How the
portal works.
47 short guides — the same library the product links to from Help & Support. Written for whoever has to run the thing on a Tuesday, not for whoever built it.
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Getting started
The first hour: your firm, your people, and what each screen is for.
- Setting up your Pertavo accountCreate the firm, confirm your email, and get the portal ready before you invite anybody into it.
- MattersThe file everything else hangs off — what a matter is, what files onto one, and why you do not have to start with it.
- Understanding user roles and permissionsOwner, admin, attorney and client are four different jobs. What each one can see and do, and why it cannot be talked around from the browser.
- First-time login guideWhat happens the first time somebody signs in — for you, and for the client you have just invited.
- Dashboard overviewWhat the first screen is telling you — the two rows of counts, what the money ones mean, and how much less of it a client sees.
Document management
Getting files in, filing them, signing them, and getting them back out.
- Uploading documentsHow to get a file into the portal, what is accepted, and what to fill in while you are there.
- Organizing with foldersBuilding a folder structure that still makes sense in March — and what folders do not do.
- Who can see a documentSomebody's role and who the document is assigned to, plus ethical walls where a firm has turned them on.
- Templates and generated documentsKeep the letter once, with the matter's details as merge fields, and generate it filed on the matter — ready to send for signature.
- Digital signaturesRequesting a signature on a PDF, the three ways a signer can sign, and how to tell where a request has got to.
- Document editing and annotationsThe built-in PDF editor — adding text, dates, stamps, images and signatures to a page without leaving the portal.
- Download and export optionsGetting files back out of the portal — one at a time, or the whole firm as one archive — who is allowed to, and what is recorded when they do.
- Finding a document againSearching, and the four filters that narrow a long list faster than searching does.
- Document status and approvalsWhat each status on a document means, and how the approval step for client uploads works.
- Deleting documents and foldersDeletion is permanent — there is no trash and nothing to restore from. Read this before you delete anything.
Collaboration
Invitations, messages, assignments and the alerts that tie them together.
- Client intakeA form on a link you send, the enquiries it brings in, and what accepting one actually creates.
- Inviting clients and team membersSending an invitation, what the recipient gets, and why invitations expire so quickly.
- Messaging and communicationTalking to a client about their papers in the same place the papers are, with attachments that stay inside the portal.
- Document assignmentsPutting a name against a document so that it is somebody's job rather than everybody's.
- TasksWhat is on you and what you are waiting on, on the matter or on its own — including the list your client sees.
- Time on a matterHours logged against the matter they belong to — typed, or run on the timer in the top bar — what rate they carry, and the parts of billing they do not reach.
- DeadlinesCourt and limitation dates kept on the matter — and the one thing you must not assume they do.
- The calendarTasks, deadlines and appointments on one month grid — what an appointment carries, which of them a client can see, and the dates it will never work out for you.
- Your calendar in Outlook, Google or AppleSubscribing to your Pertavo dates from the calendar you already watch — what the link carries, why it arrives late, and why the link is a password.
- InvoicesDrafting a bill from the hours and expenses already on a matter, sending it, and recording what came back — and the parts of billing this is not.
- Client fundsMoney a client pays you before there is a bill — how it is held against a matter, spent on an invoice, and why this is not a trust account.
- Notifications and alertsWhat the portal tells you about, how to filter the list, and how to stop it becoming noise.
- Working on the same file at the same timeWhat updates on its own, what does not, and how to avoid two people editing one PDF.
- What is recorded about a documentWho opened a file, who downloaded it and who deleted it — where that log is read, what it collapses, and what it still does not cover.
Security & privacy
What protects an account, what protects a file, and what we do not claim.
- Two-factor authentication setupTurning on a code as well as a password, storing the backup codes, and what to do when the code is refused.
- Password requirements and best practicesWhat the portal insists on, what actually makes a password strong, and how to change yours.
- Conflict checksWhat runs when you open a matter, what it searches, and the four things it cannot know.
- Ethical wallsOne switch that narrows what an attorney can reach to the matters they are staffed on — and the trap waiting for whoever turns it on.
- Data encryption and securityWhat actually protects a document in Pertavo, stated plainly — and the claims we do not make.
- GDPR and data protectionWhere responsibility sits, which product features help you meet an obligation, and what is not certified.
- Access control and permissionsTwo things decide who can open a document, a third if your firm has turned ethical walls on, and a handful of settings decide what they can then do with it.
Settings & configuration
Firm-wide rules, personal preferences, and the subscription behind them.
- Organization settingsThe firm-wide settings an admin controls, and which of them are worth getting right before the season starts.
- Document rules and typesSetting the file size limit, the accepted formats, the approval rule, and the list of document types your firm files by.
- User profile managementYour own name, photo and role, and what an admin can see and change about somebody else from the member panel.
- Notification preferencesThere is one switch, it belongs to the firm rather than to a person, and it only governs email. What that means in practice.
- Pertavo for accounting firmsOne product, two professions. What the setting changes, what it does not, and how to correct it.
- Billing and subscription managementWhere the plan lives, what the statuses mean, and what to do before a renewal or a cancellation.
- Appearance and themeLight, dark or follow-my-device, and where the choice is remembered.
Troubleshooting
The four things that actually go wrong, and what to try before writing in.
- When an upload will not go throughThe four reasons an upload is refused, in the order they are worth checking.
- Sign-in and password recoveryForgotten passwords, refused two-factor codes, dead invitation links, and accounts that have been switched off.
- A document will not open or previewWhy a preview is unavailable, why a client sees nothing, and what to try in order.
- Browsers, devices and requirementsWhat the portal runs in, what it needs turned on, and what to tell a client who is struggling on a phone.
Nothing here matches that. Try a plainer word — upload, signature,invitation — or write to us from Help & Support inside the portal.
Reading about it only gets you so far.
Every article here describes a screen that exists. The quickest way to follow one is with the portal open beside it.