Frequently Asked Questions

We have listed the most frequently asked questions about Todoc. If you can't find your answer here, please contact us.

General

Why Todoc?

Todoc was designed to facilitate the daily life of lawyers in Canada. Todoc ensures that your documents are sent, tracked, kept confidential and transferred securely in accordance with the rules governing your profession.

You will receive detailed email notifications at each stage of your notifications. Today's email servers hardly accept attachments larger than 10 megabytes. In this context, Todoc is the secure alternative that allows you to send your large documents.

Todoc is hosted in a data centre located in Canada. It is therefore not subject to the Patriot Act. Hosting documents outside of Canada does not comply with the Law Society Act and the Code of Conduct for Lawyers.

How does Todoc work?

After registration, you upload your document to Todoc. Todoc automatically generates a notification to you to confirm the notification. It also issues a notification to your recipient explaining how to retrieve the document from the platform. When your recipient downloads the document, Todoc sends you a confirmation of the download.

Todoc then automatically deletes the document from its servers and notifies you by email.

What do the messages sent by Todoc look like?

Does my recipient need to have a Todoc subscription?

No. If your recipient does not have a Todoc account, he/she will receive a specific access code to access the transmitted document. If you have set a password, they will have to use it.

It is useful for the recipient to create a Todoc account as this will ensure that they use their access code for all notifications they receive. Creating a Todoc account is free.

What is the Outlook tool?

This tool allows you to notify directly from Outlook as if you were writing a regular email. Click here to to find out more.

Technical

I have lost my password, what should I do?

You can reset your password by clicking here.

Can I change my email address?

Yes, it is possible to change your email address in the Preferences section.

What is the maximum size of a document for downloading?

You can upload documents up to 500 MB in size.

Where are my documents hosted?

Todoc is hosted on servers located in Canada. This is a requirement under many of the relevant regulations.

Are my documents transferred and stored securely?

Todoc uses a 2048-bit SSL certificate that encrypts all transmissions between your computer and the server. The documents are stored on an independent server that only Todoc administrators can access.

How long do my documents stay on your servers?

A document that you notify with Todoc is kept on our servers for the duration of the download period that you have granted to your recipient. Once this period has expired, Todoc will allow a 48 hour grace period before permanently deleting your file.

I have tried to connect to the platform several times and I can no longer access it.

For security reasons, Todoc will suspend your access for a short time if you attempt to access the platform repeatedly using invalid information. This suspension of access could affect the whole company in some cases. Please simply wait for 15 minutes or so and you will have access to Todoc again.

Which browsers does Todoc support?

Todoc works with all the most up-to-date browsers. We advise you to update your browser to take advantage of all the platform's features.

Why does the platform sometimes rename my documents?

In order to comply with good document naming practice, Todoc will adjust your document name by removing special characters and replacing spaces with underscores. This feature will ensure compatibility and readability of the documents on most systems.

How to check the integrity of a document?

Todoc adds a unique digital key to each transmitted document that will allow the validation of its integrity. This information can be found in the sender's and recipient's emails and in the notification details on the platform.

To verify the integrity of a document, simply send it to the platform's verification system by clicking on the Verify icon. You will then receive the resulting key. If it is identical to the one you already have, it is the same document. If the key is different, it means that the content of the verified document is not identical to the one sent.

Tip: Changing the name of the document, copying, saving or moving it does not alter its integrity.

Please note: we advise you to keep a "read-only" copy of the documents you have notified so that you can regenerate the digital key at any time. If your document has been modified afterwards, the resulting key will not be identical.

Legal

Is electronic notification valid in all Canadian courts and provinces?

Canadian legislation allows for the electronic service of documents under a number of parameters.

See What youneed to know for further details.

Under what circumstances is my notification valid?

Please visit What youneed to know for more information on best practice and legislation in your jurisdiction.

In Quebec, can I notify by fax?

No, according to our interpretation. In Quebec, the Code of Civil Procedure does not mention the fax machine as a means of notification. If the fax machine is to be considered a "technological means" within the meaning of section 133, the recipient would have to be able to verify the integrity of the transmission (section 134), which is not possible under our interpretation of section 6 of the LFIT Act

In Quebec, can I notify by email?

YES, with several requirements:

Obtain proof of delivery or receipt of the consignment (art. 110 C.C.P.)
Ensure that the recipient can verify the integrity of the transmission (art. 134 C.P.C.). An encryption or public key infrastructure system can be used to do this.
Completing a notification slip (Art. 134 C.P.C.)

Warning: the size of the e-mail attachment may be too large to be accepted by the recipient's e-mail box. Moreover, an e-mail does not guarantee the confidentiality of the documents you send.

Notification

Is it possible to centralise my company's notifications?

Todoc's Company mode allows you to centralise all your users under one low cost pricing and avoids everyone having to buy notification credits. The users you designate as coordinators will be able to view the notifications of all the members of your company, without having access to the documents. They will be able to generate reports to consolidate your activities.

