Filing Rules

Filing rules keep your documents organized automatically. A rule maps each stage of a document's lifecycle to a destination folder, so documents file themselves into the right place as they are sent, completed, voided, or declined — no manual sorting required.

Filing rules are available on paid plans.

How it works

A filing rule is a named set of mappings from status to folder:

You only map the statuses you care about. Any status left as Don't file is ignored, and the document stays where it is for that stage.

Destination folders are document folders (the folders on the Documents page), not template folders.

Create a filing rule

1. Open Configuration → Filing Rules in the sidebar
2. Click New filing rule
3. Give it a name (for example, "Signed contracts")
4. For each status you want to automate, pick a destination folder
5. Save

Add a folder without leaving the dialog

If you don't have a document folder yet, choose Add folder… in any of the status pickers. You can name the new folder and choose a parent for it, and it is selected for that status automatically. You never have to leave the rule you're building.

Set a default rule

Mark one rule as the default (the star icon on the Filing Rules page) and new documents and templates start with that rule already selected. Click the star again to clear it and return new documents to Manual (no automatic filing).

There is always at most one default per team.

Apply a rule to a document

A document can get its filing rule in a few ways:

• At upload. The Filing rule field on the upload form lets you pick a rule (or your team default, if set). See Creating Documents.
• From a template. A template can carry a default rule, and documents created from it inherit it. You can override the choice when you create the document.
• After creation. Open a document and change its Filing rule from the details panel at any time.

Once a rule is attached, the document files itself each time it reaches a mapped status.

Manual moves win

If you move a document into a folder yourself, that choice is respected. Automatic filing turns off for that specific document, so a later lifecycle event won't pull it back out of the folder you chose. Other documents on the same rule are unaffected. The same applies when you place a document into a folder through the API.

Templates and filing rules

Set a template's default rule from the template's detail panel. Every document created from that template inherits the rule (still overridable per document), which is the easiest way to keep a whole workflow organized consistently.

When a destination folder is deleted

Deleting a document folder removes only the mapping that pointed at it — that status reverts to Don't file. The rule itself, its name, and its other mappings are untouched.

Where to go next

• Creating Documents - the draft workflow and the upload form
• Templates - set a default rule for a whole workflow
• Sending for Signature - the lifecycle events that trigger filing