---
title: User guide
description: User guide for the Basenet staff app and the client portal.
---

> Nederlandse versie: [/handleiding](/handleiding)

This guide explains how to work with **Basenet** — no technical background needed. Each page opens with a short "What is this?" explanation, then numbered steps with the exact button names as they appear on screen. The Basenet interface ships in Dutch; these English pages describe every flow and quote the on-screen (Dutch) labels in quotation marks, so you can follow along in the app.

There are two separate applications:

- **Staff app** — for lawyers, partners, and secretaries. This is where you manage matters, relations, documents, email, calendar, tasks, deadlines, time writing, and billing.
- **Client portal** — a separate, secure environment where the firm's clients see their own matter, documents, messages, appointments, and invoices.

## New office? Start here

1. **[Getting started: office setup](/guides/getting-started-office-setup)** — from empty environment to your first matter, time entry, and draft invoice.
2. **[Getting started](/guides/getting-started)** — logging in, navigating, and searching, for any new user.
3. **[Glossary](/guides/glossary)** — what do terms like matter, deadline, four-eyes principle, WIP, and Wwft mean?

## All topics

| Page | Who it's for |
| --- | --- |
| [Getting started: office setup](/guides/getting-started-office-setup) | The administrator setting up the firm |
| [Getting started](/guides/getting-started) | Anyone logging in for the first time |
| [Matters](/guides/matters) | Lawyers and secretaries working with cases day to day |
| [Relations](/guides/relations) | Anyone recording clients, opposing parties, or contacts |
| [Documents & email](/guides/documents-and-email) | Anyone filing correspondence or documents to a matter |
| [Office add-ins](/guides/office-add-ins) | Staff working with Basenet from Outlook or Word |
| [To be filed](/guides/to-be-filed) | Staff assigning documents, tasks, or time entries to a matter |
| [Calendar & tasks](/guides/calendar-and-tasks) | Anyone scheduling appointments or tracking tasks |
| [Deadlines](/guides/deadlines) | Lawyers and secretaries guarding fatal dates |
| [Time & billing](/guides/time-and-billing) | Lawyers writing time, partners creating invoices |
| [Reports](/guides/reports) | Partners and firm managers |
| [Client onboarding](/guides/client-onboarding) | Secretaries and lawyers taking on new clients |
| [Portal administration](/guides/portal-administration) | Staff managing client access and onboarding per matter |
| [Client portal](/guides/portal) | The firm's own clients — feel free to share this page |
| [Office configuration](/guides/office-configuration) | Administrators configuring defaults, matter variants, rates, and templates |
| [Settings](/guides/settings) | Firm administrators |
| [Glossary](/guides/glossary) | Everyone |

Examples refer to personas from the demo environment: Petra Partner, Aart Advocaat, Rosa Raadsvrouw, and Sam Secretaresse. Their role mostly affects which sections they see — the basic actions are the same for everyone.

## One principle to remember

Wherever Basenet uses AI (for example, to extract a deadline from a document or draft a reply email), the AI always makes a **proposal**. Nothing is finalized automatically — you review, adjust, and confirm. AI content is marked with an **AI** badge and the message "AI-gegenereerd — controleer dit altijd aan de hand van de brondocumenten" (AI-generated — always verify this against the source documents).