Open a request's detail page to review each uploaded file, decide on it, and message the contact directly. Each file gets one of three decisions.
Approving
Approving accepts the document and closes out that checklist item. The request itself doesn't complete on its own when the last item is approved — you mark it complete when you're satisfied. See Document statuses.
Rejecting
Rejecting asks the contact for a better copy. Always include a note saying what was wrong — "this is too blurry to read the account number" gets a correct second attempt, while a bare rejection usually gets the same file uploaded again.
When the item has a single file, rejecting it moves the item to Needs Revision straight away. When it has several, the item stays Under Review until every file has a decision, and only then becomes Needs Revision. The per-file buttons keep working throughout. The rejection itself takes effect right away, though: the contact sees that file marked for revision in their portal, it's included in the next review update, and reminders ask for a replacement, even while the item's other files are still waiting on you.
Reviewing several files at once
An item with more than one upload — three photos of one statement, say — has a checkbox on each file and one at the item level to select them all. With files ticked, the item's buttons change from Approve all / Reject all to Approve selected (n) / Reject selected (n) and act on just those. One rejection note covers the whole batch. Untick, or use Clear Selection, and the buttons return to acting on everything undecided.
Reject when what came in is wrong:
- The photo is cut off, blurry, or too dark to read.
- It's the wrong period, wrong account, or wrong version.
- It's the right document but unsigned.
Finished items stay out of the way
On a request with five or more items, the ones that are done (approved, signed, or marked not applicable) shrink to a single line each so the items still needing attention are easier to see. Click Show Completed above the checklist to see them in full, or Hide Completed to shrink them again.
docEvault remembers whichever you picked last. Every request you open after that shows finished items the same way, on any computer or phone you sign in from, until you click the other link. The choice is yours alone; it doesn't change what anyone else on your team sees.
Marking incomplete
Use Mark Incomplete when what came in is *right but not all of it* — three of the four pages, one statement of the three months you asked for. It keeps every file the contact already sent, asks you for a reason, and shows the contact an amber *More needed* note rather than a red rejection. Nothing is thrown away; they just add the rest.
This is the tool for a partial upload. Rejecting a partial upload tells the contact their file was wrong, which it wasn't, and makes them re-send what you already have.
Documents received outside docEvault
When a contact gets a document to you some other way — hands it over at the office, mails it, emails or faxes it to you directly — use Received Another Way on that item. Choose how it arrived (In Person is preselected; the others are By Mail, By Email, By Fax and Other) and add a note for your team if you like — the contact never sees the note.
The item is marked done with no upload: it counts as approved, reminders stop asking for it, and the request can complete. It shows how and when it arrived and who marked it — *Received by mail — Sep 27, 2026, 2:15 PM, Jane Smith*. Undo puts the item back exactly as it was.
If the contact sent several things, the window lists every item still waiting, so you can tick them all at once. They share the one "how it arrived" answer, so mark a batch that came by mail separately from one handed over in person.
Received Another Way appears on any item still waiting on the contact — requested, sent back for revision, or flagged incomplete. It's hidden while the item has uploads you haven't reviewed yet (review those first) and while it's out for signature.
When the contact hears about it
Review decisions are not emailed one at a time. docEvault holds them and sends one message covering everything you decided in that sitting — by default 15 minutes after your last decision, so a reviewer working through ten files doesn't generate ten emails. You can change the delay under Settings → Notifications (Review Notifications), from immediate up to an hour.
The message is always an email. It's also sent as a text only when something in it needs the contact to act: a file or item you sent back for revision, or an item you flagged incomplete, since the last update they received. Approvals alone don't send a text. A revision request they've already been told about still appears in each later email, but doesn't send another text. If nothing has changed since their last update (for example, you approved something and then undid it), nothing is sent.
Items you marked Received Another Way are named in that same message — *"We received these from you"*, then each item with how it arrived, such as *W-2 (by mail)* — so the contact knows what you have without checking the portal. If your message sequence's review email uses the {receivedItems} placeholder, the list goes there; otherwise it's added after the opening paragraph.
While a notice is queued, the request shows when it will go out, with Send Now and Don't Notify. Don't notify is the undo for a wrong click: reject the wrong file, catch it, and the contact never hears about it. The same applies when you flag an item incomplete or mark it Received Another Way.
When you hear about it
The bell in docEvault shows each upload the moment it happens. Emails to you are grouped per request instead: docEvault waits until activity on the request settles — the same Review Notifications delay, 15 minutes by default — then sends one email listing everything, so a contact uploading several files produces one email, not one per file. If the delay is set to send right away, you get one email per event. The deadline alert is always sent on its own, once per request.
Each team member chooses which requests they hear about under Settings → Notifications.
Messaging the contact
You can message the contact from the request. Your message reaches them, and their replies land in the request's activity log rather than scattered across your inbox — which means whoever picks the file up next can see the whole exchange.
Extra uploads
Contacts can upload documents you didn't explicitly ask for. Those show up alongside the checklist, so it's worth a look before you close a request — clients often volunteer something useful.