• How do I invite a user to share my account?
• How do I manage my groups?
• How can I share documents attached to my QuickBooks application?
• How can I share my QuickBooks Company files?
• How do I share documents in folders not related to QuickBooks?
• Who gets full access to my QuickBooks information?
• Can I make a note urgent so my accountant will see it?
• I received an invitation to share. What does it mean?
• What happens if I accept an invitation to share?
• What happens if I decline an invitation?
• Can someone delete my documents or notes?
• How do I add an administrator to my account?
• Who can change my account information?
• How do I change the access rights of users after I have invited them?

Sharing Documents in SmartVault    Back to top

SmartVault provides you with a convenient, online platform to securely share documents, notes, and your QuickBooks company files with other people such as your accountant, bookkeeper or business partners. For example, you can easily share your scanned paper documents and other details pertaining to QuickBooks entries with people who have access to the Internet, such as your accountant or bookkeeper. With the SmartVault v3 plans, you can also create custom folders and share documents with Guests that have limited access to your account. To learn more about sharing and managing access, click here.

How do I invite a user to share my account?    Back to top

If you are an account Administrator or a Vault manager, you can invite anyone with an Internet connection and an email address to share documents, notes, and QuickBooks Company files to your vault or account. Invitations are created and sent through the SmartVault web portal from notify@my.smartvault.com. To invite a user to the account, you must first learn about the different types of users and the level of access you can grant each of them. For more details about users and the licenses they consume, click here.

• Users – can be granted specific access to any vault or folder within the account. They can upload and view files in the SmartVault web portal, and create or delete folders. Users have access to the SmartVault web portal and the desktop, as well as the SmartVault drive. They can also be allowed to invite other users and guests to share data. (these are usually members of your firm)
• Client users – can upload and view files in the SmartVault web portal, but they cannot create or delete folders. They have access to the SmartVault web portal, desktop, and drive. Clients require the purchase of a Bookkeeping Client Pack.
• Guests – can upload documents and view files in the SmartVault web portal but cannot create folders or invite other users or guests. Guests have access to the web portal, but not the SmartVault desktop or drive.

You can grant access to users via group membership or explicit access to a particular folder in your account. To learn more about granting access, please click here.

Invite Users to your Account and Grant Access via Group Membership

1. If you're not logged into the web portal, sign in to the SmartVault web portal.
2. Expand My Accounts to display your account name.
3. Expand your account name to display the list of your vaults.
4. Right click on the vault want to grant access to and select Manage Group Members....
5. Click on the group tab which you want to add the new user and click the Add Member button.
6. If the user is listed, place a check mark in the box next to the name and click the Add button..
7. If not, click the Invite User Not in List button.
8. Enter the user's email address and personalize the optional message.
9. Select the type of user license you wish to consume for this user. (Click here to learn more about users and licenses.)

To share and grant access to a particular folder in your account, click here.

How can I share documents attached to my QuickBooks application?    Back to top

QuickBooks company files and other documents can be shared by granting the appropriate access via group membership at the vault level or selective access at the company file level.

Note: When you backup a QuickBooks company file, all administrators and users possessing appropriate access rights to your SmartVault account can restore the backup file and access it.

How do I share documents in folders not related to QuickBooks?    Back to top

First, you must create the folder(s) in your vault. Then you can grant access to the folder(s) in your vault via groups (Manager, Full Access, or Read Only) or grant explicit permissions to a specific folder.

To grant access via groups, add the users to the appropriate group (Manager, Full Access, Read Only) in the Manage Groups Members dialog.

To grant explicit access to non-QuickBooks related folders:

1. Sign in to the web portal.
2. Expand My Accounts and drill down to the vault where the folder resides.
3. Right click on the folder name.
4. Select Share and Manage Access....
5. Click on the Grant User Access... button.
6. If the user is not in the list, click the Invite a User Not in List button. (If the user is in the list, go to step 9.)
7. Enter the user's email address and fill in the optional message field.
8. Click the Send Email button.(go to step 10)
9. Place a check mark in the box for all the users you want to grant access and click the Add Selected Users button.
10. By default everyone added is given Read access. To increase access, click Edit Access.
11. Select the level of access you wish to give (Full Access, Read, Write, Create and Delete).
12. Click the Save Access button.

Note: To grant the same permission through the hierarchy of the sub folders, click the Advanced tab in the Share and Manager Access dialog dialog and click the Replace button.

