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Search your file server ask the folders that have grown over the years and get the source.

The folders where everything has been kept for years: projects, drawings, quotes, scans. They are connected rather than uploaded – and the folder structure helps decide who can see what.

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File server

subject to a feasibility check · folder

Example question

“Show me all documents for this property.”

1 Answer with source

Connection

How the connection works

A sync mirrors the shared directories to your own instance, encrypted – only new and changed files, read-only and over outbound connections only. Anything you delete on the server is removed there too, and the folder structure comes across with the files. Before we start, we check how your server can be connected – that depends on the server, the shares and your network.

Once set up, synchronisation runs automatically: new and changed documents from File server are added without anyone having to upload anything.

Set-upThe feasibility check shows how much set-up is needed. We then estimate the effort and agree it with you before anything is set up. The set-up is charged on a time-and-materials basis, agreed in advance.

Documents

Typical content: File server

  • The customer folders on the drive that everyone in your company has called K: or P: for years
  • Year folders full of quotes, order confirmations and invoices as PDFs
  • Scans from the multifunction printer sitting in the inbox folder as Scan_0001.pdf, never renamed
  • Version chains in the file name – Quote_final, Quote_final_2, Quote_final_new
  • The “Old” or “Archive” folder that everything was moved into two servers ago
  • Drawings, plans and photos that were never entered into any program and only live here

Example questions

Questions you might ask your documents

  • “Show me all documents for this property.”

    1 Answer with source

  • “Where is the drawing for this order?”

    2 Answer with source

  • “What was in the 2019 quote?”

    3 Answer with source

Start

Before a connection is set up

This connection is set up for you rather than switched on in one click. Every source has its own logins, permissions and folder structure – so before we start, we check with you whether and how it can be connected at your company. Set-up and maintenance are charged on a time-and-materials basis, agreed in advance; the amount depends on the source.

You can also upload files, whole folders, emails, photos and voice notes at any time. In the demo you see the answers using sample documents from your industry; you check them against your own documents in the first weeks after go-live.

Preliminary check

What we check in advance

Before we start, we look at how your folders are structured: the path comes across as a way of ordering things and can help assign document types. The permissions on the server itself are not copied – you define who sees what afresh, through document types and roles. Scans go through text recognition (OCR); how well that works on faded copies, old faxes or handwritten notes only becomes clear with your actual documents. We check password-protected files, archives and formats that only one program can open beforehand. And folders that someone keeps only on their own computer come across once they have been moved to the server.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions about this connection

There are fifteen years’ worth of files on the drive. Do we have to tidy up first?

No – making a tidy-up a precondition often puts off the start indefinitely. Whatever you release is mirrored, including the old years. The answers name the file and folder, so you can spot outdated material by where it comes from: a price list from 2014 gives itself away by its path. If the system finds nothing for a question, it tells you so. Anything that should deliberately stay out – private files, old job applications, the photos from the staff outing – you name beforehand, and it won’t be read.

Our folder structure has grown over the years and isn’t logical everywhere. Is that a problem?

It doesn’t have to be logical; it just has to stay the way it is. The path is read too and helps with matching: a document filed under customer, year and order can be classified that way even if the file name says nothing – and with Scan_0001.pdf, the path is often the only clue. Where the structure doesn’t help either, the content of the document decides. The demo shows this with sample documents from your industry; you’ll test it with your own documents in the first weeks after go-live. Nothing is moved, renamed or deleted on your side.

We’re replacing the server next year. Will we have to start again from scratch?

No. The documents stay in your instance, and during the move the sync is pointed at the new directory – though the switch does need to be coordinated. The order of steps matters: the sync mirrors deletions, so if it points at an empty or half-filled directory while data is still being moved, it would empty the knowledge base to match. That’s why we pause it for the move and only restart it once everything is in place on the new server. If drive letters or share names change, the sync is adjusted; it doesn’t have to run on the new server, but it does need read access to the share.

On the drive, different staff can see different things. Will that stay the same?

On the server, everything stays as it is; nothing is changed there. In the knowledge base, permissions are defined afresh: by document type and role, not file by file. The folder structure helps here, because the path shows what something is about – anything under HR is rarely correspondence about a construction project. A one-to-one copy of your server permissions would drift out of step with the first change on the server, without anyone noticing. That’s why the HR folder is often left out entirely, and anyone who has only recently joined gets a cut-off date.

Industries

Typical for these industries

Guides

Further reading

Integrations

Other integrations

Do you look after this system for clients? For IT service providers and software consultants

Request a demo – with examples for File server

In a 30-minute video call, we use sample documents to show what answers with sources look like. Before we start, we check whether and how File server can be connected at your company.

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