FileCenter Paperless Office Software For Windows

FileCenter Paperless Office Software For Windows

As I have mentioned earlier, the question of “what do I do with my files once I have scanned them?” comes up quite a bit. If you use Windows, it can be hard to decide which paperless office software package to use (or if you even need one).

In a strange role reversal, a client of mine came across and recommended FileCenter by Lucion to me. Since playing around with it, I have passed on that recommendation to a number of Windows users that have written me (and they all love it), but somehow I have never actually written about FileCenter on the blog. So, here we go.

FileCenter is a software package that sits firmly in the middle of the options out there. It is easy enough to use for home use, but it has enough power to be used by businesses. It is not a heavy-duty enterprise Document Management System, but it doesn’t cost thousands of dollars either.

How Are Files Represented?

When you use FileCenter, you have a choice between showing your files as a normal Windows-like folder structure, or having them represented as “Cabinets”, “Drawers”, and “Folders”.

Personally I recommend going with the cabinets view but do whatever works for you.

File Storage

One of the best features of FileCenter, in my opinion, is that it uses the normal Windows file structure to store its documents. It does not move them into some proprietary database.

For example, here is a screenshot from FileCenter showing a cabinet, drawer, and some files:

FileCenter cabinets

Now here is the screenshot from Windows:

FileCenter windows folders

Cabinets, drawers, and folders are just represented as normal Windows folders, so it is very easy to get at your documents if you ever need to.

(By the way, they don’t all have to be in the same folder. A cabinet can be on a network drive or some other location).

File Naming Rules

If you have a bunch of regularly recurring documents that have a standard name (for example, bills), you can create file naming rules that will automatically name the document when you file it.

As an example, I have a drawer called “Terasen Gas” to represent a gas bill. I set up a naming rule so that when I file something in that folder, it automatically names it to today’s date with the name of the drawer.

Here is the rule:

FileCenter naming rule

Now when I want to drag a file from my Inbox to a folder, I choose my rule as the “drop name” and then drag it

FileCenter drop name

Now you can see the file is automatically renamed.

FileCenter renamed

Folder Templates

If you work with clients, projects, or have some situation where you often have a folder structure with a set of subfolders, you can set up folder templates to automatically create these for you.

For example, on this client folder, I will choose Apply Folder Templates and choose one I set up called Client.

FileCenter folder template

Now it has automatically created the client folder structure under ABC Corp:

FileCenter new folders

You can probably see how useful this could be when you have a bunch of date-based folders.

“But Wait, There’s More!”

These are only a few of the features that FileCenter has, but I think you get the idea. It does OCR, lets you split and edit documents, converts PDFs, encrypts and securely deletes documents, and a bunch of other stuff.

I recommend checking out the features page for a list of all of them. They have little videos for each feature.

Versions

FileCenter comes in three versions: Standard, Pro, and Pro PLUS. You can compare the versions here.

It is not the cheapest software out there, but it is not the most expensive either. If it were me, I would probably go for the Pro version as it has the drop renaming and other features that Standard doesn’t have.

If you have a ScanSnap, you can probably get away without Pro PLUS as the scanner’s software can take care of most of the extra features (page rotation, advanced OCR).

Any FileCenter users out there? Leave a comment and let us know what you like and don’t like about it.

About the Author

Brooks Duncan helps individuals and small businesses go paperless. He's been an accountant, a software developer, a manager in a very large corporation, and has run DocumentSnap since 2008. You can find Brooks on Twitter at @documentsnap or @brooksduncan. Thanks for stopping by.

Leave a Reply 6 comments

DocumentSnap Time Machine | Tips To Learn How To Go Paperless | DocumentSnap Paperless Blog - March 4, 2012 Reply

[…] FileCenter Paperless Office Software For Windows FileCenter is a great Windows document management solution, if that is what you are looking for. […]

Sidney - March 15, 2011 Reply

how do you compare between the filecenter and theRack2-Filer V5.0 Software for Windows.

Thanks

    Brooks Duncan - March 16, 2011 Reply

    I personally do not like Rack2-Filer at all. I've played around with it a bit and if all you want to do is display your documents in a binder, I guess it works. Other than that, I don't have good experience with it. I'm sure there are lots of people out there who like it though.

    Marcus - April 1, 2014 Reply

    I’ve been using Rack2-Filer v5.0 for a while now and a couple of times lately I keep getting an error message saying the binder is corrupted. I like the concept of binders but I need something more “bulletproof” than what I’ve experienced lately. Totally unacceptable. So I upgraded to Rack2-Filer Smart and what a joke it turned out to be. I don’t need all the pretty backgrounds for my files. I want a clean and streamlined system and it looks like FileCenter might just be the ticket. On my 2 day of 30 day trial and so far I’ve very impressed and I like the no non-sense work flow. So it looks like I’m about 99.99% sure I’m be changing over to FileCenter Pro in the very near future.

      Brooks Duncan - April 2, 2014 Reply

      Thanks for the report Marcus. Your comment is very timely.

@DoronLevy - March 2, 2011 Reply

I love FileCenter….Its clean, efficient, and helps me stay productive and organized. I love not having to click through nested folders to get to different files. The ability to split screen gives me quick access to many folders across drives to help keep folders in sync. Very easy to use and not clunky like some other software's. I highly recommended it!

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