Documents (previous version)

In MYOB Practice you can see all documents that your practice has shared with clients, and the documents your clients have sent to the practice.

Documents can be published:

• using MYOB Practice: See Create a general task

• using MYOB AO/AE: See Sending documents from AE or AO by publishing to portal

Track documents sent and received

You can view a list of all published and received files by clicking the Documents option in the top menu bar.

If you want to:

• View a document: Click on a document name to view it, or click the Action button associated with a document and select Preview.

• Download a document: Click the Action button associated with a document and select Download. The document can then be saved and/or opened in your PDF viewer.

• Filter your documents: You can filter the list to show by document tag, client, or person who uploaded the document. The document count will refresh based on the filters you select.

• View the associated task: If a document is associated with a task, you'll be able to view the details of a task from the Documents page. Simply click the Action button associated with the document and select View task. Or you can click the task icon associated with the document.

• Delete a document: Click the Action button associated with a document and select Delete Document.

• Share a document: To share a document with a contributor, click the Action button associated with a document and select Share with contributor. See Share a document for more info.

Document counts

The Documents page shows you how many files have been sent and received, based on the filters that have been applied on the page (Client, Uploaded by or Tag). If you’re viewing documents for a client selected in the client sidebar, the count will show how many documents have been sent to them in tasks or published via MYOB AE/AO, and how many they’ve sent to your practice.

Icons

Here’s a guide to the icons you’ll see in the Documents page.

Associated icons

a PDF

An image file

A text file

Icons before the Action button

A task is associated with the document

The document has been shared with a contributor

No icon

The document has no associated tasks.

Documents saved on your PC, and documents you’ve added to MYOB Accountants Office and Accountants Enterprise can be published to your client portals.

When your client signs in to their portal, the documents you’ve published can be viewed, downloaded and, if published from MYOB AO/AE they can be digitally signed.

Supported file formats

Only the following file formats can be published to a portal:

• Portable Document Format (pdf)

• Microsoft Office formats — doc, docx, ppt, pptx, rtf, xls, xlsx

• Graphic formats — bmp, gif, jpg, jpeg, png

• Others — htm, html, msg, tif, txt, xml.

Note that all non-PDF documents will be saved as PDF files in the client portals. This allows any document you publish from MYOB AO/AE to be digitally signed if you want.

Also, if a document has security restrictions, such as a password, you won’t be able to publish it to the portal. You’ll see the following error: The document type is not a supported file type.

File size

The maximum file size for a single document is 18MB. If you publish multiple documents in one go, ensure that each document is not greater than 18MB.

Version control

At this stage, documents that are published to the portal are not under any version control. So if you publish the same file multiple times, a separate copy is saved in the client’s portal each time.

To publish a document to a client portal, you need to upload it to MYOB Practice. This can be done in several ways, depending on what software you have installed.

If the file you want to publish:

• was added to MYOB AO/AE Document Manager: You can publish a document from Document Manager if its status is Completed or Approved.

• is in the client document folder in MYOB AE/AO: If you use MYOB AO/AE but don't have Document Manager, you can publish documents that are accessible from the Documents tab of the client record.

• is saved in a folder on your PC: You can create a task in MYOB Practice and attach the document to the task by selecting the folder location on your PC. This is your only option if you don’t use MYOB AO/AE.

Share It

This section is only relevant if you're using MYOB AE or MYOB AO in your practice. 

If you use MYOB AO/AE you can also use the Share It feature to publish a document to a client portal. You’ll find it:

• on the toolbar of any print preview window of MYOB Tax, Corporate Compliance and Statutory Reporter

• in the Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook ribbon

• In Windows Explorer (right-click a file and choose Send to > MYOB Share It).

Disable Share It auto prompts

When using Share It, you may not want to be constantly prompted with the following message to publish your Document Manager files:

The document has been saved into Document Manager.
Do you also want to publish it to the client portal?

