Chasing
- You write and send each reminder
- GarnerDocs
- Sent on a schedule, and they stop once nothing is outstanding
Compare
GarnerDocs vs email attachments.
Email is free, and every client already knows how to attach a file. Here's what it costs you in chasing time and risk once you collect from more than a few clients.
Facts checked · Reviewed every six months
GarnerDocs
Our take
For a handful of clients a year, email is enough. Past that, chasing becomes someone's job, and GarnerDocs takes it over.
The short version: four differences.
What changes when you stop collecting by email.
Knowing what's missing
- A spreadsheet you update by hand
- GarnerDocs
- Every request's progress on one page
Wrong files
- Another email, lost in a reply-all thread
- GarnerDocs
- A replacement request, with a note on that document
Where copies sit
- In inboxes on both sides, until someone deletes them
- GarnerDocs
- Private storage, deleted after your retention period
Which fits you
Pick the one that fits how you work.
Choose GarnerDocs if…
- You ask many clients for the same kinds of documents.
- You lose time working out who still owes you what.
- You write the same reminder emails every week.
- You want client files deleted on a schedule, not kept in inboxes.
Start your free trial
From $39 a month, or $390 a year · 14 days free
Stay with email if…
- You collect from a handful of clients a year.
- Each request is one or two files, sent once.
- You don't need to see progress across clients.
- You'd rather not pay for another tool.
Side by side
Every stage, compared.
What each approach does at every stage of collecting documents from a client.
Asking
What your client has to do
- GarnerDocs
- Yes. Open a link in an email. No account or password
- Email and a spreadsheet
- Yes. Reply with attachments. No account either
One list of what's needed
- GarnerDocs
- Yes. A checklist for each request, from a template
- Email and a spreadsheet
- No. Typed into each email
Chasing
Knowing what's missing
- GarnerDocs
- Yes. Every request's progress on one page
- Email and a spreadsheet
- No. A spreadsheet you update by hand
Reminders
- GarnerDocs
- Yes. Sent on a schedule you set once
- Email and a spreadsheet
- No. You write and send each one
When reminders stop
- GarnerDocs
- Yes. Once nothing is outstanding. Each one lists only what's still missing
- Email and a spreadsheet
- No. When someone remembers to stop
Reviewing
A wrong or unreadable file
- GarnerDocs
- Yes. Ask for a replacement, with a note shown next to that document
- Email and a spreadsheet
- No. Another email, often lost in a reply-all thread
Who approved what, and when
- GarnerDocs
- Yes. Each approval and replacement request in the request's history
- Email and a spreadsheet
- No. Spread across people's inboxes
A back-and-forth conversation
- GarnerDocs
- No. Notes on each document, not a chat thread
- Email and a spreadsheet
- Yes. Reply as often as you like
Keeping files
File size
- GarnerDocs
- Up to 25 MB per file, shown before your client uploads
- Email and a spreadsheet
- A limit on the whole message, set by each email provider and often around 20–25 MB
Where files end up
- GarnerDocs
- Yes. Filed under the client, the request and the document
- Email and a spreadsheet
- No. In whichever inbox they arrived in
Who in your team can see them
- GarnerDocs
- Yes. Your team, in one place, after signing in
- Email and a spreadsheet
- No. Whoever received the email, or was forwarded it
Security
Where copies sit
- GarnerDocs
- Yes. Private storage, opened through a permission check
- Email and a spreadsheet
- No. In inboxes and sent folders on both sides
Files deleted after a set period
- GarnerDocs
- Yes. 30, 90, 180 or 365 days, and the client's link closes
- Email and a spreadsheet
- No. Kept until someone deletes them
Cost
Price
- GarnerDocs
- From $39 a month, or $390 a year, with a 14-day free trial
- Email and a spreadsheet
- Yes. Free with the email you already have
See the difference
What email can't do for you.
Chasing
Reminders that write themselves, and stop.
By default 3 and 7 days after sending, and 3 days before the due date. Each lists only what's still missing.
How automatic reminders workReviewing
Wrong file? Say so on the document.
Ask for a replacement with a note your client sees next to that document, not in a reply-all thread.
Ask a client for a replacement fileKeeping files safe
Out of inboxes, then deleted on time.
Out of inboxes and sent folders. When your retention period ends, files are deleted and the link closes.
How long files are keptThe hidden cost of chasing by email
Email costs nothing to send. The cost is in the work around it. You type out the list for every client. Each reply means opening the attachments, checking them against the list and updating the spreadsheet that tracks who still owes you what. When a client goes quiet, you work out what's missing, then write the reminder by hand.
That's fine for five clients. With forty clients and ten documents each, it becomes someone's job. Then come the wrong files: a blurry photo, last year's statement, page one of three. Each means another email and another wait.
Where attachments go
An emailed document ends up in several places: the inbox of whoever received it, your client's sent folder, every forward and someone's downloads folder. Nothing deletes those copies when the work is done, so IDs, payslips and bank statements stay in mailboxes for years.
Size is the other problem. Each email provider limits the size of a whole message, often to around 20–25 MB, so a long scan gets split across several emails, or bounces. In GarnerDocs each file can be up to 25 MB, and your client sees that limit before they upload. The security page covers where files are kept and who can open them.
What changes for your clients
Very little, which is the point. Your client still gets an email from you, with a link to their own upload page instead of a list to reply to.
They can upload from a phone or a computer, send some files today and the rest next week, and leave a note. See what your clients see.
When email is still the better choice
If each request is one or two files sent once, a reply with an attachment is quicker than setting anything up, and it's free.
Email is also a conversation, and GarnerDocs isn't: there are notes on each document, but no chat thread, so keep talking to clients by email. GarnerDocs doesn't do e-signatures or engagement letters, and it isn't practice management or a CRM. If you want one system for all of that, an all-in-one suite may suit you better.
Moving over
There's nothing to migrate. Finish the collections you've started by email, and send the next batch from GarnerDocs.
-
Make a template
Turn the list you usually type into an email into a template.
-
Add your clients
One at a time, or from a spreadsheet.
-
Send the requests
Create a request for each client and send it. The reminders take it from there.
Plans start at $39 a month, or $390 a year, for 20 active requests on Starter, and every new workspace starts with a 14-day free trial, no card needed. See pricing.
Questions
Do my clients need an account or an app?
No. Each request has its own private link, sent to your client in an email from your firm. They open it on a phone or computer and upload. There's nothing to install and no password to set up or forget.
Is a private link safer than an email attachment?
It removes some of email's risks. The file isn't copied into inboxes, sent folders and forwards, and it's deleted when your retention period ends, which also closes the link. Each link is a random code that opens one request only. It can't protect a client's own device or email account.
What if a client has a file bigger than 25 MB?
Each file can be up to 25 MB, and your client sees that limit next to each document before they upload. A large scan can usually be saved at a lower quality or split into parts, and a document can take more than one file.
Can I still email my clients?
Yes. GarnerDocs sends the request and the reminders; your inbox stays for everything else. If a client emails a document anyway, reply with their link so the file lands in the right place.
How we checked
GarnerDocs features are checked against the product, and prices come from our pricing page. Facts last checked . We review this page every six months.
Spend less time chasing. More time doing the work that matters.
Make document collection the easiest part of working with your clients.
Start your free trial
No credit card required.