Content Central help
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Document management that runs your paperwork for you.
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4 guidesChange your password
The three fields on your profile page that change your password — behind User Profile, not Account Security — and the Active Directory case where the page correctly tells you to ask your administrator instead.
Make the dashboard yours: widgets and search shortcuts
Build your own dashboard from ten widget types — queues, checked-out documents, folder shortcuts, and the search widgets that put a specific lookup one keystroke from sign-in.
The new interface and Classic view
Why some pages briefly show 'Redirecting to Classic UI', where the old switch-views button went, how to reach Classic deliberately when you need it, and the sign-in preference that still chooses your landing page.
Your first day in Content Central
Where everything lives and what to set up first: the dashboard, the menu, search, the queues where work finds you, and the five-minute setup that makes tomorrow easier.
Capture & scanning
18 guidesAdd a document from your computer
The basic upload path — Capture New > Electronic — including the Index Fields choice that decides whether the document files immediately or waits in the Coding Queue, and when the Folder Browser's multi-file upload is the better tool.
Bulk-import existing files and folders
Bring years of network-share files into Content Central with Catalog Manager — the two import paths, exactly what the import does and deliberately doesn't do (no OCR, no field values from folder names), and the follow-up passes that finish the job.
Capture documents sent to an email address
Set up an email capture job in Catalog Manager so anything mailed to a dedicated address — vendor invoices, copier scans, e-faxes, partner paperwork — becomes a Content Central document automatically.
Connect email capture to Microsoft 365
Point an email capture job at a Microsoft 365 mailbox with modern (OAuth2) authentication — the Entra app registration it needs, the four values that go into Content Central, and how to switch an old IMAP or POP3 job over.
Control OCR and image preparation
The OCR Settings that decide how scans become searchable text — the master switch, advanced image preparation's speed-for-accuracy trade, the barcode engine choice — and the restart habit that makes changes stick.
Create a capture form
Build a fillable PDF capture form that creates a document and its indexed, searchable metadata in one submission — the form's fields are the document's fields.
Create and print QCards
QCards are printed barcode instruction sheets — this guide generates them: the coding-time choice, the field values that print, the options that control splitting and lookups, and the DocType QCard that switches types mid-stack.
DirectScan can't see your scanner or reach the server
Work through DirectScan's three layers in order — scanner to Windows, the DirectScan Agent on this workstation, and the connection to your Content Central server — changing one thing at a time until scanning works.
Hot-folder documents aren't reaching the Coding Queue
One read-only or locked file at the front of a watched folder silently stalls everything behind it — check the oldest file first, clear it, and let the backlog drain on its own.
How documents get into Content Central
Every way a document can enter the system — scanning, uploading, email, watched folders, forms, and more — what each path is for, and where your document goes right after it arrives.
Let people outside Content Central submit a capture form
Enable Content Central's no-login submission path — an e-mailed capture-form PDF whose Submit button posts straight back to your server — and know exactly what an outside submitter can and cannot see.
Read data from fixed zones and barcodes (zonal recognition)
For forms that always look the same: define zones by position — OCR text or a barcode — and Content Central fills the fields and splits the documents by itself, with no QCards and no typing.
Scan documents with DirectScan
Scan paper straight into Content Central from your browser — connect the scanner the first time, choose where the document goes and when you'll fill in its fields, and run the scan.
Scan stacks with QCard separator sheets
Interleave printed QCards in a paper stack and scan the whole pile at once — the rules that decide where documents split, the two scanning routes, and what the errors mean when a stack comes out wrong.
Set up a folder capture job
Make a watched folder that turns dropped-in files into documents automatically — created in the Catalog Manager on the server, with the descriptor choice that decides how documents split and where they land.
Set up an XML capture job
The integration intake path: another system drops files plus an XML descriptor into a folder, and Content Central files them with full field values — the Catalog Manager job setup, the XML format with a working sample, and how failures are quarantined.
