I haven't used other portals, but researched several and think that Smartvault is likely the best standalone portal for Lacerte/ProSeries users. Overall a great experience and can't imagine life before Smartvault.

We started using Smartvault for our small firm four years ago. It has been great at helping us move to a more paperless environment. The best feature is the tight integration with Lacerte (it also integrates with ProSeries). If you print returns from Lacerte you can choose Smartvault and the returns go straight to the correct folders so you can save a copy and the clients have a copy. There's also good integration with scanners. The connected desktop app is great to use. The client facing portal was previously clunky but much improved this year. The software is quite easy to use and relatively affordable. When we've had issues support is helpful at resolving.

I wish there was a way to make a request from a client for a specific document like more modern practice software has. Wish accounting folder templates were included in the "tax plan" at the same price...doesn't seem like that feature should cost extra. This year we decided to add workflow management and I looked at competitors like TaxDome/Canopy which offer a lot in one but in the end have added Karbon through IPM. I must say however that TaxDome seems to offer a ton at a much better value than Smartvault. Would love to see Smartvault get to that point and would gladly pay more to include other features. E-signatures are just ok, we got a trial to use some free this year but without KBA. The price for the e-signatures especially with KBA is too high and we're going to use Intuit's e-signature product going forward.

I mainly use SmartVault for storing and sharing financial reports and other files that need to be safely sent to/from my clients. The user interface is professional looking and a step up from what I was using. At some point I need to take the time to meet with someone and really gain a better understanding of how some of the features work.

It is great for securely sharing financial reports.

There is a pretty big learning curve to the software.

Just awful. The sales guy, [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN], was nice and promised such a great solution for us. However, the implementation team has completely dropped the ball and now we are stuck on January 28th not being able to send out tax organizers or engagement letters to our clients.

It seems like it would be a good solution, but we can't seem to get anyone to help up get our files migrated from Dropbox Business and help us work out integration with Drake Tax softward

No help and no ability to figure things out for ourselves. Our QuickBooks is also down due to this horrible implementation process where we can't get in touch with anyone at SmartVault.

I use this software on a daily basis since all our documents are stored on it. Thus, I am constantly "checking out" and "checking in XL and PDFs. Once I am done working on something I just save it, close it, and ot automatically is updated and checked back in to the software storage.

The one thing that would be nice to have (which I was able to do with our prior software filing system) is to be able to "check out" a document in a "view only" manner. Technically, of someone else has already checked out a document and you subsequently check out the same one, this is what happens to your version, but if you want to do this with an unchecked out file, you cannot. This would be helpful for cases that you know you do not want to have any changes made to a file but still want to view it. It would allow a peace of mind knowing that you are not going to accidently change anything.

I have been using SmartVault for over 5 years, when I first started with SmartVault it was because Intuit decided to no longer offer Document Management System and they partnered with SmartVault, you could say I grew up with SmartVault, over the years they have added additional features to enhance and not only allow me to be paperless but now automated too.

Love the integration with my tax software, ProSeries and also DocUSign which I depend on immensely. With the Pandemic and having to social distance this ability allowed me to continue to work and stay in business.

difficult to understand how to set functions up and utilize the more advanced features

It was great at the beginning but having a lot of customers to migrate was kind of a headache and not so easy to use for my liking

Is a good concept, nice storage capabilities

not so easy to implement, did not like that is kind of confusing to use

We use to use Lacerte DMS. It was a nightmare. Always having to reformat and things kept in diff folders. Data was not easily found either. With SV connected desktop software we can find any client easily.

We love how SmartVault is integrated with Intuit/Lacerte. It makes our lives simple, efficient, and stress-free.

in mid-2019 SV did an update that made uploading files more stable and faster. Since then I honestly have no complaints. We upgraded our internet speed for faster uploads and using SV is just a breeze. I did think of one issue, but I do not know if the problem is Lacerte's fault or SV? Sometimes a client may already be in SV with years of historical data, but SV will create a new folder for that client under their Lacaerte client ID? So a duplicate of sorts. I have not found a consistent pattern and never complained because it's rare and random.

Thanks to SmartVault, it's easy for my clients to provide me with the data I need to keep their books, and I can answer almost any question they have for me quickly and easily. I started off receiving statements by email. I've left that M.O. behind forever.

