How to set up Canopy client request reminders that actually get documents back

• Client requests. Request and receive information and documents, comment on what the client sends, and track progress. You can send more than one request per client. (Send a Client Request)
• Default statuses. Draft, With client, Needs review, and Completed. Needs review is the status when the request has come back to you. (Send an automatic confirmation email)
• Reminder emails. Scheduled from the request. They start after the request is created, they do not send while it is a draft, and they stop when the client completes it or when the duration ends, whichever is first. Clients can snooze reminders from a link in the email. (Send a Client Request)
• Templates. Saved name, due date, reminder cadence, instructions, optional file and optional automation. You can apply a template when you create a request, and you can put a template inside a task template. (Use Client Request Templates)
• Link to a task.Toggle Add to existing task when you create the request so the documents sit on the work they belong to. Canopy's example is tax extension documents. (Send a Client Request)

Take note from Canopy: when a request is sent, the client gets a notification email. If they reply to that email instead of to the request, the reply goes to the team member who sent it, not necessarily the assigned team member. A comment left inside the request notifies the assignee. (Send a Client Request)

For a one off, use Global +, Client Request. Name it, pick the client, set priority, write instructions, assign staff, set a client due date, set reminders, then Send now or Save as draft. You can attach a file or a link. After you send, pick which contacts receive it. (Send a Client Request) If the client has not been invited to the Client Portal, Canopy prompts you to invite them before sending. (Sending a client request (video))

For the season, build templates first. All users can create templates. Staff can edit or delete only the templates they created. Admins can edit or delete all of them. Template reminder day options Canopy lists are Weekday; Monday, Wednesday, Friday; Tuesday, Thursday; and Mondays. Duration options are 15, 30, 45 or 60 days. (Use Client Request Templates)

Name the request the way you would name a checklist, not "Tax docs." "2025 1040 documents for Jordan Hale" is usable. Then in the description, list each item by issuer, the same way the how to get clients to send tax documents on time builds the list from last year's return. Email 1 from the missing tax documents email templates is a workable request body.

Canopy's own example is Every Monday for 15 days, or until the client completes the request, whichever happens first. The client can snooze reminders until the following Monday. Each reminder email has a pause link. Reminders do not send on a draft. (Send a Client Request)

The dates below are ours, not Canopy's. Fit them to your document deadline.

Snooze is the hole in a reminder only system. Put snoozed and still incomplete requests on a list a person looks at twice a week. Do not stack a new bulk request on top of one they paused.

From Clients, Client list, tick the clients, then Bulk client requests. Filter first, then use the header checkbox, which is Canopy's own suggestion. You can apply a template, set priority, description, assignees, due date, reminders and automation, then Send now or Save as draft. (Generate and send bulk client requests)

• Portal first. Clients who cannot be sent the request are listed under the Client badge. Their request is saved as a draft. Invite them to the portal, then send the drafts from the Task list by filtering Status to Draft, selecting them, right click, Send Client Request. (Generate and send bulk client requests)
• Every invited contact gets the notification. Canopy flags this. If a client has a spouse, a bookkeeper and an assistant on the portal, all of them get it. Check the contact list before you bulk send. (Generate and send bulk client requests)
• Activity log. Send now writes Created in Bulk and Sent in Bulk. Save as draft writes Created in Bulk. (Generate and send bulk client requests)

Bulk is for the first send of a shared template, not for itemized chasing. Once people start uploading, edit each request. A second bulk "just checking in" is how you train clients to ignore you.

Client request automations run when a condition on that request is met, then they take an action. Canopy documents actions that set owners, set a due date, send a client email, notify a team member, send the request, or create a new task from a template. Conditions include status, related subtasks, and approaching or past due dates. (What automations are available on Client Requests?)

Three that are worth building for 1040 season, using only what Canopy documents:

Canopy's confirmation recipe: on the request, Add an Automation, condition When the request has a status of, Needs Review or Completed, action then send a client email, pick the template, enter the address that should receive replies. After the client finishes, status defaults to Needs review, then the email goes. (Send an automatic confirmation email) Have a person still open the files. A confirmation email is not a review.

You can also send the request automatically when the parent task is created, or create a new task when the request is Completed (Canopy's example uses a Bookkeeping template). (What automations are available on Client Requests?) Use completed, after a person has looked, as the trigger for preparation. Do not auto create prep work off a status that only means "they uploaded something."

Canopy's help for in progress requests is written for the back and forth: edit the name and description so they match what you still need. From the Tasks list, right click the request, edit, pencil icon, change the Update Client Request popup, Update. (Send a Client Request) From the task view you can also change status or priority, add notes or files, and edit the reminder schedule. (Sending a client request (video))

After the first two reminders, rewrite the description to the outstanding list only. Leave the items they already sent off it. That is the difference between a reminder and noise. Use emails 2 to 4 from the templates guide as the wording.

From Canopy's public help, automation covers sending, scheduled reminders, bulk create, status emails and owner changes. These parts still need someone:

• Reading replies that went to the sender.The notification email is a trap. Check that inbox, or you will miss "that account was closed."
• Snoozes. The pause link is doing what Canopy designed. A person still has to call.
• Checking what arrived. Needs review means they submitted. It does not mean the year is right or the scan is readable.
• Itemized chasing after reminders. Edit the request. Do not bulk send a second copy.
• Extensions, filing and review. A CPA decides.

That middle layer is what a tax season operatorcan handle: reading what comes back, keeping each client's missing list current and drafting itemized follow ups for your team to approve.

Using TaxDome instead? See our TaxDome document chasing workflow. Using Karbon? See Karbon client request reminders.