Drake Documents: 5 Features You Should Know

Drake Software is well-known for its tax and accounting tools, earning high ratings in the industry. A survey by the Journal of Accountancy placed Drake Software at the top, with a 4.5/5 rating, outperforming other leading tax applications.

This success is largely due to its comprehensive suite of tools—Drake Tax Software, Drake Accounting, and Drake Documents—designed to simplify and streamline financial and tax tasks for professionals.

In this article, we’ll focus on Drake Documents, a feature of Drake Tax Software. Drake Documents acts as a digital filing cabinet, allowing you to store PDFs of records, forms, and other documents electronically, eliminating the need for physical storage.

Let’s discuss some of the most prominent features of the application:

Customizable Cabinets

The amount of tax data you receive, especially during tax season, can occupy most of your office space if stored in physical folders and cabinets. Furthermore, it becomes a tedious task to find and sort through the information when you need it.

Drake Documents saves your client data in customizable virtual cabinets and allows access to the data directly through the application. There are two storage types offered – Working Cabinet and Archive Cabinet. These two cabinets work in a similar way, except the way they store information.

Working Cabinet: The Working Cabinet holds documents for the current tax year. This cabinet is selected by default when Drake Documents is installed. Here’s what you need to know:

• It stores tax year-specific documents.
• No additional network setup is required. Documents are stored in the same location as the tax returns.
• Files can be transferred from the Working Cabinet to the Archive Cabinet if needed.

Archive Cabinet: It stores documents from multiple tax years. This cabinet is ideal for keeping historical records in one place. Key features include:

• It stores multi-year client documents, making it easy to access historical data.
• Backups for the Archive Cabinet are managed separately from the Working Cabinet.
• It requires some additional setup for network installations.

You can switch between the Working and Archive Cabinets if necessary. However, to avoid confusion, it’s best to stick with one cabinet for document storage after you begin using Drake Documents.

Document Sharing

Gathering and exchanging client data between teammates is essential to accomplishing accounting and tax-related tasks. However, sending emails to and fro can create challenges in managing clutter.

Drake Documents offers seamless integration with Drake Portal (SecureFilePro). This virtual platform allows you to share documents securely, upload documents and files that clients and colleagues can access, and collect crucial information and documents from clients securely and conveniently.

Secure Environment

Security is one of the biggest concerns when storing clients’ tax and financial data. Such data is prone to various cyber-attacks, accidents, or natural disasters.

Drake Documents uses several security measures to safeguard the information in cabinets. When evaluating DocuSign alternatives, it’s crucial to consider the level of security they provide, such as encryption, firewalls, and regular data backups.

You can grant specific permissions to each individual and implement password-protected files that legitimate users can access only.

It also provides a system access history to track down details about its access. Moreover, all files and documents are encrypted and secured with multiple firewalls and an anti-virus system.

The network is also monitored 24/7, and data is backed up regularly to ensure confidentiality and the availability of information whenever required.

Email Documents

Once the task is accomplished, you should email your clients the final documents and files.

Drake Documents can ease this task by offering an integrated email launcher in the Working Cabinet and Archive Cabinet to send files to clients instantly.

It uses the default MAPI-compliant Windows email program, Outlook, which can be set up in Drake Tax Software.

Using Setup> Accounts, you can add, remove, or modify email contacts. On the screen, you can add, edit, set active contacts, or remove them.

Import/Export Data

While filing tax returns, you might need to import financial data into accounting software like the QuickBooks application.

Drake Documents lets you sync your data with various accounting software like Drake Accounting and QuickBooks to import and export the data conveniently.

It automates most of the data entry work and saves time for such tedious tasks. As Drake Documents is a part of the Drake Tax Software application, you can easily print and store returns in the system.

Other Features of Drake Documents

In addition to the features mentioned above, Drake Documents also does the following:

• Watermark files and documents
• Password-protect files
• Supports linking of external files or documents
• Provides built-in backup utility
• Supports integration with GruntWorx, Drake E-Sign, and TicTie Calculate applications
• Offer tutorials for self-paced training
• Provide product support via email, chat, or call.

How to Setup Drake Documents?

Getting started with Drake Documents is simple. Here’s a quick guide on setting it up:

• Step 1 – Opening Drake Documents: You can access Drake Documents through the Setup > Printing > Drake Documents option in Drake Tax or via the desktop icon.
• Step 2 – Choosing a Cabinet: Decide whether you want to use the Working Cabinet (for current-year documents) or the Archive Cabinet (for multi-year storage). Once selected, this becomes the default storage location.
• Step 3 – Setting up for Network Use: Configure the correct file locations for each workstation if you’re working in a network environment.
• Step 4 – Account Number Setup: If you plan to email documents or use Drake Portals, enter your Drake account number in the Options window. This allows you to log in and access portal services effectively.

How Drake Hosting Services Can Enhance Drake Documents

Drake Hosting enhances the functionality of Drake Documents by providing secure, remote access to all your files from anywhere. Hosting allows tax professionals to work seamlessly without being tied to a single computer or office location.

With data stored on the cloud, you can manage and access client documents in real-time while maintaining top-notch security. It also reduces the need for local storage, making document management more efficient and scalable for growing businesses.

Conclusion

Drake Documents is essential for tax professionals looking to manage client documents efficiently. Its integration with Drake Tax and features like secure email, password protection, and GruntWorx integration helps streamline workflow and keep essential records safe.

By understanding the difference between the Working and Archive Cabinets and taking advantage of features like the Common Documents List, you can ensure that your document management process is smooth and organized.

To further enhance your efficiency, opt for Drake hosting solutions by Ace Cloud Hosting, which offer secure, cloud-based access to Drake Tax and Drake Documents. Enjoy seamless remote access and top-tier security while efficiently managing your clients’ data.

To know more about Drake Software Suite, chat with our Solutions Consultant.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)