Every organization manages documents, and it gets harder as the volume grows. Files end up scattered across desktops, email attachments carry names like "v3_FINAL_revised," and folders make sense to only one person. A document management system should fix this, not add another layer of complexity. infoRouter keeps every document in one central system on a server you control, with structured folders, custom metadata, version control and access control that mirror how your team already thinks about organizing work.
infoRouter has been in production since 1998, for teams of 10 to organizations of 10,000+ users, including Boeing, Walgreens and Massachusetts General Hospital.
Documents arriving at this volume need one system that organizes them the same way for everyone.
What Is a Document Management System?
A document management system (DMS) is software that stores, organizes, secures and tracks an organization's documents in one central place. It does what a shared drive cannot: it keeps every version of a document, locks a document while one person edits it, controls who can open each document, records who did what in an audit trail, and finds documents by their content and properties, not only by file name.
A document management system usually covers:
- Organization: Libraries, folders and metadata, so every document is filed and described the same way.
- Version control: check-in/check-out locking and numbered versions with rollback.
- Search: full-text search inside documents, plus filters on properties such as client or contract number.
- Security: permissions by library, folder and document, and an audit trail of every action.
- Capture: documents arriving from scanners, email, Office and bulk imports.
- Workflow and retention: approval routing and retention schedules. In infoRouter, Workflow and the Compliance module are licensed separately.
For a side-by-side comparison with a network drive, see shared drive vs. document management system. Related terms are defined in the document management glossary.
Smart Folders: Folders That Enforce Your Rules Automatically
Smart Folders are infoRouter's configurable folder management system. They go beyond storage. Each folder carries its own security permissions, metadata requirements, subscription rules, and display preferences.
What Smart Folders do:
- Automatic metadata prompts. When someone adds a document, the folder prompts them for the properties you've defined (project name, client, department, document type).
- Inheritable security. Set permissions once at the parent folder, and child folders inherit them. Override at any level when needed.
- Folder subscriptions. Users subscribe to folders and receive notifications when documents are added, changed, or approved.
- Multiple view types. List, detail, comment, review, thumbnail, and version views so teams see documents the way that works for them.
- Audit trails and statistics. Every action on every folder is recorded.
- Room to grow. Millions of documents, and as many folders as your organization needs.
Smart Folders remember each user's preferences, including column layouts, sort orders, and view types. Nobody has to reconfigure their workspace every time they log in.
Custom Property Sets: Your Metadata, Your Rules
Generic filename-based search breaks down at scale. infoRouter's custom property sets let you define the metadata fields that matter to your organization and apply them to documents, folders, and users.
How it works:
- Define property sets with enforced data types (text, number, date, dropdown)
- Apply the same property set to a document multiple times to capture multi-valued data
- Configure folders to prompt for specific properties automatically on upload
- Build search screens that filter by any combination of custom properties
- Display custom property columns directly in folder views
The metadata structure adapts to your organization, not the other way around.
infoRouter Connect can fill these properties in automatically from each document's content, for example invoice number, total, sender and date. The sensitive values it detects are replaced with placeholders before any text leaves your network, and the original document never leaves at all. infoRouter Connect is licensed separately and included in the guided trial.
Version Control That Prevents the "Which Version?" Problem
When someone edits a document in infoRouter, the system locks it (check-out), tracks their changes, and creates a new numbered version when they check it back in. Every version is timestamped, attributed to a specific user, and permanently retrievable.
What you get:
- Full audit trail of every edit, review, and approval
- Version comments so your team knows what changed and why
- Access to every prior version. No version is ever overwritten.
- Review and approval history attached to each version
Form Templates: Standardized Documents Without the Guesswork
infoRouter supports HTML form templates that enforce corporate formatting standards. Authors focus on content; the template controls the output style.
What form templates offer:
- Standard HTML templates for creating and editing documents
- Multiple rendering options from the same form data
- Form data stored in XML with full version history
- Automatic routing from portal screens
- Form field replication to custom properties for search
This is especially useful for organizations that need consistent formatting across hundreds of documents, such as safety reports, inspection forms, and compliance checklists. In these cases, the structure matters as much as the content.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is a document management system?
- A document management system (DMS) is software that stores, organizes, secures and tracks an organization's documents in one central place. Unlike a shared drive, it keeps every version, locks a document while one person edits it, controls who can open each document, records every action in an audit trail, and finds documents by content and properties as well as by file name.
- Can we define different metadata fields for different departments?
- Yes. Custom property sets can be tailored per folder or document library. Each department sees only the metadata fields relevant to their work.
- What happens to older versions when a document is updated?
- Every version is permanently stored with a timestamp, user attribution, and optional version comment. No version is ever overwritten, and any prior version can be retrieved at any time.
- How many folders can we create?
- Add as many folders and subfolders as your organization needs, structured the way your teams work. infoRouter manages millions of documents in one system.
- How do Smart Folders enforce metadata collection?
- When a folder is configured with a custom property set, authors who upload through the web interface are prompted to fill in its fields. In folders where infoRouter Connect is switched on, Connect extracts the data for them.
- Can form templates produce different output formats from the same data?
- Yes. Form data is stored in XML with full version history, and multiple rendering options can generate different output styles from the same underlying form data.
See It in Action
If every person who saves a document files it differently, a guided infoRouter trial is the right next step. Recreate one department's folders in an evaluation we set up with you, and invite the team.
A new team member opens infoRouter and finds every contract, report and invoice exactly where the rest of the team does.