Document Management Guide

Store and manage customer documents directly from CRM records. Understand how SharePoint integration brings structured document management to your CRM.

Documents connected to customers, not folders

In most small businesses, customer documents live in email attachments, personal desktops, and shared drives — with no connection to the customer record. Dove365 CRM — Starter’s document management changes this fundamentally.

01

Proposals sent by email

A proposal is sent to a client. Six months later, no one can find the current version. Document management gives every proposal a permanent home linked directly to the opportunity it belongs to.

02

Contracts in personal drives

A signed contract is saved in someone’s OneDrive. When they leave, the document becomes inaccessible. Document management stores files against the account in SharePoint — accessible to the whole team.

03

Support history without files

A support case references a report sent to the customer. Finding that report means searching email. With document management, the file is linked directly to the case record alongside all other case history.

Upload once, find it always

Document management is accessed through a Documents or Files tab on the relevant CRM record. Uploading from within CRM saves the file to the corresponding SharePoint folder and links it permanently to that record.

For Contacts, administrators must explicitly enable the Contact table in Document Management Settings. If a Contact Files tab is empty, check this configuration before troubleshooting the record.

Access the Documents tab

On an account, contact, opportunity, or case record, navigate to the Documents tab. All files associated with that record are displayed here — both those uploaded from CRM and those added directly in SharePoint.

Upload files from within CRM

Use the upload function in the Documents tab to add a new file. The file is saved to SharePoint and associated with the CRM record immediately — no separate SharePoint navigation needed.

Open and edit in Microsoft 365

Files can be opened directly from the Documents tab. Editing opens in the relevant Microsoft 365 application — Word, Excel, PowerPoint — with full co-authoring support.

Access the same files in SharePoint

The underlying SharePoint document library contains the same files. Users who work primarily in SharePoint can access and manage files there, and they remain linked to the CRM record.

Document management must be configured for each record type by your CRM administrator. If you don’t see a Documents or Files tab on a particular record type, contact your admin to confirm that record type is included in the document management configuration.

Organised, governed, and findable

Good document management isn’t just about storage — it’s about structure. Knowing where files are, who has access, and how they relate to your customer relationships.

Account-level documents Proposals, contracts, onboarding packs, and relationship summaries stored against the account record give every team member access to the complete customer file — not just the person who originally created it.
Contact-level documents Signed terms, correspondence specific to an individual, or identity verification documents can be stored against the contact record. Particularly useful for regulated businesses or those with compliance requirements around individual-level documentation.
Opportunity-level documents Quotes, scoping documents, proposals, and signed orders linked to the specific opportunity record give the complete document trail for each deal — all in one place, accessible without searching email.
Case-level documents Investigation reports, evidence files, and resolution documentation linked to support cases create a permanent, auditable record of how each case was handled and what supporting documentation was produced.

Team access to customer documents

Because documents are stored in SharePoint and linked to CRM records, your whole team can collaborate on customer files using standard Microsoft 365 tools — without managing document access separately.

Co-authoring in Microsoft 365

Multiple team members can work on the same document simultaneously using Microsoft 365 co-authoring in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint — no more emailing documents back and forth between colleagues.

Version history

SharePoint maintains a full version history for every document. See when a file was last modified and by whom, and restore earlier versions if changes need to be undone.

Consistent access permissions

File access follows SharePoint permissions, which align with your Microsoft 365 governance. There’s no separate CRM document permission system to configure or maintain.

Shared visibility across the team

When a colleague uploads a document to a CRM record, the whole team with access to that record can see and open the file immediately — no need to email it around or share a link manually.

Continue learning

SharePoint Integration

Understand how SharePoint integrates with Dove365 CRM — Starter at the platform level — how folders are linked and how the integration works.

User Management

Understand how user access to CRM records — and the documents stored against them — is managed by administrators.

Case Management

Understand how document management supports support case workflows — linking files to specific case records.

Ready to see Dove365 CRM — Starter in action?

Book a free demo and see how Dove365 CRM — Starter can work for your business inside Microsoft 365.