DocuWare alternative

A DocuWare alternative that can stay on your own servers

DocuWare is a well-established document management system, owned by Ricoh, and it is moving cloud-first. That is good news if you want the cloud. If you run DocuWare on-premises and intend to keep it that way, here is what is changing, how Content Central compares, and what it takes to move a file cabinet.

Checked 4 October 2026 · Facts about other products come from their vendors' own pages, listed at the end

DocuWare in 2026

May 31, 2026
Support ends for DocuWare 7.8
June 2026
Version 7.14 released, with a web-based Workflow Designer for on-premises
Mid-October 2026
The new DocuWare, with its Aura assistant and version 7.15, starts rolling out to Cloud customers
October 31, 2026
Support ends for DocuWare 7.9
Later
An on-premises release of the new DocuWare is planned

Content Central

On your own servers or in our cloud, your choice, the whole time. Nothing to wait for.

Dates from DocuWare’s own release posts and support pages, checked 4 October 2026.

The short answer

DocuWare is actively developed: 7.14 shipped in June 2026, and the new DocuWare with its Aura AI assistant rolls out to Cloud customers from mid-October 2026, with on-premises to follow later. DocuWare Cloud runs on Microsoft Azure. Stay with DocuWare if the cloud suits you. Content Central runs on your own servers or hosted in our cloud, your choice, with approvals, built-in electronic signatures, packets and retention. For AI it connects to the Cortexa AI suite, our private AI platform, so AI works inside your document processes. To move, DocuWare's docXporter exports documents with their index data, and each file cabinet maps to a Content Central catalog.

DocuWare today

From DocuWare's own pages:

DocuWare was founded in Germany and has been owned by Ricoh since 2019, operating as an independent subsidiary. It sells through a network of partners.
The current release is 7.14 (June 2026). Version 7.15 arrives with the new DocuWare, which starts rolling out to Cloud customers in mid-October 2026 and runs alongside the classic version.
DocuWare Cloud is a multitenant service on Microsoft Azure, with data centers in the US, the EU, Japan and Australia, sold as a subscription. DocuWare says that in 2023 more than 80% of its new customers chose the cloud.
On-premises is still released and documented, licensed with named or concurrent users on a Business, Professional or Enterprise server.

If you run DocuWare on your own servers

DocuWare's September 2026 announcement says the new DocuWare launches as a cloud-first solution, with an on-premises release planned for a later date. Its new mobile app also reached Cloud customers first. None of that ends your on-premises system, and DocuWare has said nothing about stopping on-premises sales that we could find. It does mean the newest features reach the cloud first.

Version support is the other clock. DocuWare ended support for 7.8 on May 31, 2026, and support for 7.9 ends on October 31, 2026. If your system is on one of those, you have an upgrade project ahead whichever way you go.

Content Central is offered two ways: installed on your own servers (Windows Server, IIS and SQL Server) or hosted in our cloud. People use it in a web browser either way. On-premises is not a later release here; it is a full option today, and everything on this page is what you get on your own servers.

Side by side

Swipe the table sideways to see every column.

	DocuWare	Content Central
Where it runs	DocuWare Cloud (multitenant, on Microsoft Azure) or on-premises; the new DocuWare launches in the cloud first	Your own servers (Windows Server, IIS and SQL Server) or hosted in our cloud; used in a web browser either way
Organizing documents	File cabinets with index entries; document trays for sorting and editing before storing	Catalogs, document types and index fields; a Coding Queue for documents still waiting for index data
Versions	New versions on change, when turned on for a file cabinet	Major and minor versions; check-out and check-in
Indexing	Intelligent Indexing turns document content into index terms automatically	CapturePoint 6 reads documents with AI on your PC and fills the fields; barcode separator sheets, zones, email headers and lookups
AI	Intelligent Indexing; the Aura assistant arrives with the new DocuWare, in the cloud first	Cortexa AI suite: private AI connected to Content Central for decisions, lookups and routing, private team chat, and custom AI tools built with our team; CapturePoint 6 reads documents at the scanner
Workflow	Workflow Manager with a drag-and-drop designer; web-based designer for on-premises in 7.14	Workflow rules (25 trigger types) and approval processes with voting rules, deadlines and escalation
Electronic signatures	Through external providers such as DocuSign (a DocuSign agreement is required)	Built in: signature requests by email, signing order, sign on approval
Retention	Remove documents automatically by preset rules	Retention schedule per document type; legal holds by retaining a document indefinitely
Integrations	Certified SAP interface, Outlook and Microsoft Teams	Office and Outlook add-in; QuickBooks, Sage 50, Sage X3, Workday, Epicor, Dynamics CRM
How it is sold	Cloud by subscription; on-premises with named or concurrent users; through partners	Quoted for your users and setup

DocuWare facts are from DocuWare's own site, knowledge center and support articles (see sources). Ask DocuWare or your partner about anything that matters to your decision.

