Your firm already pays for Microsoft 365, so moving client files into SharePoint looks like the obvious step. The hard part is the setup: get the structure wrong in year one and you live with it every tax season after. Setting up SharePoint for accountants means deciding on sites and libraries, a folder template per client and year, naming rules, permissions and retention. The last step is getting documents from clients into the right folder.
It's written for small and mid-size accounting firms that run their own Microsoft 365 tenant, including firms moving off FileCabinet CS.
If you're leaving FileCabinet CS
Thomson Reuters' FileCabinet CS help page says it will stop providing updates and support after December 31, 2027, and recommends migrating your data to another document management system before then. After that date you may still be able to open existing documents, but Thomson Reuters says it can't guarantee continued access.
Before you pick SharePoint as your FileCabinet CS alternative, know what you're getting: storage with permissions, search and version history. SharePoint isn't a client portal, and it doesn't track which documents a client still owes you. You build the structure yourself and add intake on top.
Plan the move for the quiet months. Set up the structure, move a handful of test clients, fix what breaks, then move the rest between deadlines.
How to lay out SharePoint for accountants: one site or many
Most firms need one internal site for client work, split into a few libraries. Microsoft recommends separate sites grouped under hubs instead of subsites. So the choice is how to split clients across libraries.
| Layout | Works for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| One "Clients" site, one library, a folder per client | Firms where every staff member can see every client | Syncing the whole library to every laptop slows down as it grows (Microsoft recommends syncing no more than 300,000 files) |
| One site, a few libraries (for example Active clients, Restricted clients, Archive) | Most firms. Restricted clients get their own permissions without per-folder exceptions | Decide the split before the libraries fill up |
| One library per client | Firms with a few dozen large clients that each need separate access | A site holds at most 2,000 lists and libraries combined, and each library adds setup work |
| One site per client | Large clients you collaborate with inside SharePoint | The most work to create, secure and clean up. Rarely worth it for tax and bookkeeping |
Go with one site and a few libraries, and turn external sharing off on the client site. Microsoft advises keeping confidential information in a site with external sharing off, and creating extra sites if you need to share externally. Inside the site, use one library for active clients, one for clients only some staff may see, and one for archived clients.
A SharePoint client folder structure that holds up
Most SharePoint folder structure best practices come down to one rule: keep it shallow. Microsoft's information architecture guidance warns that folder structures with more than one or two levels of nesting make content much harder to find. So put the client at the top, then one level of year-and-service folders.
- 1042 Smith, Jane
- Permanent
- 2025 Tax
- 2025 Bookkeeping
- 2025 Payroll
- 2026 Tax
- 1043 Acme Plumbing LLC
- Permanent
- 2025 Tax
- 2025 Bookkeeping
Why year and service share one folder name, instead of a Year folder with service folders inside:
- It keeps you at two levels.
- Each year's folders sort together by name.
- Closing a year means one folder per service, which makes retention and archiving simpler.
- Payroll-only staff go straight to "2025 Payroll".
Permanent holds what doesn't change each year: the engagement letter, formation documents, EIN confirmation, ownership records and depreciation schedules. For what goes into the year folders, the tax preparer checklist and the bookkeeping client onboarding checklist list the documents to collect.
Keep an empty "_Template" folder with the subfolders in it. For each new client, select it, use Copy to on the command bar, and rename the copy. If your team uses Power Automate, the SharePoint connector's "Create new folder" and "Copy folder" actions can do this when you add a client.
Naming conventions for folders and files
Folder names are what staff search for and sort by. Pick one pattern and write it down.
- Client folders: the client ID from your practice management or tax software, then the legal name: "1042 Smith, Jane", "1043 Acme Plumbing LLC". The ID keeps two clients with the same name apart.
- Year folders: year first, then service: "2025 Tax". Use the tax year, even when you do the work the following spring.
- Files: year, document type, source: "2025 W-2 Acme Payroll.pdf", "2025 1099-INT First Bank.pdf". Write dates as YYYY-MM-DD so they sort in order: "2026-03-15 IRS notice CP2000.pdf".
Microsoft sets two hard limits. File and folder names can't contain " * : < > ? / \ |, and the full path (folders plus file name) can't be longer than 400 characters. Long client names inside long folder names hit that sooner than you'd expect, so keep names short.
Folders vs metadata: use both, briefly
Folders set permissions and give everyone the same client-and-year map. Library columns (metadata) handle the rest. Select + Add column at the right of the column headings. Add two or three, such as Document type, Status (Received, Reviewed, Missing pages) and Tax year. Then save filtered views like "received but not reviewed". Add more only if staff fill them in.
One limit to plan for: SharePoint blocks a database query that has to process more than 5,000 items at once (the list view threshold). Folders, indexed columns and filtered views keep each query under it.
