Document Management Software for Project Teams (2026)

Orangescrum Document Management is document management software for project teams. Every project gets its own document repository, with real-time co-authoring, version control, multi-level approval workflows, private files and folders, role-based permissions and an audit log. It is available on Orangescrum Cloud (Enterprise plan) and as a plugin for Orangescrum Self-Hosted (Core, Business and Enterprise editions).

Most project documents do not live where the project lives. The requirements specification sits in a shared drive, the latest draft is attached to an email, the sign-off happened in a chat thread, and nobody can say for certain which copy is final. Document Management puts each document next to the task, milestone or risk it belongs to, and keeps a record of every version and every decision.

What is new, at a glance

Write, version and approve

Feature	What it does
Project repository	Every project gets a document repository whose folders stay in sync with its milestones and tasks.
Custom repositories and folders	Freeform repositories and nested folders of any depth, for policies, templates, contracts and anything else.
Real-time co-authoring	Edit a document together with live cursors and presence. TipTap, OnlyOffice or Collabora, chosen per company.
Document versioning	Major and minor versions (v1.0, v1.1, v2.0) with change notes, a line-level diff, manual snapshots and one-click restore.
Approval workflows	Several levels, in sequence or in parallel, with email notifications. Reviewers approve, request changes, reject or delegate.
Resume after a new version	When a level asks for changes, the new version goes back to that level. Earlier levels keep their approvals, unless you choose to restart the chain.
Reusable workflow templates	Save an approval chain once and bind it to a document type, a project or a folder.
Auto-approve	A stalled approval level approves itself after a waiting period you set.
Document types	FRS, SRS, CCN, Design Document, Report and Policy, plus your own types, each with its own template.

Control, privacy and setup

Feature	What it does
Granular permissions	Separate rights for documents, versions, folders, approvals and administration, set for each role.
Per-document sharing	Give one person access to one document or folder, as Can edit, Can view or Can’t download, and take it back at any time.
Private files and folders	Private limits a file or folder to you and the people you share it with. Only me hides it from everyone else, including admins.
Audit log	An immutable record of every action on every document, with a signed log export for auditors and a CSV export.
Pluggable storage	On Self-Hosted, keep files on local disk or in any S3-compatible object store.
Import and export	Import .docx, Markdown or plain text. Export any document to .docx, Markdown or PDF.
Compatibility analyzer	Checks each .docx file on import and tells you which editor it needs.
Multi-tab workspace	Dashboard, Repository, My Documents, All Documents, Approvals, Trash, Audit Log, Report and Settings.
Multi-tenant by design	Every folder, document, version, workflow and audit entry belongs to one company.
Linked to your work	Documents link both ways to tasks, milestones and risks.
Ageing report	Shows how long each document has spent at each approval level, so you can see what is stuck.

Why project teams need document management software, not just file storage

File sharing tools are built to store files and share them, and they do that well. They are not built to control documents. When a project runs on a shared drive, four things go wrong sooner or later:

• Anyone who can edit can also delete, move or overwrite. Edit rights are usually all or nothing, so one wrong drag can hide a file from the whole team.
• Version history is a list of saves, not a record of releases. A typo fix and a new release look the same, so people still send files called final_v7 by email.
• Sign-off happens somewhere else. Approval is an email or a chat message, so nobody can prove later who approved which version, or when.
• The document has no link to the work. The specification does not know which tasks implement it, and the task does not know which version of the specification it was built against.

A document management system adds the control: numbered versions, a permission for each action, approvals on the record and an audit trail. Orangescrum adds the last piece, the link between each document and the work it describes.

A document repository inside every project

When you turn on Document Management, every project gets a repository. Its folder tree follows the project itself: a folder for the project, and folders inside it for its milestones and tasks. As the project changes, the tree stays in sync, so a file always sits next to the work it relates to.

Not every document belongs to one project. Policies, templates and contracts need a home of their own. For these, create custom repositories beside the project tree, with folders as deep as you need.

Each document has a type. The built-in types are FRS, SRS, CCN, Design Document, Report and Policy, and you can add your own. Also, each type can have its own template, which shows the metadata fields that matter for that kind of document.

The module opens as a workspace with nine tabs: Dashboard, Repository, My Documents, All Documents, Approvals, Trash, Audit Log, Report and Settings. It stores PDF files, Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, plain text, ZIP archives, and JPG and PNG images.

To add a file, drag it onto the upload dialog or browse for it. Give it a title, a type and a confidentiality level, then pick its project and folder. It lands in the right place from the start.

