In the Document Management module, you organize your documents in a hierarchical folder structure. You upload files, store metadata, maintain versions, and assign documents to categories and tags.
Upload a document
Open a folder via the main menu Documents or via the Documents tab in the employee, project, customer, invoice, or quotation view. Click Upload document to store a new document.
The following fields are available – in the order shown in the form:
Name – required, max. 128 characters. Freely chosen display name of the document
Document status – optional, selection of a configured status (e.g., Draft, Approved)
Categories – optional, one or more categories for classification
Tags – optional, tags from the master data list; depending on the setting you may also add new tags
File – required, the file to be uploaded. The maximum file size is displayed in the upload dialog (in the ZEP Subscription typically around 50 MB per file; in the trial version 5 MB)
Note: The fields Document status, Categories, and Tags only appear if at least one entry is configured under Administration > Document Management.
Store external links instead of a file
Instead of a file, you can also store an external reference (URL) – useful for documents that reside in another system (e.g., SharePoint, Confluence, or cloud storage). Click Add link in the toolbar and enter the full URL under Reference. The link appears in Document Management like a document but opens the external address instead of a file.
Create and manage folders
Within each area (general, employee, project, customer), you can create arbitrarily nested folders. Click New subfolder and assign a descriptive Folder name (max. 255 characters).
The new folder is created below the currently opened folder. Permissions are inherited from the parent folder by default and can be adjusted individually after creation.
Folder actions in the right-click menu
Right-clicking on the folder icon opens a context menu with the following actions:
New document – create a document directly in the marked folder
New link – create an external link instead of a file
New subfolder – create a subfolder within the marked folder
Rename – change the folder name
Delete – remove the folder including content after confirmation
Set read permissions or Set write permissions – assign permissions per folder
Copy, Cut, and Paste – move folders including content to another position in the hierarchy
Manage versions
When an existing document is revised, you can upload a new version without overwriting the original:
Open the document and switch to the Versions tab
Click Upload new version
Provide a short Name (required, max. 20 characters, e.g., "v2" or "2026-05")
Select the new file and confirm
The most recently uploaded version is the active version and is displayed by default when the document is opened. Earlier versions remain visible in the version list and can be downloaded via the download icon.
Document actions
The action menu of a document offers the following operations:
Data – view document metadata (see section below)
Versions – open the version list (only for file documents, not for external links)
Download – save the current version of the file locally
Edit – change metadata; for external links also the URL
Move – move the document to another folder (the version history is preserved)
Delete – irrevocably remove the document including all versions
Note: Which actions are visible depends on your permissions on the folder concerned. Without write permission, Edit, Move, and Delete are hidden. Details on permissions can be found in the article Permissions for Documents.
View document data
In the Data tab, you see all properties of the document at a glance:
Name, Storage location, and Folder
File name, File size, and Version
Uploaded on and Created by
Status, Categories, and Tags
Lock a document for editing
If you want to edit a document exclusively, you can lock it in the action menu via Lock for editing. Other employees then see a notice that the document is currently being edited. Use Finish editing to release the document again.
Copy folder structure from an employee
If you want to set up a similar folder structure in the personal employee documents for many employees, you can copy an existing structure as a template – instead of creating each folder individually.
Open the employee documents of an employee who already has the desired structure and select Copy folder structure. In the follow-up dialog, use the user selection to choose the target person, and optionally restrict the selection to a specific department and time range.
Note: The function copies only the folders including their permissions – not the documents they contain. Write permission on the target person's employee documents is required.