---
title: How filing works
description: Every document in a case is filed against the case's expected document list. The run suggests where each belongs; a person decides, or a workflow does.
section: Filing and documents
order: 1
---

Filing puts a document where it belongs: against one requirement of the case's [expected document list](/docs/concepts/expected-document-lists). A W-2 is filed under "W-2 Forms (last 2 years)", a pay stub under "Pay Stubs — Last 30 Days". When every requirement has its document, nothing is missing.

## Who decides

- **The run suggests.** When a run lands, each document it found carries a suggestion: the requirement it matches, or none when it matches nothing on the list.
- **A person decides.** Approve the suggestion, file the document under another requirement, keep it off the list, or reject it. Each decision is recorded with the role of the person who made it.
- **Or a workflow decides.** With a [workflow](/docs/concepts/workflows) attached at the gate, the run files what it recommended by itself, and the ledger records those decisions as made by Workflow.

Until someone decides, a suggestion counts for nothing. The requirement stays open.

## What a document's second line says

Every list of documents shows each document's own name first, then one line that says where it stands.

| Second line | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| 17 pages · Suggested: Grant Deed (recorded) | The run matched it. Nobody has decided yet. |
| 17 pages · Matched to Grant Deed (recorded) | A person or a workflow filed it there. |
| 1 page · Matched to Disclosure Acknowledgments (incomplete) | Filed, and a better copy is requested. |
| 5 pages · Rejected for Preliminary Closing Disclosure | A person refused it for that requirement. Nothing was filed. |
| 3 pages | It matches nothing on the list, was kept off the list, or is archived. |

Example: you approve "17 pages · Suggested: Grant Deed (recorded)", and the line becomes "17 pages · Matched to Grant Deed (recorded)".

## What filing produces

- **A saved copy.** A PDF cut from the uploaded file, stored with a text version that records where every page came from. It is named after the requirement and the document's date, such as `pay_stubs_2026_08_31`. A document kept off the list is saved as `unmatched_<name>_<date>`.
- **A ledger row.** `document.approved`, `document.approved_incomplete` or `document.rejected`, saying who decided and under whose sign-in. See [the ledger](/docs/concepts/the-ledger).
- **Progress.** The requirement now counts in [Matched Docs](/docs/filing/matched-docs).

## Where you can file

| Where | What you file there |
| --- | --- |
| Documents, a Case Filing page | Any document in the case, row by row. See [the Documents page](/docs/filing/the-documents-page). |
| Research: the Documents window and the document viewer | The document you are reading. |
| Register, Triage and Workfile | The document filed under a requirement that carries a flag to resolve. |
| Doc Review | One document at a time, with the tools to split, merge and move pages first. See [Doc Review](/docs/filing/doc-review). |

The decision is the same everywhere and is recorded the same way. See [file a document](/docs/filing/file-a-document).