Document management system open source download

Any decent document management system DMS , whether it is open source or commercial, will allow documents to be stored in some sort of centralized location. This makes finding documents in the DMS much easier, as there is only one place to look. Having a centralized location to store files is not enough to call your product a document management system.

A simple folder on your computer can allow files to be stored, but limiting access to specific individuals becomes more of a problem. A good DMS will allow fine-grained access to each and every file. Limiting access to the DMS files is a good step in the right direction but does no good if the files can be changed, added, removed without tracking of those actions.

A good document management software system will add on change tracking for the files so that changes can be noted, and reversed if need be. Here are some of the key features of the document software:. Skip to primary navigation Skip to main content Navigation. Help Us! Demo Download. Open Source Document Management Software OpenDocMan was developed under the open source GPL license, which in a nutshell allows you to use the program for free and modify it any way you wish.

Easy To Use and Setup Your users will appreciate the minimalist approach to the user interface. Robust User Management IT staff and managers can delegate document management duties to any number of staff members, through user and group permissions.

Document Management Software Basics Document management software and document management in general is based around a concept of centralized document storage, limited access, and change tracking. Centralized Document Storage: Any decent document management system DMS , whether it is open source or commercial, will allow documents to be stored in some sort of centralized location.

Limited Access: Having a centralized location to store files is not enough to call your product a document management system. Tracking Changes: Limiting access to the DMS files is a good step in the right direction but does no good if the files can be changed, added, removed without tracking of those actions. Some of the providers are:. Each one of them has its own advantages and a field of application in which it is specialized.

Due to the fact that every company has individual requirements, we do not consider a general comparison being useful. However, in the next chapter, we will list several factors that will be crucial in almost every company.

This should help you when choosing the right system for your company. There is a lot of paper involved in tax consultancy or law firms. To get a complete picture, you'll need a a large share of papers, forms, invoices, and proofs. The process differs from mail to mail and can be perplexing. Incoming documents usually include multiple individual steps and takes time.

It takes a fair amount effort to access documents, particularly older ones. As a result, when searching for a more effective approach, the benefits of digital filing are apparent. When all records are centrally stored and can be easily accessed by anyone with appropriate permissions, the information flow inside the firm increases significantly.

Documents can also be easily accessed outside the office with the use of smartphones and tablets. Secure storage of important client documents is a top priority, especially in law firms. Many records must be kept or are worth keeping and have to be protected against manipulation. Likewise, an efficient file structure is crucial to maintain an overview even with many clients and processes.

By using in a file structure, the digital mandate follows the familiar logic of the paper file. You can also browse through digital files, sorted chronologically and an easy to use preview without using external applications or windows. Furthermore, standardized inbox and outbox workflows reduce the likelihood of missed deadlines and boost workplace productivity. When choosing the optimal open source document management software, there are a lot of criteria that should be considered.

Even smaller features, like a disk image, can benefit greatly, once it is an important criterion for a company. While we cannot list every possible point here, we are providing you a list of aspects which are crucial in nearly every company. If you are looking for a free DMS, you should consider the following key points among other things. A workflow is the sequence of related work processes within a company.

These operations can be functional, physical or technical. Such a work process has a unique start event and end result, and is usually handled by several process participants on the basis of a division. Having a professional workflow management within your DMS will reduce the time for work processes significantly.

The process can start automatically once a new document or mail is imported and will then send out a notification to every user, who is related to this task.

An internal messaging system is important in order to keep every user up-to-date. For maintaining an overview, every user must be able to keep track of the current workflow status. A free document management software should record and display the current processing status by visual notes or fields. If you are interested in a video demonstration, you can watch our video regarding workflow management on YouTube please enable english subtitles.

When many people of the same company are using a DMS, it is crucial to have in-depth access control management. This ensures, that every user only has access to the documents, which he is allowed to see. A professional open source management system can set the permissions precisely and differentiate between different operations like view, edit, archive or delete. This is one of the main features of modern life cycle management regarding documents.

Moreover, your system should have a fine-grained control for users and groups. This way, you will be able to manage workflows on a user or group basis. Thus, these groups can have access to certain archives. This way, you do not have to distribute rights to each individual user, even if this should be possible on demand. Using this method, you can save a significant amount of time, when setting up a DMS for a bigger company.

One of the most important criteria when looking for a document management application is probably legal compliance. When working with many different document types, a company has to be compliant to legal regularities in order to prevent costly warnings. It belongs to the norm family DIN EN ISO and is a globally recognized standard that defines requirements for effective quality management in a company.

It is designed to be sector-neutral, so the norm applies to many companies within the industry, service sector or non-profit segment. The system of your choice should support you by meeting these norms without having the user make major changes on the system.

Since most of the staff is working with a DMS on a daily basis, it is important to have a clean and intuitive user interface. This simplifies the interaction with the software and reduces the time when using a feature of the system. An intuitive interface affects the user experience and hence the general satisfaction with the software. This is especially important since some people might not be tech-savvy.

When implementing an open source DMS, everyone should be able to operate the system easily and without confusion. It should be clear, where each button is located and which function it has. A DMS can realize its full potential when everybody in the company can handle the software with ease and thus minimizing user errors. Document management is often not just a closed loop, but goes hand in hand with other areas. It is therefore hardly surprising that accounting software, for example, often needs to be linked to the DMS.

There are countless scenarios where an interface API between the document management system and external software is advantageous. Therefore, we recommend that you consider possible interfaces when choosing the optimal system. In addition, the interfaces should be designed to be audit-proof, i. This is possible due to a built-in version control which stores former document versions and has a revision history.

Having a document management system will enable you to do a full-text search. This is especially useful, when you have only access to the paper-based document and are achieving thousands of files. Even when having a million documents within your DMS, the advanced search query will only take a few seconds. Your system should be equipped with a powerful OCR engine in order to recognize as much text as possible even when the scanned image is not optimal. Moreover, the tesseract community is constantly working on improvements and is releasing its latest engine with neural networks.

Built as a microsoft document management system and developed under Delphi, it is widely used by businesses and institutions for digital archiving, electronic document management, enterprise content management ECM , customizable workflows and process management as well as contract and knowledge management.

Our DMS has been implemented in small and medium-sized enterprises across all industries and offers a mobile web client as well. Institutions and public administration with thousands of connected users value our wide variety of features and appreciate the time saving aspect of bitfarm-Archiv. However, our GPL version is also suitable for personal use and is therefore a powerful home document management software.

Since this version is also open-source, it can be used both privately and commercially without any cost.