For legal professionals
How to organize legal case files
Every email, scan and PDF comes in through one folder, is filed to the client, the matter or the call it belongs to, and is found again by name, label or date.
To organize legal case files, keep one file for each client and matter, file every document the day it arrives, and label it by what it is. In PrimeTask every email, scan and PDF comes in through one File Inbox folder, is filed to its client, matter or call, and is found again by name, label or date.
Updated · Checked with PrimeTask 1.0.6 · PrimeTask Team
The problem
Documents for one matter arrive in a dozen places: an email in your mail app, a scan on the copier, a PDF in Downloads, a signed contract a colleague sent. Each sits wherever it landed until someone needs it.
A case file is only useful when it's complete. This guide gives everything one way in, and one place to go for each client.
What it uses
Five parts, one connected system
Each card opens its docs article in a new tab, for the detail behind the steps.
File Inbox
One folder every email, scan and PDF comes in through
Docs for File Inbox (opens in a new tab)File Inbox Settings
The kinds of file you allow, and folders that arrive as labels
Docs for File Inbox Settings (opens in a new tab)Activity Page
ProAn email kept with the call or meeting it belongs to
Docs for Activity Page (opens in a new tab)File Sync Personal
What a sync password encrypts, and what it does not
Docs for File Sync Personal (opens in a new tab)Step 1
Set up one File Inbox folder
File Inbox (opens in a new tab)Open Settings → Data Management and, under File Inbox, click Set Up. Choose a folder on this computer, then what happens to each file once PrimeTask has it: Move It to the Trash, Leave It in the Folder, or Keep It Here and Link to It.
Pick a folder outside cloud drives: a cloud drive uploads each file before PrimeTask takes it in.
Step 2
Save every email, scan and PDF into it
File Inbox Settings (opens in a new tab)From any mail app, save an email or its attachment into the folder, or drag it there. Point your scanner's "scan to folder" setting at it too.
Each file comes in by itself, once it has finished saving. Only the kinds of file you allow come in, and PrimeTask never runs a program from it.
Step 3
File each document to its client and matter
CRM Files (opens in a new tab)On the CRM Files page, click File Inbox, choose the client, and Attach a copy or Link the file. A copy travels with the Space to your other computers; a link keeps one file that several records share, such as a contract on the client and the matter.
Needs Pro. CRM Files is part of Pro. On Standard, the File Inbox files documents to tasks and project notes instead.
Step 4
Keep an email with the call it belongs to
Activity Page (opens in a new tab)A letter that follows a meeting belongs with the meeting. Open the activity's page, and in Files click Add files, then From your File Inbox.
The activity then shows the email beside your notes from that day, and the client's whole file includes it.
Step 5
Label each file by what it is
Labels in CRM Files (opens in a new tab)Give files the words your firm already uses: Correspondence, Court, ID, Invoices, Contracts. Tick several files and choose Labels to label them together.
Each label then reads as a folder under the client, with its own count. A file can carry several, and nothing has to be moved.
Step 6
Find any document in seconds
Finding files (opens in a new tab)Search the CRM Files page by name, note or label, or type a shorthand: label:court, type:pdf, added:month. Choose a client and turn on Include related to see the whole file: their contacts, matters and activities too.
Group the table by label or month to see the whole file at a glance.
Step 7
Export a client's file when it's asked for
Exporting a client file (opens in a new tab)Choose the client on the CRM Files page and click Export. PrimeTask saves one zip with every file that's on this computer and an index listing each file, what it belongs to and when it was added.
Anything left out, such as a file linked on another computer, is named in the index with the reason.
The checklist
The whole list
For every client and matter:
- One File Inbox folder on this computer, not in a cloud drive
- Every email, scan and PDF saved there the day it arrives
- Each document attached or linked to its client and matter, and to the call or meeting it came from
- Labels for what each document is, the same words for every client
- One way of naming files, such as
2026-10-28 Harper - signed engagement letter.pdf(rename from the file's menu in the File Inbox) - Backups with a password, because once an original is in the Trash your File Inbox may hold the only copy
- FileVault on a Mac or BitLocker on Windows turned on
Important. A File Sync password encrypts a Space's records, not its files. Attached files and CRM Files stay readable in the sync folder, so keep the most confidential matters in a Space on No Sync. What a sync password covers (opens in a new tab)
Variations
Make it yours
Three ways to change the setup to fit how you work.
Clients and matters, in your words
ProThe folders you already keep
ProSmith/Court/Filing.pdf arrives labelled Smith and Court. Hold Command and Option (Ctrl and Alt on Windows) as you drop to link the originals where they are.Folders inside your File Inbox
Reuse
Save it for next time
Set it up once, and start the next one from it.
A filing reminder
save:filing File today's client documents !high in Quick Add once. After that, /filing adds the task whenever documents are waiting.Questions
Common questions
One file for each client and matter, with documents grouped by what they are, such as correspondence, court papers, evidence and invoices, and named the same way each time, starting with the date. Filing everything the day it arrives keeps the file complete.
No. The File Inbox takes in only what you save or drag into its folder, from any mail app. Nothing else in your mail is read.
They are files on your own computer, so turn on FileVault on a Mac or BitLocker on Windows to encrypt them at rest. A File Sync password encrypts a Space's records but not its files: attached files and CRM Files stay readable in the sync folder.
It can list a client's files and read their details, such as the name, labels, size and what each belongs to. It never receives a file's contents, and it connects only when you turn the connection on.
The File Inbox works on every licence and files documents to tasks and project notes. Filing to clients, matters and activities, labels and export are part of CRM Files, which needs Pro. The free trial includes it.
Related
More setups like this
Other jobs, set up the same way.
Law firm CRM
Clients, matters and every call and meeting in one CRM on your own computer, set up for a law firm in one click, with meeting notes from your own templates and next steps as tasks.
Estate planning family tree
A client's family drawn as a tree across the generations, with every kind of parent and partner, the executors, trustees and beneficiaries, and the estate or trust they belong to, saved as a PDF for the file.
How to keep client information confidential
Client details kept on your own computer, locked when you step away, encrypted when you sync them with a password, and shared with an AI agent only as far as you allow.
Set this up with your own work.
The free trial runs for 14 days and includes Pro.