Who should stay, who should look

Stay with DocuWare if

The cloud suits you: that is where DocuWare’s new platform arrives first.
Intelligent Indexing already fills your index entries well.
You rely on its certified SAP interface.
You have a DocuWare partner you trust and a system that works.

Content Central fits if

Documents must stay on your own servers, and you want that option today, not in a later release.
You want signatures built in, without a separate signature agreement.
Approvals need group voting, deadlines, escalation, PIN approval or substitutes.
You track sets of documents and want to see at a glance which ones are missing.
You want AI working through your document processes, private to you, with custom AI tools built around how you work.

One file cabinet, moved

Take an example Accounts Payable file cabinet: index entries for Vendor, Invoice Number, PO, Invoice Date, Amount and Status; a document tray where scanned invoices wait to be indexed; and an approval done with a stamp. Here is the same work in Content Central.

01
File cabinet to catalog
The cabinet becomes an Accounts Payable catalog. Each kind of document in it (invoice, purchase order, check) becomes a document type with its own index fields.
02
Document tray to Coding Queue
Anything captured without complete index data waits in the Coding Queue. People can fill fields now, later, or some of each. Lookups can fill vendor details from your ERP database.
03
Stamp approvals to an approval process
An approval process routes each invoice to the right approver, with a second approver over a set amount. With a signature definition on the final stage, the approver’s signature is stamped on the PDF when they approve.
04
Status to fields and exports
Approval status becomes a field that shows in search results. Approved invoices export to QuickBooks, Sage, Workday or Epicor, with an export status field recording success, failure or duplicate.
05
Cross-cabinet search to global fields
PO and Vendor become global fields, so one search on a PO finds the purchase order, invoice, check and packing list together.

Content Central viewer showing Purchase Order 7314 from Potter Chemicals with its index fields (PO, PO date, quote, vendor), packet status complete and approval status in queue — A purchase order in Content Central: the page on the left, its PO, date, quote and vendor fields on the right, and under system fields the packet status (complete) and where it sits in approval.

Content Central search filtered on PO 7314, returning 11 documents from the Manufacturing Quality and Accounts Payable catalogs for Potter Chemicals — One search on PO 7314 returns 11 documents across the Accounts Payable and Manufacturing Quality catalogs: check, certificate of conformance, inspection report and more.

Getting documents out of DocuWare

DocuWare documents three ways to export. Which one fits depends on your licenses and volume:

docXporter exports documents and index data together, with index files shaped by templates, and can write folders named by index terms. It requires an additional license. For a full move, this is the cleanest route.
Request Export in the web client exports documents in their original format or as PDF, up to 10 GB or 50,000 documents per request.
The Export app, installed with DocuWare Desktop Apps, exports index data only, as CSV.

With docXporter, the index file template can be shaped close to the descriptor Content Central reads when it captures files with their field values. Without it, documents and index data come out separately and have to be matched up before import, which is workable for one cabinet and tedious for many.

Field mapping and versions

List each file cabinet's index entries with their types. Text, number and date entries map directly; selection lists become choice lists. If automatic versioning is on for a cabinet, decide whether older versions matter. Most moves bring the current version and keep an archive export for the rest. DocuWare stamps sit on top of the original; docXporter can write PDFs with or without them, so decide whether approval stamps should be part of the page you keep.

Where these facts come from

Everything this page says about DocuWare comes from these pages, checked on 4 October 2026. Products change; if something here is out of date, the vendor's page wins. Content Central facts come from its own documentation and the Content Central help library.

DocuWare is a trademark of DocuWare, a Ricoh company. Ademero is not affiliated with DocuWare, a Ricoh company.

Questions about moving from DocuWare

Is DocuWare on-premises being discontinued?

We found no DocuWare statement saying so. DocuWare still releases on-premises versions (7.14 in June 2026) and lists 7.15 among supported on-premises versions. Its new platform, though, launches cloud-first, with an on-premises release planned for a later date. Ask your DocuWare partner what that means for your system.

Our DocuWare version is going out of support. What now?

DocuWare ended support for version 7.8 on May 31, 2026, and support for 7.9 ends on October 31, 2026. The usual route is an upgrade through your partner. If you are planning an upgrade project anyway, it is a reasonable moment to compare.

How do we get our documents and index data out of DocuWare?

DocuWare documents three tools: the Export app (index data only, as CSV), Request Export in the web client (documents, in their original format or as PDF, up to 10 GB or 50,000 documents per request) and docXporter, which exports documents and index data together and needs an additional license.

Does Content Central need a separate signature service?

No. Content Central has electronic signatures built in: request signatures from coworkers or anyone with an email address, set a signing order, or stamp an approver’s signature automatically when they approve.

What does Content Central cost?

Content Central is quoted for your users and setup. Tell us about your setup on the pricing page and we will send pricing that fits, or book a free live demo and we will walk you through it.

Next step

Bring one file cabinet to a demo.

Send us its index entries and a few sample documents. We will show them in Content Central, set up the way you would run it, with your approval rebuilt as a rule.

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