HR Files App Overview

HR Files

1. What it is

HR Files is your secure document vault for employee records, contracts, compliance documents, and any other file that belongs in an HR file cabinet. You upload files, assign them to employees, choose who can see them, and the app tracks every view, download, and change in an audit log.

• Enablement: Requires a license. An admin enables it from Admin → Apps Marketplace. It is not turned on automatically.
• What it is not: HR Files stores and governs documents. It does not create them — offer letters come from Recruiting, signed forms from E-Signature, submitted forms from Forms, and so on. Those apps can sync their output into HR Files automatically (see Document sync in §3), but the authoring happens there.

2. Standing it up

1. Enable the app — go to Admin → Apps Marketplace, find HR Files, and enable it.
2. Choose which file categories and types to offer — go to HR Files → Settings → File Organization. By default four categories are enabled (Employee Records, Candidate Documents, Contracts, Policies) and all 13 file types are available. Disable any your organization does not use so they do not appear in upload forms.
3. Decide on the approval workflow — under Settings → Workflow Settings, the Approval Workflow toggle is on by default. When it is on, files that are sensitive — either flagged by the uploader, matching a type on the File Types Requiring Approval list, or marked as a compliance document — enter a pending-approval queue. Until an admin approves them, only the uploader, admins, the assigned employee, and anyone with an explicit access grant can see the file. Turn this off if your organization does not need a review gate.
4. Grant access — any user with the app enabled can upload and view files scoped to them. The Approvals, Requests, and Admin tabs appear only for business admins and HR Files app admins. The Compliance and Audit Log tabs appear for managers and above.
5. Confirm it worked — upload a test file from HR Files → Files → Upload. You should see it in the file list, and the dashboard tiles should update.

Silent dependency: If you enable the approval workflow but leave the default sensitive file types unchanged, every Background Check, ID Document, Tax Document, and Performance Review will sit in the Approvals queue until an admin acts. Make sure someone is watching the queue.

3. How it fits together

Audience — who can see a file

Every file has a single Who can see this? setting (the audience). This is the most important concept in the app — it governs visibility everywhere: the file list, search, the mobile app, and the AI agent.

Audience	Who can see the file
Private to HR	The uploader and business admins only
Employee only	Plus the assigned employee
Employee and chain	Plus the employee’s reporting-chain managers
Specific roles	Plus users whose business role matches the roles you pick
All employees	Every active member of the business

The uploader and admins always have access regardless of audience. Explicit access grants (added from the file’s Access Control page) also override the audience.

Restricted file types add a hard clamp. File types on the admin’s restricted list (Medical, Garnishment, and Disciplinary by default) are forced down to HR + the assigned employee only, no matter what audience the uploader chose. This prevents a manager from seeing a direct report’s medical record through the reporting chain.

Approval workflow

When the approval workflow is enabled, sensitive files enter a Pending state. While pending, the file’s audience grants beyond the assigned employee are suspended — reporting-chain managers, role matches, and all-employees access are blocked until an admin approves. The uploader, admins, the employee, and explicit grants keep access throughout.

A file is considered sensitive when any of these are true: the uploader checked the Sensitive flag, the file’s type is on the admin’s File Types Requiring Approval list, or the file is marked as a compliance document. Editing an already-approved file into a sensitive state sends it back for re-approval automatically.

Document sync

Other apps can push their completed documents into HR Files automatically. You configure which sources are active under HR Files → Admin → Sync Settings. Six source apps are available: Recruiting, Onboarding Hub, Forms, E-Signature, Employee Data, and Employee Profile. Each source has its own trigger rules (e.g., Recruiting syncs when a candidate is hired; E-Signature syncs when signing is completed). Synced files are auto-approved and do not enter the approval queue. Sync can be paused globally or per source.

Retention policies

Each file can carry a named retention policy (1 Year, 3 Years, 5 Years, 7 Years, 10 Years, or Permanent). The retention clock starts from the file’s document date (or upload date if none is set). When the retention period lapses, a daily check notifies admins that files need review. Nothing is deleted automatically — admins archive or extend. Files marked as compliance documents are on legal hold and exempt from the retention sweep entirely.

E-Signature integration

Files marked Requires signature can be sent to their assigned employee for signing through the E-Signature app. Only PDF files are eligible. A dedicated signature page is appended to the document, and the employee receives the request. When signing completes, the file is automatically marked as signed. The E-Signature app must be enabled for the business.

