XyloDocs + Drake Software: get client documents into Drake without the chase

Drake Software prepares the return. XyloDocs gets the documents ready for Drake. If your firm already runs returns in Drake Software, you do not need another place to store PDFs — you need documents organized by client and tax year, then delivered in one click so preparers can attach them and start the return.

Drake is ready. Your documents aren't.

Drake is one of the most widely used professional tax prep platforms. The bottleneck is rarely the tax engine. It is the chase before anyone opens Drake: W-2s, 1099s, IDs, and organizers arriving by email, text, WhatsApp, and portals — renamed inconsistently, scattered across inboxes, and incomplete when the preparer sits down to work.

XyloDocs is the front door. Clients send documents through the channels they already use. Your team files them to the right client and tax year. Then a master agent clicks Export for Drake and downloads the package — one file if there is a single document, a ZIP if there are multiple.

Drake prepares the return. XyloDocs gets the documents ready for Drake.

What XyloDocs does (and does not claim)

XyloDocs does not claim a live public API into Drake return data. What firms need day-to-day is simpler and more valuable:

1. Collect documents from clients (portal, SMS, WhatsApp, email-to-upload)
2. Organize by client and tax year
3. Click Export → Export for Drake on the client profile
4. Open the package and continue return prep in Drake

That is the workflow story. Honesty beats overclaiming "API integration" — and it is what preparers actually use every season.

How Export for Drake works

1. Open the client / contact in XyloDocs
2. Select the tax year
3. Click Export → Export for Drake
4. Download starts (single file if one document; ZIP if multiple)
5. Attach or import into Drake and continue return prep

Export is available to master agents (and super admins). File contents are the original stored documents — PDFs and supporting files as clients uploaded them — not rewritten into a proprietary Drake format. The value is organization and speed: the right client, the right year, one package.

One click — Export for Drake — and the whole tax year's documents are in your hands.

Why document intake is the real bottleneck

Even three minutes of hunting and renaming per return adds up fast. At 800 returns, that is roughly 40 hours of unbillable labor before preparers open Drake. XyloDocs collapses that chase: clients upload once, AI-assisted filing (where enabled) keeps the year tidy, and Export for Drake turns "find everything" into a download.

Side benefits stay in XyloDocs while Drake remains the prep platform of record — bilingual SMS/WhatsApp collection, e-signatures, proactive status updates, and an audit trail of what was sent and when. See XyloDocs features for the full communication stack, and the Alianza Tax case study for how firms cut inbound status calls.

Getting started

If you already use XyloDocs, open a sample client, pick a tax year, and try Export for Drake. If you are evaluating the platform, review pricing or book a demo and ask to see the Drake export on a live client profile.

Using Intuit products instead of (or alongside) Drake? See XyloDocs for Lacerte firms, ProConnect Tax document workflow, or the overview of how XyloDocs works with Drake, Lacerte, and ProConnect.