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Help Centre

Getting Started

Your first steps with PlainSail – logging in, navigating the interface, customising your dashboard, managing your profile, and finding the entities you need.

Resources › Help Centre › Getting Started
Last updated March 2026

Key points

  • PlainSail uses your Windows login – no separate credentials needed
  • The left-hand ribbon, top tabs, and bottom bar give you access to everything
  • Your dashboard is fully customisable with drag-and-drop widgets
  • Search for entities by name, reference, or use the full entity list with filters
  • An active network connection is required – checked-out documents can be edited offline
  • Press F1 on any screen for context-sensitive help and keyboard shortcuts

Overview

PlainSail is a unified platform for managing every aspect of trust and corporate administration. From a single application you can work with:

  • Entities – companies, trusts, foundations, partnerships, and individuals
  • Compliance & CDD – risk assessments, due diligence inventories, and screening
  • Documents – a full document library with Microsoft Office integration
  • Billing – time recording, invoicing, fee schedules, and WIP tracking
  • Bookkeeping – general ledger, bank reconciliation, and financial reporting
  • Workflows – configurable business processes with approval chains
  • Reports – financial statements, G/L enquiries, and management reporting
  • Admin – audit logs, user permissions, and system configuration

This guide covers the essentials: logging in, finding your way around, customising your workspace, and opening your first entity.

Before you begin Make sure you have a PlainSail user account (your administrator will set this up) and that the PlainSail app is installed on your workstation. If you need help with installation, contact your IT team.

Login & Authentication

First-Time Login

1

Launch the PlainSail app.

2

You are signed in automatically using your Windows credentials – there is no separate login screen.

3

If you see an “Access denied” message, your account has not yet been set up. Contact your administrator to have your user profile created.

Password Reset

PlainSail uses your Windows login, so your Windows password is your PlainSail password. To reset it, use your organisation’s standard process (Ctrl+Alt+Delete > Change Password, or contact your IT team). There is no separate password within PlainSail.

Single Sign-On & Active Directory

PlainSail supports Windows Integrated Authentication via Active Directory:

  • Each PlainSail user record has a Windows Name field (e.g. DOMAIN\username) that maps the AD account to the PlainSail user.
  • When a user logs in to Windows and launches PlainSail, they are automatically authenticated – no additional credentials are needed.
  • If your organisation uses Azure AD, a domain trust or hybrid configuration is required.
  • SSO configuration is managed by your IT administrator at the Active Directory and database level.

PlainSail has a clean, consistent layout. Once you know the three main areas of the screen, you’ll be able to find anything.

Left-Hand Ribbon

The ribbon down the left side is your main menu. Each icon takes you to a different area of the platform:

  • Dashboard – your personal home screen with customisable widgets (always visible)
  • Profile – your user profile, messages, agenda, and preferences
  • Entities – search for and open client records
  • Billing – timesheets, invoicing, and payments
  • Global Info – cross-entity views for inventories, workflows, tasks, screening, tax reporting, and Digital KYC
  • Documents – document library, emails, approvals, and templates
  • Books – chart of accounts, journal batches, bank reconciliation, and scenarios
  • Payments – payment processing and payables
  • Reports – financial reports and General Ledger (G/L) enquiries
  • Admin – audit logs, templates, user permissions, and system settings

Hover over any icon for a tooltip that explains what it does.

Top Tabs

The tabs across the top of the screen change depending on what you’re looking at. For example, when you open a client record you’ll see tabs for their Profile, Documents, Bookkeeping, Billing, Workflows, and more. This keeps the right tools in front of you without having to navigate away.

Quick tab search Press Ctrl+L to open the tab search. Start typing the name of any tab or area and select it from the results – it’s the fastest way to jump straight to where you need to be.

Bottom Bar

The bar along the bottom of the screen gives you quick access to tools that are always available, no matter where you are:

  • Help – press F1 on any screen for tips and guidance specific to what you’re looking at
  • Record Time – click the clock icon to log a time entry from anywhere
  • Checked-Out Documents – see which documents you currently have open for editing
  • Favourite Reports – quick access to the reports you’ve bookmarked
  • Notifications – alerts and messages from the system and your colleagues

Ribbon Customisation

The main navigation ribbon cannot be customised by individual users – the tabs and sub-tabs are fixed by the application. However:

  • Tabs you cannot access (due to role restrictions) are hidden automatically.
  • Sub-tabs you cannot access are also hidden.
  • The Dashboard tab is always visible and is the default landing page.
  • You can use keyboard shortcuts to navigate quickly between tabs without clicking (see the Keyboard Shortcuts section).