Permissions so staff see the right clients
Every SharePoint site comes with Owners, Members and Visitors groups. Microsoft strongly recommends granting access through groups instead of individual people, and discourages permissions on single files. For a firm:
- Add all client-facing staff to the site's Members group. They can work in the Active clients library.
- Keep Owners to one or two people who manage the site.
- For the Restricted clients library, open the library, select Settings > Library settings (on some sites, More library settings) > Permissions for this document library, then Stop Inheriting Permissions.
- Use Remove User Permissions on the groups that shouldn't see it, and Grant Permissions to add a group of the partners and staff who should.
- Avoid per-client folder exceptions in the Active library. If a client needs restricted access, move their folder to the Restricted library.
Do this early. Once a library or folder holds more than 100,000 items, Microsoft won't let you break permission inheritance on it. A library supports up to 50,000 items with unique permissions, but Microsoft's recommended limit is 5,000. Per-file exceptions get out of hand fast.
Retention basics
SharePoint can enforce a retention period, but it won't choose one for you. How long you keep client records depends on your professional rules, your state board and your engagement letters. The tools:
- Retention policies and retention labels (set up in the Microsoft Purview portal) keep files for a set time, delete them after it, or both.
- If someone deletes or changes a file that's under a retention policy, SharePoint keeps a copy of the original in a hidden Preservation Hold library.
- Retention applies to files, not to folders or libraries. That's another reason for year folders: when a period ends, you know exactly which folders hold that year's files.
- Version history keeps at least 500 major versions of each file by default.
Which retention features you can use depends on your Microsoft 365 plan. Microsoft lists them in its Purview service description. Have whoever manages your tenant check it before you promise clients a retention period.
Getting client documents into SharePoint during busy season
A tidy structure only helps if documents end up in it, and in February and March they arrive every possible way. Here's how the usual routes work with SharePoint:
| Route | What the client does | Where the problem shows up |
|---|---|---|
| Email attachments | Replies with files whenever they find them | Staff save, rename and file every attachment, and nobody knows what's still missing |
| Sharing the client's folder | Signs in as a guest and uploads | Each client becomes a guest account in your directory, and "Can edit" on a folder lets them move, rename or delete anything in it |
| SharePoint Request files | Opens a link and uploads, no account | Needs Anyone links on the site it saves to, so it won't work on a client site with external sharing off. It collects files but doesn't track what a client still owes |
| An upload page that saves to SharePoint | Fills in a short form and uploads, no account | A separate tool to set up and pay for |
Shared folders need a closer look, because most firms try them first. Between May and July 2026, Microsoft switched commercial tenants to Entra B2B sharing. Sharing a folder with someone outside the firm now always creates a guest account in your directory. Microsoft is also retiring SharePoint's own one-time passcode sign-in. The retirement began in mid-October 2026 and is expected to finish by the end of November 2026 (MC1243549). Once it reaches your tenant, clients without a matching guest account get "access denied" on Specific people links you sent them earlier. And if you followed the advice above, your client site has external sharing off anyway.
Our guide on how to let external users upload files to SharePoint compares the routes on what the client sees and what your admin has to allow. If Request files is enough and you can keep a separate intake site with Anyone links on, the SharePoint Request files guide covers the setup. Still deciding between a full client portal and a collection tool? Read what client portal software for accountants should do.
Collecting client documents into each client's folder
The route that fits the folder template best is an upload page that asks a couple of questions and files the documents for you. That's what File Request Pro does for accountants:
- You connect SharePoint and pick your Active clients library as the destination.
- The upload page asks the client for their name or client ID and the tax year.
- Subfolders are named from those answers, so a W-2 from Jane Smith lands in a folder for her and that tax year. File names can be built from answers too.
- Clients upload from any device without creating an account or logging in. A password on the page is optional.
- Files pass through File Request Pro's servers on the way to your SharePoint library.
On Lite and up, File Request Pro can also email clients reminders until they've sent everything on the list. Neither email nor a shared folder does that. SharePoint storage is on the Pro plan and up (see pricing). The Microsoft app asks for Files.ReadWrite and Sites.ReadWrite.All, and on Microsoft's default tenant settings an admin approves it once.
The free trial runs 15 days or 25 files, needs no credit card, and includes SharePoint. Test it on your real folder structure before busy season. Start a free trial.
SharePoint setup checklist for your firm
- Create one internal client site with external sharing turned off.
- Add three libraries: Active clients, Restricted clients, Archive.
- Give Restricted clients its own permissions before moving files in.
- Build the "_Template" client folder: Permanent plus one year-and-service folder per service.
- Write down the naming rules and share them with staff.
- Add two or three columns and save the views your team will use.
- Agree on your retention period, then ask your Microsoft 365 admin to set the policy.
- Move five test clients, use them for a month, and fix the structure before moving the rest.
- Decide how clients will send documents before the first engagement letters go out.
