Create a project folder when a new client onboards
A completed onboarding form creates a Dropbox folder named for the client and project, ready before the first call.
New submission on your client onboarding form
Create a Dropbox folder named after the client and the project
One-directional. A submission triggers the action — nothing is written back into your form.
Studios that skip this step end up making the folder halfway through week one, usually while looking for a contract. The onboarding form already collects the client's name and the project name, which is everything the folder needs.
The flow suits agencies and freelancers who run several projects at once and keep a house structure — brief, assets, invoices — for each of them. Set it up once and every new client arrives with a workspace already in place, spelled the way they spelled it rather than the way someone remembered it.
Setting it up
- 1
Publish the Freelancer Client Intake Form template as your onboarding form and send it to the client once the work is agreed.
- 2
Create the Zap with formformform as the trigger app, choose New Submission, and select the onboarding form.
- 3
Add Dropbox as the action app, pick Create Folder, and connect the account that holds your client work.
- 4
Set the parent path to /Clients and build the folder name from Company or Organization plus Project Name, so two projects for the same client stay apart.
- 5
Add a second Dropbox Create Folder step for each standing subfolder you use — Brief, Assets, Invoices — nested inside the folder from the previous step.
- 6
Add a Dropbox Create Text File step inside the new folder holding the brief, so the scope travels with the workspace instead of sitting in someone's inbox.
- 7
Decide what happens when a client fills the form twice: either accept the suffixed folder Dropbox creates, or add a Zapier filter on Project Name so only the first submission builds a structure.
- 8
Run a test submission with a fake client, check the structure in Dropbox, delete the test folder and turn the Zap on.
What maps where
Using the Freelancer Client Intake Form as the starting point. These are its real fields — swap in your own and the mapping works the same way.
| Form field | Dropbox |
|---|---|
| Company or Organization | First part of the Dropbox folder name |
| Project Name | Second part of the folder name, after the client |
| Project Description | Body of the brief text file created inside the folder |
| Goals and Success Criteria | Brief text file, under its own heading |
| Project Deadline | Brief text file, and the date you sort the /Clients folder by |
| Full Name | Contact line at the top of the brief text file |
Variations worth knowing
Add a Zapier filter on Budget Range so work above your threshold lands in /Clients/Major with the full set of subfolders, while smaller pieces land in /Clients/Standard with just a brief and an assets folder. Two shapes of project, two shapes of workspace.
Add a Slack or email step after the Dropbox action and include the folder path in the message. The project manager gets the link the moment the client submits, rather than hearing about the new job at the following stand-up.
If something isn't arriving
Clients type slashes and colons into company names, and Dropbox will not accept those in a path. Add a Zapier formatter step to strip them from Company or Organization before the folder step, and trim trailing spaces while you are there.
Dropbox does not overwrite; it makes a second folder with a suffix. If clients resubmit to correct their details, add a Zapier filter that only lets the first submission per Project Name through, and handle the corrections by hand.
Frequently asked questions
Can the folder be created before the client submits?
No, the Zap only runs on a submission, since that is the trigger. If you need the workspace earlier, create the folder manually and let the form fill it — the brief text file still lands in the right place when the client finishes.
Does renaming the folder in Dropbox update the form response?
It does not. Nothing is written back, because the connection runs one way, form to Dropbox. Rename, move or archive folders however you like; the submission in formformform keeps the client's original wording as a record of what was agreed.
What if we work in a Dropbox team space?
Connect the Zap with an account that has write access to the team space, then set the parent path to that space rather than a personal folder. Test with one submission first, because permissions on shared spaces often differ from personal ones.
Related automations
- Append every support request to a running log
Every help desk submission appends a line to one shared Dropbox text file, so the team reads the day's requests in order.
- Collect vendor artwork details into the event folder
Vendor registrations write a per-vendor record into the event's Dropbox folder, with booth details and a link to their artwork.
- File every property disclosure as a written record
Each completed property disclosure writes a dated text record into the Dropbox folder for that address.
- Keep a text-file archive of every contact submission
Each contact form response becomes a timestamped text file in Dropbox, giving you a plain-text backup you can search and keep.
- Save every job application as a candidate file
Every careers form submission writes a candidate file into a shared Dropbox Applicants folder, named for the role and the applicant.
- Archive every submission as a dated text file
Each submission becomes a dated text file in one shared Drive folder, readable by anyone with access to it.
Build the form first
The automation needs somewhere to fire from. Publish a form, connect it once, and every submission from then on runs this flow.
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