Connectivity

Active connection required PlainSail requires an active network connection. If the connection is lost, most actions will be paused until it is restored. Documents that are checked out can be edited offline, but checking them back in requires a connection. The filing tray stores files locally but filing documents to entities also requires connectivity.

Dashboard

When you log in, the first thing you see is your Dashboard. Think of it as your personal to-do list – it shows you everything that needs your attention right now, all in one place.

What’s on the Dashboard?

The dashboard is made up of “widgets” – small panels, each showing a different type of work. Here are the main ones:

  • My Day (Tasks) – tasks that are due or overdue, with a quick-complete option so you can tick things off as you go
  • Noticeboard – messages and announcements from your team
  • Inventories – incomplete CDD and compliance inventories assigned to you
  • Documents – documents you’re working on, or that need your approval
  • Billing – timesheets awaiting approval, debtor summaries, and your utilisation
  • Workflow – open workflow steps assigned to you or your teams
  • Outlook Mail – your latest unread emails, right on the dashboard
  • Outlook Tasks – upcoming Outlook tasks and calendar items

Configuring Your Dashboard

You can customise which widgets appear on your dashboard and how they are arranged:

1

Click the Padlock icon in the bottom-right corner of the dashboard to unlock the layout for editing.

2

Click the Settings icon (cog) that appears once the layout is unlocked. This opens the widget configuration panel.

3

In the Dashboard Settings panel, drag widgets between the Available Widgets and Selected Widgets lists to choose which widgets appear. You can also remove a widget by clicking its × button while in edit mode. Click Save to apply your changes.

4

Click the Padlock icon again to re-lock the layout.

Tip Your dashboard layout is saved per-user, so each team member can configure their own view without affecting others.

Your Profile

Your profile is where you can see a summary of your activity, check messages, and adjust personal settings. You can get to it from the ribbon, or press Ctrl+1 to go straight there.

What’s in Your Profile?

  • Overview – a snapshot of your current workload, including your utilisation (how your recorded time compares to your target hours) and which teams you belong to
  • Messages – announcements and system notifications from your organisation
  • Agenda – upcoming calendar events, deadlines, and scheduled tasks to help you plan your day

Useful Preferences

The following preferences are available within the Overview tab of your profile:

  • Default time activity – choose the activity type that appears by default when you record time (e.g. “Administration” or “Client meeting”). This saves a click every time if you do the same type of work frequently.
  • Minimise to system tray – when enabled, closing the PlainSail window sends it to the system tray instead of shutting it down, so it’s ready when you need it again.

Profile Fields Reference

The Profile section (accessible from the Profile ribbon tab or the dashboard greeting) shows and allows editing of your personal details:

Field Description Editable?
First Name Your given name, displayed in the dashboard greeting and throughout the application. Via entity record
Surname Your family name. Via entity record
Email Your primary email address. Used for notification delivery if email notifications are enabled. Via entity record
Photo Your profile photograph. Displayed on the dashboard, in the header bar, and on noticeboard messages. If no photo is uploaded, your initials are displayed instead. Via entity record
Initials A short code (typically 2–3 characters) used when your photo is not available. Automatically generated from your name if not set. Via entity record
Note Profile fields are stored on your entity record (you are represented as an entity of type “Person” in the system). To change them, navigate to your entity in the Client View and edit the appropriate fields.
Tip Your utilisation figure is a helpful way to keep track of your billable hours. It updates in real time as you record work, and your manager can see the same figure in the billing module.

Working with Entities

In PlainSail, every client, company, trust, foundation, and individual is called an entity. An entity is simply a record that brings together everything you need – documents, compliance data, accounting, billing, and relationships – all in one place.

Types of Entity

PlainSail supports several entity types to cover every kind of structure your firm manages:

  • Person – individuals such as beneficial owners, directors, settlors, protectors, and your firm’s own staff members
  • Corporate Entity – companies including holding companies, trading companies, and SPVs
  • Trust – discretionary trusts, purpose trusts, unit trusts, and other trust arrangements
  • Foundation – private foundations and similar structures
  • Partnership – limited partnerships with general and limited partners
  • Bank – banking institutions used in transactions and account management
  • Entity Group – a way to group related entities together for reporting or compliance
  • Custom Entity – additional entity types defined by your organisation for specialist use cases

Administered vs Connected Parties

Some entities are your firm’s direct clients – these are administered entities. Others (like a beneficial owner or a counterparty) exist in the system because they’re connected to a client, but you don’t manage them directly. These are non-administered. The distinction matters because administered entities have access to the full range of features (billing, bookkeeping, workflows, etc.), while connected parties have a lighter record.

