Do you need to edit documents online?
Unfortunately, SmartVault lacks key document management features like online editing.
To edit a document on SmartVault, you need to download and edit it in a different tool, which kills your productivity and attracts additional expenses.
Perforce discovered that 90% of employees who use file management software still lose time. This is partly due to ineffective tools that require cumbersome workarounds.
If you go with the best SmartVault alternatives, you’ll get more holistic document management functions. These allow you to easily store your documents online and even comprehensively edit them to reflect any changes and updates.
You also get advanced PDF editing features such as e-signatures, redaction, and simple form creation that enable you to extensively customize files to meet your needs.
In this article, we’ll explore the best SmartVault alternatives to streamline your document management in 2024 and improve productivity for your business.
Quick summary:
1. FileCenter – Best for sharing client files.
2. Egnyte – Best for securing sensitive documents.
3. DynaFile – Best for managing employee records.
4. DocuWare – Best for automating invoice processing.
5. NetDocuments – Best for contract management.
Let’s get started.
3 Reasons to Consider a Great SmartVault Alternative
a) Easier set-up processes
If you’ve tried to install SmartVault before, you’ll realize it can be extremely challenging and infuriating to set up. This is made even more complex by its limited range of integrations & complex database, which may necessitate configuring custom APIs.
However, with a better document management software for your small business, installation becomes so simple. That’s because you get ready integration features and simple repositories that don’t use a database, thereby making installation very easy.
b) Online editing convenience
SmartVault is basically a secure file storage service, and it lacks very essential document editing features. In fact, you can’t edit a document directly on the platform but instead have to download it, edit it in another tool, and then re-upload it.
With the best SmartVault alternatives, however, you get a holistic solution that provides more essential functionalities beyond simple cloud file storage. They allow you to comprehensively edit your files so that you can create and manage documents quickly.
c) Seamless Office integration
Working with Microsoft Office files, particularly Excel documents, on SmartVault can be a nightmare. It frequently displays error messages when you try to upload this file type, with the vendor advising that you shorten file names to ensure success.
You don’t have to go through this with an excellent replacement like FileCenter, for instance, which integrates seamlessly with Office 365. So you can easily export files across apps and even work with many other Office file formats beyond Excel.
1. FileCenter
Are you drowning in paperwork?
You can implement a solid document digitization strategy with FileCenter, thanks to its one-click OCR bulk scanning capabilities. This can help you transition to a paperless and cost-efficient workflow with ease.
Crucially, it also gives you a database-free electronic filing system that’s easier to learn and can help you boost productivity for your company.
Just like SmartVault, our software has a very secure client portal but it’s much easier to use in comparison. This enables you to share files with clients easily and to conveniently perform follow-ups with colleagues.
Best features:
- You get powerful PDF editing functions that allow you to sign files electronically and create legally binding documents online. You can also use this editor to combine different file formats to make them universally accessible on any device.
- FileCenter gives you optional access to popular cloud services like DropBox, Google Drive, and OneDrive. This enables you to store your documents online to access them remotely and have a backup in case you lose the originals.
- It also integrates with the Microsoft 365 family so that you can use FileCenter interoperably with tools like Excel and Word. So it minimizes the need to manually transfer data across different applications, which enhances productivity.
Pricing:
- 15-day free trial.
- Starting plan: $5/user per month.
Verdict
With a secure client portal that’s comparatively easier to use, FileCenter is one of the best SmartVault alternatives to help you improve document sharing with clients. Additionally, I also strongly recommend it for its one-click OCR scanning and automation features which can help you digitize enormous stacks of paper very quickly.
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2. Egnyte
Egnyte can improve collaboration for document work.
It comes with built-in calendars and scheduling tools for effectively planning document management tasks. This can make team collaboration more efficient, which inevitably helps you fast track projects for your small business to turbocharge revenue.
Additionally, you get advanced analytics that helps you assess team member activities and improve performance for document-related work.
It also delivers more advanced PDF editing features compared to SmartVault, which enables you to create data fields, add or remove pages, and generally manipulate PDF files to meet your business’s evolving needs.
Best features:
- Egnyte’s e-signature solution enables your mid-sized business to add signers and signing fields to documents and even stipulate signing orders and due dates. This helps you ensure that clients sign documents promptly and accurately.
- Its AI-driven content room allows you to generate document summaries so that you can quickly unearth valuable data from lengthy files. You can even train your own AI models to help you visualize data and uncover important trends.
