Documents and templates
Documents live in your own Microsoft 365. Build letters from templates, import Outlook email, and search inside your files.
Your documents stay yours
Matter attachments are stored in your Microsoft 365 tenant, not in a separate vendor repository. Each matter has its own SharePoint Embedded container, created automatically when the matter is created. The containers are not browsable sites, and they do not appear in SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, office.com or Microsoft 365 Copilot. You find, upload, open and organize documents only through CLNG.
The Attachments view lets you create, rename and delete folders, upload files, and drag and drop files from your computer. When you upload, the document category you choose files each document into a matching folder, and imported emails land in an Email folder by default.
Edit in Word, in the browser
A document opens in Word for the web with AutoSave and live co-authoring, so colleagues can work in it at the same time. Version history records who made each edit, and every open and every change is recorded in CLNG's audit log.
Email and the matter
Import messages from your own Outlook inbox into a matter. Search by name, subject, date or keyword, preview a message, then save one or many to the matter with a summary, type, color and staff member. Attachments on the message can be saved to the matter too.
Going the other way, select files in a matter's Attachments and choose Email File(s) to create an Outlook draft with them attached. Each file must be smaller than 3 MB. CLNG checks your access to the matter before it reads a file, and you review and send the draft yourself.
Letters from templates
Every office has its standard letters and forms. An administrator turns them into Word templates by placing tokens, which are placeholders for matter information. Tokens use a simple {Token Name} form. Today they fill in today's date, the matter's dates, court, court number, cause code and department code, plaintiff and defendant names and addresses, the party, witness and contact you choose, with salutations, and finance figures such as the prayer amount, maximum value, fiscal year and payment amounts. More tokens are being added.
To create a document, open the matter, choose a template, and CLNG:
- fills in everything it knows about the matter and today's date;
- asks you to choose among parties, contacts or witnesses when a template needs one;
- tells you when a placeholder could not be resolved, instead of silently guessing;
- saves the finished letter to the matter as an attachment, ready to edit or finalize.
Find any document
Every module has a Find Document button with two ways to search. Metadata search looks at document names, categories, types, matters, staff and preparers, and upload dates, and finds a new file immediately. Full-text search looks inside the contents of your files, within a single matter from Find Document or across every matter you are allowed to see from Document Search. A new upload takes about 20 minutes to become searchable by content.
Questions about documents
Where are our documents stored?
In your own Microsoft 365 tenant, in one SharePoint Embedded container per matter. The containers have no site or library address and are hidden from SharePoint, OneDrive, Teams, office.com and Microsoft 365 Copilot, so documents open only through CLNG. CLNG keeps descriptive information about each file in its database.
Who can see our documents?
Only people you have invited, and what each person can reach follows their roles. Each time someone opens a document, CLNG checks their permission at that moment and issues a personal link that works only for them and expires within about a working day. Search results are filtered the same way, so a matter someone is restricted from never appears.
Do our Microsoft retention and legal-hold policies apply?
Yes. Microsoft Purview retention, legal hold, eDiscovery and audit apply to the documents like any other Microsoft 365 content, and CLNG keeps its own audit log of every open and change.
Do documents count against our Microsoft 365 storage?
No. Storage is billed through our Azure subscription, with pricing set separately, and it does not use your Microsoft 365 storage quota.
What happens to our documents if we stop using CLNG?
They stay in your Microsoft 365 tenant. Today, bulk retrieval is through Microsoft Purview eDiscovery. An export from inside CLNG is on the roadmap.
Which file types can we attach?
Almost any file type can be attached.
What format do templates use, and how big can they be?
Templates are Word (.docx) files of up to 10 MB. An administrator uploads and manages them in System Management.
What happens when a template needs information CLNG does not have?
CLNG fills in what it can, then asks you to choose or type the rest. Anything you skip stays in the document, highlighted in yellow, so nothing is left blank by accident. A placeholder CLNG does not recognize is left as written, and CLNG tells you that some could not be resolved.
How soon does a new upload appear in full-text search?
In about 20 minutes. Searching by document name and details finds a new file immediately.
See CLNG with your own workflow
Book a short demo. We will walk through matters, deadlines, documents and reports the way your office actually works.