IF BANISHING MOUNTAINS OF PAPER and wall-to-wall file cabinets is on your to-do list, the Paperless Of fice from Computhink Inc. can help you reach that goal and enhance file management at the same time. That is, if you don't mind the steep learning curve.
The Paperless Of fice consists of several utilities associated with specific virtual "desks," such as the Doc Capture Desk, Doc Index Desk, and Doc Archival Desk. The first stop is the System Administration Desk, where you can add multiple Paperless Office users (a five-user network edition that has several routing and workflow enhancements is also available) and customize their access privileges. Besides letting you decide who can scan, index, and archive documents, you may also safeguard sensitive files by limiting access to specific areas of your database.
In the Document Index Administration area, the focus is creating document locations, file cabinets, and folders for different parts of your business. Adding files to these digital drawers is done at the Doc Capture Desk by scanning in documents one page at a time (batch scanning is available in the Network Edition), printing to Paperless Of fice from a word processor or other application, or importing individual images.
Though the program does a good job of file management, it is far from user-friendly. Many menus are confusing, and there are no helpful wizards to assist you. While the Desk metaphor neatly divides document management duties, there is no way to move from one task to the next.
These ease-of-use issues mean that the Paperless Office isn't for everyone. But those willing to invest extra time and effort will reap the rewards of a powerful document rnanagement solution.
-BONNY GEORGIA
ThePaperless Office **
MANUFACTURER: Computhink Inc., 800-988-4465,www.computhink.com
PRICE: 70 tor a standalone verion
REQUIREMENTS: 16MB RAM, 30MB hard-dik pace,WlN 96/NT 4.0
PROS: Ultradetailed archiving options, easy file retrieval and backup, good integration with other applications
CONS: Clunky, unintuitive interface, inconvenient compartmentalization of utilities, keyword indexing only