- You also get intelligent cyber security functions that pinpoint malicious activities in terms of sharing and file access, which helps you improve document security. It can even group sensitive files separately to enhance regulatory compliance.
Pricing:
- 15-day free trial.
- Starting plan: $20/user per month.
Verdict
Egynte matches SmartVault’s document security features with excellent cyber protection controls that can help you fortify document security to protect sensitive client files for your enterprise. However, I’ve noticed that the platform frequently crashes when you’re uploading and working with very large files, which can really kill your productivity.
3. DynaFile
Would you like to improve your HR workflow?
DynaFile is a top HR document management software, which syncs up with your HRIS to eliminate data silos and centralize employee files. This makes it one of the best SmartVault alternatives for managing staff records efficiently.
You also get an electronic employee onboarding system that can digitize new staff files and generally streamline onboarding to reduce time-to-productivity.
Additionally, DynaFile is also a better document scanning software than SmartVault due to its advanced scanning automation features. This can help you automate iterative digitization work and greatly turbocharge your enterprise’s productivity.
Best features:
- DynaFile has powerful barcode recognition technology that can help you separate and automatically index files as you scan them. As a result, it reduces iterative document processing work so you can focus on core business functions.
- You get cloud-based document workflows that allow you to collaborate with colleagues in multiple office locations easily. What’s more, this enables you to store documents online to minimize hardware constraints & your storage needs.
- It delivers integration options for e-signature solutions and database management systems to help you hit the ground running. What’s more, you can also leverage APIs to customize integrations that it doesn’t offer out of the box.
Pricing:
- No free trial.
- Contact DynaFile for pricing.
Verdict:
DynaFile’s electronic employee onboarding system and HRIS integrations make it a great tool to help you manage employee documents for your company more efficiently. However, I find its document management features to be very HR-specific so it may not be a very holistic solution for your enterprise if you need to manage other types of files.
4. DocuWare
DocuWare makes it easy for you to work on the go.
You can scan documents on an Android phone or iPhone using its mobile app, thereby saving you time and money by getting around the need for dedicated, bulky, and expensive scanning hardware.
Better yet, DocuWare has a process planner that helps you build simple document management workflows to solve your unique problems.
Want to improve your invoicing processes?
You can solve the challenges of electronic invoicing with DocuWare’s smart account receivable workflows. These can help you simplify invoice tracking to reduce cases of payment delays and improve your company’s cash flow.
Best features:
- DocuWare integrates directly with your business’s email accounts to enable you to automatically import messages and attachments. This helps you incorporate email into your document management processes to improve productivity.
- It has a simple add-on for Microsoft Teams, which enables you to share documents and to-do lists with your colleagues more effortlessly. This integration allows your mid-sized business to improve collaboration on document work.
- DocuWare Forms gives you ready-to-use web forms that you can use to collect important data for your enterprise such as customer feedback and reviews. These forms can help you improve and personalize customer experiences.
Pricing:
- 30-day free trial.
- Contact DocuWare for pricing.
Verdict:
DocuWare overcomes SmartVault’s invoice processing limitations with automated invoice capture, validation, and tracking that can help you improve invoicing efficiency. Nonetheless, I’ve realized that configuring its document automation workflows isn’t easy, and so it may take you quite a while to fully master this feature & put it to work.
5. NetDocuments
NetDocuments simplifies contract management work.
It gives you contract lifecycle management tools that you can use to track renewal dates and other important details. So I’m certain it’s one of the best SmartVault alternatives in 2024 to help you improve contract visibility and compliance for your small business.
NetDocuments also gives you advanced analytics showcasing document interactions so you can maximize adoption and boost business outcomes.
On top of that, you can improve your file management strategy through its PatternBuilder Max tool. This is a generative AI assistant that can help you speed up document creation processes for your startup to free up focus for other work.
Best features:
- NetDocuments Margin Notes, which is essentially a collaborative document viewer, allows you and your team members to preview, annotate, and share files without downloading them or sending an email to accelerate collaboration.
- You get built-in security features like need-to-know file access, automated classification engines, and ethical walls. All these functionalities can help you establish a robust framework for safeguarding document privacy and security.
- Its NdSync module supports two-way synching between your local computers and the NetDocuments platform. This means that you can locally access files on your computer to work remotely even without an active internet connection.
Pricing:
- No free trial.
- Contact NetDocuments for pricing.
Verdict:
NetDocuments has excellent contract lifecycle management functions that can help you decrease risk and get more value out of your organization’s contracts. Nonetheless, I’ve determined that it charges implementation costs separately and, coupled with its high subscription pricing, this can make it a very costly solution if you run a small business.
