When you’re struggling with a high volume of documents, messy approvals, or lost files, it’s definitely time to look for document workflow software. Sadly, finding workflow software that’s been designed for document workflows can be a task in itself.
That’s because document workflows come with some specific challenges, including:
- Volume, when a high number of documents demands reliable templates and watertight processes to maintain your high standards
- Security, to protect the sensitive data in documents like contracts, proposals, and financial reports
- Versioning, as document sharing creates plenty of opportunities for crossed wires
- Storage, to ensure you can recall your documents when you need to refer to them later
In this post, I’ll consider all these concerns and show you five software options for building secure, scalable, and sustainable workflows to handle every type of document your company creates.
Essential features of document workflow software
Unlike some of the other workflows you’ll use as you manage your projects, document workflows usually rely on the same specific tools at each stage. The best document workflow software combines these tools so you can produce consistent, compliant work without jumping between different apps.
- Initiation: If document workflows have one advantage, it’s that they’re easy to kick off with a template. But even when that template is foolproof, you’ll need a system to gather and enter your data if you want your workflow to start smoothly.
- Execution: Document workflows are collaborative, often relying on input from different specialists on your team. To manage this without introducing errors into your work, you’ll need a clear, secure strategy for file sharing within your workflow.
- Approval: When your document nears the finish line, you’ll check it against your criteria, note the feedback for auditing and performance checks, and maybe even send it for a signature. All of these approval workflow stages can create bottlenecks without the right tools.
- Closing: Perhaps more than any other type of workflow output, your final documents need to be stored logically at the close of the process. This maintains your records and creates a paper trail. All good document workflow software should include ways to route your files automatically so you can standardize this process.
Document workflow software can support you from the moment you open a new template to the moment you save the final version, and even in the months and years that follow. And, when you’re dealing with complex documents or when you need to scale up your process, a tailored document workflow built into your software might be the solution your team needs.
The first tool on this list is our software, Wrike.
1. Wrike: Create custom workflows for all your documents
Wrike is a versatile, customizable work management platform with all the features to build, manage, and monitor your document workflows. If you work with concurrent, overlapping, or complex document workflows, Wrike has the power and flexibility to boost your productivity and keep your work on track.
Below, I’ll explain how.
Streamline document creation with templates
When you manage a large number of documents, especially in different formats, you need a process that speeds up your work without compromising on quality.
One of the easiest ways to do this is by creating templates for the types of documents you regularly work with. While it’s possible to build fillable, branded document templates in everything from Google Docs to Adobe Creative Suite, a template document task in Wrike will support you even after you’ve created and entered your data, streamlining the entire process.
Think of it this way: each upcoming document could exist as a line in your to-do list. You’ll call up the template, make a copy, enter the data, convert it to PDF, and share it by email. But in contrast, a document task in Wrike gives you:
- A task card to track through your workflow stages, for example, on a Kanban board showing all your upcoming tasks
- Quick access to the latest version of the document, which is always attached to the card
- An overview of the upcoming tasks and deadlines for the document
- An easy method of contacting the team member responsible for the document at each stage of the workflow, without duplicating the file or even leaving Wrike
These templated document workflows give you complete visibility into the entire process and help you schedule your workload more accurately. Plus, when you manage all your documents with the same standard system, you can tweak your method when you notice areas for improvement.
Find out more about creating custom item types for document workflows.
Power smooth collaboration between all your team members
When your documents require input from different team members or departments, Wrike keeps you on the same page. Instead of sharing different versions of the file by email — and all the delays and confusion that can cause — you can view the latest document in real time in one shared workspace.
This is made possible with a feature we call cross-tagging. When a task or file is cross-tagged, it can exist in multiple areas of your Wrike workspace without being duplicated. This ensures that anyone who needs access can retrieve it without delays. Any edits or comments made are immediately visible to everyone with access, keeping the entire team aligned and up to date.
This streamlined system eliminates the frustration of editing together. Even if your team works in different locations and time zones, you can feel like you’re working side by side.
Create seamless approval workflows for all your documents
Toward the end of any workflow, you’ll need to check and rubber-stamp your work, or send it to someone else with the authority to sign off.
