NetDocuments: Overview, Features, Benefits & More

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Overview of NetDocuments
NetDocuments Solutions
Benefits of Using NetDocuments
Recommended Articles
References

NetDocuments is a cloud-based content management system (CMS) that offers businesses document management, email management, collaboration, and governance. It allows users to create, view, edit, and share documents on any desktop or mobile device.

The solution also provides advanced, built-in tools and safeguards to help collaborate on complex documents with both internal and external stakeholders.

The NetDocuments platform houses a search engine that enables users to quickly reference or retrieve content as required. All data is backed up, secured, and properly regulated with the platform’s infrastructure and comprehensive governance protocols.

Overview of NetDocuments

NetDocuments is a web-hosted, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) document, email and records management service. Servicing small to large organizations in over 146 countries worldwide and 78,000 registered users, NetDocuments offers a comprehensive suite of features to manage the entire life cycle of document work and collaborate with others, anywhere, anytime.

By offering it as a hosted application, customers benefit by enjoying universal access to their documents from any Internet-connected device. This includes a Blackberry® or Treo®, full integration with Microsoft® Outlook, and business continuity services built-in. It allows businesses of all sizes to securely create, store, manage, and share their document work anywhere, anytime.

NetDocuments allows you the freedom to access and work on your documents anywhere. Get to the Internet and login to all your documents. Create, edit, share and collaborate with others. Organize into folders based on clients or projects. Search the content of your Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDFs, and emails. Have the peace of mind knowing your work is backed up and secured in world-class data centers.

Small to large businesses, law firms, financial service firms, health care and real estate organizations can save a lot of money and effort by eliminating the hardware, system and client software, and ongoing administration of on-premise systems.

As documents and emails are always at the center of our communication and business activity, having NetDocuments as a core Internet platform for your business processes ensures a high level of security and protection. It also affords the capability to complete your tasks and increase client loyalty without the hassles of technology getting in the way.

NetDocuments Solutions

Cloud Document Managing System

NetDocuments is a leading cloud document management system (DMS) that provides a reliable and secure way to store, find, share, automate, and collaborate on documents and email — from anywhere, using any device — enabling your best work.

Streamline and simplify the process of securely creating, editing, saving, and versioning all the documents that power your business — from anywhere, on any device
Share and work on files internally and externally with workspaces and client portals built around matters and projects to support and enable your legal workflows
Avoid document confusion with a reliable single system of record that gives you full version control, including sub-versions
Connect to the other tools you’re already using with over 150 integrations and an open API and is easily accessible on any desktop or mobile device
Work offline with confidence that your work won’t be lost with local file syncing capabilities
Always have control over your documents and confidently comply with all client, regulatory, and governance requirements

Find Exactly What You Need

Save time previously spent trying to locate the right content with search results that surface the information most relevant to your work and provide filters to refine searches
Eliminate searching with a customizable home page that provides one-click access to your most-used content, as well as lists of Recent and Favorite files and workspaces
Take advantage of powerful search capabilities that leverage custom metadata and dynamic attributes to make documents easier to locate and use
Securely connect all of your data repositories to experience a Google-like search experience for information from across the business

Connect the Tools You Use Daily

Boost productivity with the ability to file any email into NetDocuments with one-click predictive filing
Stay focused and avoid switching applications with a DMS that integrates into the Microsoft Office suite (including Teams), Google Workspaces, and Adobe Acrobat/Reader
Make signing seamless by sending, receiving, and tracking electronic signatures without ever leaving your DMS
Utilize robust open APIs and partner integrations to connect to any other tool your teams use, including practice management systems

Create Customized, Error-Free Documents at Scale

Automate your expertise with legal document and workflow automation embedded directly in your DMS
Generate entire packages of documents with the click of a button and store the input data for reuse
Provide self-service apps to either internal or external stakeholders with a simple link
Go beyond “find and replace” with advanced automation capabilities that allow you to add entire clauses based on conditional logic, execute calculations, complete third-party forms, and more

Secure Your Data Seamlessly

Use award-winning access controls to create security groups and apply granular access rights
Instantly make your organization compliant with more than 38 different security standards and regulations when you adopt the NetDocuments platform
Protect your content with NetDocuments’ entropic key generation, dual custody keys, and other advanced encryption technologies
Add advanced security capabilities for additional classification features, policy tools for ethical walls and need-to-know security, audit reporting, and more

Email Management

ndMail is a suite of email management and productivity tools that integrate directly with Outlook and Gmail. It uses predictive filing—powered by artificial intelligence—to make inboxes more organized, collaborative, and efficient for legal professionals.

