How to use Document Review in Law App

Document Review replaces the “can you look at this?” email or hallway conversation. You flag a specific version of a document on a file to a colleague, they review it — editing and saving a new version if needed — and they finish by picking a next step, such as “Reviewed — send to the client” or “Changes required — please revise”, with notes. Every note and decision is kept in a thread against the document, on the file, permanently.

You’ll find the feature in the sidebar as Document Review, in the Files group below Tasks, with a badge showing how many reviews are waiting on you.

1. Flagging a document for review

1. Open the file and go to its Documents tab.
2. Right-click the document and choose Flag for review.
3. Pick who it goes to in Send to (you can pick yourself as a self-reminder), set the Priority (Normal or High), optionally set a Due date, and tell them what you need checked in the Note.
4. Click Send for review.

2. Doing a review

When a document is flagged to you, you’ll see it in four places: on the Document Review badge, in the For me to review tab of the board, as a read-only Document Review row at the top of your task list, and as an amber pill on the document itself. Open it from any of those places to get the review panel.

Start review tells the other person you’ve picked it up (status changes to In review).

Add notes in the thread at any time — it works like a chat pinned to the document, and both of you can comment.

Preview opens the document right there — always the version under review, even if newer versions exist.

Edit this version (shown only on Word/Excel documents you own) opens the current version straight in Word or Excel.

Create new version makes a new version and opens it in Word/Excel in one step — the usual way to make review changes to someone else’s document. You can rename the document as you go, and add a reason that shows in the version history.

The folder icon opens the file’s Documents tab in a new browser tab (hidden if you’re already on the Documentss screen).

3. Completing a review

Click Complete review and choose what happens next from the dropdown — options are grouped (Ready to go, Approved, Back to you, Escalate; the full list is in “Next-step options” below). Picking an option pre-fills a standard note you can edit; some options require a note. If you edited the document, tick I made changes and saved a new version so the review records exactly which version you reviewed. Then click Send notice.

Your decision is posted into the thread, the requester’s board shows it under Action needed, and the document’s pill turns green (for example “Reviewed · send to the client”). A Ready to go outcome carries an orange tag in Action needed until the requester clears it — clearing it is their way of confirming they’ve actually sent the document, rather than it quietly dropping off the board on its own.

4. The “Back to you” loop

Two next steps — Changes required — please revise and More information needed — don’t close the review. They reopen it and hand it back: the person who flagged it becomes the reviewer, the document shows a purple Changes required pill, and the whole exchange stays in one thread.

5. The Reviews board

Document Review in the sidebar opens the board — “what’s in and out on documents”. Four tabs: Out for review (documents you’ve sent), For me to review, Action needed (reviewed or bounced back — over to you), and Completed (closed in the last 7 days, or sooner if you clear it yourself — the Clear button only removes it from your own board; the other person keeps theirs, and the full history stays on the document). The Showing selector widens the view from My reviews to My matters or the Whole firm, the search box filters by document, file, matter or person, and the refresh button checks for the latest.

6. Reviews on the file and in your tasks

On a file’s Documents tab, documents with review activity carry a pill: amber For me to review / Out for review · name, purple Changes required, green Reviewed · next step. Hover a flagged row and a View review button appears in the quick actions; an Out for review N button in the toolbar filters to just the documents with an open review, wherever they sit in the folders.

Open reviews also appear as Document Review rows at the top of My Tasks and the file’s task list — both directions, so you see documents waiting on you and your documents waiting on others. They’re read-only reminders: the button on the row opens the review, and they can’t be deleted like tasks (cancel the review from its panel instead).

7. Reopening and cancelling

Reopen — either party can reopen a completed review if the conversation isn’t finished; it stays visible in your Out for review while it’s back with the reviewer, rather than disappearing from your board until they act. Cancel review — only the person who flagged it can cancel, and only while it’s open; the pill disappears and the thread is kept for the record. Cancel-and-reflag is also how you change reviewer. The panel only shows the buttons you’re allowed to use — only the assigned reviewer can start or complete.

8. Next-step options

Completing a review always means picking one of these next steps. They’re grouped by what they do:

9. For administrators

Editing the next-step options

Settings → Review Next Steps lists every option. Reorder, rename, change the pre-filled note, require a note, retire an option (it keeps its history but leaves the dropdown), or add your own — for example “Send to barrister”. Each option’s behaviour controls what completing with it does; Back to the author is the one that reopens and hands back.

Good to know

Questions or feedback about Document Review: contact support@lawsupport.com.au or call 07 3040 3036.