Docketwise to Clio: what the integration syncs — and where your documents go
The Clio-Docketwise integration keeps contacts and matters in sync automatically. The paperwork Docketwise produces — completed applications, packets, supporting documents — still has to land in the Clio matter file. Here's the recurring workflow for that, and the honest playbook if you're switching off Docketwise entirely.
Two tools, one matter file — and one manual step
For most firms this page isn't about leaving Docketwise. It's about running both tools well.
Many immigration firms run Docketwise for form preparation and Clio for practice management — and that's the pairing Clio itself recommends. Clio's immigration-law page puts it this way: "Sync your Clio account with tools like Docketwise or PrimaFacie to quickly prepare complex immigration forms or complete immigration applications."
The integration takes care of the plumbing: contacts and matters stay in sync between the two systems automatically. The listing describes nothing beyond that — so if Clio is your system of record, plan on every completed application, assembled packet, and stack of supporting documents reaching the Clio matter file as its own step.
So this page covers both intents. First, the recurring one: the workflow for filing Docketwise paperwork into Clio matters, week in and week out. Second, the occasional one: what actually moves if you decide to switch off Docketwise entirely. If you're coming from a different system, the general migrating-to-Clio guide is the broader playbook.
What the Clio-Docketwise integration actually does
Straight from Clio's app-directory listing — including what the listing doesn't cover.
Clio's app directory describes the integration like this:
"The Clio-Docketwise integration is seamless and automatic. Whenever you create a Contact or Matter in Clio, the Contact and Matter will immediately appear in Docketwise without any additional work from your end. Likewise, whenever you create a Contact or Matter in Docketwise, the Contact and Matter will immediately appear in Clio."
Three things to take from that. One: the sync is two-way by default — contacts and matters created in either tool show up in the other. Two: per the listing, the two-way sync can be disabled, leaving a one-way sync from Clio into Docketwise — useful if you want Clio to be the only place new contacts and matters originate. Three: the listing covers contacts and matters. Documents aren't part of what it describes — there's no mention of completed forms, packets, or files moving between the systems.
That third point is the whole reason the next section exists. The integration solves the data plumbing; the paperwork is yours to file.
Filing completed packets into the Clio matter
The recurring five-step workflow — generic on the Docketwise side, specific on the Clio side.
Assemble and download the packet in Docketwise
Finish the forms and assemble the packet exactly as your current process has it today — download or print-to-PDF the completed applications and supporting documents to a folder on your computer. Nothing about this workflow changes how you use Docketwise.
Confirm the matter exists in Clio
With the integration on, the matter should already be there — the sync created it when it was created in either tool. Search Clio for it before you upload. If it's missing, check your sync settings rather than creating a duplicate by hand.
Open the matter's Documents area and pick the folder
In Clio Manage, open the matter and go to Documents. Navigate to (or create) the folder your firm's structure calls for — a Filings or USCIS folder, for example. A consistent folder template pays off here.
Upload the packet
Three good options: drag the files into Clio's web UI; save through Clio Drive; or right-click / bulk-upload the whole folder with the Send to Case extension — the bulk route matters when a packet is forty files, not four.
Name and file per your conventions
Rename uploads to match your firm's naming convention — form number, beneficiary, date — so the matter stays scannable for everyone who didn't prepare the packet.
For organizing the immigration-specific document load inside Clio — packets, evidence, client uploads — see the immigration documents guide.
A note on Prima.Law
Clio's immigration page names a second forms tool alongside Docketwise: Prima.Law (previously PrimaFacie). Its Clio integration works differently, and in one direction: per Clio's app-directory listing, it imports your contacts and cases from Clio Manage so you can autofill immigration forms and prepare the case on the Prima.Law side. That's an import for form-filling — the listing describes one direction only, so per the listing there's no Docketwise-style two-way flow to count on.
On the document side the story is the same as Docketwise's: the listing describes assembling case documents into a package on the Prima.Law side, and says nothing about pushing documents into Clio. The same download-then-upload workflow above applies — assemble the package, get it onto your computer, upload it into the Clio matter.
Switching off Docketwise: what Clio's migration moves
Sourced from Clio's software migration guide and Data Migration Overview.
- ✓ Contacts — exported via the Export Contacts (blue cloud) icon in Docketwise
- ✓ Matters — exported via the Export Matters (blue cloud) icon in Docketwise
Two data types — that's the full standard list in Clio's DocketWise migration entry. If the integration was already syncing, much of this may exist in Clio before you start.
Documents — scoped separately. Per Clio's Data Migration Overview, documents can be migrated but are subject to scoping and additional fees based on volume — they're not bundled into the standard path. Not impossible; a separate conversation with your onboarding rep.
Cannot be migrated (per the same overview):
- • Accounting and financial history — invoices, billed time, trust transactions, A/R ledgers, bill payments, historical bills
- • Billable rates, reports, user permissions, and settings
Form history isn't a listed migration type either — anything you'll want to reference later, keep read-only access to Docketwise or save what you need as documents.
Three paths for the documents
Clio's scoped document migration
Ask your Clio onboarding rep to scope document migration alongside the standard import. Documents can be migrated — subject to scoping and additional fees based on volume — and Clio's team handles the mapping.
Fees based on volume; per-firm scoping, not published pricing.
Third-party paid migrator
Commercial migration specialists handle source-to-Clio document moves as dedicated engagements, typically four figures priced by volume, with matter mapping preserved.
Best for large libraries and firms that want it done by someone else.
DIY: download, then bulk-upload
Download or print your completed packets and documents through your existing routine, matter by matter, then bulk-upload each folder into the matching Clio matter with a tool like Send to Case.
No per-GB fees, no scoping calls — but you do the work.