File Emails Instantly

Quickly and accurately file any email into your NetDocuments system with a single click.

With one-click email management, you will save time and boost productivity with every email you send and receive. ndMail predicts how to file emails based on individual and organization-wide behavior. When you get an email that has previous replies or forwards, you will be prompted with a suggested location to file the new email based on past behavior.

You can then quickly find what you need using the search function later.

ndMail leverages the advanced search features embedded in NetDocuments to quickly locate communications and documents based on numerous filters.

Automate Workflow and Build Complete Work Files

Predictively file emails based on specific characteristics, and automatically file emails the moment they’re sent. Easily map Outlook folders, quickly view filed emails from associates, and more.

ndMail makes smart filing suggestions based on who is included in the email, the subject line, and the attached documents. Also, emails are filed directly into the project or matter you’re working on so you can deliver a complete work file at a moment’s notice.

Plus, the NetDocuments email management system makes it easy to avoid duplicate filings. Each time an email is filed, a Global Filing Indicator appears in Outlook to alert all users when an email has already been placed in NetDocuments.

Predictive Filing

Predictive filing leverages artificial intelligence (AI) based on organization-wide filing behaviors, the sender, receiver, email content, and more. This solution gets smarter as more people use it and can help shorten onboarding time for new attorneys.

Provides suggested filing location based on numerous factors including who’s sent or received the email, document type, and content within the email
Features an accuracy ranking of filing location
Can be utilized on any system or device, including PCs and Macs

Folder Mapping

Integrated Outlook folders provide legal professionals with greater flexibility to work in the ways they prefer most.

Set it and forget it: ndMail maps Outlook folders to specified locations in NetDocuments. Any emails filed to a mapped Outlook folder are automatically uploaded to the specified NetDocuments location
Easily drag-and-drop emails to a preferred location
Available on desktop versions of Outlook

Optical Character Recognition

NetDocuments optical character recognition (OCR) speeds up your document searches by digitizing and indexing entire documents and images. Working behind the scenes, NetDocuments OCR ensures every piece of content added to your NetDocuments platform becomes an easily searchable piece of your collective knowledge.

Automate Searchability of All Documents

OCR automatically reviews content added to your NetDocuments database to locate non-searchable images and documents (e.g. PDFs), analyzes the content, and then digitizes the documents to ensure all documents are fully searchable and indexed.

By digitizing all types of documents, you can save time and ensure a complete and thorough search is conducted – including images and PDFs. It also helps avoid redundancy or the need to recreate the wheel, as documents stop playing hide and seek.

Monitor and Quickly Convert New Documents

Active monitoring of new documents automatically converts documents for you so that you never lose track of content in your database. As soon as a non-text file is added to the system (e.g. a PDF), it will be assessed and analyzed to capture content and transform it into text that can be fully indexed and searched.

Scan and Prioritize Old Content

Carefully scan backlogs of legacy documents and convert them over time based on priority order.

Never recreate an old client file again. Utilizing the same technology used to create new, searchable documents, NetDocuments OCR transforms existing documents into searchable content so you never have to look back.

Optimize Document Conversion

Leverage the latest OCR technology to save lost text and minimize conversion errors.

For scanned documents, OCR corrects font size problems that commonly disrupt the OCR workflow. Additionally, pixel correction smooths text over images, preventing lost text or characters. These processes mean fewer conversion errors in document creation and a more powerful, functional database to support your work.

Microsoft Power Automate

With NetDocuments Power Automate Connector you can create custom, code-free workflows in Microsoft Office and 300+ applications that take actions on NetDocuments workspaces, folders, documents, users, and groups.

Automate legal team workflows and maintenance of your NetDocuments system. Give non-technical users a versatile set of tools they can use to streamline basic administrative tasks.

Automate Processes and Boost Productivity

Streamline and automate workflows that combine a wide range of Office 365 and NetDocuments functions. Build time-saving workflows into everything from individual tasks to large-scale systems with seamless integration using hundreds of prebuilt connectors.

