Best free Document Management software for Windows PC
Here is a list of the best free document management software that let you store, organize, access, and manage your documents on your Windows 11/10 PC:
1] KRYSTAL DMS
KRYSTAL DMS is a free feature-rich document management software for Windows. This software makes it easy to save, organize, track, and simply manage all your documents in one centralized place with all essential document management functions. You can easily maintain a collection of your important as well as not-so-important documents using this software. Note: You are required to have JAVA Runtime Environment on your computer to run this software. As for database software, KRYSTAL DMS – Community Edition has an embedded database. So, you don’t need external database software to use it. It supports almost all popular and commonly used document formats. You can save documents in formats including DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, TXT, XML, HTML, CSV, ZIP files, and many more. It provides you with a dedicated feature to create multiple folders and arrange your documents in different folders. This makes it easy to manage different types of documents. If you want, you can download a document in PDF or ZIP format. This software also provides a Pie Chart feature. It basically monitors and displays the statistics related to the documents you have stored. These statistics include the number of folders, the number of documents in each folder, the size of each document, and more. A Recycle Bin is also provided in it to view or restore all the documents that you have deleted intentionally or unintentionally. Apart from storing and organizing your documents, you can also share a document with other users. It lets you set up permissions for users; if they can view the document, edit the document, or both. A Checkout feature to restrict document access is also available in it. KRYSTAL DMS also provides some document security features. It keeps a track of the last login, logout, dates, IP address, and folder name, and also offers a document encryption feature. You can use it to password-protect your documents and prevent any unauthorized access to them. Highlights of KRYSTAL DMS:
Document Viewer: You can open and view your documents in the in-built KRYSTAL Document Viewer.Document Search: It lets you quickly search and access specific documents.Document Indexing: To retrieve documents even faster, you can index or tag the documents using their metadata.Version Control: It enables you to access the most recent version of a document.Detailed Audit Reports: This feature helps system administrators to monitor and analyze system audit reports. The reports contain detailed information and statistics on all domain activities as well as resource usage.Multilingual Support: It supports multiple languages that include English, Hindi, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and more.
All in all, it is one of the best document management software for Windows. 11/10. It is primarily commercial software, but it also provides a Community Edition which is free and open source. You can download this free and open-source document management software from here. See: Best Free File Manager software for Windows 11/10.
2] LogicalDOC
LogicalDOC is a nice document management software for Windows 11/10. It is free and open source, and it is suitable for personal as well as professional use. Just store all your documents in one place and manage them effortlessly. It provides a single point of access which basically ensures data security and the documents can only be accessed by authorized users. It lets you upload documents of different formats and organize them accordingly. You can open, view, and modify your documents. In order to store documents of similar types or categories in distinct folders, you can generate new folders and organize your documents into them as required. It also lets you bookmark your documents for future reference or use. An administrator can also add several users who can view and access the documents. You also get document restriction features to allow or deny specific users from viewing or editing documents. The users can easily share the documents. It provides advanced document search options that enable you to look for documents when you have forgotten the document title. You can search for your documents using different parameters including ID, date, folder name, department, etc. There is also a Search bar present in this software. This software also creates an automatic backup of the added documents at regular intervals. Highlights of LogicalDOC:
It supports powerful Multilingual Full-text Indexing and Document Searching features to quickly get the documents when needed. You can search documents using tags, expressions, folder, size, created date, published date, etc.You can even create documents from scratch in it and then upload them onto your remote document management system.It lets you view and customize the properties and metadata of documents including Author, Subject, Coverage, and Date.An inbuilt Task Manager is provided in it to monitor, automate document management tasks, and manage all the tasks is also provided in it. This feature can be used by the system administrator.It creates a log for all check-in/ check-out operations.You can lock/ unlock documents, update a new document, etc.It allows you to share documents with users outside your organization via Email or Download Ticket.Multiple security features including Users and Groups, Password History Enforcement, Security Policies on Menus, Security Policies on Folders, and Document Encryption are also provided in it.You can retrieve basic statistics and other reports related to your documents for analysis purposes.It supports WordPress explorer, Joomla explorer, and Dropbox integration.The protocols supported by it include HTTP/ HTTPS, Web Services (SOAP & RESTful), WebDAV, and CMIS.
