Cialfo allows schools to send supporting application documents via Common App and Parchment. For universities that do not accept documents through these two partners, the delivery method is identified as Mail — meaning documents must be sent directly to the college outside of Cialfo.
Take a look at this quick video:
BEFORE sending documents, we strongly recommend you go through our presubmission checklist.
Sending for Common App
Before documents can be sent, the student must have linked their Common App with Cialfo (read more about that process here) and the colleges must appear in the student's cDocs Profile Submission tab.
Colleges are added to the student's cDocs submission sidebar in two ways:
Common App syncing is turned on in Account → Configure → cDocs Preferences. If enabled, colleges in a student's Common App will sync automatically.
If Common App syncing is not turned on, colleges must be added manually through the Universities tab or via the "+Add" button on the bookmark page.
Re-sync with CA: Once a college is added or edited in Common App, it can take up to 4 hours for Cialfo to sync. Counselors can trigger an immediate sync by clicking the Sync button in the student's cDocs Documents tab.
Sending Common App documents
Ensure you have prepared the Common App forms in the documents tab and uploaded the needed document. For a Letter of Recommendation, you need a Common App Teacher Evaluation prepared alongside it. Once ready, click "Send" — or use "Send all" for efficiency.
Common App documents are sent under their "One and Done" Policy. Teacher Evaluation forms and Teacher Letters of Recommendation are not part of the "One and Done" Policy and must be sent separately per university.
"One and Done" Forms | Mandatory Documents | Optional Documents |
School Report | Common App School Report, School Profile, Initial Transcript | Transcript, Other, Transfer Transcript |
Counselor Recommendation | N/A | Counselor Letter of Recommendation |
Mid-year Report | Mid-year transcript |
|
Optional Report* | Optional transcript |
|
*Up to 2 Optional Reports can be sent.
Forgot to include a transcript with the School Report? Use the Optional Report to send it — but upload the transcript as "Optional Transcript" document type.
Sending Mid-Year, Optional Transcripts & Reports
Mid-Year Reports and Optional Reports are the two most commonly misunderstood document types. Here is how to send each correctly:
Mid-Year Report & Transcript
Navigate to cDocs > the student's Submissions tab.
Locate the Mid-Year Report section and complete the form
Upload the Mid-Year Transcript (this is a mandatory attachment).
The Mid-Year Report is a "One and Done" form — it is sent to all CA universities at once.
Optional Report & Transcript:
The Optional Report is used for supplementary information not in the School Report — including an updated or a missed document
To send an optional transcript, it must be uploaded as the "Optional Transcript" document type in cDocs. If uploaded under the wrong type, it will not appear in the Optional Report section.
Navigate to Common App Optional Report > attach the Optional Transcript > Send.
Up to 2 Optional Reports can be sent per student. Once sent, they are delivered to all CA universities.
Final transcript sending workflow
Now the system will show the student’s final choice (enrolment status = “deposit paid”) clearly on:
cDocs submissions page
cDocs profile submissions page
How it will work
Scenario 1. If the counsellor is sending documents to the correct university (where “deposit paid” is shown):
Then no pop-up will appear and the documents will be sent smoothly.
Scenario 2: If the counsellor is sending documents to a different university:
Then a pop-up will appear asking for confirmation with 3 options:
Confirm and send → updates the enrolment status to the selected university and sends the final transcript.
Send anyway → sends the final transcript without updating the enrolment status.
Cancel → stops the process of document sending
Scenario 3. If no enrolment decision is recorded at all:
Same popup will appear asking to confirm the correct university. The counsellor can select 'send anyway', which is also an option along with 'Confirm and send' or 'cancel' (as referred in the given screenshots)
How to change the CA counselor ?
If a student's assigned CA counselor changes after documents have already been prepared or sent, this can affect document sending. Here is what to be aware of:
The School Report and Counselor Recommendation are linked to the original counselor's Common App account. It is not possible to change the CA counselor if even any one document has been sent to the university.
For unsubmitted documents, navigate to cDocs > Documents. You will be able to find the option to change the counselor on the right below the fee waiver option.
Sending Common App Documents
Counselor Recommendation — includes the CA Counselor Recommendation Form and optionally a Letter of Recommendation. Click the circle next to Letter of Recommendation-Counselor.
School Report — includes the CA School Report, School Profile, and your choice of transcript documents: Initial Transcript, Transcript, Transfer Transcript, or Other.
Caution: Double-check all documents before sending. Once sent, you cannot make changes or send additional documents under these "One and Done" forms. These are shared with ALL CA universities the student submits to.
Once sent, the status changes to green Sent with a timestamp.
Sending Common App Teacher Documents
In the Submission tab, find the section for Common App Applications and you'll see a list of all the student's applying colleges.
Select the college you want to submit teacher recommendations for.
Check the recommendation requirements shown (e.g., "2 Required - 4 Maximum").
Once teachers have uploaded their recommendation letters in PDF format and completed the Common App Teacher Evaluation form, click Send for each recommender.
It may take a while to send depending on Common App volume. Once sent, the status will change to Sent.
Completing the Early Decision Agreement
If the student has indicated Early Decision on their Common App, an Early Decision Agreement will appear beside the Delivery Method at the Submission page for that college.
The counselor should read, click affirm, type their name/signature, and submit their affirmation.
Important: ED documents may show "Sending" status for longer than usual if the student has not yet completed and signed the ED agreement on Common App. Ask the student to log in to Common App and check if the ED agreement is pending their signature — this is the most common cause of ED documents getting stuck.
After Sending — Verifying Documents Are Sent
After sending, the status will change to green Sent with a timestamp. If the university reports they have not received the document despite a "Sent" status, note that:
Cialfo and Common App sync every 4 hours — the university portal may take additional time to reflect received documents.
If the issue persists after 48 hours, contact Cialfo support via Chat with Cialfo with the student's CAID and the university name — the team will confirm delivery with Common App directly.
Important pointers to for document sending
Because of Common App's "One and Done" policy, most shared documents cannot be updated or resent once delivered. Here is what can and cannot be done:
List of documents that cannot be changed once it is sent - School Report, Counselor Recommendation, LOR - Counselor, School Profile, Initial Transcript.
Sending of updated or additional transcripts - Use the Optional Report (up to 2) to send updated transcripts or supplementary materials — but this must be uploaded as Optional Transcript type.
Teacher Recommendations: Teacher Recommendations can be updated on a per-university basis, as they are not part of the “One and Done” section. You can send a new or updated teacher recommendation to a university, provided the application has not yet been submitted. However, if a university has already downloaded the existing Teacher LOR, it can no longer be updated for any university
Unsubmitting forms: The School Final Report can be unsubmitted as long as no university has downloaded it yet. See Unsubmitting Common App forms if not yet downloaded by a University. If at least one university has downloaded the form, it cannot be unsubmitted.
Need more help?
Our Client Support team is available via Live Chat 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday, so you can get help anytime during the work week through Chat with Cialfo.
If you’re unable to find a solution in our help articles or need further assistance, you can contact the Cialfo Support team via Live Chat or email us at [email protected].