What you will accomplish

You will create clear labels—such as Insurance, Vehicle Registration, and Driver's License—so staff and customers upload files to the right place. When someone uploads a card or registration paper, everyone sees the same category on the customer record.

When to use this guide

Use this guide before you:

• Ask customers to upload files during portal onboarding.
• Collect files during public registration.
• Want staff to stop using vague names like "Misc file" for important paperwork.

Before you start

• List the files your facility needs from customers.
• Decide which files are required and which are optional.
• Decide which files customers should upload themselves vs. staff-only uploads.
• Sign in as a team member who can manage Settings.

Step 1: Open document types in settings

1. Go to Contracts & Documents

   Open Settings > Contracts & Documents.

2. Scroll to Document types for uploads

   Find the section Document types for uploads below the contract templates area.

Scroll down until you see Document types for uploads. This is separate from contract templates customers sign.

Expected result: You see the list of document types your team already uses (or an empty list if you are starting fresh).

Step 2: Plan the types you need

Start with files your team asks for most often.

• Insurance — proof of vehicle insurance.
• Vehicle Registration — registration paperwork for the stored vehicle.
• Driver's License — government ID for the account holder.
• Title — ownership paperwork when needed.
• Bill of Sale — purchase or transfer records.
• Other — only when nothing else fits.

Step 3: Create a document type

1. Click Add Document Type

   In Document types for uploads, click Add Document Type.

2. Enter the Name

   Type the name staff and customers should see, such as Insurance or Vehicle Registration.

3. Review the Value field

   The Value field is used behind the scenes. In most cases, leave it as the app suggests from the name.

4. Add a Description

   Explain what should be uploaded. Example: Current insurance card for the vehicle on file.

5. Pick Icon and Color (optional)

   Choose a simple icon and color so staff can scan a long document list quickly.

6. Set Customer Access

   Find the switch labeled Customer Access (or similar wording).

   Turn it on if customers should see or upload this type in the customer portal.

   Leave it off for internal-only files (staff inspection notes, private accounting scans).

   Why this matters: If Customer Access is off, customers will not see that type during portal onboarding—even if you turned on the document upload step.

7. Save

   Click Create Document Type or Save Changes.

   Expected result: The new type appears in the document types list and can be chosen when uploading files from Contacts or during customer onboarding.

Expected result: The new type appears in the document types list and can be chosen when uploading files.

Step 4: Put types in a helpful order

If you have many types, drag the rows so the most common ones appear first (Insurance, Registration, and so on).

Staff and customers will see types in this order when they upload files.

Expected result: The list order matches how your team talks about paperwork—insurance and registration before less common types.

Step 5: Connect types to customer onboarding (optional)

If new customers must upload files during portal setup:

1. Open Customer onboarding

   Go to Settings > Customer onboarding.

2. Find Customer app onboarding

   Scroll to Customer app onboarding.

3. Turn on the document upload step

   Enable the step that asks customers to upload documents.

4. Click Configure on that step

   Choose which document types are required during onboarding in Document Upload Step Configuration.

   

5. Save and test

   Invite a test customer and confirm the upload step shows the correct type names.

   For the full onboarding flow (including contracts), see Configure customer onboarding and Attach contracts to customer workflows.

Step 6: Test from a customer record

1. Open a customer

   Go to Contacts and open a customer record.

2. Find Documents & Contracts

   Scroll to Documents & Contracts.

3. Click New Document

   Click New Document, choose General Document, then pick the document type you created.

   Confirm the type name appears as expected.

What success looks like

• Document types appear in Settings > Contracts & Documents.
• Customer-facing types have Customer Access turned on.
• Internal-only types have Customer Access turned off.
• Staff can pick the correct type when uploading from a customer record.
• Customers only see upload requests that make sense for them.

Troubleshooting

What to do next

If uploads are part of onboarding, continue with Attach contracts to customer workflows.

If customers should upload after onboarding, see Help customers upload documents in the portal.

If you only need staff uploads, follow Upload a document for a customer for step-by-step help from the customer record.