Folder structure templates

You will learn how to design your firm’s folder template and how a saved change reaches every client.

• Creating and editing folder templates needs a Company Owner or Company Admin.
• Giving a client a template needs the right to edit that client.
• Folder templates are part of the Documents app, on the Elite plan.

A folder template is your firm’s master list of folders. Every client using the template gets the same folders, and the same settings on each folder. Most firms need one template. Add a second one only for a different kind of client, for example sole traders.

Path: Settings & Apps → Documents → Folder templates

1. Open Settings & Apps and open the Documents app.
2. Open the Folder templates tab. The list shows each template’s Name, its Clients count, and which one is the Default.
3. Click a template to open it, or click New template.
4. Type the Template name.

A new template starts with New files, Public, Private, Notes and Templates. New files and Recent are Uku’s own folders, and their names cannot be changed.

1. In the template, select the folder you want the new folder in.
2. Click Add folder. The button names the selected folder, for example Add folder → Private.
3. Type the Folder name in the settings on the right.

To remove a folder, open its menu in the tree and click Delete folder. The folder and the folders inside it leave the template when you save.

The year and month row under a top-level folder creates one folder per year and per month. Click its chip to choose how months are named:

• Year-month — 2026 → 9. Uku uses this by default.
• Year-month (padded) — 2026 → 09. Choose this if your team sorts folders on a drive by name.

Public and Private can each hold one year and month row. To add one, open the top-level folder’s menu and click Year-month or Year-month (padded).

Select a folder and set its Visibility:

• Public — the client can see this folder and its files in the client portal.
• Private — only people in your firm can see this folder.
• Inherit — the same as the folder above. A top-level folder cannot inherit.

To narrow a Public folder to some contacts, choose contact roles under Client contact visibility. The panel then reads, for example, “Only Board can see this folder.” The full rules, including folders inside folders, are in How client folders work.

To give a Public folder its own entry in the client portal menu, turn on Client portal menu → Show. A Private folder cannot have one: the switch says Make the folder visible to the client first.

Choose workflow roles under Member visibility. Members of your firm then see the folder only if they hold one of those roles on the client. The Company Owner, Company Admins and Client Admins always see it.

Leave Member visibility empty unless a folder holds sensitive files, such as payroll. An empty choice follows the folder above. If the list is empty, add workflow roles first: the panel says Set up workflow roles first.

Each of the eight kinds of file can go to one folder. The kinds are Task files, Note files, Template files, Member e-mail files, Contact e-mail files, Sent e-mail files, Contact uploads and Signed files. Where files go explains each one.

1. Select the folder that should receive the files.
2. Under Automatically filed here, choose the kind, for example Note files.
3. If that kind already goes to another folder, Uku asks Move Note files? Click Move.

Files already filed stay where they are. Only new files go to the new folder. In a folder with year and month folders below it, Uku files by date into those.

Click Preview to check the result. A folder that receives files shows a small filter icon. Hover it to see Automatically filed here and the kinds.

Nothing reaches your clients until you save.

1. Click Save template.
2. Read the save window. Changes in the template lists what you changed. On the clients’ folders counts what happens on the clients, for example Added, Renamed, Removed and Joined the template.
3. Click Save template again. Uku shows Template saved.

Uku then updates every client using the template in the background. Allow a minute before you check a client.

What a save does to the clients’ folders:

• A new folder is created for every client.
• A renamed folder is renamed for every client. Its files stay in it.
• A deleted folder is removed from a client only when it is empty. A folder that holds files is kept, and the save window counts it under Kept, because they hold files.
• Roles and automatic filing apply to every client at once.
• Visibility reaches every client at the next sync. A client where someone changed the setting by hand keeps its own choice. See Change who can see a folder for one client.

A member may have made a folder by hand on a client, with the same name as a new template folder in the same place. The save then adopts that folder: it joins the template, takes the template’s settings, and keeps its files. The save window shows the count under Joined the template.

New clients get the default template. One template is always the default.

1. Open the template you want as the default.
2. Turn on Default.
3. Click Save template.

The default moves from the old template to this one. You cannot turn Default off on the current default: turn it on for another template instead. The default template has no Delete template button.

Path: open the client → Edit → Folder structure template

1. Open the client and click Edit.
2. Choose a template under Folder structure template.
3. Uku asks Change folder structure template? Click Change template.
4. Click Save.

The new structure is created in the background. Empty folders that are not in the new template are removed. Folders that hold files stay.

A new client gets the default template, and you can choose another one in the same form. Every client needs a template: the field cannot be left empty.

To change many clients at once, open the client list, select the clients, and choose Documents → Change folder structure template from the bulk actions. Pick the template under Select a folder structure template, then click Change template.

Uku keeps clients in step on its own. Organize files does the same for every client at once. Use it once after you start using templates, or when older files show only under Recent.

Path: Settings & Apps → Documents → Maintenance

1. Open the Maintenance tab.
2. On the Organize files card, click Organize files.
3. Click Organize. Uku shows Process started.

Uku updates every client’s folders to match its template, up to this month. A file that is in no folder is filed the same way as a new file of its kind. Organize files leaves the New files folder alone, deletes no file, and changes nothing on your connected drive.

Uku updates the clients in the background after you save. Wait a minute and reload the client’s Documents page. If the folders are still missing, open the client’s Edit form and check its Folder structure template.

The folder comes from the template, or it joined the template by name. Rename or delete it in the template, then click Save template. The change reaches every client.

Uku keeps a folder that holds files. Open each client, move the files to another folder, and save the template again. The empty folder is then removed.

Two folders in the same place cannot have the same name. A top-level folder cannot be called New files or Recent, because Uku uses those names. Uku shows the first problem of each kind: fix it, and save again.

Files added before the folder tree existed are in no folder. Open Maintenance and click Organize files. Each file is filed the same way as a new file of its kind.