6. Box
Box offers superior cloud storage capabilities to SmartVault.
While SmartVault gives you a per-file size upload limit of only 2GB, Box allows file uploads of up to 15 GB. So it’s an excellent cloud-based document management tool if you regularly work with large documents.
With Box Hubs, you get a more effective way of securely publishing, organizing, and managing content throughout your mid-sized business.
Additionally, you can perfect your document management workflow with Box Relay, which gives you customized workflow templates for each department. This can help you standardize content work and collaboration.
Best features:
- You get real-time cloud collaboration tools via Box Notes and Box Canvas, which enables you to bring multiple teams together to collaborate on proposals, contracts, and other document work. This greatly drives up staff productivity.
- Box Drive is equipped with built-in security controls such as user authentication systems and granular permission settings. Coupled with Box Shield that counteracts malware, it can help you create very secure document workflows.
- You also get virtual whiteboarding tools that enable you to make meetings and workshops more interactive and illustrative. Moreover, it has digital sticky notes and voting systems that can help you improve ideation during these sessions.
Pricing:
- 14-day free trial.
- Starting plan: $17.30/user per month.
Verdict:
If you’d like to store documents in the cloud and create a secure cloud-based repository to streamline collaboration, then Box is a great option for your small business to try out. Nonetheless, I’ve realized that it’s primarily a file storage and synching solution, so it may be unideal if you have complex workflows with advanced document editing needs.
7. Square 9
Want to optimize your startup’s spending habits?
Square 9 gives you an expense tracking software that can digitize your receipts and invoices to help you understand your business’s spending patterns. So it’s one of the best SmartVault alternatives in 2024 if you’d like to eliminate overspending.
Furthermore, Square 9’s Global Analytics can help you generate business reports quickly to improve your organization’s business intelligence.
You also get advanced OCR technology that helps you to digitize files and make them searchable to prevent the formation of data silos.
Best features:
- It gives you a business process management dashboard that enables you to map end-to-end document activities right from data capture to file storage and sorting. This enables you to completely automate document work for your company.
- Square 9 comes with intuitive web forms that you can use to collect external data for your organization. It then automatically converts the completed form into a PDF file format so that you can easily access it and share it with colleagues.
- Its GlobalSearch ECM integrates seamlessly with your information systems to enable you to retrieve documents quickly and accurately. So it ensures that you spend less time searching for documents and more time on meaningful work.
Pricing:
- No free trial.
- Starting plan: $50/user per month.
Verdict
If you’re looking to improve your analytics when it comes to business spending, Square 9’s extensive expense tracking features can help you optimize your budgeting. That being said, I’ve noticed that setting up this tool can be a complicated and cumbersome process, more so if you need to integrate it with multiple information systems.
8. FileHold
FileHold can greatly improve your efficiency.
Its FastFind tool enables you to set up hotkeys that connect third-party apps to your repository. So you can search for documents faster compared to SmartVault, which saves you a lot of time.
In addition, you get custom auto-filling which sorts files into folders depending on auto-filling templates you’ve created to boost your productivity.
If you’d like to begin scanning documents for your business, FileHold’s Capute Plus and SmartSoft Capture modules give you intelligent data capture scanning automation functions. You can use them to digitize large volumes of paperwork quickly.
Best features:
- FileHold has advanced document redaction features that enable you to replace text in a file with a colored bar instead of a black annotation, which doesn’t fully remove the original text. This helps you to protect sensitive files more effectively.
- You can also create a customized and anonymous portal where users can view files without having to log in. This enables you to share documents more effortlessly while it can also streamline collaboration for document work.
- FileHold Cloud, which is hosted on Microsoft Azure, enables you to reduce the need for extensive on-site infrastructure for your document management system. It further improves access to information to help you support remote work.
Pricing:
- 10-day free trial.
- Contact FileHold for pricing.
Verdict
FileHold enables you to create a custom auto-filling script or leverage out-of-the-box auto-filling templates to automate document sorting and routing and improve your productivity. However, I determined that this tool is completely web-based and runs on Microsoft Azure cloud services, which can increase its complexity and learning curve.
9. LogicalDOC
LogicalDOC is a great tool for technical workflows.
It supports a huge variety of file formats used in manufacturing and engineering such as AutoCAD drawings, medical images, and product sheets. This allows you to easily search through complex documentation that SmartVault can’t natively process.
