Dropbox file requests alternative for client documents

File requests are a feature of Dropbox, the cloud storage service. Dropbox itself does far more than collect files: it stores, syncs and backs up your files, shares files and folders, sends large transfers, and offers products such as Dropbox Sign for e-signatures and DocSend for tracked document sharing. This page compares only the file request feature with DocAsker.

A file request is a link to a simple upload page. According to the Dropbox help center, anyone can send you a file through it, whether they have a Dropbox account or not. The person chooses files, enters a name and email address, and uploads. The files land in a Dropbox folder you pick, which is private by default, and uploaders do not see other people's files.

The help center lists a few options on top of that. You can add a password. On some plans you can set a deadline and decide whether late uploads are allowed. You can set a naming convention for the folder, close and reopen a request, and you get an email each time a file is uploaded.

File requests are a quick way to get files from someone outside your firm, and for a one-off they work well. The reasons firms look further tend to appear when the same request goes to dozens of clients, each owing a specific set of documents, and someone has to keep track of all of them.

The first reason is that a file request is one upload page, not a list. The client reads your description and uploads what they think you mean. Nothing on the page ticks off the bank statement and shows the ID as still missing, and nothing looks inside a file. The Dropbox help center describes no check of file contents, so your team opens each upload to judge it. A few other reasons come up often.

You start with a checklist, either a ready-made one or your own. Each item is one document, with an instruction, an example and the checks that apply, such as a required date range or a signature. The client gets one secure link. Like a file request, it needs no account, password or app. Unlike a file request, it shows the client exactly which documents are done and which are still owed.

Every upload is checked by AI the moment it arrives: blur, glare and cut-off edges, whether the file is the document you asked for, dates and periods, filled-in signature fields and missing pages. When a check fails, the client sees the reason in plain words and can upload a better file straight away. Your team sees files that passed, plus anything flagged for a person to review.

Reminders go out on your schedule, by email on every plan and by SMS on Pro and Firm, and each one lists only what is still missing. Accepted files are renamed to a consistent pattern. On Pro and Firm they can be filed straight to your Dropbox, so DocAsker can sit in front of Dropbox and your files still end up where they always have.

Take a mortgage broker opening a new application. The borrower owes a photo ID, the last two payslips, three months of bank statements and a signed authorization form. With a file request, the broker writes that list in the description and waits. Files arrive under whatever names the borrower's phone gave them, and the broker opens each one to see what it is.

With DocAsker, the same list is a checklist with four items. The borrower opens the link on a phone and photographs the payslips. If one photo is cut off at the edge, DocAsker asks for a retake on the spot. If the statements cover two months instead of three, the borrower is told which month is missing. The authorization form is checked for a signature.

When everything has passed, the files are renamed to a consistent pattern and, on Pro or Firm, filed into the broker's Dropbox folder for that borrower. Until then, reminders mention only the items still open, and they stop when the checklist is complete. The broker keeps working in Dropbox as before.