of them. 
   
   Recipients can only be added before the email is created. Recipients added to the email after it has been drafted will not have the correct permissions on the Employee Collaborate site and will not be able to access documents. 
   
   Note: If the email address matches a practice user's email or recovery email address, an error will be displayed, and a new email address will need to be added. Refer to your IT administrator to unlink the recovery email from the user's Microsoft 365 account if required.
    
4. Scroll down to the Send Attachments option, and select Collaborate.
   If an Email Template has not already been selected by the user, the Email Template will automatically default to the template selected in the Collaborate App settings. Refer to Create a New Employee Collaborate Site (Beta).
    
5. Alternatively, from the Template field select a different email Template, or press X to clear the template and create a new email manually (ensure "Save or Send" is set to "Draft in FYI").
   
   The template must include the AttachmentLinks Merge Field. When the email is sent to the employee, the merge field will be replaced with the document links. If multiple attachments are shared, they will be displayed in a list.
   
6. You can change any filing details for the email that will be sent to the employee.
   Note: The Cabinet field will be disabled. Documents are filed to the Employee cabinet by default.
    
7. In the Save or Send field, select whether the email will be created as a draft or sent immediately.
   Note: If you select Draft in Outlook, ensure that you do not make any changes to the recipients, as permissions to access the file on the Collaborate Site will not be added for any recipients added to the email in Outlook
    
8. Include as PDF can be set as "On" or "Off".
   When Include as PDF is set "On", the Word, Excel or PowerPoint document is converted to a PDF.
   When Include as PDF is set "Off", the document is sent in its original form and will not be converted to PDF.
    
9. The Co-edit with Employee option can be set as "On" or "Off".
   When enabled, the document can be edited by multiple users at the same time. 
    
10. Click Create.
     
11. A status window will be displayed to show you the progress as the recipients are added to the Collaborate Site, and the file is uploaded with the correct permissions.
    
12. The email is created as a draft or sent immediately, depending on your preferences. If Draft in FYI was selected, click Send.
    
    Note: if an attachment is unable to be converted to PDF, it will be sent to the employee in its original format. When sending a draft email, a message will be displayed to the user to confirm the number of documents converted successfully.

If the email is forwarded to another user, that user will not be able to access the files. Collaborate can only be accessed by the person with whom the document was specifically shared. Follow the instructions above to share the document with additional recipients.

Share No Email

To share documents using Collaborate, but without sending an email, you can use the Share No Email function. This function is ideal when you would like to upload multiple documents before emailing the employee.

Note: A personal email address is still required for the employee to ensure the correct access permissions are applied to the document when shared.

1. In FYI, select one or more documents in the Employee workspace.
   Note: Up to 10 documents can be shared at one time. If the documents have the same name, the FYI Document ID will be added to the filename when uploaded to the Employee Collaborate site.
    
2. Click the arrow on the Share menu and select No Email.
   
3. The Share Document Drawer is displayed.
   
4. The Employee will be automatically selected.
    
5. The Send Documents field will be set to Collaborate. Two options will be displayed - Include as PDF, and Co-Edit with Employee. 
    
6. Include as PDF can be set as "On" or "Off".
   
   When Include as PDF is set "On", the Word, Excel or PowerPoint document is converted to a PDF. PDF documents cannot be enabled for Co-Edit with Employee. 
   
   When Include as PDF is set "Off", the document is sent in its original form and will not be converted to PDF. This also gives you the option to Co-Edit with Employee. 
    
7. Co-Edit with Employee can be set as "On" or "Off".
   When enabled, the document can be edited by multiple users at the same time. 
    
8. Click Send.
    
9. A status window will be displayed to show you the progress as the recipients are added to the Collaborate Site, and the file is uploaded with the correct permissions.
   
   Note: if an attachment is unable to be converted to PDF, it will be sent to the employee in its original format. A message will be displayed to the user to confirm the number of documents converted successfully.

The document that was shared will be displayed in the Employee - Collaborate tab.

Document Filenames

Document ID

Documents are uploaded to the Employee Collaborate site using a file name format of the document name, followed by the FYI Document ID, for example, Engagement Letter (FYI-756385413).docx. This ensures document filenames are unique, and multiple documents with the same name can be uploaded successfully.

Document Version

When a new version is added to the Versions section in the drawer, the file name is changed to display the new version number. Refer to Version History and Creating a New Document Version.

If the document is shared with an employee as an attachment, the file name in the email will display the version number as a suffix at the end of the file name, for example, Employee Contract - (FYI-120941961).pdf.

Note: This version number cannot be modified or removed. Changing the file name manually will impact the employee's ability to access the file.