Write documents together, in real time

Open a document and you see who else is in it: their names, their cursors and their edits as they type. Changes from several people merge without conflicts, so nobody has to lock the file or wait for a turn.

Each company chooses the editing engine that suits its documents:

• TipTap for fast rich-text documents, such as specifications, reports and policies.
• OnlyOffice or Collabora for Microsoft Office files that must keep their original layout and formatting.

A compatibility analyzer checks every .docx file when it arrives. Before you open the file, it tells you whether you can edit it as rich text or need OnlyOffice or Collabora. You can also import existing .docx, Markdown and plain text files, and export any document to .docx, Markdown or PDF.

Document version control that retires final_v7_FINAL

Every document keeps its full history. Versions carry a major and a minor number, such as v1.0, v1.1 and v2.0, so a small correction and a new release look different in the history. Each version can carry a change note, written while the change is still fresh.

• Compare. See a line-level difference between any two versions.
• Snapshot. Save a manual snapshot before a big edit.
• Restore. Go back to an earlier version in one click.

Because the system numbers the versions, nobody has to invent a file name to show which copy is current.

Document approval workflows that keep moving

Send a document for approval and it moves through the levels you define. Levels can run in sequence, each one waiting for the one before, or in parallel, with several approvers acting at once. Approvers get an email when a document reaches them. The status always shows where it stands: draft, pending approval, approved or rejected. The All Documents list shows the status and the approval progress of every file, so you can see at a glance what is approved, what is under review and what was sent back.

Review, decide and resume

Open a document to see its approval chain: every level, its approver and where the document stands. A reviewer has four choices: approve, request changes, reject or delegate. They can add a comment and a supporting file.

Resume, do not restart. When a level asks for changes, the author uploads a new version and the approval picks up at that level. Meanwhile, the levels that already approved keep their approvals. If the change is big, tick the option to restart. The new version then goes through the whole chain from level 1.

Templates, auto-approve and more ways to act

Reusable workflow templates. Save an approval chain once, then bind it to a document type, a project or a folder. A new policy goes to the policy approvers, and a design goes to the design approvers. Nobody picks names each time.

Auto-approve. A level that stalls can approve itself after a waiting period you set, so one person on holiday does not hold up a release. A background queue runs the timer, so nobody has to watch it.

This release also gives approvers more ways to act:

• Request changes. Send a document back to an earlier level with a request for changes, instead of rejecting it.
• Delegate. Hand an approval to a colleague.
• Reminders and escalation. Reminders chase approvers on a schedule, and an escalation goes out when a document waits too long.
• Bulk approval. Approve several documents from one screen.
• Ageing report. See how long each document has spent at each approval level, in working days if you turn on the work calendar.

Permissions for every role, sharing for every document

Permissions are granular, and they are grouped the way people work with documents:

Group	What it controls
Documents	View, upload, edit, edit metadata, download, delete and move documents
Versions	Upload a new version, and roll back to an earlier one
Folders	Create, rename and delete folders
Approvals	Submit a document for approval, and review it
Administration	Manage settings, roles and permissions, and read the audit log

You set these rights for each role, and each company keeps its own permission matrix. When one person needs one document, you do not have to change a role: share that document with them instead. The access runs on short-lived tokens, and you can revoke it at any time.

Private files and private folders

Some documents should not be visible to the whole project: a board pack, a salary review, a contract still under negotiation. Document Management gives every file and folder two levels of privacy:

• Private. Only you and the people you share it with can open it.
• Only me. Only you can open it. It is hidden from everyone else, including admins.

Set either one when you upload a file, or on a folder in the repository. A private folder shows a lock, so nobody has to guess.

To open a private folder to a few people, share it with them and choose what each person can do: Can edit, Can view, or Can’t download for someone who may read the documents but must not keep a copy, such as an external auditor.

A document audit trail you can hand to an auditor

Every upload, download, edit, version, approval decision and folder change goes into an immutable audit log, with the time, the user and the IP address. The Audit Log tab shows the totals at the top and every event below. When an auditor asks for evidence for ISO 27001, SOC 2 or GDPR, export a signed log, or a CSV file for your own analysis. In short, the log gives you the evidence. Certification still depends on your own controls and your auditor. For regulated teams, see our guide to on-premises project management software for GDPR and HIPAA.

Keep your files where you want them

On Orangescrum Self-Hosted, your documents never leave your infrastructure. Keep them on the server’s own disk, or in any S3-compatible store, such as Amazon S3, MinIO, Wasabi or Backblaze B2. Either way, the buckets stay private. Each company picks its own storage in the settings.