You can disable Share It auto prompts if you don't want to be asked to share a document each time you add one to MYOB AE/AO.

To disable this default prompt, you'll need to add/edit a configuration key in your desktop MYOB AE or MYOB AO.

To disable the prompts

1. Log into your desktop MYOB AE or MYOB AO.

2. Select Maintenance > Maintenance Map > User defined > Configuration. The Maintenance - Configuration page displays.

3. Enter the following information in the first blank row at the top of the table:

   • Key Name: HidePortalShareItPrompt

   • Key Value: 1

   • Comment: Disable auto prompts to publish to the portal

4. Press Enter.

5. Click OK. Your changes are saved and the Maintenance - Configuration page closes.

6. Restart MYOB AE / AO.
   

   If you ever want to enable the Share It prompts in the future, simply edit this configuration key so that the Key Value is 0 (zero).
   
   

You can send a document to a client for viewing in their portal, straight from MYOB Practice, by creating a task.

When you create a task, you can attach documents and add some instructions for the client. The client will be notified immediately by email that you have shared something with them, and they’ll sign in their portal to view the document you published.

For instructions on how to:

• create a task in MYOB Practice with a document attached to it, see Create a general task.

• publish a document straight from your MYOB AE/AO desktop software, see Sending documents from AE or AO by publishing to portal.

You can send documents to a client by publishing them to the client’s portal, straight from MYOB AO/AE. Your client can view, download, and print the documents.

To publish a document

1. In MYOB AO/AE, select a document you want to publish to the client portal.
   
   There are several ways you can do this - see Sending documents from AE or AO by publishing to portal for details.

2. Click Publish to Portal.
   
   If you’ve already created your client portal, the Publish to... page appears.
   
   If you haven’t created a portal for your client, you’ll be prompted to either:

   • create a portal for your client. You’ll be directed to the Create Portal page to create your client portals.

   • add the client to an existing portal. Select the relevant portal and click Add.

3. In the Publish to … Portal page, you can tag (classify) each document into an appropriate category. Tagging documents makes it easier for you to find them later.

4. Select the appropriate year that the document relates to from the drop-down.

5. You can reorder the document list if you want. Click  in front of the document you wish to reorder and drag it to the position where you want it.

6. Select your notification preference for these documents:
   
   

   1. If you don’t want to notify the portal users via email about the document you’re publishing, select Don’t notify anyone, and then click Publish.

   2. If you do want to email portal users to notify them that you’ve sent them a document:

      1. Select the Notify people option and click Next.

      2. Select the users who you want to notify. You need to select at least one full-access user.

      3. If someone who needs to review and give their approval isn’t already a contributor, you can add them by clicking + Add other contributors.

      4. If someone else usually deals with this client, you can choose to show them as the sender of the email. Click the x next to your name in the Send as section, and then click + Add sender to choose the name that should appear on the email.

      5. Enter the subject of the email.

      6. Enter the email message.

How to access the published documents

• An email will be sent to each user you’ve published a document for, notifying them that you have shared documents with them. When they sign in to their portal, they’ll see the documents you’ve shared in the Documents > Received page of their portal.

• You’ll see the documents listed in the Documents > Sent page in MYOB Practice.

• In MYOB AO/AE, if you have Document Manager, you’ll see an icon next to the documents you have published in the Clients > Documents tab and the Versioning page of Document Manager. A  icon appears if an earlier version of the same document has been published to the client portal. If you don’t have Document Manager, and you’re publishing documents from your Clients > Documents tab, there is no visual indicator to let you know which documents you have published to the portal.

You can share documents with a client by publishing them to the client’s portal, straight from MYOB AO/AE. An approval task will be created for your client, so they can view, download, print and approve the documents from within their portal. For instance, you can send financial statements, invoices and tax returns. Watch this video to see how clients can approve documents in their portal.

If you’re sending documents that don’t require a digital signature (approval), see Sending documents from AE or AO by publishing to portal.

