Frequently asked questions

In the organisation, if your whole team should use them. In a space, if only the people of that space need them.

Settings shows two sections, each with its own Catalogue: Space at the top, for the selected space, and Organization below. A request template created in the organisation catalogue is offered in all your spaces, including the ones created later. In each space it shows a lock: it can only be edited in the organisation, but Copy makes a version for that space. A request template created in a space stays in that space.

When in doubt, choose the organisation: you keep it up to date in one place. See Create a request template.

One sentence that says why you are collecting this information, for example “Annual tax review” or “Opening your file”. Your client reads it in their consent, as the purpose of the collection.

It is not a message to your client: your directions go in the instructions. The purpose is required to send a request. Enter it once in a request template, and every request created from it reuses it.

Yes. The request template prefills the request, and everything stays editable before you send: the title, the instructions, the purpose, the due date and the reminders. You can also add or remove items, or make them required or optional.

For items that come from the request template, the retention, the accepted formats, the content of statements and the questions of information blocks follow the request template. To change them, edit the request template itself.

Your changes to the request never touch the request template.

An item is a single thing you ask of your client or hand to them. A request template is a complete, prefilled request that assembles several items.

The catalogue offers five kinds of items: Document type (the client uploads a file), Information block (they answer questions), Statement (they accept a text), Signature document (they sign a PDF) and Handout (they download a file).

A request template adds the purpose, the instructions, the proposed due date, the end of collection and the reminders to its items. Missing an item? Create it while you build the request template. See Create a request template.

It depends on what your client does:

• Document type: they upload a file, for example a driver’s licence or a void cheque. You choose the accepted formats and the retention.
• Information block: they answer questions in a form, for example their contact details or the name of their accountant.
• Signature document: you upload a PDF and place the fields; they sign it online.

The catalogue also holds the Statement, a text your client accepts without a signature, and the Handout, a file you pass on to them.

The owner and administrators. Only they see Catalogue in Settings.

An organisation request template is edited in the organisation catalogue, so by the owner and the organisation’s administrators. A space request template can also be edited by that space’s administrators.

Editors do not edit request templates, but they use them to create their requests. Viewers do not create requests.

Archive it. It is no longer offered for your next requests, and requests already sent do not change.

• Request template: in Settings, Catalogue, Request templates tab, open the ⋮ menu on its row, click Archive and confirm.
• Item: click Manage elements, open the ⋮ menu on its row, click Deactivate and confirm. Request templates that contain it keep it.

Under the list, View archived request templates or View archived items lets you Reactivate them. Items provided by meo cannot be archived.

Yes. At sign-up, the line of work you choose adds ready-to-use request templates to your organisation’s catalogue. Use them as they are or edit them.

The meo catalogue also offers document types, information blocks and statements ready to add, in French and English, marked Provided by Meo. You find them with Add an item when you compose a request or a request template.

Yes, in the client portal. A full web address starting with https:// or http:// becomes a clickable link in the request instructions and in each item’s instructions. Write it out in full, for example https://www.example.ca/guide.

A statement has its own fields, External link URL and External link label: your client sees a link that carries the label you chose.

You can paste a long text, but not its formatting. Instructions show as plain text: line breaks are kept, bold, italics and headings are not.

For a long text your client must read and accept, such as terms or a policy, use a Statement instead. Its Content shown to the contact takes up to 10,000 characters, and your client answers with Confirm reading, Accept or decline or Yes or no. You can also add a link to the full text.

No, not the list of questions. The Contact details block is provided by meo: it cannot be edited in the catalogue, and its copy in a request or a request template keeps all its questions.

Your client’s answers to this block update their contact’s record; an email address or phone number already on file stays as it is.

No, if you start from a request template. It keeps the purpose, the instructions, the items, the proposed due date and the reminders. Choose it under Start from a request template, in the Title and instructions card: the request is prefilled, and you only adjust what changes for this client.

To create one quickly, click Save as a request template after sending a request. See Reuse a request for your next clients.

In two places, both optional:

• Request instructions, in the Title and instructions card: your message for the whole request, sent by email and shown in the portal.
• An item’s Instructions, in its Settings: a precise direction shown on that item in the portal, for example “Both sides of the card”.

In a request template, you write them once and they come back with every request.

The Additional people information block, provided by meo, collects details about other people linked to your client’s file, for example a spouse or a child. Your client adds as many as needed and, for each one, enters their role, name, date of birth, contact details and address.

For a single precise piece of information, such as the name of your client’s accountant, create your own information block with a single question instead. See Create a custom question for your client to fill in.

When you add an item, the list brings two sources together: your catalogue and the meo catalogue. An item with the same name can exist in both. meo’s carry the Provided by Meo label; yours carry Organization or Space. A copy made with Copy also carries the original’s name, followed by “(copy)”.

To keep only one, deactivate your extra version in Manage elements. Items provided by meo stay on offer.

First check what meo requires: at least one item on the Content step, then a Request template name and a Proposed due date on the Values step. The Continue button stays inactive while one is missing.

If meo says the request template changed elsewhere, someone else saved it while you were working. Close it, reopen it and redo your changes.

If “Could not save the changes” still shows, write to us and name the request template. See How do you reach meo support?

It tells your client how many files you expect for a document, for example 3 for three years of notices of assessment. Your client can always upload several files, whatever the quantity; above 1, the portal shows “Expected quantity: 3”.

Set it in the document’s Settings, in a request or a request template, from 1 to 100. Also spell out what you expect in its instructions, for example “Notices of assessment for the last three years”.

No. A document type, such as Driver’s licence or Notice of assessment, is a reusable item in your catalogue: it belongs to no client. Add it to the requests of all your clients; each request keeps its own copy.

What belongs to each client are the files they upload in answer to your request.