How to Manage Client Documents in ElderSuite

📝 Overview

Client Documents keeps a client’s paperwork—signed forms, assessments, intake packets, insurance cards, and similar files—with that client’s record so staff can find and open them from any computer running ElderSuite.

ElderSuite serves adult day care centers nationwide.

Open the list from Client Center in either of two ways: Client List → select the client → Add Document, or open the client record and click Manage Documents on the Documents tab. The list belongs only to that client and shows each file’s Title, Description, Date Added, and Size.

You can attach a PDF already on the computer with Local Files, or scan paper with Scanner. Scanner opens the ElderSuite Scan Manager already pointed at Client Documents for that client. For scanning into Client Documents, Employee Documents, and Provider Documents in one Guide, see How to Scan Documents into ElderSuite. Staff personnel files belong in Employee Documents; the center’s own licenses and agreements belong in Provider Documents. Signing a paper assessment or form and filing that signed copy is a different command—see How to Use Sign & Sync in ElderSuite.

⚙ How It Works

1. Open Client Documents

Open Client Center from the ElderSuite main menu.

From the Clients window: click Client List, select the client, and click Add Document.

From the client record: open the client with Add New Client or Client List → Edit Client, go to the Documents tab, and click Manage Documents.

The window heading names whose files you are working with. The list shows only that client’s documents.

For a Limited Access sign-in, both Add Document and Manage Documents need the Manage Client Documents permission. Without it, those buttons are grayed out. Permissions are read at sign-in, so sign out and back in after the permission is granted.

If the client record has never been saved, ElderSuite asks you to save it before documents can be attached. Save the record first, then open Manage Documents again.

2. Scan or Attach a Document

Click Local Files to attach a PDF already saved on the computer. The file picker offers PDF files only.

Click Scanner to open the ElderSuite Scan Manager for this client’s document list. Scan the pages you need; when a file is produced, it returns to Client Documents.

ElderSuite then opens Client Document Details so you can enter a Title and, when useful, a Description, then click OK. You can pick a suggested title from the dropdown or type your own name (up to 50 characters). Description is optional (up to 250 characters).

Enter a clear Title so other users can identify and find the file later. Without a Title, the file is not added—whether you used Local Files or Scanner.

The document appears as a new row in the list. It has not yet been stored in ElderSuite.

3. Click Save & Close

Click Save & Close to send newly added files to the ElderSuite Document Server and store the list changes with the client record.

Until you click Save & Close, added documents, title or description edits, and removals stay only in this window.

If you click Delete, ElderSuite asks Are you sure you want to remove this file? before taking the row off the list. A previously stored document is not removed from ElderSuite until you click Save & Close. If you removed the wrong file, close without saving (or answer No at the save prompt) so the removal is discarded and the document stays on the server.

4. Find and Open a Document

Use Find to search this client’s list by typing part of a Title or Description, then click the find button beside the box. Click again to clear the search.

Find stays inside the documents for the client whose record opened the window. To look at another client’s files, open that client and click Add Document or Manage Documents there.

To open a document, select it and click View, or double-click the row.

Title and Description can also be typed straight into the list after a row is added. Date Added and Size are filled by ElderSuite when the document is added and cannot be edited.

✅ Important Limitations

Local Files accepts PDF files only.

A document without a Title is not added—whether you used Local Files or Scanner. Canceling Client Document Details, or clicking OK with an empty Title, discards the file with no message.

There is no Client Center shortcut that opens Client Documents for every client at once—open one client from Client List or the client record first.

Find searches only the documents belonging to the client whose record is open.

Nothing on Client Documents is stored in ElderSuite until you click Save & Close.

Client Documents holds one client’s files. Staff personnel files belong in Employee Documents; the center’s own paperwork belongs in Provider Documents.

⚠ Give Every Document a Title

Every client document should have a clear, descriptive Title.

Without a Title, a PDF chosen with Local Files does not stay on the list. On Client Documents, a scanned document without a Title is discarded the same way—unlike Employee Documents and Provider Documents, where a scan can remain on the list with a blank Title.

After you enter the Title, click Save & Close on Client Documents to store the document.

🔐 Privacy & Security

When you scan or attach a document, ElderSuite first creates a working copy on the computer.

Clicking Save & Close transfers the file and stores it with the client record on the ElderSuite Document Server. Until you save, the new document has not been stored in ElderSuite.

Client documents often include PHI. Confirm you opened the correct client’s Client Documents before scanning or attaching a file, and limit access through ElderSuite permissions and your center’s policies.

💡 Need More Help?

For step-by-step assistance, click Ask Eddie from within ElderSuite.