To publish a document that requires approval

1. In MYOB AE/AO, select a document you want to publish to the client portal. If the file you want to publish:

   • was added to MYOB AE/AO Document Manager: You can publish a document from Document Manager if its status is Completed or Approved.

   • is in the client document folder in MYOB AE/AO: If you use MYOB AE/AO but don't have Document Manager, you can publish documents that are accessible from the Documents tab of the client record.

2. Click Publish to Portal.
   
   If you’ve already created your client portal, the Publish to... page appears.
   
   If you haven’t created a portal for your client, you’ll be prompted to either:

   • create a portal for your client. You’ll be directed to the Create Portal page to create your client portals.

   • add the client to an existing portal. Select the relevant portal and click Add.

3. In the Publish to … Portal page, you can tag (classify) each document into an appropriate category. Tagging documents makes it easier for you to find them later.

4. Select the appropriate year that the document relates to from the drop-down.

5. You can reorder the document list if you want. Click in front of the document you wish to reorder and drag it to the position where you want it.

6. Click the Signature required checkbox for each document requiring digital approval, then click Next. 

7. Select the portal users and any contributors who need to digitally approve the documents. You need to select at least one full-access user.

8. If someone else usually deals with this client, you can choose to show them as the sender of the task. Click the x next to your name in the Send as section, and then click + Add sender to choose the name that should appear on the task and email notification.

9. Select who in your practice should be notified when the document gets digitally approved, or if a user or contributor asks questions or adds comments.

10. Give the task a title. This title will be the subject of the email that is sent to the users. It will also be the task title displayed on your Tasks page and the Tasks page of your client.

11. Enter a description. This will be the body of the email the users receive. Give them more details concerning the task.
    The Description text box contains a simple rich text editor that lets you format the email message. For example, you are able to enter a new line of text, bold text and retain all the formatting.

12. Enter or select the due date for the task to be completed. Enter a date in dd/mm/yyyy format or click thecalendar icon to select a due date.

13. Click Publish and create task.

Tracking document approval

• If only one user has been assigned the task of approving documents, you’ll be notified by email when they have either approved or rejected the documents.

• If more than one user needs to digitally approve the documents, you’ll be notified by email when all users have approved them, or if anyone rejects a document.

• You can also track the status of each document approval (approved, rejected, pending) on the Signees section of the Tasks details page.

• If there are several documents to be approved, then each document must be approved by all assigned users before the task is digitally signed. If one of the documents is rejected, then the whole task is rejected too. You’ll have to resend the amended documents for approval and this will create another task.

• When a document has been approved by all users, you can mark the related task as complete. The task then moves from the Tasks > Open page to the Tasks > Completed page in MYOB Practice.

• The task’s history appears in the Activity section of the Tasks details page of the particular task.
  

  Troubleshooting digital signature issues

  There are several reasons why a digital signature may fail to be applied successfully to a document. These include:

  • The document you sent to the client has already been digitally signed.

  • The document you sent is not a PDF.

  • The PDF file is encrypted or password protected.

  • The width of the PDF file's first page is too narrow to include a digital signature.

  • The file was deleted before it could be signed.

  In these cases you will need to resubmit the documents for the client to sign.

  
  
  

After a document you have sent has been digitally approved, you can validate the signature and the signed content.

The footer of the approved document contains the names of those who have signed the document and the time and date of the signatures.

To check the signature of a signed document

1. Click Documents in the top menu bar.

2. Open the document you want to view. The document may open in your browser or you may need to download the document to view it in your PDF viewer.

3. Go to the footer of the document to see all users who have digitally signed the document as well as a date / time stamp.

If you open the document in a PDF viewer, such as Adobe Reader, you can also verify the signatures added to the document. Refer to your PDF viewer’s help for instructions on how to get more information about the signatures in a document.

About digital signatures

A digital (or electronic) signature is an alternative way to formally and legally sign a document, and is covered by

• the Australian Electronic Transaction Act of 1999

• New Zealand Electronic Transaction Act of 2002. See also: Digital signatures fact sheet (NZ). 

