This document explains how to use the Virtual Cabinet intray as a temporary holding area for documents. You will learn how to view documents, send them to colleagues, manage intray security, run intray reports, index and file documents, and use the ribbon tools to manage and process your work efficiently.
Confirm You Are Using the Latest Version
Before you begin, make sure you are on the latest version of Virtual Cabinet. Go to the home page of your VC system; if an update is available, you will see a notification there. Contact the Virtual Cabinet support team if you need assistance with upgrading.
Understand and Open the Intray Document Viewer
The intray in Virtual Cabinet is a temporary holding area for documents, just like a physical intray on your desk. The first thing you should do is view the documents in it using the document viewer.
The document viewer lets you quickly flip through documents electronically, making it faster and easier than working with paper, and without the risk of paper cuts.
To view a file, hover over the document you want and click once. This can be any common file type (Word, spreadsheet, PDF, PowerPoint, email, scanned document, etc.). The selected document will appear in the viewer on the left.
If you have a second screen, click the arrow in the viewer and choose Float to dock the viewer on the other monitor. For a full view, click the document preview again to open it in a larger window, where you can zoom in or out, move through pages, and capture screenshots. Use the viewer to quickly scan documents as if they were laid out on your desk.
Send Documents to Colleagues from Your Intray
When post or other documents are scanned into your intray, you may need to pass them on to colleagues. For example, if a document is for Alice as well as for you, look at the right-hand side of the window where multiple intrays are listed.
To send the document to a colleague, drag the document from your intray and drop it onto your coleague's intray, then release the mouse. In the send window, you can simply click Send to route the document, or you can add extra information before sending.
To add a sticky note, click Add Note and type your message, for example, “Thanks. I owe you one.” If the document is important, you can also send a shortcut to a director or another colleague as an FYI, avoiding duplicate copies. They will receive a hyperlink to the document in their own intray, can review it, and then delete the shortcut when finished.
If it is a key deal for you, consider shortcutting it to your own intray or others so you can track where it is, who has it, and who is editing it. When your colleague opens their intray, they will see the document along with the visual sticky note indicator. Clicking on the note shows the date and time stamp and your message.
Your colleague (or any user) can add further notes to the document at any time, not just when routing post. You can also add notes directly from the filing cabinet so that future viewers see a clear visual reference attached to the document. Once you send the document to your colleague, your intray count will decrease (for example, from seven documents down to six), just as if you had physically moved it to her intray.
Manage Intray Security and Access
Access control is an important part of Virtual Cabinet. Typically, managers need to see multiple users’ intrays, while standard staff should only see their own. This ensures users only see documents they are supposed to see.
For example, if a junior staff member clicks on their Manager's intray, they may see nothing if their privileges have been revoked. You can also configure groups of intrays, allowing multiple people (e.g., managers, HR) to access shared or group intrays.
To change intray security, an administrator should:
- Click the Admin tab.
- Go to Users and Groups.
- Select Intray Security.
From there, select a user’s intray on the left, then choose which colleagues on the right should have access (or have their access removed). This allows partners or managers to access everyone’s intray while other users only see their own.
Use the Intray Report for Oversight
Virtual Cabinet provides reporting to help you identify and manage bottlenecks. It is recommended to check the Intray report every one to two weeks if you have the required privileges.
- Click the Reporting tab.
- Select the Intray report (the second report in the list).
This report is more targeted than the generic reports on the home screen and provides a bird’s-eye view of documents that have not yet been filed from your colleagues’ intrays.
Index and File Documents from Your Intray
Because the intray is only a temporary holding area, the next step is to index and file documents into the appropriate filing cabinets. Virtual Cabinet is designed to make indexing simple and efficient, especially with intelligent indexing.
With several documents in your intray, you can file them using a drag-and-drop process. On the right-hand side, you will see various filing cabinets (customized for your business).
For example, to file into an Accounts folder:
- Drag the document from your intray and drop it onto the Accounts cabinet.
- When prompted, choose the document type from a customizable drop-down list.
You can customize any of the naming conventions in this list. Select an appropriate type (e.g., Invoice). Next, choose a customer or supplier from the drop-down list, which can be pulled from your CRM. Then complete any additional index fields, which are also customizable.
If you feel there are too many index fields in your system, review which ones are truly needed and ask the support team to remove unnecessary ones. You can control which fields are mandatory, helping to standardize indexing and ensure staff file documents correctly. You can also lock certain indexes, which is useful when indexing a batch of similar documents (such as signed proposals).
You can file multiple documents at once; Virtual Cabinet will use each document’s original file name. When you click to file, the documents are indexed and removed from your intray. Intelligent indexing and integrations greatly reduce human error and the need for everyone to type identical names and details manually.
Use the Ribbon to Manage and Process Documents
The ribbon at the top of Virtual Cabinet groups related functions together, especially from version 5.2 onwards, to make them easier to find and use.
From the ribbon, you can perform actions in Virtual Cabinet or directly against selected documents. Key tools include:
- Refresh: Force your intray to refresh.
- Add Document: Add new documents to your intray, including from external sources.
Virtual Cabinet is designed to be your single source of truth for client documentation and communication, even when you collaborate using other platforms like SharePoint. For example, if you are working on a document in SharePoint:
- Copy the SharePoint link.
- Return to Virtual Cabinet.
- Click Add Link in the top left of the ribbon.
- Paste the link and give it a clear, intelligent name.
The link then behaves like any other document in VC: you can index it alongside other documents, maintaining Virtual Cabinet as your central reference point.
Additional ribbon functions include:
- Create from Template Library: Generate new documents from predefined templates.
- Security: Allow other users to access your intray according to security settings.
- Force Open on Indexing: Require documents to open when being indexed.
- Open and Edit: Open documents for editing, then save or discard versions.
- Convert to PDF: Convert documents to PDF, especially useful before emailing so recipients cannot edit them.
When you convert to PDF, Virtual Cabinet creates a duplicate PDF, preserving the original Word document (or other source file) for future editing. Client feedback has driven many of these features, often by mirroring real-world processes like stapling or photocopying.
For example:
- Merge: Digitally “staple” multiple documents together into one (typically PDFs).
- Split: Do the opposite and split combined PDFs into separate documents after selecting them and clicking Split.
If you want to merge Word documents, first convert them to PDFs using Convert to PDF, then merge. Similarly, instead of photocopying paper documents, use these digital tools. Another common use case is reusing templates or spreadsheets each year. Use Duplicate to create a new copy of an existing document (e.g., an accounts template) for reuse.
Further along the ribbon, you can:
- Index/File: File documents away from the intray.
- Delete: Remove documents (subject to your permissions).
- Rename: Change document names in your intray.
- Apply Notes: Add sticky notes to documents.
- View Audit Trail: See a full history of actions taken on a document, a major benefit of Virtual Cabinet.
To replicate sending a physical pack of documents (e.g., engagement letter, covering letter, policy letter) in a specific order, use Packs in Virtual Cabinet. Select the documents you want to group, click Pack, and give the pack a clear, intelligent name. This electronically links documents from anywhere in VC and keeps them together.
Finally, you can:
- Send to Other Users: Route documents internally.
- Extract Documents: Export copies out of VC.
- Email Documents:
- As an attachment (PDF if scanned or where appropriate).
- As a link for internal VC users.
- Print: Print documents when required.