You also get zonal OCR capture technology that enables you to customize data extraction with OCR templates to speed up document digitization.
Need to use LogicalDOC in a different language?
It gives you a multilingual user interface, which SmartVault lacks, thereby enabling you to localize your document management system and improve employee productivity.
Best features:
- You get multilingual full-text document searches, which enables you to look up documents comprehensively using their metadata and in-file content. This can give you near-instant and very accurate search results to improve efficiency.
- LogicalDOC’s Drop Spot features allow you to archive files and even entire folders by simply dragging and dropping them into its cloud archive. So you can free more local storage space and set aside files for compliance retention.
- Its robust version control system gives you an extensive history of file edits, thereby enabling you to create clear audit trails. This feature can also help you improve accountability during collaborative document work for your startup.
Pricing:
- 30-day free trial.
- Contact LogicalDoc for pricing.
Verdict
If you frequently work with technical documentation like AutoCAD files and product sheets, LogicalDOC is the best SmartVault alternative to help you manage them more effectively. Nevertheless, I’ve established that sharing files on the platform is a tedious process that involves extensively customizing permissions for each team member.
10. PandaDoc
Need to create compelling business proposals?
PandaDoc has essential document management features like pre-built proposal templates featuring over 1,000 designs. This makes it one of the best SmartVault alternatives if you want to win more clients for your mid-sized business.
Moreover, it gives you real-time proposal analytics showing document view times and other data that enable you to step in and follow up promptly.
PandaDoc also has various e-signature creation methods that can help you obtain and authenticate document signatures remotely and more efficiently.
Best features:
- PandaDoc enables you to automate data population for contracts based on your CRM data, industry, and dynamic rules that you’ve set. With this feature, you can minimize very expensive contract errors and also enhance your productivity.
- You also get a quote module that integrates with your product catalog and CRM to help you create personalized quotes for clients. This also includes automation for complex quote calculations to help you win new business for your company.
- PandaDoc allows you to set predefined search filters to locate important contracts quickly without having to manually drudge through folders. You can even set reminders to help you intervene before the expiry of renewal dates.
Pricing:
- 14-day free trial.
- Starting plan: $19/user per month.
Verdict:
PandacDoc’s generous proposal template library and its customized, proposal analytics make it a top tool to help you create more business-winning proposals quickly. However, I’ve noticed its e-signature feature is quite rigid and you may need to recreate and re-sign documents from scratch if you make errors after drafting the initial document.
Conclusion
SmartVault’s client portal is difficult to use.
It takes a lot of work to set up and maintain because you have to constantly configure complex invites.
Overall, it can be very challenging for you to share information via SmartVault’s client portal, which can hinder collaboration for your enterprise.
A Ninex study revealed that 43% of businesses have broken document-sharing processes, which frequently impedes teamwork and lowers project success rates. So complex client portals only aggravate the situation.
By leveraging the best SmartVault alternatives in 2024, you can enjoy faster and simpler file-sharing capabilities to streamline collaboration during document work. In particular, I recommend FileCenter for sharing client files more effortlessly.
Click here to start your free FileCenter trial to turbocharge your productivity with our extensive document collaboration tools.
With our software, you also get advanced document scanning automation features that can help you transition to a low-cost and highly productive, paperless workflow.
Why FileCenter is the best SmartVault alternative for your document management needs
a) A superior client portal
If you want to share files more easily and securely without the back and forth that comes with SmartVault’s portal, our software is an excellent choice. You can share and request files with just a few simple steps.
What’s more, you get other essential client portal features that enable you to upload files with one click for faster sharing. You also get unlimited guest access so your mid-sized business can share files with multiple parties without incurring extra costs.
b) Advanced PDF editing features
Whereas SmartVault falls short with its limited online document editing capabilities, FileCenter excels. It gives you the ability to edit PDF documents and Word files, and even convert different file types into a format that you can easily work with.
Furthermore, you can merge and split PDF files to simplify review and storage. You can also choose to password-protect PDF documents to improve security and generate forms and digital signatures to reduce turnaround time for document work.
c) Very effortless installation
Our software doesn’t use any database and instead leverages an electronic file management system that overlays Windows folders. So it stores files locally on your computer or online via your preferred cloud service, which makes installation simple.
On top of that, you also get out-of-the-box integrations for the Microsoft Office suite, QuickBooks, and other tools you use in your workflow. So you don’t need to extensively customize APIs and this helps you to hit the ground running.
Click here to schedule your free FileCenter demo to learn how our software can help you improve document security and achieve regulatory compliance.
