---
title: Office configuration
description: Configure office defaults, matter variants, hourly rates, templates, and administration features.
---

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

**What is this?** **Settings** contains personal, firm-wide, and administrator settings. The cards you see depend on your permissions. This page covers the configuration that controls how the firm works; general user and access administration is covered under [Settings](/guides/settings).

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## Administrative defaults

Open **Settings** → **Office** → **Administrative defaults**. Firm defaults can optionally be refined for a **Department**. Precedence is: personal setting, department default, firm default, then product default. **Current effective value** shows the value currently in force and the layer it came from.

You can configure:

- **Stationery header** and **Stationery footer**;
- **Email filing defaults**: automatic filing and the default folder;
- **Email signature** for new messages and replies;
- **Time-entry defaults**: billable by default and the rounding interval;
- **Firm-wide hourly rate**: the fallback when an employee has no firm rate of their own; empty means no rate from this layer, while €0 is a real zero rate;
- **List preferences**, **Matter detail preferences**, and **Workflow defaults**;
- **Auto-start timer on matter** and **Matter deletion**;
- the **Billing supplier identity** used on UBL and Peppol invoices.

**Archive retention** is visible but cannot yet be edited on this page; it is configured through the API. Save a layer with **Save firm default** or **Save department default**. **Clear firm default** and **Clear department default** make Basenet fall back to the next available layer.

## Matter variants

Open **Settings** → **Office** → **Matter variants**. An administrator with firm-wide settings permission can choose which optional matter types are **Available** for new matters. Catalog variants without a separate entitlement are always available.

For each variant, you can adjust its core fields:

1. Turn **Visible** on or off.
2. Optionally enter a **Label override**.
3. Optionally enter an **Order override**.
4. Click **Save field**.

**Reset to default** removes the override for that field. An asterisk marks a required field. The **Free-text entry** badge identifies a field entered as free text.

## Hourly rates

Open **Settings** → **Office** → **Hourly rates**. This page manages each employee's firm-wide default hourly rate and its validity period.

1. Click **Add rate**.
2. Select the **Employee**, enter the **Rate (€)**, and optionally set **Valid from** and **Valid to**.
3. Click **Add**.

You can **Edit** or **Delete** each existing rate. Periods for one employee may not overlap, and the end date must be after the start date. Only employees with a linked login can be selected for a new rate. Imported rows for an employee Basenet cannot resolve remain visible as **Unknown employee**, so an administrator can correct or remove them.

## Letter and email templates

Open **Settings** → **Office** → **Letter templates**. This page contains both **Letter templates** and **Email templates**.

For a letter template:

1. Click **Upload Word template** and choose a valid `.docx` file.
2. Give the template a **Name** and set **Available to** to the whole firm, a department, or a practice area.
3. Optionally choose a **Sample matter** and click **Create preview** to check the discovered merge fields.
4. Resolve fields listed under **Still unresolved**; Basenet never silently empties a missing value.
5. Click **Save template** and set it to **Active** when appropriate.

Every Word-template upload remains stored as a separate immutable version. Email templates have a **Subject**, **Body**, optional department, and **Matter type**. Email-template changes take effect immediately and do not have separate version history.

## Notifications

**Settings** → **Personal** → **Notification preferences** applies only to your account. For **Deadline escalations**, **Mentions**, and **Compliance screening hits**, choose **Immediate**, **Daily digest**, **Weekly digest**, or **Off (no digest)**. Daily and weekly items are grouped in the app; Basenet does not send an email for these digests.

## Sync devices

Under **Settings** → **Personal** → **Sync devices**, you manage your own computers for the Blinqx Offline Sync app. Click **Register a device**, give it a recognisable **Device name**, and choose the **Platform**. Basenet shows the **Device token** only once; copy it and the **Server address** into the desktop app immediately. **Disconnect** stops that device from synchronising at once. A device can only mirror documents you are allowed to see.

## Recycle bin

Administrators with matter-administration permission open **Settings** → **Administration and access** → **Recycle bin**. It lists deleted matters with **Matter number**, **Name**, **Deleted by**, **Deleted at**, and **Reason**. Click **Restore**, then **Confirm restore**, to make a matter active again. An ordinary manually deleted matter remains restorable. A matter deleted by the retention policy is permanently purged after its retention and grace periods and cannot be restored afterwards.