FileHold today
FileHold has been around for more than 20 years, and a few things changed recently. From FileHold's own pages:
- FileHold Systems ULC is owned, managed and distributed by KeyMark, Inc., a US company, since December 31, 2024. The office is still in Vancouver, British Columbia.
- The current release is FileHold 17.2 (October 2025). Recent releases added a Microsoft Teams integration and an Outlook add-in for new Outlook, Outlook on the web and Mac.
- It is offered on-premises, in a private cloud, or as FileHold Cloud, which FileHold hosts and supports on Microsoft Azure.
- Licenses are sold perpetual or as a subscription, counted as registered users plus concurrent sessions, with FileCare as the annual support and upgrade plan. FileHold Cloud is a per-user subscription.
In other words, FileHold is not going anywhere. If you are reading this because of the ownership change, the better question is whether your library still fits the way your team works.
Two systems of the same kind, organized differently
FileHold organizes its library like a physical office: cabinets hold drawers, drawers hold folder groups and folders, and folders hold documents. Each document also carries metadata from its schema, which is what search runs on. Someone decides where a document goes, and the metadata describes it.
Content Central starts from the fields. Every document lives in a catalog (Accounts Payable, HR), has a document type (Invoice, W-4) and carries that type's index fields. Folder paths and file names are built from the field values, and can be rebuilt later if you change the rule. Nobody drags a document into a folder; filling in the vendor and the purchase order number is what files it.
Neither approach is wrong. A drawer structure is easy to explain to new staff. A field-built structure stays consistent when many people file, and the same document can be found by any field, by any word in it, or by browsing.
Side by side
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
| FileHold 17.2 | Content Central | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | On-premises, private cloud, or FileHold Cloud on Microsoft Azure | Your own servers (Windows Server, IIS and SQL Server) or hosted in our cloud; used in a web browser either way |
| How documents are organized | Cabinets, drawers, folder groups and folders, with metadata from a schema | Catalogs, document types and index fields; folder paths and file names built from field values |
| Versions | Check-in and check-out; all versions kept | Check-in and check-out; major and minor versions; earlier major versions downloadable |
| Retention | Retention and disposition policies for electronic and paper records | Retention schedule per document type with a destruction schedule; per-document overrides for legal holds |
| Approvals | Review and approval workflow (an optional module) | Workflow rules plus multi-step approvals with voting rules, deadlines and escalation |
| Electronic signatures | Through DocuSign (Adobe Acrobat Sign for existing installations only) | Built in: request signatures from anyone with an email address, or sign on approval |
| Office and email | Desktop Application and Office integration (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Visio); Teams | Office and Outlook add-in (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Visio, Project); email capture from Microsoft 365, Gmail or IMAP |
| Accounting and ERP | JD Edwards, Microsoft Dynamics GP, QuickBooks, SAP, Sage 300 (optional) | QuickBooks Online and Desktop, Sage 50, Sage X3, Workday, Epicor, Dynamics CRM |
| Sharing outside | FileHold Courier sends documents to people inside or outside for viewing or approval | Share a document or packet with an outside email address, with an expiration |
| How it is sold | Perpetual or subscription; registered users plus concurrent sessions; FileCare support plan | Quoted for your users and setup |
FileHold facts are from FileHold's own site and knowledge base (see sources). Ask FileHold or KeyMark about anything that matters to your decision.
Who should stay, who should look
Stay with FileHold if
- Your team knows the cabinet and drawer structure and it works.
- You depend on its JD Edwards, Dynamics GP, SAP or Sage 300 integration, or on DocuSign.
- FileHold Courier is how you send documents outside for review.
Content Central fits if
- Filing should follow the fields, not each person’s habits, on your own servers or in our cloud.
- Approvals need voting rules, deadlines, escalation or a PIN, without an add-on.
- You want signatures inside the document system, from coworkers or anyone with an email address.
- You track sets of documents (a loan, an employee, a vendor) and need to see what is missing.
- You want AI working through your document processes, private to you, with custom AI tools built around how you work.
On packets: in Content Central, a packet gathers every document that shares a key value, such as a PO or an employee ID, and shows Complete or Incomplete with the missing document types listed. A drawer tells you what is in it; a packet also tells you what is not.
Moving one drawer, step by step
Take an example Accounts Payable drawer: folders per vendor, and in each one invoices, purchase orders and checks, all on an Invoice-style schema with Vendor, Invoice number and PO fields. Here is how that drawer becomes part of an Accounts Payable catalog.
- 01
Export the drawer
FileHold exports documents in their native format with one XML file that holds every metadata value, the schema name and the library path. - 02
Map schemas to document types
Each FileHold schema becomes a Content Central document type: Invoice, Purchase Order, Check. Shared fields such as Vendor and PO become global fields, so they work across types. - 03
Decide what the folder path should be
The library path is in the XML, but you rarely need it. A folder rule such as Vendor, then PO, rebuilds a clean structure from the fields themselves. - 04
Load and check
Content Central reads files with a descriptor that sets catalog, type and field values, or imports folders through its Catalog Manager. Compare counts per document type, then spot-check a sample by searching their invoice and PO numbers. - 05
Rebuild the approvals
An invoice approval becomes a rule: when an Invoice is captured, start the Invoice Approval process; over a set amount, add a second approver.
A useful habit from day one: point a packet template at the PO field. Every PO then shows whether its purchase order, invoice, packing list and check are all on file, which a folder alone never tells you.
What a move involves
Export
FileHold's export writes the native files and an XML file with every metadata field, the schema name, the source library path and the destination file name. That XML is not the same format Content Central reads, so a conversion step maps it to Content Central's descriptor. That conversion is part of the plan we agree with you, not something you discover on the day.
Field mapping
List each schema with its fields and data types. Text, number and date fields map directly. Drop-down lists become Content Central choice lists, which can also be filled from a database or from QuickBooks or Sage vendors. Decide which fields are required, and which should be checked for duplicates when someone files a document.
Versions
FileHold's help says its export normally takes the version shown in the view, usually the latest, and that owner, creation date and version history are not preserved through export and import. Decide up front: move current versions only (the usual choice), or also archive older versions as separate documents for the few records where history matters.
Retention and records
Recreate each retention policy as a schedule on the matching document type. Documents under a legal hold get Retain Indefinitely, which overrides the schedule and records who set it.
Where these facts come from
Everything this page says about FileHold 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.
- FileHold: company page (KeyMark ownership)
- FileHold joins KeyMark (press release)
- FileHold: about us (Vancouver office)
- FileHold 17 release notes
- FileHold 17.2 release guide (PDF, October 2025)
- FileHold: installation packages (on-premises, private cloud, Azure)
- FileHold Cloud
- FileHold: standard features
- FileHold: optional features
- FileHold: perpetual vs subscription licenses
- FileHold knowledge base: licensing
- FileHold knowledge base: exporting documents
- FileHold knowledge base: export and import with the Manage Imports Tool
FileHold is a trademark of FileHold Systems ULC and KeyMark, Inc.. Ademero is not affiliated with FileHold Systems ULC and KeyMark, Inc..