Set your default capture catalog and document type
Two small per-user settings that remove two clicks from every capture: the Default Capture Catalog on your Options page, and the per-catalog Default DocTypes page — set once, preselected forever.
Three capture-form workflows that replace paper
Three ready-to-build Capture Form designs — a building-permit application, a purchase requisition, and a new-hire onboarding packet — each specified down to the fields, workflow rule, and approval process to create.
Search & find
5 guidesFinding documents — and what to do when you can't.
How the search index works — and how to rebuild it
One index per catalog, kept current by the Catalog Service — what's in it, the four failure patterns and which one actually calls for a rebuild, and the Catalog Manager rebuild that runs in the background while search stays up.
I can't find my document
A five-minute checklist that finds it: clear hidden search filters, search the right way for how the document was filed, and check the places documents wait.
Make already-captured documents text-searchable
The Catalog Manager backfill that OCRs a whole catalog of image documents — the options that matter, the support authorization it requires, and how to read its results, which report queuing, not completion.
Search for documents
The three ways to search — the always-there top bar, the Search page, and Power Search — plus field filters, exact-phrase matching, saved searches, and getting results out as CSV.
Why text you can see isn't always searchable
The three ways readable text hides from keyword search — annotations, un-OCR'd scans, and documents waiting for the next index update — and what finds the document anyway.
Working with documents
10 guidesAppend pages to a document
Add pages to a filed document — by upload, scan, or QCard — including the Insert at beginning switch, the PDF/TIFF rule, and the new major version every append creates.
Change a document's type, catalog, or fields after filing
Update a filed document's field values, reclassify it under a different document type, understand when a catalog move is possible, and add new drop-down values — and know what it means when a control isn't there.
Check a document out and back in
Take exclusive editing rights on a document, work on it, and return it as a new version — plus how to back out with Undo Check Out and what to do when someone else holds the lock.
Delete documents — and what happens next
How deletion works, the three conditions that block it, and the honest answer on recovery: there's no recycle bin to restore from, but the server keeps the files where an administrator can reach them.
Edit documents in place with Content Director
Click Edit, work in Word or Excel or whatever the file opens in, and check the changes back in — the Content Director desktop companion that makes it work, the three-choice prompt when you're done, and the errors that mean it isn't running.
Email documents as password-protected ZIPs
Send documents by email inside an encrypted ZIP — the two checkboxes on the E-mail dialog, the password rule that matters most (the system never transmits it), and what the recipient needs to open it.
Group related documents with packets
Packets assemble themselves — every document sharing a key field value belongs, automatically — so this page explains the packet template behind that, the Packet Search page, and the completeness checking that's the feature's real payoff.
Move or copy documents between folders
The three ways to relocate documents — right-click Move to/Copy to, the clipboard with Ctrl+C/X/V, and the multi-select bar — plus the permission rules and the catalog boundary that stops all of them.
Read a document's history and revisions
The Version History window decoded — what major and minor version numbers mean, which rows hold downloadable files, how to bring an old version's content back, and how to read the action names.
Replace a document or upload a revision
The two actions that change a filed document's file — Upload Revision for a quick new version, Replace for permanently overwriting the pages — what version each creates, and when check-out is the better tool.
A document is stuck in — or skipped — approval
Work out which of three states a misbehaving document is in — never started approval, waiting on one step, or finished but still in a queue — and fix the one that applies.
A scheduled workflow didn't run — or ran on everything
Find out why a scheduled workflow rule never fires (or fires on far too much), fix the date logic and reprocess window, and prove a successful run in the log.
Alert IT when the scanner or hot folder goes quiet
If no new documents of a type have arrived within a set time, email IT — a Content Delay trigger and a Send E-mail action — so a stopped scanner, a stuck hot folder, or a dead mailbox is noticed in an hour instead of a week.