4. Running it

Uploading files

1. Go to HR Files → Files and click Upload.
2. Choose a file, assign an employee (optional — leave blank for company-wide documents), select a category and type, and set the audience.
3. A live Visibility Preview shows exactly who will be able to see the file with the settings you picked.
4. Click Upload. If the approval workflow is on and the file is sensitive, it enters the Approvals queue.

After upload, AI reads the document and suggests a file type, category, and expiry date. These appear as pending suggestions on the file page — you review and apply or dismiss them. AI also auto-flags files that contain PII or sensitive content (it only ever promotes the flag, never removes it).

Bulk upload: Admins can upload up to 50 files at once from Admin → Bulk Upload. All files in a batch share the same category, type, audience, and sensitivity setting.

Approving files

1. Go to HR Files → Approvals to see the pending queue, oldest first.
2. Open a file to review it, or use the checkboxes for bulk approve/reject.
3. Approving makes the file’s full audience take effect. Rejecting notifies the uploader.

Only business admins and HR Files app admins can approve or reject. The uploader cannot approve their own file.

Requesting documents from employees

1. Go to HR Files → Requests and click Request a document.
2. Choose an employee, a file type, and optionally a due date and note.
3. The employee is notified. When they (or anyone) uploads a file of that type assigned to that employee, the request is automatically fulfilled.

One open request per employee per file type. You can send reminders (deduped to once per day) or cancel the request.

Reviewing compliance

Go to HR Files → Compliance (managers and above). This page shows:

• Expiring documents — files whose expiry date is within the next 30 days.
• Compliance documents — files marked as compliance/legal-hold documents.
• Document Coverage — a roster of every employee with their file count. When the minimum-documents rule is enabled, employees below the threshold or missing a required document type are flagged.

From the coverage roster, admins can download an employee’s complete file set as a zip (Download Employee Packet).

Reviewing the audit log

Go to HR Files → Audit Log (managers and above). Every file view, download, upload, edit, approval, access grant, and export is recorded with the user, timestamp, IP address, and file version at the time.

Admins see the full business-wide log (defaulting to the last 30 days). Managers see only the audit trail for files they can view. The log can be exported as CSV, JSON, or PDF. Per-file logs are reached from the file detail page.

5. Settings

All settings are under HR Files → Settings.

Setting	Default	What it changes
Enable AI Agent	On	Lets users ask about their documents through Ask AI.
AI metadata suggestions on upload	On	After each upload, AI suggests file type, category, and expiry and flags PII. Suggestions must be reviewed — never applied silently.
Enabled File Categories	Employee Records, Candidate Documents, Contracts, Policies	Which categories appear in upload/edit forms.
Enabled File Types	All 13 types	Which file types appear in upload/edit forms.
File types limited to HR & the employee	Medical, Garnishment, Disciplinary	File types whose audience is clamped to Private to HR or Employee only, regardless of the uploader’s choice.
Approval Workflow	On	Requires admin approval for sensitive files before the full audience can see them.
Identity Verification for Sensitive Downloads	Off	Requires users to re-verify their identity before downloading or previewing sensitive files. Verification lasts 15 minutes.
Expiry Reminders	On	Sends reminders 30 and 7 days before a file expires, and marks overdue files as expired.
Flag employees below a document minimum	Off	Surfaces employees with fewer than the minimum number of HR files on the Compliance page.
Minimum documents	3	The threshold for the rule above.
Required document types	None	Each employee must have at least one file of every checked type — a count alone can pass three resumes while the ID document is missing.
Archive HR files when an employee is deactivated	Off	Archives a deactivated employee’s active files. Compliance/retention documents stay active. Files are retained, not deleted.
Notify admins when files pass their retention period	On	A daily check queues expired-retention files for admin review. Compliance documents are exempt.
Automatically archive files past retention	Off	Moves retention-expired files to Archived and notifies admins to confirm or restore.
Retention policy durations	1 Year, 3 Years, 5 Years, 7 Years, 10 Years	How long each named policy keeps a file. Adjust to match your jurisdiction. Permanent never expires.

Three platform security settings are always on and cannot be disabled: Secure Cloud Storage, File Encryption (at rest), and Comprehensive Audit Logging.

6. More help

• HR Files FAQ — specific setup and operating questions.
• Ask AI — the assistant answers questions about HR Files from these articles.