In addition, MYOB has explicitly sought approval from each major industry body our clients deal with to ensure that we don't have any issues with the acceptance of our digital signatures by these industry bodies. Approval from ASIC is still in progress.

After you’ve published a document to a client portal there are several places you can access the document from.

In MYOB Practice

Any documents that you have published to a client portal can be found in MYOB Practice. You’ll see the documents listed in the Documents > Sent page.

If you requested a digital signature, you’ll also see the related task listed in the Tasks > Open tasks page. If you published more than one document, only one task will be created and associated with them. You can see all the related documents on the Tasks details page.

Note that if you delete a task or digitally-signed document in MYOB Practice, it will no longer be accessible from Document Manager either (if you use it). The original (not-signed) document that you published will remain in Document Manager.

Document Manager

If you have Document Manager, you’ll see an icon next to the documents you have published in the Clients > Documents tab and in the Versioning page of Document Manager.

You can also access digitally-signed documents from Document Manager. While the signed document is saved in MYOB Practice, you can click a  link in Document Manager that will open the signed file for you.

Note that if you delete a signed document from Document Manager, the link to the online document stored in MYOB Practice will be removed, but the digitally-signed document will remain in MYOB Practice.

Client > Documents tab (MYOB AE/AO)

If you don’t have Document Manager, and you’re publishing documents from the Clients > Documents tab in MYOB AO/AE Client Accounting, there’s no visual indicator to let you know which documents you have published to the portal.

If you want to store a copy of a digitally-signed document in your desktop software, you need to download it from MYOB Practice:

1. Go to the Documents page in MYOB Practice.

2. Click the Action button for the document and choose Download. The document is downloaded in PDF format

3. Add the document to the client’s Documents tab in MYOB AO/AE.

You can share a document you’ve previously sent or received with another client portal user, or someone who isn’t a user (known as contributors). For instance, you may want to share a financial statement with a client’s bank.

To share a document

1. In MYOB Practice, click Documents in the top menu bar.

2. Find the document you want to share.

3. Click the document’s Action button and select Share with contributor.
   The Share Document Name dialog appears. It shows who the document has already been shared with.

4. If the user or contributor you want to share the document with is listed, click the checkbox next to their name.
   If you want to remove someone’s access, deselect the checkbox next to their name.

5. To share the document with a contributor who isn’t listed, click + Add contributor.

   1. If the contributor is already set up, type their name and you can select them user from the list that appears

   2. If a contributor hasn’t already been set up for the portal, click + Add new below the Add contributor field and enter their details.

6. After selecting the users or contributors you want to share the document with, click Done.
   An  icon will be displayed next to the selected document if it has been shared with one or more contributors. You can click the icon at any time to see who a document has been shared with. If no contributors were selected, the icon isn’t displayed.

7. Any users and contributors that you have selected to share the document with will receive an notification by email.

To stop sharing a document with a contributor

1. In MYOB Practice, click Documents in the top menu bar.

2. Select the document that needs to be unshared from either your Sent or Received documents.

3. Click the Action button associated with the selected document and select Share with contributor.
   The Share Document Name dialog displays, where Document Name is the name of the selected document. The Share Document Name dialog lists all full access users and contributors who currently have access to the portal. If there is a tick in the checkbox associated with the client, this means that they have access to this document.

4. Remove contributors who you don't want to share the document with anymore, by deselecting the checkbox next to their names.

5. Click Done.

To delete a document

When you delete a document in MYOB Practice, it’s deleted permanently. The document will also be deleted from your client’s portal.

And if the document is linked to MYOB AO/AE’s Document Manager, the link will be removed.

1. In MYOB Practice, click Documents in the top menu bar.

2. Find the document you want to delete.

3. Click the document’s Action button and select Delete Document.

4. If the document is associated with a general task, and you want to delete the task as well, select the delete task option in the dialog.

5. Click Delete.