With Wrike, you can create a custom approval workflow with as many stages as you need to create the final version of your document. By granting approval authority to certain team members or job roles and delegating document tasks to them, you establish clear accountability for the final stages of your workflow and ensure that none of your tasks are overlooked.
Whenever a document is ready for approval, it appears in the approver’s workload overview. This helps them prioritize and plan their work efficiently. The task card lets them view the document, suggest changes, discuss the job, or simply approve it with as little as a click. 
For example:
- The Marketing Architects team took their approval time from one day to 20 minutes
- The OSF Healthcare team are completing their tasks 50% faster
- Aerotek shaved a week and a half off its planning cycle
Even if your approval workflow involves sending documents to people outside Wrike, it’s easy to share your files and get them signed off. By integrating your email, your requests will land in their inbox and their responses will appear automatically as comments on the task card.
Find your documents in seconds
For teams handling a large number of documents, organization is key. With a completely customizable, shareable folder structure, Wrike can keep all your document workflow outcomes in check.
Your Wrike workspace includes shared spaces, folders, and subfolders, all nested neatly inside one another to make it quick and simple to find your documents in the hierarchy. To give a real-world example, your recruitment space could contain folders for each department and subfolders for job roles with applications, contracts, and onboarding documents.
When you complete your work on a document-based task in Wrike, you can send it straight to the appropriate folder, where it can be accessed by anyone with permission to view the folder contents. This makes it incredibly easy to recall the file when you need it later.
With Wrike, I am able to track and monitor all of my projects in one place. If asked about one of my projects, I can instantly go into Wrike and give them an update within 30 seconds.
Lisa Matthews, Project Manager
However you store your files, every Wrike plan offers enterprise-grade security. Wrike is HIPPA, GDPR, and CCPA compliant; your data is continuously backed up and encrypted; and you can change the permission levels in your workspace whenever you need to.
Bonus: Cutting-edge document workflow automation
When you’re comparing your software options, it’s also vital to recognize what workflow automation can bring to the table. From initial data entry to final routing, document workflows can be manual and laborious. Automating your workflow stages saves time and reduces the number of errors that creep into your process. Wrike’s Work Intelligence® AI features make it easy to identify opportunities to automate your workflow, and implementing these automations requires just a few clicks.
- Generative AI for document creation: From editing content to match your brand’s tone to creating project plan documents from your meeting notes, Wrike can quickly build your first document draft.
- Dynamic request forms: By extracting data from your intake forms and automatically kicking off a workflow tailored to the task, Wrike can save you valuable time at the beginning of each new workflow.
- Automated reminders: Wrike automatically reminds your team when their documents are due and notifies them when their input is requested, reducing the need for internal emails and status meetings by as much as 90%.
- Instant routing to your project folders: Close your workflows with confidence, as your final approval routes your files automatically to the correct folder in your Wrike workspace with a single click.
- Automation suggestions for continuous improvement: Based on your historical performance and work patterns, Wrike helps you identify even more opportunities to automate your workflow and produce your next documents more efficiently.
With Wrike’s exhaustive list of app integrations, you can bring every one of the tools you use into your workflow stages. When you close the gaps in your process, you can work more efficiently, securely, and consistently across all the document workflows you create.
Read more about Wrike’s document workflow automation.
Wrike pricing:
Wrike has pricing plans for every team. Whether you’re just getting started or you’re ready to work with the most advanced enterprise tools, you can try free for 14 days, with no credit card required.
- Free plan: For unlimited users
- Team plan: $10 per user per month
- Business plan: $24.80 per user per month
- Enterprise and Pinnacle plans: Custom pricing
Wrike is used every day by global companies like Electrolux, Fitbit, Texas Rangers, and Sony Pictures Television. Join 2.4 million users and find out how Wrike can optimize your business processes today.
I’ll admit, though, that some document workflows can be upgraded without switching to an entirely new work management system. If you’re not in a position to switch up your software stack or if you only need a solution for one part of your document workflow (like e-signatures or collaborative editing), you could also consider the following tools.
2. Docusign: Secure e-signatures to close your document workflow
Many document workflows end by sending the file to a stakeholder to be signed remotely. Docusign is one of the leading e-signature platforms on the market, making it faster and more secure to close your document workflows. It’s synonymous with signoffs and in recent years, it has expanded into plans that meet the specific legal requirements of industries like real estate.