Client Lifecycle

Every administered entity moves through a clear lifecycle:

  1. Active – a live client. All features are available – documents, billing, bookkeeping, compliance, workflows.
  2. Active-Closing – the client is being wound down or transferred out. Day-to-day work continues, but new engagements are restricted.
  3. Closed – fully wound down. Records are kept for audit purposes, but most features become read-only.

Person entities use Alive and Deceased as their primary statuses. Your organisation may also configure additional statuses (such as Prospect) for entities awaiting onboarding.

Good to know Only administrators can change an entity’s status. Moving an entity to Closed can’t be undone without administrator help, so make sure everything – billing, documents, compliance – is wrapped up first.

Finding Entities

There are three easy ways to find the client or entity you need. Use whichever suits the situation.

Quick Sidebar

Click the Entities icon on the left ribbon to open a panel showing your recently opened entities, your favourites, and suggested entities based on what you’ve been working on. This is the fastest way to get back to something you were looking at earlier.

Search Bar

The search bar at the top of the screen lets you type a client name or reference number. Results appear as you type – just click the one you need. Press Ctrl+F from anywhere to jump straight to the search bar.

Full Entity List

Click the List All icon to see every entity you have access to. You can sort by columns, group them, and use filters to narrow things down. This is useful when you need to review a broader set of clients rather than finding one specific record.

Search Syntax

When searching for entities in the search bar:

Technique Example Behaviour
Partial match Smi Matches “Smith”, “Smithson”, “Goldsmith”, etc.
Multiple words John Smith Matches entities containing both “John” AND “Smith” in the name.
Entity reference E12345 Searches by entity reference number.
Minimum characters At least 2 characters The search does not execute for single-character queries.
Maximum results 500 The search returns a maximum of 500 results. Refine your query if you expect more.
Note Wildcards (e.g. * or ?) are not supported. The search uses a “starts with” or “contains” approach depending on the field.
Going back Press Ctrl+H to close the current entity and return to the search screen. You can also click the X next to the entity name at the top of the window.

Once you open an entity, the tabs along the top change to show everything available for that client – their profile, documents, bookkeeping, billing, workflows, and more.

Entity Profile

When you open an entity, the first thing you see is their Profile – a single-page summary of the most important information. At a glance you can see their risk rating, status, screening status, and reference number. If you need to update anything, click the pencil icon next to the field.

Below the profile, the tabs across the top give you access to every area of that client’s record. Here’s what’s available:

Information

Entity details including risk rating, jurisdictions, registration data, and regulatory profile.

Manage

  • Bank Accounts
  • Safe Custody
  • Shares
  • Loans

Inventory, Workflows, Tasks & Relationships

  • Inventory – CDD and compliance inventories with configurable question sets
  • Workflows – active and historical workflow instances for the entity
  • Tasks – discrete action items, assignable and trackable
  • Relationships – connections to other entities (officers, beneficial owners, related structures)

Documents

  • My Work – documents currently checked out to you
  • Library – full document repository for the entity
  • Email – associated email correspondence
  • Monitoring – scheduled document review and expiry tracking
  • Approvals – documents awaiting sign-off
  • Templates – document generation templates linked to the entity
  • Filing Tray – staged documents awaiting classification and filing

Contact

Contact details and addresses for the entity, including telephone numbers, email addresses, and physical locations.

Billing

The entity-level Billing tab shows the entity’s billing dashboard, including invoices, fees, disbursements, and billing preferences. Time recording, WIP management, and invoice raising are available from the main Billing ribbon area.

Accounting

  • Dashboard – overview of the entity’s accounting position
  • Bank Accounts – entity bank accounts with balances
  • Batches – journal entry batches for the entity
  • Trial Balance – entity trial balance view
  • Reconciliation – bank account reconciliation
  • Portfolios – investment portfolios, fixed assets, loans, and debts
  • Financial Statements – produce financial statement reports
  • Reports – entity-level accounting reports

Timeline

A chronological history of events, changes, and milestones for the entity.