Do note that LogicalDOC requires Java and Tomcat web container to run. It is a web-based service and can be used in web browsers including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, etc. It is a good free and open-source document management software. You can download LogicalDOC from here. Read: Best Free Cloud Project Management Software and Tools.
3] Feng Office
The next free document management software that you can use is Feng Office. It is a web-based project management application that also provides a dedicated module for document management. It is like an office suite using which you can create, edit, organize, track, and manage your documents. In its free version, you can add a document of a maximum size of 2 MB. You can view a dedicated DOCUMENTS tab on its main GUI. Just click on it and you will be able to upload, save, and manage your documents. In this tab, you can click on the New button to create a new document from scratch or upload an existing document from your PC. You can also create a presentation document in it. As it is a project management software, it offers a lot of great project management tools and features. In the Overview tab, you can view the activities performed and document history. The Tasks tab lets you assign specific tasks to different users. You can also give time slots to users for finishing up their projects using the Time tab. If you want to generate custom project and other reports, go to its Reporting tab. It also lets you customize settings for Permissions, Templates, System modules, Billing, Invoice, etc. Coming back to its document management features, it lets you perform various Actions on your document. These actions are:
Download: You can download the current version of the document to your PC. The size limit is 80 kb.Block file edition for other users: If you want to prevent editing of your files, you can block users from editing a document.Upload a new version: In case there is a newer version of a document available, you can upload it.Edit file properties: You can modify document details including a description, linked objects, clients, projects, etc.Move to trash: Simply delete and move a document to the trash can.Attach to email: This feature lets you attach a document to your emails.Send by email: You can share your documents via email.Archive: It lets your archive your documents.Copy this file: You can create a copy of your documents.View History: As the name suggests, this feature lets you view the history of actions performed on a document with a time stamp.
Get it from fengoffice.com. Also, it is based on PHP. Hence, you need hosting software like XAMPP and a web browser to run it. See: Best Free Reference Manager software for Windows.
4] OpenDocMan
OpenDocMan is another good free document management software for Windows. Like other software, it allows you to store and manage your documents effortlessly. You can upload a document of almost any file type and organize them in one centralized place. While doing so, you can categorize documents into different departments. This makes it easy to organize similar kinds of documents without putting in much effort. It also lets you create custom document properties. The documents uploaded are basically stored on a server. It provides some good search features to look up specific documents quickly. You can use author, department, or category to search for documents. It also provides a full search option to look for documents using metadata, author, department, category, file name, comments, etc. Some workflow features that it supports include the Automated document review process and Automated file expiration process. The Reviewer is allowed to accept or reject a new or edited document. For security purposes, it offers a secure URL feature and provides fine-grained user access control options for each document. Apart from that, there can be three different types of users with different access permissions including User, Admin, and Super-Admin. The good thing is that it supports multiple languages. These languages are Chinese, Croatian, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Turkish. It requires a PHP5-enabled web server such as Apache2, IIS, etc., to work. Read: Best free Markdown Editor software for Windows.
5] Alfresco
One more free document management software that you can use is Alfresco. It provides a community edition which is free to use. Plus, its source code is available for download. It is primarily a Secure Content Management Solution that you can use to manage your documents. You can upload, store, and organize your documents as per your requirements. It provides powerful search features such as instant search suggestions and filters to efficiently retrieve documents needed at the moment. You can even group your documents into different folders. It provides a My Files tree from where you can access, create, edit, or delete your documents. The documents shared with authorized users can be viewed from the Shared Files section. It also lets you check out active tasks, completed tasks, pending tasks, and more from the Tasks menu. Security features like user access control, password, etc., are also available in it. You can access your documents from anywhere using a mobile, desktop, or web. You can download its free and open-source community edition from here. Read: Best Free LaTeX Editors for Windows PC.
Does Google have a document management system?
Google Drive is used by many individuals and organizations as a cloud-based file management system. It allows you to create, edit, store, manage, and share your documents. Therefore, you can consider it as a document management system powered by Google.
What is the best document management software?
KRYSTAL DMS is one of the best document management software in my opinion. It has some great document management features that include advanced document search options, document security, a built-in document viewer, detailed audio reports, a pie chart for recent activities, and more. Alfresco is also a good one. Now read: Best Free Open Source Document Editor software for Windows.
