Automations/Finance
Collect Onboarding Documents From a New Advisory Client
Onboarding one household means statements from three custodians, two forms of identification, a trust deed, a signed agreement and a risk questionnaire — arriving over three weeks, several of them as photographs taken in poor light.
The short answer
Onboarding is a collection problem with a known list, which makes it the same shape as any other: one destination per household, everything filed on arrival, and the outstanding items visible rather than remembered. A workflow uses a collection link and the Email Attachment trigger to catch both routes, the Read Details from File step to identify the document and the household, and the Move step to file it. The file request's checklist reports what is still missing, which is the question actually being asked in week two.
Steps this uses
Before and after
What actually changes
As they arrive
- IMG_4410.jpg
- scan.pdf
- trust doc.pdf
- Fwd: paperwork.pdf
After the workflow
- Reyes Household/Onboarding/2026-04-02-identification.pdf
- Reyes Household/Onboarding/2026-04-05-statement-prior-custodian.pdf
- Reyes Household/Onboarding/2026-04-09-trust-deed.pdf
- Reyes Household/Onboarding/2026-04-14-advisory-agreement-signed.pdf
Four documents over twelve days, two of them photographs, filed under one household as each arrived.
Setting it up
Described once, then it runs
This is the sentence. Send it to the builder and the steps below appear on a canvas, wired and named, for you to change before anything runs.
When a new client returns an onboarding document by email or upload, save a copy, read the household and the document type off it, rename it date-first, and file it under that household. Message me the household and the document name as each one lands.
One destination per household
Reusable over several weeks, no account for the client to create. A household sends things as they find them, and everything lands in the same place regardless of when.
Name the list once
The set of documents an onboarding needs is stable across clients, with variations for trusts and business accounts. Naming it is what turns "have we got everything" from a memory exercise into a check.
Handle the email route identically
Some clients reply with attachments whatever you send them. The Email Attachment and Save a Copy steps put those in the same folder as the uploads, so there is one place to look rather than two.
Report the gap weekly
The file request's checklist lists what each new household still owes, and smart reminders chase it on a cadence you set. A transfer that stalls for three weeks usually stalls on one missing document nobody was tracking.
A stalled transfer is usually one missing document
Account transfers do not typically fail, they wait. A statement that was never sent, an identification document that was photographed too dark to read, a trust page that got missed. None of these announce themselves, and the delay is discovered when somebody wonders why the transfer has not landed. A weekly list of what is outstanding per household turns that from a discovery into a task.
Photographs are the normal case, not the exception
Clients photograph documents on kitchen tables and in cars. A flat, well-lit page reads reliably; an angled one in shadow often does not. A single line in the message that carries the link — lay it flat, good light, whole page in frame — does more for collection quality than anything downstream, and it is worth adding because the alternative is asking twice.
What it does not do
It collects, files and shows the gaps. It does not verify identification, perform any client due-diligence check, open an account, or initiate a transfer. Those are the firm's processes and some of them carry their own regulatory procedure. This makes sure the paperwork is complete and findable when you carry them out.
Then build
Variations worth building next
When a new client uploads a copy of a driver's license or passport, file it in a restricted ID folder under that household instead of the general onboarding folder, and message the compliance lead.
Keeps identity documents in a separate, tighter folder from the rest of onboarding.
When a new client returns an account application or transfer form, read the household, account type and custodian, and send those details to our CRM through a webhook before filing it.
Records the new account details in the CRM as each form arrives.
When a new client emails onboarding documents to my Outlook and the household cannot be read confidently, move them to a Needs Review folder and ask me to approve where they go.
Holds documents from an unclear sender until someone confirms the household.
Limits
What to know before you build it
It can work through what is already there
This one runs on a schedule over a folder you point it at, so the documents sitting in it now are read and filed alongside the ones that arrive later. A large backlog is an overnight job rather than an instant one, because each document is read rather than pattern-matched.
It needs a connected account
This workflow reads files out of an email inbox, so it cannot run until that account is connected. Connecting one is on the Max plan, or on any team workspace. There is no version of this particular workflow that runs on the free plan, because the files it organizes never arrive in The Drive AI on their own.
FAQ
Common questions
How should advisors collect onboarding documents from new clients?
Through one destination per household, reusable over several weeks, with each document filed as it arrives and a list of what is still outstanding. The set an onboarding needs is stable, so naming it once turns "do we have everything" into a check rather than a recollection.
What if the client emails documents instead of using the link?
That has to work too. Attachments are captured from email, given a home, read and filed into the same household folder as uploaded ones. A process that only works when clients follow instructions is not a process.
Can it read a photograph of an identification document?
Usually, with OCR, though quality depends heavily on the photograph. A flat, well-lit page reads reliably and a dark angled one often does not. Asking for the whole page flat and in good light, in the message that carries the link, prevents most re-requests.
Does this verify identity or run due-diligence checks?
No. It collects and organizes the documents. Identity verification and client due-diligence have their own procedures and, in many firms, their own systems. What this removes is the situation where the check is delayed because a document is sitting unread in an inbox.
The transfer is waiting on one document.
Know which one, in week two rather than week five.
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