Creating a document from a file
What you'll learn
- When to use the file-upload flow versus a request form
- Where to start a new document
- How to upload a file and finish creating the document
- What happens after the upload
When to use this
Document Flow supports two ways of creating a document:
- Upload a file — if your document already exists as a file (a signed contract, a supplier invoice PDF, a scanned receipt, a Word document). This article covers this case.
- Fill out a request form — if there is no file and the document is a structured form instead (a vacation request, an internal expense claim). See Creating a request form.
Your admin decides which kind each document type uses, so you may not see both options — you'll see whichever ones are set up for your company.
Opening the Create Document page
You can start creating a document from three places:
- Dashboard — click New Document in the Quick Actions card.
- Documents page (Document Flow → Documents in the sidebar) — click the Create button at the top right.
- Direct URL —
/docflow/documents/createif you've bookmarked it.
All three land you on the same Create Document page.
Step-by-step
- Open the Create Document page as described above.
- Under Select Document Type, open the dropdown and pick a file-based document type — the kind that needs an uploaded file. Ask your admin which document types in the list are file-based if it's not obvious from their names.
- An Upload File section appears below. You have two ways to add a file:
- Drag and drop a file from your file manager into the dashed-border box, or
- Click the box to open the file picker and pick a file.
- Once the file is added:
- Its name and size (in KB) appear inside the box.
- A Remove button appears if you picked the wrong file — click it and select another.
- Click the Upload File button at the bottom right.
- The button shows a spinner while the upload runs.
- When the upload finishes, you land on the edit page for the new document.
After the upload
You land on the Edit Document page for the document you just created — not the detail page. This is intentional: you usually want to fill in any missing metadata before the document moves on.
On the edit page, you can:
- Enter a title and any other metadata.
- Fill in custom fields (if the document type has them).
- Attach supporting files — scans of related contracts, calculation spreadsheets, anything that supports the main document.
- Replace the uploaded file if you realized it was the wrong one.
When you're done, click Save. Your document is now in Active status — it exists but hasn't been sent for approval yet.
To start the approval process, see Starting the approval process.
Common questions
What file types can I upload?
The web app doesn't restrict file types on its own. In practice, your admin configures which types are appropriate for each document type — PDFs, Word documents, Excel files, images, and scans are typical. If the server rejects a file, you'll see an error after clicking Upload.
Is there a size limit?
VAT Portal doesn't show a hard limit in the UI, but very large files may time out or be rejected by the server. If a big file fails, try compressing it or splitting it into multiple smaller attachments.
I only see form-based document types in the dropdown — none that take a file.
Your admin hasn't set up any file-based document types for your company yet. Ask them to create one, or use the request-form flow instead.
I uploaded the wrong file. Can I fix it?
Yes — on the edit page you land on after uploading, there's a Replace File option. You can swap the file without recreating the document.
Can I upload multiple files at once?
The main file is one per document, but you can add supporting files as attachments on the edit page. See Uploading attachments.
Does uploading start the approval automatically?
No. Uploading just creates the document in Active status. You need to click Start Approval from the document's detail page when you're ready to send it for review.
I got an error — "File is required for this document type".
You clicked Upload File without actually selecting a file. Drag one into the box or click the box to pick one, then try again.