More information

Is it possible to see my colleagues' notifications?

In Enterprise mode, only users determined by your administrators will be able to view all notifications from your organisation, but without having access to the notified documents.

More information

Can I send documents to several recipients?

Yes, it is possible to send a document to several recipients at the same time. Each submission will be treated by the platform as a separate notification in order to comply with the legislation in force.

Is it possible to obtain the recipient's consent to the notification?

Yes, for all your notifications, your recipient must tick the consent box before downloading the notified documents. The recipient's consent will be certified in the Todoc download slip. This makes it easy to document your exchange where legislation requires recipient consent. However, as this consent is given at the time of notification, we advise you, in cases where consent is required, to obtain it in advance by another means so that it applies to all exchanges in your file.

What is the expiry date of my notification?

Each notification has an expiry time. This is the amount of time you decide to allow your recipient to download the document. For example, although the notification is made on 1 February, you can give your recipient a few days to download the document. By default, Todoc gives a delay of 7 days.

In Quebec, service is always deemed to be made at the time the recipient receives the notice of service and not at the time the recipient downloads the document.

In most provinces, notification is deemed to be made at the time you send the document and not at the time it is downloaded by your recipient.

See What youneed to know for more information.

Todoc will delete the document 48 hours after this period has expired. Details of your notifications will be kept for a period of two years.

Can I change the expiry date of the document?

You can set the default expiry time for all your notifications on the Preferences tab of your account. You can also change it when you fill out the notification form.

Can I send a reminder to my recipient?

Todoc will automatically send a reminder to your recipients 3 days after the notification, if they have still not downloaded the documents. You can also send a reminder using the Send Reminder function.

What if the notification has expired and my recipient has not downloaded the document?

You have 48 hours after the notification expires to change the expiry date and send a reminder to your recipient. After this time, you will need to re-notify and re-attach your documents.

Tip: Use the New Notification tool from here to avoid filling in the form again.

I am no longer able to cancel a notification.

Once the recipient has downloaded the documentation, it is no longer possible to cancel a notification.

I have received an absence message from my recipient?

Your notification has been received by your recipient. We advise you to change the expiry date of your notification accordingly and/or to notify the person designated to take over your recipient's activities in his/her absence.

I have received a bounce email from my recipient?

Your recipient did not receive your notification. Please check that the address you used for your notification is correct. If not, please contact your recipient to confirm their email address.

What happens if my recipient does not download the document?

If a document is not downloaded within 3 days of being sent, Todoc will send a reminder to the recipient. The document will be available until the expiry date you specify. You can notify the recipient again by using the Send Reminder function found in the Notification Details section.

With the Outlook extension, is it possible to keep track of my emails sent via Todoc?

Yes, all messages sent by Todoc are saved, without the attached documents in your sent items.

How can I invoice my customers for notifications made?

In the History section, you can generate a report of your notifications according to the criteria you determine and export this data in CSV format. A simple and efficient way to invoice your customers.

Tips and tricks

The different statuses of a notification

Notified :
An e-mail has been sent to your addressee allowing him/her to access the notified documents. You can download the notification slip by clicking on the following icon:

Notified - Downloaded :
Your recipient has received the notified documents. You can download the notification slip by clicking on the following icon:

Notified - Expired:
Your recipient did not take possession of the documents within the time limit you specified.

Notified - Completed:
Your documents have been notified and uploaded. Todoc has therefore proceeded to delete the documents from its servers.

Cancelled:
You cancelled this notification before the recipient downloaded the documents.

Manage email notifications that Todoc sends you

You will receive the following four messages for each of your notifications by email:

Confirmation of notification
Confirmation of the download
Information that a reminder has been sent to your recipient (if they have not downloaded the document within three days of notification)
Information that Todoc has deleted your documents

You can determine which automated emails you wish to receive in the Todoc Preferences menu.

Creating reports from Todoc

Use the search section to determine the criteria for the report you wish to obtain:

Sending notifications from the previous ones

To make a notification from the same data as a previous notification, you can use the New Notification from Notification tool.

Pricing

Does the recipient have to pay to receive a notification via Todoc?

No. They can even register for free and use their personal password to download documents that Todoc notifies them of.

How much does a notification cost?

When you register, you will receive 4 free notification credits. It is possible to purchase additional notification credits according to the package you choose. One credit is equivalent to the notification of one or more documents to one recipient. Each recipient added to your notification will require an additional credit.

It is also possible to obtain a preferential monthly rate by opting for the Enterprise mode.

See the Business section section for more information.

Am I charged for cancelled or expired notifications?

Yes, Todoc allows you to cancel a notification that has not already been downloaded, but you have to do several things to do so, including notifying the recipient. Therefore, you are charged for the notification.

Expired notifications are also charged for since the notification operation has been completed. To avoid having to re-notify your recipient, we suggest that you change the expiry time before it expires and send a reminder to your recipient.