On Orangescrum Cloud, your files live in your Orangescrum Cloud account, next to the rest of your project data.

Multi-tenant document management: one installation, many companies

A multi-tenant system runs many companies on one installation. However, each company sees only its own data, as if it had the system to itself. Document Management works this way from the ground up:

• Every record belongs to one company. Folders, files, versions, approvals and audit entries all belong to the company that owns them.
• Roles and permissions are set per company. Each company keeps its own permission matrix.
• Settings are set per company. Each company picks its own storage and editor, and keeps its own workflow templates.
• Nothing crosses over. One company’s users never see another company’s files, approvals or audit log.

On Orangescrum Cloud, every customer company is a separate tenant. On Self-Hosted, the same rule holds when one installation serves several companies, such as the branches of a group or the clients of an agency. Each company keeps its files apart.

Connected to the rest of your work

Documents link both ways to tasks, milestones and risks. From a document, pick a project and a task and click Link Task: the document then appears under that task’s files. Open a task and you see its documents. Open a document and you see the work it belongs to. Mention a colleague in a comment to pull them in. Approvers get an email when it is their turn, and document activity shows up in your company activity feed.

A few more things make daily work easier:

• Preview in the browser. Open any document without downloading it. Its versions, activity, approval chain, linked tasks, files and comments sit in tabs on the same page.
• Bulk download. Download several documents at once as one ZIP file.
• Trash. Recover deleted items until your retention period ends.

Availability

	Orangescrum Cloud	Orangescrum Self-Hosted
Where it is available	Enterprise plan	Plugin for the Core, Business and Enterprise editions
How it is turned on	Our team turns it on for your company	You install the plugin with the activation token you receive
Where files are stored	Your Orangescrum Cloud account	Your server’s local disk, or any S3-compatible object store

Document Management is not part of the free, open source Community Edition. On Self-Hosted, the plugin needs PHP 8.2 or later, CakePHP 4.6 or later and PostgreSQL 13 or later. Auto-approve needs the queue worker to run, and live co-authoring needs the co-authoring service that ships with the plugin.

How to get started

On Orangescrum Cloud

1. Talk to our sales team about the Enterprise plan.
2. We turn on Document Management for your company.
3. Open Documents from the left sidebar, then set up your permissions and workflow templates in Settings.

On Orangescrum Self-Hosted

1. Talk to our sales team to buy the Document Management plugin for your Self-Hosted edition.
2. You receive an activation token by email, with the plugin package.
3. Install the plugin, run its database migrations, choose your storage and your editing engine, then start the queue worker and the co-authoring service. The plugin page lists every step.

What is a document management system?

A document management system (DMS), also called an electronic document management system (EDMS), is software that keeps a company’s documents in one controlled place. It stores every version, controls who can view, change and approve each document, and records what happens to it. A file share holds files. A DMS manages each document through its life: drafted, reviewed, approved, used, replaced and, one day, archived.

For a deeper look, read how document management systems work in enterprise platforms and why real-time collaboration matters in a DMS.

Most document management systems are built from the same six parts:

Part	What it does	In Orangescrum
Repository	Keeps documents in one place, with folders and metadata	A repository in every project, plus custom repositories
Version control	Keeps every version, shows what changed and restores old ones	Major and minor versions, change notes, line-level diff, restore
Access control	Decides who can view, edit, delete, download and approve	Permissions in five groups, set per role and per company
Workflows	Routes documents for review and approval	Sequential and parallel approvals, driven by templates
Audit trail	Records who did what, and when	An audit log that nobody can edit, exported as a signed log or a CSV file
Retrieval	Helps people find the right document quickly	Document types, tags, search, and views such as All Documents and My Documents

A document management system is not the same as file storage. Shared drives and sync tools store and share files. In contrast, a DMS adds the control in the table above. For a project team, the most useful difference is context: in Orangescrum, each document is linked to the tasks, milestones and risks it belongs to.

Document management software vs project management software

Project management software plans and tracks the work: tasks, milestones, owners and deadlines. Document management software controls the files that the work produces: versions, approvals, access and an audit trail.

Most teams need both. However, the trouble starts where the two meet. The spec lives in one tool and the tasks in another, so nobody knows which version a task was built from. That is why Orangescrum puts them together. Each project gets a document repository, and each document links to the tasks, milestones and risks it belongs to.

