Phone Photos of a Paper Document: Logging Each Photo for the AI Pass

Jane Doe doesn't own a scanner. She lays her bank statement on the kitchen table, takes pictures of it with her phone and sends the Firm the photos. Every photo is sharp. Still, a photo isn't a page: one shot holds the top of a page, the next holds the bottom, and the opening page shows up twice.

That's the case this piece covers: phone photo client documents, where a paper document reaches the Firm as a set of photos. In this method, the Preparer logs what each photo shows on a photo log, maps each photo to the printed page it shows, then runs the drafting pass. The Firm's instructions ask for each drafted entry to cite the photo and its printed page, and the Preparer checks each citation by hand. The Preparer also asks the client for a clean copy, and an entry that rests on part of a page stays open, marked by hand, for the Reviewer's decision.

The plugin drafts; the Firm's preparer prepares; the Reviewer signs off. Every step here is one the Firm writes and keeps, in whatever systems the Firm already uses, and the Firm can adapt the document-handling steps; the Reviewer's sign-off on the whole file stays as it is.

This piece gives a photo log layout, a citation pattern, a client message, a marking table, a pre-review check, a Doe example and a line for the Firm's AI instructions.

Screenshots, poor scans, scrambled pages, phone photos

A picture of an account page on a screen is covered in how the Firm handles account screenshots.

In this method, the Preparer uses poor scans and the AI pass for unreadable photos and pages out of order for photos without a printed page number or heading.

Here the photos are readable pictures of paper pages.

What counts as a phone photo, in this method

In this method, the Preparer logs a document on a photo log when any of these is true:

• The file is a picture of a printed paper page, taken with a phone or camera.
• Several pictures together make up a single paper document.
• The client says they took pictures of the pages instead of scanning them.

The Preparer gives a picture of a screen the screenshot steps. If the Preparer can't tell, the Preparer builds a photo log anyway.

The photo log

In this method, the Preparer reads every photo and builds a photo log on the file index, then runs the drafting pass.

The log has a line for every photo, in the order the photos came in. The Preparer copies what's in the frame, word for word, and doesn't guess at what sits outside it.

When several photos show the same page, each photo gets its own line naming that printed page. When a photo shows facing pages, its line names each printed page. When a photo shows only the top or bottom of a page, the line says which part.

If a photo shows no page number or heading the Preparer can match, the Preparer writes "Page not shown" and places it with the out-of-order steps. If a printed page appears in no photo, the Preparer follows the missing-pages steps for it.

In this method, the Preparer keeps every photo as it came in. If the Firm's own policy calls for a single file gathered from the photos, the Preparer saves it separately and notes its source photos.

Citing a photo by printed page

In this method, the Firm's instructions ask for each drafted entry to cite the photo and the printed page it shows, and the Preparer checks each citation against the photo log. A pattern the Firm can adapt:

"[photo, copy ID], [document], [printed page, and which part if not the whole page]"

A line for the Firm's AI instructions

In this method, the Firm adds a line, in its own words, to its instructions for the drafting pass on a folder that holds phone photos. A version to adapt:

"Phone photos: [document, photo copy IDs]. These are photos of a paper document; the photo log lists what each photo shows and the printed page it shows. Cite the photo and its printed page; the Preparer checks, notes and marks entries by hand."

The line is the Firm's wording, not a promise about what any drafting software does. Every check on a photo is the Preparer's, by hand.

Asking for a clean copy

In this method, the Preparer asks the client for a clean copy of each document that came in as photos. The Firm can adapt this message:

Hi Jane Doe, thanks for the photos of your [document name]. For your file, could you send a clean copy, either a scan of the paper pages or the copy [issuer] sends you, through our usual upload? If you can't get one, please let us know. Thanks, [Preparer name] at [Firm]

Marking entries drafted from photos

In this method, the Preparer marks by hand, in the entry's note, every entry drafted from a phone photo. The Firm can rename the marks.

When the client answers

If the client sends a clean copy, the Preparer indexes it, runs the drafting pass again on that document, checks the new entries against it, and notes the clean copy on each entry drafted from the photos, marking it "Clean copy in". Those entries stay open for the Reviewer's decision.

If the client can't send a clean copy, the Preparer notes the answer on each entry drafted from the photos and marks it "No clean copy coming". The entries stay open for the Reviewer's decision, and any further document steps follow the Firm's own policy.

The pre-review check

In this method, the Preparer reads the file against this check, then sends it to the Reviewer.

• Each document that came in as phone photos has a photo log.
• Each photo log has a line for every photo and names who listed it.
• Each line notes what the photo shows, its printed page or "Page not shown", and whole or part.
• For any printed page that appears in no photo, the Preparer has started the missing-pages steps.
• The Firm's instructions hold a photo line for each such document in the drafting folder.
• Each document that came in as photos has a logged clean copy request.
• Entries drafted from photos carry marks set by hand, and each part-of-page entry has a note for the Reviewer.

Who logs and who decides

The Firm names people for the document-handling steps; the Reviewer decides on entries and signs off. People at the Firm do every document-handling step.

A mark or a photo log line tells the Reviewer where to look. It isn't a sign-off and doesn't stand in for one. The Reviewer sees every marked entry and the photo log and decides what happens with each entry, and the Reviewer signs off on the whole file, photo log included. No file is done without the Reviewer's sign-off.

A Doe example

The names and file below are made up for illustration.

Jane Doe is a synthetic client of the Firm. Alex Doe is the Preparer and Pat Doe is the Reviewer. Jane sends phone photos of her Doe Bank statement.

Alex reads every photo. A photo shows the statement's opening page, whole, with the Doe Bank heading. A later photo shows that same page again. Other photos show the top and bottom of the next page; its printed label marks it as the statement's last page.

Alex builds the photo log by hand, a line for each photo. The printed labels end at that last page, and every printed page appears in the photos.

Alex adds the photo line to the Firm's instructions and runs the drafting pass. Alex checks entries against their cited photos, marking entries from whole-page photos "From photo, checked" and entries from the part-page photos "Part of page, open", by hand.

Alex sends Jane the message and logs it. Jane sends the statement as Doe Bank's own copy. Alex indexes it, runs the drafting pass again, checks new entries against it, notes it on photo entries and marks them "Clean copy in".

Alex runs the pre-review check and sends the file to Pat. Pat reviews the marked entries and the photo log, decides what happens with each entry, 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.