Global ribbon areas The main ribbon also provides cross-entity tools: Bookkeeping for chart of accounts, journal batches, bank reconciliation, scenarios, exchange rates, and bank downloads; Reports for financial reports and G/L enquiries; and Admin for audit logs, templates, permissions, configuration, and system settings. These are not entity-specific tabs but global areas accessible from the left-hand ribbon.
Tab visibility Not all tabs are visible to all users. Tab availability depends on your permission groups and the entity type. For example, the Accounting tab is not displayed for Person entities unless they have associated accounting records.

Entity Permissions

Entity permissions control which users can view and interact with specific entities. This is configured under Admin > Utilities > Entity Permissions.

Permission Interface

The Entity Permissions screen is divided into three columns:

  • Left column – Groups: lists all permission groups defined in the system
  • Centre column – Users/Entities in group: shows the users or entities currently assigned to the selected group
  • Right column – Available: displays users or entities not yet assigned to the selected group

Inclusive and Exclusive Groups

Permission groups can be configured as either inclusive (granting access) or exclusive (denying access). When a conflict exists – for example, a user is in both an inclusive and an exclusive group for the same entity – the exclusion always overrides the inclusion.

How Access Is Determined

When you view an entity, the system checks whether you have been granted access via:

  1. Included Entities – entities explicitly added to your permission list.
  2. Group Membership – entities assigned to a group you belong to.
  3. Excluded Entities – entities explicitly removed from your access, overriding inclusions.

If you cannot see an entity, it is because:

  • You have not been granted access to it (not in your included list or group).
  • It has been explicitly excluded from your view.
  • The entity is a practice management entity and you do not have the Entities_Profile_ViewPracticeManagement role.

Contact your administrator to request access to specific entities.

1

Select a permission group from the left column to view its current membership.

2

Drag users or entities between the centre and right columns to add or remove them from the group.

3

Click Save to commit your changes. Use the “Who can see this entity?” and “What can this user see?” preview links to verify the effective permissions before saving.

Restricted groups The Global group is the default catch-all containing all entities, and GlobalUsers is a special group used to control user entity visibility. These groups provide baseline access and should generally not be modified directly. If changes are needed, a Fix Global Group option is available to reset them to their default state. All custom permission rules should be applied through additional groups.

Keyboard Shortcuts

PlainSail includes a comprehensive set of keyboard shortcuts designed to accelerate common actions. Shortcuts are grouped by context – some are available globally, while others apply only within specific screens.

Standard (Global)

  • Escape – Cancel the current action or close a dialog
  • Ctrl+S – Save
  • Ctrl+N / Ctrl+A – New / Add (context-sensitive – the exact action depends on the active screen)
  • F5 – Refresh the current view
  • F1 – Open Help / Screen hints

Main Window

  • Ctrl+L – Show Locations (tab search)
  • Ctrl+F – Show Search
  • Ctrl+H – Clear entity, show Search
  • Ctrl+Shift+H – Clear entity, show Search, go to Entities Profile
  • Ctrl+Shift+D – Dashboard tab
  • Ctrl+0 – Dashboard
  • Ctrl+1 – Profile
  • Ctrl+2 – Entities
  • Ctrl+3 – Billing
  • Ctrl+4 – Global Info (Inventories, Workflows, Tasks, Screening, Tax Reporting, Digital KYC)
  • Ctrl+5 – Documents
  • Ctrl+6 – Bookkeeping
  • Ctrl+7 – Payments
  • Ctrl+8 – Reports
  • Ctrl+9 – Admin
  • F12 – Toggle Notification Centre
  • Ctrl+T – Create Time Record

WIP Screen

  • Ctrl+A – Toggle select all / deselect all
  • Ctrl+Enter – Finalise selected WIP items

Trial Balance

  • F2 – Show options sidebar

Manual Journal

  • Ctrl+S – Save journal
  • Ctrl+D – Toggle dual input mode
  • Escape – Discard current entry
  • F2 – Copy value from last line
  • F3 – Insert opposite of last line
  • F4 – Calculate source amount from book FX rate

Transaction Rules

  • Ctrl+A – Create a new rule
  • Ctrl+E – Test transaction against rules
  • Ctrl+R – Test a specific rule

