Password-Protected Client Documents: Locked Files, Open Copies and the AI Pass

A client sends a bank statement, and it won't open. It asks for a password the Firm doesn't have.

Password-protected client documents are easy to lose sight of. The file shows up in the folder list like any other document, so it can look received when the Firm can't use a word of it.

In this method, the Firm indexes a locked file as locked, asks the client for an open copy through the Firm's approved channel, and keeps the file out of the AI pass until it's opened. When an open copy comes in, the Preparer notes by hand that it opened and gives it its own index row. The plugin drafts; the Firm's preparer prepares; the Reviewer signs off. The Firm writes and keeps every step here, and people at the Firm run them in whatever systems the Firm already uses.

This piece gives an index status row, a client request message, a line for the Firm's AI instructions, a pre-review check and a Doe example. The rows sit on the file index from setting up the client folder before any AI pass.

Pages that can't be read vs files that won't open

A locked file isn't the same as a poor scan. A poor scan opens, and a person can see that the page is blurred or cut off. In this method, the Firm can't read the locked copy.

Pages that open but can't be read are covered in when a source page can't be read. This piece is about files that don't open.

In this method, the Firm treats a locked file as received but not yet usable. It goes on the index, and nothing in the entries comes from it.

The index status row

The Firm can paste these rows onto the client's file index and adapt them. In this method, the first row goes on when the locked file comes in, and the second goes on when an open copy arrives.

In this method, the locked row stays on the index after the open copy arrives. It isn't edited into the new row or deleted. Anyone reading the index later can see that a locked file came in, that the Firm asked for an open copy, and which row holds the copy the entries came from.

The Preparer also moves the locked file out of the folder the Firm's AI pass works from and into a held folder the Firm names. The Preparer notes Locked on the index and excludes the held file from the AI pass.

A request message the Firm can adapt

In this method, a person at the Firm sends the request through the Firm's approved channel for client documents. The message names the file the way the client would know it, asks for a copy that opens, and doesn't guess at what's inside.

Hi Jane Doe, thanks for the documents. The file named "Savings statement" won't open on our end because it asks for a password. Could you send us an open copy through [the Firm's approved channel]? If you aren't sure which document it is, reply to this message and we'll describe it. Thanks, Alex Doe

What the message leaves out: entry IDs, the Firm's status words, and any talk of the AI pass.

A line for the Firm's AI instructions

In this method, the Firm adds a line to its own instructions for the AI pass, in its own words. Here's a version it can adapt:

Work only from files the file index shows as Open. Leave out any file shown as Locked, and don't draft entries from it.

The Firm writes that line alongside its held-folder step. In this method, the locked file is already out of the folder the pass works from, and the Preparer checks the drafted entries against the index either way.

For how the Firm writes and keeps those instructions, see how the Firm writes instructions for tax documents.

The pre-review check

In this method, the Preparer reads the index and the entries against this check before the file goes to the Reviewer. The Firm can add its own lines.

• Each file that wouldn't open has a Locked row with who noted it.
• Each Locked row shows who asked the client for an open copy and through which approved channel.
• No locked file sits in the folder the AI pass works from.
• No entry comes from a file that's still locked.
• Each open copy has its own row, and the locked row carries the hand note pointing to it.
• Entries from an open copy name the open copy's row, not the locked one.
• Any file still locked is named in the Preparer's note to the Reviewer, so the Reviewer can see what the file doesn't include yet.

When the open copy arrives

When an open copy comes in, the Preparer opens it, writes the hand note on the locked row, and adds the open copy's own row to the index. In this method, the open copy then goes through the Firm's usual setup steps like any new file.

The Firm decides whether the open copy goes into an AI pass or is worked by hand. Either way, the Preparer checks the entries from it against the document itself, and the Reviewer signs off on the whole file, opened copies included. No file is done without the Reviewer's sign-off.

If the copy the client sends still won't open, the Preparer gives it its own Locked row too, and a person at the Firm sends the request again.

If no open copy comes

A locked file with no open copy stays Locked on the index and stays out of the AI pass. The Firm's own follow-up steps apply, as in a follow-up cadence for open requests.

In this method, entries come only from documents the Firm can open, not from memory or from what the client says the file holds.

Who does what

The Firm decides who notes locked files, who writes the request and who sends it. In this method, the Preparer who has the file does all of it, or the Firm names someone else. Either way, people at the Firm run every step, and the Firm can adapt any of them.

The index row isn't a sign-off and doesn't stand in for one. An Open status means a person opened the file, not that the entries from it are right.

A Doe example

The names and file below are made up for illustration.

Jane Doe owns Doe Holdings, a synthetic client of the Firm. Alex Doe is the Preparer and Pat Doe is the Reviewer.

Jane uploads her documents through the Firm's approved channel. Among them is a savings statement that asks for a password when Alex tries to open it. Alex adds a row to the file index with the file name as Jane sent it, the status Locked, and Alex as the person who noted it, then moves the file into the held folder.

Alex adapts the request message, sends it to Jane through the Firm's approved channel, and fills in the request column on the locked row.

Alex writes the Firm's instruction and selects documents marked Open for the AI pass. Alex checks the drafted entries against the index and finds none from the savings statement.

Jane sends an open copy back through the same channel. Alex opens it, writes the hand note on the locked row with a pointer to the new row, and adds the open copy's own row. Alex sets the open copy up like any new file, works its entries by hand, checks them against the statement, and runs the pre-review check. Alex keeps the locked row and names the open copy's row in the entries.

Pat reviews the whole file, the opened copy's entries included, and signs off on the whole file.

Where TracePrep fits

We've built a TracePrep plugin that drafts these steps in your Firm's workflow, while your preparer decides and your Reviewer signs off. Join the waitlist and we'll tell you when plugin access opens.

Get on the list for plugin access

This is general information, not tax or legal advice. In TracePrep's workflow, the plugin drafts, the Firm's preparer prepares, and the Firm's Reviewer signs off. Access to the plugin is by waitlist. Keep client data inside the systems your Firm has approved.