The platform aims to help you send, sign, and manage contracts in one place. This won’t cover your entire document workflow, but features like identity verification, comments to review and negotiate contracts, and process analysis can close more of the gaps that might otherwise exist in the final stages of your process.
DocuSign pricing (subject to change):
Here are the headline eSignature plans:
- Personal plan (for individuals): $10 per month (billed annually)
- Standard plan (for small to medium teams): $25 per month (billed annually)
- Business Pro plan: $40 per month (billed annually)
- Enhanced plans: Custom pricing
3. Ziflow: Document approval workflows with automatic version control
Ziflow is an approval workflow tool designed for creative teams. Many of the examples on its website are of images and videos, but it also supports Word and PDF documents. If your documents are designed and typeset (for example, if you produce project proposal booklets for your potential clients with graphs and branding), this tool can also help you pinpoint the corrections before you go to print.
For document workflows, Ziflow’s version management features can take some frustration out of the end stages of your workflows. If you’re viewing an old version of a file, you’ll see a pop-up notification offering to redirect you to the newer version. And, like Wrike, Ziflow stores all the discussions associated with your documents so you can refer back to them later.
The main drawback of this system is that it can be expensive to manage complex approval workflows in Ziflow. Even on the Pro plan, you can only include three stages in your workflow process.
Ziflow pricing (subject to change):
- Free plan
- Standard plan: $199 per month (billed annually)
- Pro plan: $329 per month (billed annually)
- Enterprise plan: Custom pricing
4. Avokaado: Integrations and storage for critical documents
Avokaado is a document management system that includes AI automations. The platform focuses on secure document management for contracts, with use cases in procurement, HR, and legal operations. As such, Avokaado integrates with a lot of the other tools these teams will use, including Salesforce and Bamboo HR.
This is a more comprehensive document workflow tool than some of the others on this list. It gives you a workspace for an overview of your work in progress, along with additional tools for document signing (Avokaado Sign), document management (Avokaado Drive), and managing integrations (Avokaado Connect).
Avokaado pricing (subject to change):
Avokaado’s pricing is broken down into:
- Free trial
- Company workspace
- On-premises solution
But to find out how much you can expect to pay at each pricing tier, you’d have to contact Avokaado to request access, book a demo, or get a custom quote.
5. Dropbox Paper: Collaborative editing and file management
Paper is a newer offering from the file-sharing platform Dropbox. A cloud-based workspace where you can store and work on your documents in one place, it acts as an alternative to Google Drive and Google Docs.
As well as storage and collaborative editing, Paper lets you create templates for your commonly used document formats, delegate tasks by assigning ownership, and follow files to get updates on their progress. In terms of your confidential documents, Paper has the same level of security as Dropbox (with some limitations). It is, for example, HIPAA compliant.
When you can keep your editing, sharing, storage, and document backup in one account, you can remove several gaps from your document workflow and start to build a central resource for your team.
However, at scale, you’ll need to think seriously about how to structure your folders so you can easily locate your documents. For example, your team might need some training to make sure they’re storing completed files in the correct location in Dropbox.
Dropbox Paper pricing (subject to change):
When you have a Dropbox account (even a free plan), Dropbox Paper is included.
- Plus plan: $9.99 per month for a single user
- Essentials plan: $16.58 per month for a single user
- Business plan: $15 per user per month for 3+ users
- Business Plus plan: $24 per user per month for 3+ users
Secure, reliable document workflows with Wrike
The benefits of document workflow software are clear to see:
- Faster completion rates, as Wrike streamlines your workflow, keeps your team in the loop, and helps to eliminate bottlenecks
- Increased efficiency, as you remove more manual tasks from document creation and data input
- True collaboration, as you view, edit, and discuss documents in a shared space
- Quality outputs every time, as you put documents through the same rigorous process and approval checks
- Peace of mind, as you benefit from customizable storage systems, permissions, and data encryption as you share and save your files
With Wrike’s tailored integrated document workflows, you can build a system that takes you from setup to approval without friction and scales to handle as many different workflows as you need.
Find out what Wrike’s market-leading workflow and automation tools can do for your business processes today.