Bookkeepers depend on bank and credit card statements, payroll reports and other documents to do their work. Smartvault makes it easy for me to get these documents from my clients and to keep them easily findable as needed. Without Smartvault, I think my daily stress levels would be 100 percent higher and I could not have grown my business to the extent that I have.

The fact that I need to switch "views" to get certain jobs done.

Overall, SmartVault serves its purpose with our organization, for sharing bank documents with our accountant and providing employee benefit enrollment documents to the correct managers while protecting sensitive information such as social security numbers and health records. We would use it for all accounting document sending, including scanned invoice transfer, if the site were more up to date and easy to use. As it is, it is far easier to drag and drop scans into our email provider than into SmartVault. It is useful for its intended functions but design and UX prevent it from being a mainstay of our entire accounting process.

Secure file sending, Protecting sensitive bank and employee data, secure storage location with trusted provider, access for all necessary admins, two-factor authentication for sign in.

Drag and drop uploads are not intuitive. Requires several clicks to reach location to upload. Add button at top is not an upload feature but pins folders to taskbar. Design of home portal is outdated/not intuitive to use. Two factor authentication not required on each sign in/uses email only rather than options for text code.

Integration with Lacerte and cloud storage. Does provide one place to receive documents from clients, send documents to client and share documents within our team.

What I like most is the direct link to Lacerte tax software. Employees can send a return or any form from Lacerte with only one click.

Sending documents to clients seems inefficient - for example the only way to send more than one document is via a "link" or password encrypted email - would like ability to select multiple documents from different folders and send by email link, not just passwords.

It started off well for the first year. It's gotten progressively worse with bugs and software issues. The customer service went from good the terrible.

Works with Intuit tax prep software and DocuSign

The customer service is awful. You will often be ignored. When someone looks into an issue, the tendency is to blame Windows, Outlook, or any product other than SmartVault. To date, the issue has always been with SmartVault.

I was trying to solve my portal problem with Smart vault. I used this program for 6+ years at another job but when I tried implementing it in my own firm it just didn't work. I ended up going with another program for the same price that included workflow automation.

I like the ease of use between Smartvault and Lacerte Tax. It's very simple to print documents directly to the client folders.

I liked the portal features, set up and interface the least. I wasted MORE time having to edit & update invites, resend documents, explain how to use the portal over the phone etc than I EVER saved my actually using the portal.

We used them for few years and always had below average customer support. We ended up trying to cancel them today after only a month into our new billing period and they refused to refund our payment for the remaining 11 months. They basically said they do not care how much time we have left, they are not prorating. Really?!!! They are charging us for 11 months of services that they are not going to provide. It's a horrible company that rips their clients off! Stay away from them. There are much better providers out there.

Document sharing with clients. Also it was not easy to understand and kept locking clients out of the system

Customer support, price, policies the were not disclosed upfront at contract signing

Not good at all. The service did not work as it was originally described to me and then the reps would not respond to me to resolve the issue. I have seen similar comments on Facebook saying the same thing.

I liked that they appeal specifically to the accounting industry. Many services serve multiple different industries, but SmartVault is trying to work specifically within tax preparation.

I was originally told that SmartVault integrated with my tax preparation software (Proconnect), but it does not. I was also told that I would have a 30 day money-back guarantee. I tried to cancel my service and claim the refund, but they ignored all of my messages (more than 10) and continued to bill me every month!

My experience has been great. Set up went good and it was pretty easy to use

All my files are available to me no matter where I am working from. Has saved our butts during covid

Sometimes it is hard to get through to support when working long tax session hours

Works very well once your comfortable with the software and are able to teach your clients how to use it.

I have been very satisfied with smart vault. It allows us to organize, archive, & share documents securely for a large amount of client files. You can access docs easily while out at a client or while working from home.

Integration was a little tough until we got the hang of it.

I love being able to download multiple documents at one time.

I haven't been able to find a direct link to resend an activation email. For instance when you set a guest user they receive an email to activate and create a password. A lot of times, guests lose the email and need do not activate it right away. We then have to delete the guest user and recreate, instead of just sending a new link.