Client Inventories

  • Ctrl+P – Pop out all inventories into a separate window

Bank Accounts

  • Ctrl+E – Edit the selected bank account

Accounting

  • Ctrl+Q – Post a quoted investment trade

Client Screen

  • Ctrl+B – Toggle the sidebar panel
  • Ctrl+D – Toggle favourite (bookmark) for the current entity
  • Ctrl+V – Open trial balance for the current entity (note: this overrides the standard paste shortcut while on the Client Screen)

Document Library

  • F2 – Rename selected document
  • Ctrl+Delete – Delete selected document
  • Ctrl+Enter – View / open selected document
  • Ctrl+Y – Copy to filing tray
  • Ctrl+C – Copy document
  • Ctrl+E – Email selected document

Pending Payments

  • Ctrl+E – Show entities for selected payments

G/L Report

  • Ctrl+E – Select entities
  • Ctrl+O – Include older transactions
  • Ctrl+B – Show difference column
  • Ctrl+L – Select ledgers
  • Ctrl+D – Select dates
  • Ctrl+Enter – Run report
  • Ctrl+P – Print report

User Profile

  • Ctrl+E – Show settings
Remembering shortcuts Press F1 on any screen to open context-sensitive help, which includes a list of shortcuts available in your current context. You can also access the full shortcut reference from the Help menu.

Permissions Reference

The table below summarises the key permissions that control access to different areas of PlainSail. Your administrator assigns these through permission groups.

Permission Description
Entities_View View entities in the Client View. Required for basic access.
Entities_Create Create new entities.
Entities_Edit Edit entity profile data.
Documents_View Access the Documents area.
Dashboard_ChangeWidgets Customise dashboard widgets.
Agenda_View View the calendar/agenda.
Agenda_Create Create calendar events.
Agenda_Edit Edit calendar events.
Note This is a summary of common permissions. Your organisation may have additional custom permissions configured. Contact your administrator for a complete list.

FAQ

How do I reset my dashboard?

Click the Padlock icon in the bottom-right corner of the dashboard to unlock it, then click the Settings icon (cog). In the Dashboard Settings panel, drag widgets between the Available Widgets and Selected Widgets lists to choose which ones appear. Click Save to apply, then re-lock with the Padlock icon.

Where do I find my utilisation stats?

Your utilisation statistics are displayed on the Overview section of your user profile. Navigate to your profile via the ribbon or press Ctrl+E from the User Profile screen (note: Ctrl+E only opens settings when you are already on the Profile screen). Utilisation is calculated based on recorded time against your configured target hours.

Can I customise which tabs appear?

Tab visibility is controlled by your administrator through permission groups. If you require access to a module or tab that is not visible, contact your organisation’s PlainSail administrator to review your group assignments.

What’s the difference between Administered and Non-Administered?

Administered entities are your active clients – entities your organisation directly manages. Non-administered entities are related parties (beneficial owners, directors, counterparties) that appear in your system because they are connected to administered entities, but they are not clients you manage directly. The distinction affects which modules and functions are available for each entity.

How do I mark an entity as a favourite?

Open the entity, then press Ctrl+D or click the star/favourite icon on the entity screen. Favourited entities appear in the sidebar panel for quick access, and can also be filtered in entity lists.

Where is the audit log?

The audit log is found under Admin > Audit Log. It provides a timestamped record of all changes made to entities, documents, permissions, and system configuration. You can filter by user, date range, entity, and action type.

Can I access PlainSail from multiple devices?

You can install the PlainSail app on multiple devices, but only one active session per user account is permitted at any time. Logging in from a second device will end the existing session.

How do I change my default time activity?

Navigate to your user profile settings (ribbon Settings icon, or Ctrl+E from the User Profile screen), then locate the Default time activity dropdown. Select your preferred activity type and save. This setting will be pre-selected whenever you create a new time record.

How do I reset my password?

PlainSail uses your Windows login, so reset your Windows password using your organisation’s standard process (Ctrl+Alt+Delete > Change Password, or contact your IT team). There is no separate password within PlainSail.

What if I can’t see any entities?

Your administrator has not granted you access to any entities yet. Contact them to be added to the appropriate Entity Permissions group. See the Admin & Permissions guide for details.

How do I switch environments?

If your organisation runs separate environments (e.g. Production and Test), contact your IT administrator to switch between them. The Admin > Utilities menu includes a reset option, but this should only be used under guidance from your IT team.

Related guides

Test Yourself

Check you’ve got the basics down with these 10 questions covering login, navigation, shortcuts, and essential PlainSail features.