First-Time Setup Checklist

This checklist walks you through the recommended steps for setting up a new Essal Office account. Follow these steps in order to have a fully working archive before you start uploading documents.

Step 1 — Create Your First Tags

Tags are the foundation of how documents are organized in Essal Office. Before you upload anything, decide on a basic tag structure.

Recommended starting tags:

Tag: `Inbox`
Purpose: Automatically applied to all new documents — your review queue

Tag: `To Do`
Purpose: Documents that need action from you

Tag: `Finance`
Purpose: A topic tag for financial documents

Tag: `HR`
Purpose: A topic tag for HR-related documents

Tag: `Legal`
Purpose: A topic tag for contracts and legal correspondence

To create a tag: go to Manage → Tags in the sidebar, then click Add Tag. Give it a name and pick a color.

Tip: You don't need to plan your entire tag system up front. Start with a handful of tags and add more as you go. See Tips for Designing Your Tag System for ideas.

Step 2 — Create Your Correspondents

A correspondent represents who a document came from or was sent to — your bank, a supplier, a client, a government office.

To create a correspondent: go to Manage → Correspondents, then click Add Correspondent. Add the names of the parties you deal with most frequently.

Examples: Acme Supplies, City Bank, Tax Authority, Ministry of Labor

See Creating and Managing Correspondents for full instructions.

Step 3 — Create Your Document Types

Document types classify what a document is. They complement tags (which describe what a document is about).

To create a document type: go to Manage → Document Types, then click Add Document Type.

Common document types to start with:

Invoice
Receipt
Contract
Bank Statement
Letter
Report
Certificate

See Creating and Managing Document Types for full instructions.

Step 4 — Upload Your First Document

With your tags, correspondents, and document types in place, upload your first document to see the system in action.

Click the Upload button on the dashboard (or drag a file anywhere in the app)
Select a file from your computer
Wait a few seconds for Essal Office to process it (OCR + auto-matching)
Click into the document to review it — check the title, assigned tags, correspondent, and document type

See How to Upload a Document for full instructions.

Step 5 — Set Up Auto-Matching Rules

Essal Office can automatically assign tags, correspondents, and document types by reading the content of documents. Once you've uploaded a few test documents, configure matching rules to automate your filing.

Go to Manage → Tags (or Correspondents, or Document Types), open a record, and set a Matching Rule — for example, tell Essal Office to assign the Acme Supplies correspondent whenever it sees the words "Acme Supplies" in a document's content.

See Auto-Matching: Let Essal Office Assign Tags Automatically for full instructions.

Step 6 — Create a Saved View and Pin It

A Saved View stores your current filter settings so you can return to them instantly. Create an "Inbox" saved view to always see documents that still need to be reviewed.

Go to the Documents page
Filter by the Inbox tag
Click the Save view icon in the top bar
Name it Inbox and enable Show on dashboard
Click Save

Your Inbox tile will now appear on the dashboard with a live count of unreviewed documents.

See Saving a View for Quick Access for full instructions.

Step 7 — (Optional) Invite Additional Users

If other people in your organization will use Essal Office, create their accounts from Settings → Users & Groups.

See Creating and Managing Users for full instructions.

Step 8 — (Optional) Connect an Email Account

If your organization receives documents by email (invoices, statements, contracts), connect your email account to have Essal Office automatically import attachments.

Go to Settings → Mail → Add Account.

See Email Import Overview for full instructions.