Alert the AP manager when invoices sit in the Coding Queue too long
An hourly check that emails the AP manager when any invoice has waited in the Coding Queue longer than two days — a Coding-Queue Age trigger and a Send E-mail action — so uncoded documents can't quietly pile up.
Approval settings that change behavior
The reference layer behind every approval process: the system-wide switches — checkout during approval, hiding routed documents, PIN requirements, button relabeling — and the per-process options that tune one process without touching the rest.
Archive or delete documents older than a set age
A nightly check that moves documents past a certain age into an Archive folder — or deletes them — using a Content Age trigger. Includes when to use a retention policy instead, and the two settings that stop a first run from touching everything at once.
Build a reference number from other fields
Combine two fields into one — vendor code plus invoice number into a single reference, say — the moment a document is filed, with a Content Capture trigger and a Merge Field Values action, so the combined value exists for searches, file names, and exports without anyone typing it.
Drop approved documents and their data into a folder another system watches
Every approved document is written to a folder as a file plus its field values — a Movement on Process trigger with Content - Export and Export Data actions — the universal hand-off for any system that can import from a folder.
Email someone when a capture form is submitted
The moment a capture form comes in, an email with the form's values goes to whoever needs to know — a Content Capture trigger filtered to Capture-Form Submission, a message template, and a Send E-mail action.
Escalate an approval that has waited more than 3 days
When a document sits on one approval stage past your limit, email the approver's manager and bump the item's priority — an Age of Stage trigger on the approval process plus Send E-mail and Change Priority actions, checked every hour.
Export approved invoices to QuickBooks or Sage
The moment an invoice clears its final approval, it's posted as a bill in your accounting system — a Movement on Process trigger and one of the accounting export actions, with the status field and Export Queue that tell you whether each post succeeded.
File the document and notify the requester after final approval
When the last approver signs off, the document moves to the Approved folder and the person waiting on it gets an email — a Movement on Process trigger set to Approval by Final Member, plus Move to Folder and Send E-mail actions.
Invoices over a dollar amount need a second approver
Send small invoices down the normal path and large ones through a longer one — two approval processes, two Content Capture triggers with a field-value Range condition, two rules. No one has to look at the amount.
Keep a copy of every approved document in a shared folder
When a contract or policy clears its final approval, a copy lands in a folder another team browses — a Movement on Process trigger and a Copy to Folder action — so the people who need the signed version see it without being part of the approval.
Look up vendor details from your ERP when an invoice arrives
Fill in vendor name, terms, and GL account from your accounting database the moment an invoice with a vendor number is filed — a Content Capture trigger and a Perform Field Lookup action — for documents that arrive already coded and never pass through a person's hands.
Manage work queues
The administrator's side of work queues: the Admin Queue view across every user and group, the expiration limits and hiding rules in System Settings, and the workflow triggers that watch queues so you don't have to.
Move a document to the right folder when its type is changed
When someone re-classifies a document into this type, it lands in this type's folder automatically — a Content DocType Change trigger and a Move to Folder action — so a fixed classification never leaves a misfiled document behind.
Rebuild folder and file names retroactively
A one-time workflow recipe that re-applies folder and file building to documents already on the shelf — how it works, the version-history cost per document, and when the support-assisted Refile is the better tool.
Remind the owner 30 days before a contract expires
A daily check that emails whoever owns a contract when its expiration date is within 30 days — a scheduled Content Query on a date field with a day offset, a message template, and a Send E-mail action — including the date math that makes reminders fire once instead of never or forever.
Run your own script or program when a document arrives
Hand a new document to a program you wrote — a PowerShell script, a command-line tool, an API caller — the moment it's filed: register the program in the Configuration Manager, then a Content Capture trigger and a Run External Application action.
Send a rejected document back to whoever submitted it
When an approver rejects, the document goes to a corrections work queue and the submitter gets an email with the reason — a Movement on Process trigger set to rejections, plus Work Queue - Assign and Send E-mail actions.