	Project management software	Document management software
Main job	Plan and track work	Control documents
Core objects	Tasks, milestones, sprints, timesheets	Files, versions, folders, approvals
Answers	Who does what, and by when?	Which version is approved, and who approved it?
In Orangescrum	Projects, tasks, milestones and risks	Document Management, linked to that work

Top 6 document management systems in 2026

If you are comparing document management software, these six cover the main kinds of buyer. They are not ranked, because each one suits a different team. Orangescrum publishes this blog and is on the list, so we describe it with the same kind of facts as the others. We checked every fact on the vendor’s own website on 23 September 2026.

System	Best for	Deployment
Orangescrum	Project teams that want documents and approvals inside their projects	Cloud or self-hosted
Microsoft SharePoint	Organizations that already work in Microsoft 365	Cloud, as part of Microsoft 365
M-Files	Metadata-driven document control	Cloud or self-hosted
DocuWare	Automating document-heavy processes, such as invoices	Cloud or on-premises
Laserfiche	Organizations that need records management and process automation	Cloud or self-hosted
Box	Sharing and collaborating on files with people inside and outside the company	Cloud only

How to choose document management software

If your documents belong to projects, pick a tool that links them to the work, such as Orangescrum. If your company already runs on Microsoft 365, start with SharePoint. If you need records management and process automation across departments, look at M-Files, DocuWare or Laserfiche. If you mostly share files with people outside the company, Box is built for that. If your documents must stay on your own servers, Orangescrum, M-Files, DocuWare and Laserfiche all offer a self-hosted or on-premises edition. Box is cloud only.

What is document approval workflow software?

Document approval workflow software sends a document to the right people, in the right order, and records each decision. It replaces the approval email. Instead of “looks good to me” in an inbox, the document moves through defined levels, each approver acts in one place, and the record shows who approved which version, and when.

How a document approval workflow runs

1. Draft. The author writes the document and saves a version.
2. Submit. The author sends it for approval. The workflow template for its type, project or folder chooses the approvers.
3. Review. Approvers act level by level, in sequence or in parallel. They approve, reject, request changes or delegate.
4. Chase. Reminders go out on a schedule, and an escalation goes out when a level waits too long. An optional auto-approve closes a stalled level.
5. Record. The document’s status changes to approved, and the audit log keeps every decision. If a level asks for changes, the new version resumes at that level, or restarts from level 1 if you choose.

What to look for in approval workflow software

• Several approval levels, in sequence and in parallel.
• Templates, so the route follows the document type, not someone’s memory.
• Actions beyond approve and reject, such as request changes and delegate.
• Reminders, escalation and deadlines, so documents do not stall.
• A report that shows where documents wait, and for how long.
• An audit trail tied to the exact version that was approved.
• Access control, so only the named approvers can act.

Where approval workflows live

Kind of tool	Examples	Best when
Document management systems	Orangescrum, DocuWare, M-Files, Laserfiche	The approval belongs to a controlled, versioned document
Work management tools	Wrike, Adobe Workfront	Approvals are part of a request or a creative review
Dedicated approval tools	Cflow, Moxo	Many kinds of requests need approval, often through forms
E-signature tools	PandaDoc, Signeasy	The last step is a legal signature on a contract

Orangescrum keeps approvals inside document management, next to the projects the documents belong to. Templates, sequential and parallel levels, change requests, delegation, reminders, escalation, auto-approve and the ageing report all work on the same document, with the same version history and the same audit log.

Document management software use cases by industry

The examples below show how a team in each industry can set up Orangescrum Document Management. They are illustrations, not customer stories.

Software and product companies

Documents: product requirements, SRS and FRS specifications, design documents, API specifications, release notes and security policies.

What matters: specs change every sprint. Engineers must build from the approved version, and product, engineering and QA must agree before work starts.

Example. A SaaS team keeps its SRS in the folder of the milestone that ships it. The team ties an approval template to the SRS type: the product manager approves first, then the tech lead and QA lead approve side by side. Later, when the spec moves from v1.2 to v2.0, it goes through approval again. Every task that builds it links back to it.

IT services companies

Documents: statements of work, solution designs, runbooks, handover documents, acceptance documents and client reports.

What matters: many clients at the same time, deliverables that clients must see, and a clean line between one client’s material and another’s.

Example. An IT services firm runs each client engagement as a project, so each client’s files sit in their own repository. A solution design gets an internal review before the client sees it: first the architect, then the delivery manager. The team invites the client’s project manager as a guest. As a result, the client can view and download files, but cannot upload, edit or approve them. A provider that hosts several client companies on one installation gets the same separation, because each company is kept apart.

