Notes tab

The Notes tab is a working scratchpad for everything you and your team need to remember about this client that doesn’t belong in the formal record. Notes never leave Fola, never appear on a form, and are never shown to the client.

What notes are for

Good candidates:

• Phone-call summaries. “Spoke with Maria 5/14, confirmed she’s filing the I-130 herself rather than having us file.”
• Client preferences. “Prefers Spanish for written correspondence; English is fine on calls.”
• Open questions. “Need to follow up on whether the 2018 entry was as a B-2 or visa-waiver — passport shows both stamps.”
• Strategy decisions. “Family decided to wait on the I-485 until her 1040-X is processed — recheck Q4.”

What notes are NOT for

A few things to keep OFF the Notes tab:

• Anything you want a form to read. Identity-level facts (a new address, an updated employer) go on the Identity tab so the next form fill picks them up.
• Anything legally sensitive in a way that would matter on disclosure. If opposing counsel or USCIS could subpoena your notes (some scenarios — see your malpractice carrier), notes that read like internal deliberation should live elsewhere.
• Things that need timestamps. Notes are timestamped at write time but the Activity log is the formal audit trail. If you want to prove “we knew X by date Y”, let the Activity log do the work.

How notes work

Each note is timestamped with who wrote it and when. You can:

• Pin important notes to the top
• Edit a note (the original is preserved as a revision; click the small history icon to see prior versions)
• Delete — soft-deletes for 30 days then permanent

Notes are visible to every team member who can see the client

There’s no per-note privacy setting. Anyone in your firm with access to this client sees every note. If you need to keep a thought to yourself, write it down outside Fola.

Next

Consents tab →