Simplify Your Workflow

Streamline tasks like creating new Workspaces and CollabSpaces, adding users to a repository, creating groups, adding to a cabinet, and more.

Leverage Microsoft’s “low-code/no-code” platform to help you create automated workflows between your favorite apps and services to synchronize files, get notifications, and collect data.

Integrate Two Platforms You Already Know

Take advantage of 58+ NetDocuments API calls to combine the power of Office 365 and the NetDocuments platform.

The NetDocuments Connector for Power Automate allows access to over 50 NetDocuments API calls that enable Power Automate flows to take actions on Workspaces, Folders, and Documents, users, and groups in your NetDocuments repository.

Build Intelligent Workflows that Perform

Build and deploy sophisticated automation in a matter of hours — without the need for any expensive third-party tools. Automate time-consuming manual tasks with built-in artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, giving you more time to focus on strategic, high-value opportunities.

Document Automation

Automate legal team workflows and maintenance of your NetDocuments system. Give non-technical users a versatile set of tools they can use to streamline basic administrative tasks.

With NetDocuments PatternBuilder and Power Automate Connector, you can create custom, code-free workflows in Microsoft Office and 300+ applications that take actions on NetDocuments workspaces, folders, documents, users, and groups.

File Sync Software

ndSync supports remote employee’s productivity by giving them secure, local access to every file and document they need, regardless of internet connection. It is a robust, reliable two-way file-syncing solution for Macs and PCs.

Synchronize Files Across Devices

Automatically keep all the files within specific folders and workspaces (or those related to specific matters) organized, up-to-date, and available on your local computer.

Say ‘goodbye’ to downloading, saving, and re-uploading inconsistent files. Instead, empower collaboration by ensuring both you and your co-workers have access to the most recent files on your computer.

Organize Consistently On and Off the Cloud

Define and maintain directory structures to keep file organization uniform between the cloud and your local machine.

Define a folder structure locally on your computer that automatically syncs to the cloud, preserving consistency and ease of use both on and off the cloud.

Automate Offline File Syncs

Automatically upload new files you create offline and save them in synced directories the moment you re-connect to the Internet.

ndSync helps you avoid confusion and streamline collaboration by syncing cloud and computer file copies automatically upon reconnection, so you know you’re always working off the latest version of your files.

Control Sync Frequency

Maintain control over which workspaces, folders, matters, and files you sync to your local machine. You can also control when and how often your files sync—or initiate a file sync manually.

Select a workspace, folder, or file with ndSync to update content on a regular basis, or manually initiate syncs as needed.

Manage Access to Sensitive Data

Take advantage of centralized administration features to restrict access or lock down applications and data if your machine is lost or stolen.

Get peace of mind with enterprise-wide administration features that allow you to control access to data. If your computer is lost or stolen, centralized administration features—such as application wiping—can restrict access and protect your data.

Data Loss Prevention

Data Loss Prevention helps classify content and create and enforce policies to control user actions. It also prevents documents from leaving the security of your NetDocuments system in a few clicks.

This makes it easier to keep sensitive content safe from data breaches, exfiltration, and unauthorized or inappropriate use.

Benefits of Using NetDocuments

NetDocuments was designed for mobility. The NetDocuments app takes advantage of the local operating system and storage capabilities of mobile devices. With it, users can:

Bring your documents with you when you are on the go.
Find any documents using a full-text search or by navigating through folders, filters, and workspaces.
Email copies of documents or document links to others.
Create subfolders.
Upload photos from your photo library.
View your personal home page or 40 most recently opened, edited or added documents.
View document profiles.
Download documents for offline access when not connected and for quick access.
Create a passcode for further security and protection, or use Touch ID.
Access your contacts list for emailing document links or attachments.
Upload documents to third-party editing apps.
Print documents using a Wifi printer or Breezy printing services.
Use your organization’s login services such as ADFS, OKTA, OneLogin and other supported federated identity providers.
Edit documents directly with Office365 apps, with appropriate licenses.

The NetDocuments app integrates out-of-the-box with any “WebDAV” or “Open in” compliant apps such as Documents To Go, Pages, GoodReader, etc.