Send documents to a work queue
Route a document to a person or team with Send to Work Queue — the two-toggle dialog, what lands in the recipient's Work tab, and how items move between queues and leave them.
Send new documents to a team's work queue
Every new document of a type lands on a team's Work tab without anyone forwarding it — a Content Capture trigger and a Work Queue - Assign action, with an optional expiration so items don't pile up forever.
Set up an approval process
Route documents of a type through one or more approvers automatically — build the process, choose who approves and in what order, set the group sign-off rule, and test it with a real document.
Show approval status as a document field
Give an approval process a system field — Approved, In Progress, Rejected at a glance in grids and results — including the enable-it-twice step everyone misses and an honest note on where the field can't be used.
Stamp today's date when a status changes
Set a date field automatically the moment a status field is changed — Field Value Updated trigger, Update Date Field with Today's Date action — so nobody has to remember to type the date, and the value is always the real one.
Start an approval every time an invoice is captured
The moment an invoice lands in Content Central, put it on the approver's queue automatically — one Content Capture trigger, one Start Process action, one rule — plus the checkbox that does the same job with no rule at all.
When an invoice is marked Paid, clear it from queues and file it
The moment someone sets an invoice's status to Paid, it leaves every work queue and moves to the Paid folder — a Field Value Updated trigger and two actions in the right order. Reacts to the change itself, so there's no schedule to size and no reprocessing storm.
Workflow rules, triggers, and actions
How Content Central automation is built: triggers watch for events, schedules, or conditions; actions do the work; rules wire them together — with the full map of what each piece can watch and do.
Reports & exports
3 guidesReports, CSV exports, and getting data out.
A report or export is missing fields or formatting numbers wrong
Work down the layers — document, template mapping, formatting, the output file itself — to find exactly where a report or export value goes missing or wrong.
Create a report that runs on a schedule
Build a report template, schedule it with a workflow rule, and know exactly where the output lands — including the one choice you can't change later.
Schedule reports to run automatically
Turn a report template into a recurring report: the Report Scheduler trigger's interval-and-offset schedule, the Generate Report action, where the output lands, and the delete-order dependency that trips template cleanup.
Connecting other systems to Content Central.
Connect another system to Content Central
Almost any system can feed Content Central through one of two front doors — an email address or a watched folder. Learn the pattern once: how to pick the door, what metadata rides along, and where a connector like Zapier fits.
Link straight to documents and searches (QuickLinks)
URL patterns other systems can build: open a document by ID, land in a folder, run a search with criteria pre-filled, or open a capture page ready to scan — plus the share-this-search links users can copy without knowing any of it.
Look up field values from another system (ODBC)
Type a vendor number and watch the rest of the fields fill themselves from your accounting database — connect the source over ODBC, build the lookup on the document type, and control when it fires.
Office add-in missing? Re-enable it
When the Content Central buttons vanish from Word, Excel, or Outlook: where Office hides a disabled add-in, the two dialogs that bring 'Content Central Office Integration' back, and the registry value behind a stubborn case.
Recipe: ClickUp form uploads into Content Central
Wire a ClickUp form to Content Central with a Zap that e-mails each uploaded file to an e-mail capture job, so every submission's documents file themselves — one document per attachment.
Set up the Office add-in
Capture documents into Content Central straight from Word, Excel, Outlook, and more — install the right edition of the add-in, connect it to your server, and learn the three ribbon buttons that do the work.
Administration
46 guidesInstalling, upgrading, moving, and maintaining your Content Central server.
Add a user and control what they can see
Create a new user account, understand how group and direct permissions combine, and grant exactly the document access the person needs — starting read-only and widening from there.
Back up your Content Central database
Take a verified backup of the Content Central SQL database in two commands — and know the four other things a complete restore point needs.
Backup, export, or audit trail? Getting data out of Content Central
Four different things hide behind 'I need a backup of everything' — a SQL database backup, a document download, a metadata CSV, and the audit history. Pick the right one in two minutes.