Click here to read more about SmartVault sharing and access.

How do I manage my groups?    Back to top

Once you've added the users to your account, refer to the groups matrix to determine the access level you want to give each user. There are essentially four groups (five for Professional plans).

• Managers (Vault) - members of this group/role can add/remove users from the vault, add company files to the vault, and have Full Access to the vault.
• Full Access - members of this groups can view, attach, move, update, and delete documents in the vault (QuickBooks and custom folders)
• Read Only – this role allows the user to only view documents in the vault
• InboxFullAccess – can download the SmartVault desktop software and use it to attach documents to the Inbox
• Selective Access - can be granted to any combination of QuickBooks areas and allows the user to Upload New Documents, or Change/Delete Documents related to them in QuickBooks. It also gives you the ability to limit access to a specific company file

Note: Custom folders for Lite and Individual plans do not have Advanced Security.

To add users to a group, you must first invite users to the account.

1. Right click on the vault, company or custom folder to which you want to give access
2. Select Manage Group Members... link
3. Select the appropriate tab and click the Add member... button
4. Select the users you want to add to the group
5. Click the OK button.

How can I share my QuickBooks Company files?    Back to top

To share your QuickBooks files with your accountant, you have to first invite them to your vault. Then use the Backup feature to backup your company file to SmartVault and ask your accountant to Restore the QuickBooks file to their local machine with the SmartVault desktop software and open it with SmartVault toolbar. As they peruse the individual entries in QuickBooks, the folder icon in the toolbar will display the associated documents. Keep in mind, that while the accountant is working on your file, you should not make any changes to your copy, otherwise, it will be overwritten when you restore the copy from the vault.

Who gets full access to my QuickBooks information?    Back to top

Only Administrators automatically have full access to all of the data in your SmartVault account. Non-administrative users may be granted full access on a company-by-company basis if you so choose or granted permission via Groups at the vault level.

Can I make a note urgent so my accountant will see it?    Back to top

Yes. To mark a Note as Urgent, open the Note and check the Mark as urgent box on the bottom left-hand side of the Notes window.

After marking the Note as Urgent, the yellow Note icon on the SmartVault toolbar will turn to red.

I received an invitation to share. What does it mean?    Back to top

Receiving an invitation from a SmartVault account means that someone wants to share their documents with you via the SmartVault software or Web portal.

You will receive an email from “notify@my.smartvault.com” with an activation link. If you already have a SmartVault User ID, you will not receive an activation/invitation, instead, you will automatically see what has been made available to you by another SmartVault user i.e. QuickBooks company file or custom folders.

If you are not a current SmartVault user, a link in the notification email will take you to the SmartVault Sign Up page where you must register with SmartVault if you wish to accept the invitation and see the invitee's documents in their vault.

What happens if I accept an invitation to share?    Back to top

If you accept an invitation to share you will have the rights and permissions to the SmartVault account that were pre-configured by the administrator who sent you the invitation. If you go to your Home page on the SmartVault web portal, the invitee's SmartVault account will now appear under “My Accounts” list. You will only see those items that the invitee has allowed you to see.

What happens if I decline an invitation?    Back to top

When you decline an invitation, a notification email is sent to the person who invited you, stating that the invitation has been rejected.

Can someone delete my documents or notes?    Back to top

Only an administrator, or a user who has been granted "Change or delete documents" access to a specific QuickBooks company would be able to delete SmartVault documents or notes for that company.

Who can change my account information?    Back to top

No one but you can change your personal account information, available in the SmartVault web portal from the 'My info' link in the upper-right corner of your screen. This includes your name, password, and notification settings.

Administrators can change the security permissions to data in SmartVault accounts that are under their control, but only you can change your personal information in "My info".

How do I change the access rights of users after I have invited them?    Back to top

Please refer to the the new security guide to understand SmartVault's security model in more detail. An Administrator can change the access granted to any User (including the rights of other administrators) in the account from the SmartVault web portal. A (vault) manager can change the access level of a user to a particular vault. Depending on how the user has been granted access, via Groups or Selective Access at the company level or folder level determines how the user can be modified.

Manage access via group membership

To manage permissions via Groups at the vault level click here

Manage access using Selective access

To manage access using selective access, click here.

Manage access to Custom Folders

To manage permission to your custom folders, click here.