Paths B and C both put the files on your computer first. If you'd rather move them without leaving Clio's cloud, Clio Drive — Clio's desktop app — has a native bulk file upload feature that uploads large quantities of documents in the background through a queue Clio calls the "Pending Upload Queue." Clio does caution that moving large amounts of files in bulk may cause the system to freeze, and suggests moving files in smaller chunks; confirm current details in Clio's help center.
Things to check
Settings and assumptions worth verifying before you rely on the sync — or leave it.
Pick a sync direction deliberately. Two-way is the default; per the listing it can be disabled down to one-way from Clio into Docketwise. Decide which tool is the system of record for new contacts and matters, and set the sync to match — a default nobody chose is how two sources of truth happen.
Check for duplicate contacts if both tools predate the integration. If your firm ran Docketwise and Clio independently before connecting them, the same client may exist in both systems already. Before relying on the sync, spot-check a handful of clients on both sides and confirm how your records lined up — better to find a duplicate pattern in week one than after a year of filing against the wrong record.
Check matter naming between the tools. The two systems may not display matters identically, and your team may have used different naming habits in each. Before bulk-filing documents, confirm you can reliably match a Docketwise case to its Clio matter by name — if you can't, tighten the convention first.
If you're switching: stop using the old system after export. Clio's Data Migration Overview is blunt about this — data entered after the export will not be captured and must be transferred manually. Schedule the export close to cutover and freeze new entries once it runs.
An honest cost note
Clio's own data-migration page says it plainly: "Clio offers a complimentary data migration service for many common systems. However, the cost can vary for more complex migrations or systems not directly supported." For Docketwise, the standard scope is contacts and matters; document migration is scoped separately with fees based on volume, and third-party migrators run as four-figure engagements priced by volume. The do-it-yourself path costs your time instead — download the packets the way you already do, and let a free tool like Send to Case speed up getting them into the right Clio matters — bulk-uploading a whole folder, or capturing a packet straight from the browser without downloading it first. See Send to Case pricing.
How Send to Case fits
Send to Case is a free Chrome extension that uploads files from your browser into a Clio matter. It is not a migration service and it is not an integration — it doesn't sync contacts or matters, doesn't touch Docketwise, and doesn't move billing data. It's the upload step: once a completed packet (or a whole matter's worth of downloaded documents) is on your computer, Send to Case bulk-uploads it into the right Clio matter — or captures it straight from the browser without downloading first.
That's its only role here — whether you're filing this week's packets or closing out the document side of a full switch. Learn more about the extension or see how bulk upload works.
Running an immigration practice on Clio? See the immigration documents guide. Switching systems? Start with the Clio migration guide and what Clio's migration moves.
Does the Clio-Docketwise integration sync documents?
+The integration listing covers contacts and matters: create a contact or matter in either tool and it appears in the other automatically. Documents aren't part of what the listing describes, so plan on completed forms, packets, and supporting documents reaching the matter as their own step: download the packet from Docketwise as you normally would, then upload it into the matter via Clio's web UI, Clio Drive, or a bulk-upload tool like Send to Case.
Do I have to re-create my matters in Clio if I use Docketwise?
+No. Per Clio's app-directory listing, whenever you create a contact or matter in Docketwise it immediately appears in Clio, and vice versa — no additional work on your end. That's the integration's whole job: the contact and matter plumbing is automatic. What it doesn't do is move the documents those matters generate.
Can I turn off the two-way sync?
+Yes. Per the Clio app-directory listing, the two-way sync can be disabled, leaving a one-way sync from Clio to Docketwise. Firms that treat Clio as the system of record for new contacts and matters sometimes prefer one-way so that everything originates on the Clio side. Decide which tool is the source of truth before flipping the setting.
What does Clio's migration actually move from Docketwise if I switch?
+Clio's software migration guide lists two data types for the standard DocketWise migration: contacts and matters, exported via the Export Contacts and Export Matters (blue cloud) icons in Docketwise. Everything else needs its own plan. Per Clio's Data Migration Overview, documents can be migrated but are subject to scoping and additional fees based on volume, and accounting/financial history, billable rates, reports, user permissions, and settings cannot be migrated at all.
What about Prima.Law?
+Prima.Law is the other immigration-forms tool Clio's immigration page names alongside Docketwise. Its Clio integration works in one direction: it imports your contacts and cases from Clio Manage so you can autofill immigration forms. It's an import for form-filling, not a two-way sync like Docketwise's — and like the Docketwise listing, it doesn't describe pushing documents into Clio, so the same download-then-upload workflow applies to the packets it assembles.
Where should completed Docketwise packets live?
+In the Clio matter, if Clio is your practice-management system of record. Download or print the completed packet from Docketwise through your normal Docketwise routine today, then upload it into the matter's Documents area — into whatever folder your firm's structure dictates. The matter already exists in Clio thanks to the integration; the upload is the only manual step, and a bulk-upload tool makes quick work of it — sending a whole folder to the matter in one pass.
Does my billing or form history come over if I leave Docketwise?
+Not through the standard migration. Clio's DocketWise migration entry covers contacts and matters only, and Clio's Data Migration Overview is explicit that accounting and financial history cannot be migrated. Form history isn't a listed migration type either — plan to keep read-only access to Docketwise (or export what you need as documents) for anything you'll want to reference after cutover.
Keep going
Migrating to Clio: the pillar guide
The full migration playbook beyond Docketwise — planning, scope, and cutover for any source system.
Read guide →What Clio's migration moves
The document side of Clio's migration service — what standard scope covers and what gets scoped separately.
Read guide →Immigration documents in Clio
Organizing packets, USCIS filings, and supporting evidence inside Clio matters.
Read guide →Bulk upload to Clio
How to move a whole folder into a Clio matter in one pass instead of file by file.
Read guide →Filing packets into Clio?
Don't upload every completed application one file at a time.