How to request documents and send questionnaires

Ask a customer for files or answers through a private link, check what comes back, and add an intake form to online bookings.

Updated 2026-10-18

Ask a customer for the paperwork you need, such as a vehicle registration and proof of insurance, or send them a questionnaire, such as a new customer intake form. They get a private link, upload files or answer on the page, and you see the progress on their card.

This is Client documents, under Work → Client documents in the menu. If you don't see it, switch it on under your name at the bottom of the menu → Settings → What you use. See how to switch parts on and off.

Everything in one place

The Client documents page shows what is still waiting across all your customers:

• Documents: each request that is not complete, with what is still missing and when it is due.
• Questionnaires: every questionnaire sent, how many questions are answered, and whether it came back.
• Templates: your questionnaires, the same list as in Settings.

Press a row to open that customer's documents and questionnaires. Press Ask a customer, pick the customer and press Continue to request documents or send a questionnaire to someone new. The same panel is on each customer's card.

Make a questionnaire

Only an owner or admin can make or change questionnaires.

1. Open Client documents → Templates (or Settings → Message templates, then scroll to Questionnaires).
2. Press New questionnaire.
3. Fill in Name, for example "New customer intake", and if you like A line at the top, which they read before the questions.
4. Type the first question where it says The question, and choose its kind: Short text, Long text, Choice, Yes / no, Date, Number or File. For Choice, type the choices separated by commas.
5. Turn on the switch under a question to make it required.
6. Press Add a question for more, or Add a section to start a new group with its own title, such as "Access".
7. Press Save.

The switch under A line at the top marks the questionnaire as a yearly organizer. Save stays gray until it has a name and at least one question.

To change one, press Edit beside it. Deleting a questionnaire does not touch the ones already sent: they keep their questions and answers.

Request documents from a customer

1. Open the customer from Contacts (your business may call it Customers or Clients).
2. Scroll to Documents & questionnaires and press Request documents.
3. Give it a Title, such as "Fleet paperwork".
4. Under Documents, list what you need, one per line.
5. If you like, set a Due date and a Note for them.
6. Press Create.

The request opens straight away. Press Copy link to send the link yourself, or Email it to have Otto write the email. The email waits in Reviews until you approve it, like everything Otto prepares (see how to approve what Otto prepares).

Check what comes back

On the customer's page they press Upload for each document, or I don't have this. On the customer's card you see "1 of 3 received" and a bar for each request. Press the request to open it. Each document shows:

• Waiting: nothing yet.
• To check: they added a file. Open it, or press Download.
• They don't have it: they said so.
• Accepted or Sent back.

Press Accept when a file is right. Press Send back, say why in the box (they will read it), and press Send back again. To change your mind on an accepted one, press Reopen.

Press Remind to have Otto write a reminder about what is still missing. It is gray when nothing is missing, when the customer has no email address, or when an email is already waiting in Reviews.

Send a questionnaire to a customer

1. Open the customer and scroll to Documents & questionnaires.
2. Press Send questionnaire.
3. Choose the Questionnaire and press Create.
4. Press Copy link or Email it.

Their answers save as they go: they can press Save for later and come back, then Submit. The row shows "2 of 5 answered" and Waiting until they submit, then Sent back. Open it to read the answers. If they need to change something after submitting, press Let them change it.

Send a yearly organizer to many customers

A questionnaire marked as a yearly organizer, such as a fleet's yearly check-in, has a Send for 2026 button in Questionnaires.

1. Press Send for 2026.
2. Tick the customers it goes to.
3. Leave Leave an email for each in Reviews on to have Otto draft an email for each, or turn it off and send the links yourself.
4. Press Send to and the number.

A customer who already has this year's copy is skipped, and the note that appears afterwards says how many.

Add an intake form to online bookings

If you take bookings online, a questionnaire's link can come with the booking confirmation. Only an owner or admin can set it.

1. Your name at the bottom of the menu → Settings → Tools → Online booking → Open, then find Intake form.
2. Choose Offer (they fill it in if they like) or Require (they are asked to fill it in before the booking), then choose the questionnaire.
3. Choose Off to stop.

The confirmation email and page then say "Please fill in" (required) or "If you like, fill in" with the questionnaire's name, and a link. Under Booked online, each booking shows Intake done or Intake waiting. The answers also appear on the customer's card, marked "Intake for a booking". See how to take bookings online.

Good to know

• A request lists up to 40 documents. A questionnaire holds up to 20 sections and 100 questions, and a business keeps up to 100 questionnaires.
• Files are private to your business and open only through your account.
• Deleting a request deletes every file they added to it. Deleting a sent questionnaire deletes their answers.

If it doesn't work

• "Make a questionnaire first, under Settings → Message templates": Send questionnaire and Intake form need at least one questionnaire.
• Email it is gray with "No email address saved": add an email address to the customer, or press Copy link and send it yourself.
• "Give the request a title, such as “2026 tax return documents”." or "List at least one document you need.": fill in the title and at least one line under Documents.
• "“Where will it be parked?” needs at least two choices.": a Choice question needs two or more choices, separated by commas.
• "Every question needs its wording.": a question box is empty. Type the question or press Remove.
• "Say why, so the customer knows what to send instead.": type a reason before you send a document back.
• "A reminder is already waiting in Reviews.": approve or discard that email first.
• "They have already sent it back.": the questionnaire is submitted. Press Let them change it to open it again.
• "Only an owner or admin can change questionnaires": ask an owner or admin.