Catch duplicate documents with field checks
Turn on per-field duplicate detection — the invoice-number-per-vendor scoping included — and know how it actually behaves at each surface: a warning at capture, a hard stop in the coding queue.
Configuration Manager: what lives where
The server-side companion app, screen by screen: SQL Settings, the eleven System Folders, Active Directory domains, the read-only License panel, workflow's External Applications and Export Data, and the Health exclusions — plus the Apply-per-screen rule that governs all of it.
Configure outgoing email
Connect Content Central to your mail system — classic SMTP or OAuth2 for Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace — so notifications, approvals, and the E-mail document action all work, with the test that proves it.
Content Central feels slow: report it so it gets fixed fast
Turn a vague 'it's slow' into one timed, reproducible sample — plus the matching logs if you're an administrator — so support can find the cause instead of guessing.
Content Central seems hung up
When capture or workflow looks stalled: how to tell which one it is, restart the right service safely, read the event logs, and know exactly what to send support if it doesn't clear.
Content Central system requirements
What the server needs before you install — IIS, .NET, SQL Server, a 64-bit application pool — what the installer brings along itself, and the built-in health page that checks your environment for you.
Content Director won't connect
The server side of Edit failures: the WCF services Content Director calls, the Windows feature whose absence turns them into 404.3, the browser-address subtlety that breaks workstations, and which event log holds the truth.
Control sessions and automatic logout
The inactivity timer and what users see when it fires, the remember-me switches, and the hidden license-eviction setting — plus how sessions and license seats actually relate.
Cover an absence with user substitution
Date-bounded stand-ins for approvals and work queues: the two system switches (both matter), the admin- and self-service ways to set a substitute, and exactly how the coverage starts and stops.
Customize notification message templates
The wording of every email and internal message the system sends — templates with insertable codes for document values, the Email-versus-Internal type choice that decides delivery, and the visibility setting that controls who can use each one.
Delete a catalog, document type, or workflow: the dependency checklist
Find and clear every dependency — documents, queues, in-flight approvals, workflow rules, templates, and capture settings — before you delete, so the delete succeeds cleanly and nothing breaks afterward.
Document type permissions, explained
The complete map of who can do what, per document type — every permission, the group/user/creator layers, how grants add up with no deny, and the three extra switches hiding on the same page.
Drop-down fields: choices, sources, multi-select
The field-configuration reference for lists: the three places choices can come from, the allow-new and multi-select switches and how they exclude each other, and the dependent lists that narrow with each answer.
Duplicate a catalog or approval workflow safely
Copy a catalog, document type, or workflow component through a supported path, then validate the copy against a checklist before anyone builds on it — including what to do when a copy comes out empty.
Export all your documents from Content Central
Take your document files and their metadata out of Content Central yourself: a built-in bulk download for small sets, and a scripted, resumable export through the transfer service for everything. Works the same whether Content Central is on your server or hosted by Ademero.
Export documents and their metadata
Export document files and a matching metadata CSV from Content Central using the supported paths — search export, report templates, or workflow actions — scoped, size-planned, and validated against the source.
Find out what's locking a file
Use Microsoft's free Process Explorer to name the exact program holding a file open — the fastest answer to a capture stall, an undeletable file, or any 'in use by another process' error.
Find your Content Central version
The three places the version shows — the login page footer, System Health's installation details, and the Classic page header — and which number to read to support.
Fix 'Request URL Too Long' (HTTP 414)
Why huge multi-select operations can hit HTTP 414, the two registry values that actually fix it — the web.config limits everyone raises first are not the problem — and why current installers make this rare.
Fix SSL certificate errors with single sign-on
The certificate requirements SSO actually has — subject name, store, and the private-key permission that certlm.msc grants — plus the health check that validates the configuration and the intermittent failure that isn't a certificate problem at all.