Marketing agencies

Documents: creative briefs, campaign plans, copy decks, brand guidelines, media plans and client contracts.

What matters: fast drafting with many hands, internal sign-off before the client sees anything, and a clear record of which version of the copy was approved.

Example. A copywriter and a strategist write a campaign copy deck together in the co-authoring editor. The account director reviews it and asks for changes instead of rejecting it. Each week, the account team opens the ageing report. As a result, they see which deliverables have waited longest, and who to chase.

Government agencies

Documents: policies, standard operating procedures, tenders, contracts, committee papers and public records.

What matters: data on servers the agency controls, a full record of every decision, and walls between departments.

Example. A state agency runs Orangescrum Self-Hosted on its own servers, with files in an S3-compatible store such as MinIO in its own data center. Each department runs as a separate company, with its own folders, workflows and audit log. A new policy follows a fixed template: the section head, then legal, then the director. At audit time, the records team exports the audit log as a CSV file.

Healthcare organizations

Documents: clinical policies, standard operating procedures, care protocols, quality review documents, training material and vendor contracts.

What matters: staff must follow the current approved procedure, access must follow roles, and every change needs a record.

Example. A hospital’s quality team keeps its procedures in a custom repository called Policies, using the Policy type and its template. The department head approves each procedure first, then the quality manager. When a procedure changes, the new version and its change note show what changed. The audit log shows who uploaded, downloaded, edited or approved it. On Self-Hosted, the files stay on the hospital’s own servers.

Defense organizations

Documents: requirement specifications (SRS and FRS), design documents, change records, test reports and configuration records.

What matters: need-to-know access, a strict history of every configuration change, and systems that run inside a private network.

Example. A defense electronics program runs Orangescrum Self-Hosted inside its own network, with files on local disk or in a private object store. The chief engineer approves the SRS for a subsystem, then the quality lead. An engineer writes up each design change as its own document, with its own approval chain. Once the change is approved, the SRS gets a new major version with a change note. Each role gets only the rights it needs, and you can share one document with one person without widening anyone’s role.

Construction and engineering firms

Documents: drawings, method statements, requests for information, change orders, inspection reports and handover files.

What matters: the site team must build from the latest approved drawing, and changes must be approved before work starts.

Example. An engineering firm keeps drawings as PDF files in each project’s milestone folders. A designer uploads a revised drawing as a new version with a change note, and it goes through approval again: the design lead, then the project manager. Everyone on the project can see which version is current and who approved it.

Financial services and legal teams

Documents: contracts, credit and risk policies, board papers, compliance evidence and client agreements.

What matters: approvals on the record, evidence that auditors accept, and tight control of access.

Example. A compliance team ties a template to the Policy type: the policy owner, then the compliance officer, then the chair of the risk committee. Auto-approve stays off for these documents, so every level needs a person. Every quarter, the team exports the audit log as JSON for its evidence file.

Document management best practices for project teams

These ten practices keep a document system useful long after the first month. Each one maps to a setting in Orangescrum.

Organize documents and route approvals

1. Let the structure follow the work. Keep project documents in the project’s own folders, and keep company-wide documents, such as policies and templates, in custom repositories. Do not build a second folder tree that someone has to maintain by hand.
2. Give every document a type. The type tells people what the document is, which metadata it needs and which approval chain it follows.
3. Agree what a version number means. For example, use a minor version for corrections and a major version for a change that must be approved again. Write a change note every time.
4. Keep status out of file names. Names such as final_v3_approved go out of date. Let the version number and the document status show where a document stands.
5. Route approvals by rule, not by memory. Bind workflow templates to document types, projects or folders, and review the templates when your organization changes.

Keep documents moving, safe and on record

6. Put a clock on approvals. Use reminders and escalation, and check the ageing report every week. Use auto-approve only for low-risk documents, and leave it off for regulated ones.
7. Grant the least access that works. Keep the rights to edit, delete and approve separate. Share one document with one person instead of widening a role.
8. Link documents to the work. Link specifications, designs and change records to their tasks, milestones and risks, instead of attaching copies.
9. Keep the evidence. Export the audit log on a fixed schedule, for example every quarter, and store it with your other audit records.
10. Plan storage, backups and clean-up. On Self-Hosted, choose local disk or object storage on purpose, back up both the database and the files, and test a restore. Set a retention period for the trash, and archive documents that are no longer in use.

Talk to sales about Document Management on Orangescrum Cloud, ask about the plugin for Self-Hosted, or read the full feature list on the Document Management plugin page and the Document Management feature page.