Notaries, law firms, tax consultants and accounting firms work with documents all day. Copies of clients' KTP identity cards, deeds, contracts, tax returns, financial statements and powers of attorney arrive from every direction: email, WhatsApp, USB drives and staff members' personal Google Drive folders. When a client asks for an old document or someone leaves the firm, finding a single file can take half a day.
A document management system brings all of this together under clear rules. This article covers what to look for when choosing one, from folder structure and access rights to sharing with clients, electronic signatures and how to control the use of AI on client documents.
Folder structure and access rights
A good system starts with a structure everyone agrees on. For a notary's office, organizing by client and then by deed is usually the easiest to follow. Tax consultants often work by client and then by tax year. Law firms tend to organize by matter. Pick one pattern, write down a file naming convention, and make sure the whole team uses it.
Once the structure is in place, decide who can see what. Administrative staff may only need the intake folder, while partners or the notary need to see everything. Access is best granted per folder and removed as soon as someone changes roles or leaves. The system should also record who opened, downloaded or changed a document. That record is valuable when a client asks questions, or when a document seems to have gone missing.
If your firm already uses Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, SharePoint or Box, check whether the new system can connect to that storage. Moving thousands of files by hand rarely goes smoothly.
Think about older documents too. Many firms still keep paper files or scans whose contents cannot be searched. Start with documents for active clients, scan them at a decent quality and name them according to the agreed convention. Older archives can follow in stages.
Sharing documents with clients
Sending client documents as email attachments or WhatsApp files is quick, but hard to control. Once a file is sent, you have no idea who it gets forwarded to, and copies end up on many phones.
A client portal is a more orderly way to do it. You share a specific folder rather than individual files, and you can set a password, an expiry date for the link and a limit on the number of downloads. Clients get one place to collect and upload documents, and your firm keeps a clear record of what has been shared.
Electronic signatures
Many documents in a professional firm can be signed electronically, such as engagement letters, internal authorizations or a client's approval of a draft report. Signature envelopes make this easier. The document goes out, each signer takes their turn, and the final version is stored together with a record of the process.
Keep in mind that Indonesia's Electronic Information and Transactions Law (UU ITE) distinguishes certified electronic signatures, which use a certificate from a recognized electronic certification provider, from uncertified ones. For documents that require a certified signature, use an official provider. Deeds and other documents with their own formal requirements still follow the applicable rules.
Limiting AI access to client documents
Many staff already use ChatGPT or Claude to summarize contracts, draft letters or find a particular clause. The risk appears when client documents are pasted into personal AI accounts without any rules. The firm has no idea which documents have been sent, and clients' personal data goes along with them.
Client personal data is protected under Indonesia's Personal Data Protection Law (UU PDP, Law No. 27 of 2022), so AI use needs clear rules. Look for a system that lets AI read only the folders you allow, logs every request, and masks sensitive data such as NIK and NPWP numbers before an AI reads the document. Staff can still work faster, and the firm stays in control.
For legal and tax work, the source of an answer matters just as much. When AI summarizes a contract or answers a question from documents, make sure the answer comes with citations to the passages it relied on. Staff should still check those citations before anything goes to a client.
Checklist for choosing a document management system
- A folder structure you can adapt to the way your firm works.
- Per-folder access rights and an activity record that is easy to read.
- Connectors to the storage you already use, such as Google Drive or OneDrive.
- Client portals with passwords, expiry dates and download limits.
- Electronic signatures with a stored record of the signing process.
- Per-folder AI access controls, an audit log and NIK or NPWP masking.
- OCR for scanned documents in Indonesian, so their contents can be searched.
Trying Folders
Folders is designed for law firms, notaries, tax consultants and accountants. It includes connectors for Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, SharePoint and Box, client portals with passwords, expiry dates and download limits, signature envelopes with a hash-chained certificate, and folder-scoped AI access with an audit log and NIK/NPWP masking. There is a free plan with 2 GB of storage, and you can find the details on the Folders page.