Fix the 'File is locked' commit error
When committing from the coding queue fails with 'The coding could not be committed' and the server log says 'File is locked' — the real lock causes, and the permissions failure that wears the same message.
Folder and file building
Make Content Central name files and build folder paths from field values automatically — the item-by-item pattern builder, the live example that shows what you'll get, and the truth about already-filed documents.
How signing in works: local, Active Directory, and SSO
Understand Content Central's three sign-in layers — local accounts, Active Directory, and SAML single sign-on — and why every one of them still ends at a Content Central user record with permissions.
How user licenses work
Concurrent seats, the newest-login-wins rule and the message evicted users see, where the license panel lives now, and why there's no key to type anymore.
Install Content Central
From setup.exe to a working login page — the all-defaults path where the installer does everything, the your-own-SQL-Server path where one Configuration Manager step remains, and the two things to change before anyone else logs in.
Limit document access by field value
Row-level-style security: one global field becomes the boundary, each user gets the values they may see, and everything else silently disappears — including the three semantics you must know before trusting it.
Move Content Central to a new server
Copy your documents, restore your database, and let the Migration Assistant re-point, rebuild, and verify everything — a complete walkthrough.
Notification emails aren't sending
Find which of the five layers of Content Central's e-mail pipeline is failing — connection, sign-in, trigger, template, or delivery — by testing them in order.
Offboard a user without breaking approvals
Disable a departing employee's account, hand their waiting approvals to a named replacement, reassign everything else that depends on them — queues, checkouts, searches — and delete the account cleanly later.
Plan a Content Central test environment
Decide whether you need a full test copy, know the four things a real copy requires — and use the worksheet that keeps a test server from emailing customers or pushing real data.
Point Content Central at a renamed or moved SQL database
Rename or move your Content Central database in SQL Server, then retarget Content Central through Configuration Manager — in the right order, with tests that prove the connection before anyone logs back in.
Serve Content Central over HTTPS: install or renew your SSL certificate
Renew an expiring certificate in two steps, or move an HTTP site to HTTPS properly — including the two Content Central settings that won't update themselves.
Set password policy and self-service reset
Password rules, lockout, and the question-and-answer reset that puts 'Forgot your password?' on the login page — including the two switches that must both be on, and the expiration setting that takes effect immediately.
Set up a new user like an existing user
There's no copy button for users — here's the ordered recipe that reproduces an existing user's access correctly, and the two places where copying blindly goes wrong.
Set up Active Directory login
Connect Content Central to your Windows domain so people sign in with their AD passwords — the Configuration Manager setup, importing the users, and what stays true afterward.
Set up document retention policies
Make documents of a type delete themselves on schedule after their retention period — set the period and the destruction schedule, exempt individual documents, and control who's allowed to override.
Set up multi-factor authentication
Turn on authenticator-app sign-in for one account or require it for everyone — enrollment with QR code and recovery codes, the admin enforcement switch, and how to rescue a user who lost their phone.
Set up your first catalog, fields, and document types
Build the structure documents file into — a catalog, its document types, and the fields that describe them — including global fields you define once and reuse everywhere.
The Content Central login page won't open
Match what your browser shows — server not found, connection refused, an HTTP error, or failing links — to the fix, and know exactly what to send support if you're still stuck.
Troubleshooting a Content Central migration
Find your symptom, see what it actually means, and fix it — stored paths, folder permissions, search indexes, licensing, and the other usual suspects after a server move.
Upgrade Content Central
Back up, run the installer, update the database, verify — the complete in-place upgrade procedure, including the one step people miss and the 7.8 lookup-list gotcha.
What happens to our documents if we stop using Content Central?
Your documents and data are yours, and you can take all of them with you at any time. Here are the ways to get them out, and the 30-day retrieval window that applies when Ademero hosts your system.
What to know before moving Content Central to a new server
The five decisions and preparations that determine whether your server move is a smooth afternoon or a long weekend — read this before touching anything.