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Quite some time ago, I reviewed a nifty archiving program called Digital ArcHound. An amazing piece of software for preserving all those important documents. Over the past several months, the company (and user base) behind Digital ArcHound have been beta testing an updated version, and it has now been released to the general public.
Introducing the renamed Digital ArcHound, DA Document Manager 2010
First, we have the official announcement:
OVEIDO, Florida – January 7, 2010 – Group Seven Technology today announced its release of DA Document Manager™ 2010 Edition which will be available to download on January 26, 2010. The new DA Document Manager, formerly known as Digital ArcHound™, will be available first for the increasingly popular Windows Home Server.
Originally developed in 2004 for private corporations, Digital ArcHound™ Document Manager redesigned for Windows Home Server users since 2007. The new release takes on the new name DA Document Manager as it embraces the latest ribbon technology. Ribbon technology has been made popular by Microsoft Office 2007 including streamlined features with quicker response time and a whole new level of intuitiveness.
Nearly a year of design and new feature enhancements will prove this release to be the most relevant to the general public’s new embrace of “going paperless” and a “green lifestyle”. “We listened in detail to our current client base”. The 2010 release will boast many enhancements that users have requested.
DA Document Manager provides businesses and individuals both with a well thought out and versatile document archiving software application that makes a nice compliment to DA Document Manager Internal Viewer, Adobe’s FREE Acrobat Reader or any other PDF viewer setup for the Internet Explorer Browser.Some of the new features include:
Completely redesigned user interface featuring new Office style ribbon technology
Ability to append or add to an existing PDF file
Password protection for individual PDF files
META Tag embedding for PDF files
Improved management for categories and subcategories
Smart category selection with the familiar auto fill feature
Direct Import Tool for large numbers of PDF files
Recovery Tool to allow users to recreate their Digital ArcHound Vault database“We don’t want to just provide users with another way to archive similar to all those currently available, we wanted to reinvent the process solely with the end-user in mind.”
Founded in 1998, Group Seven Technology has pioneered a number of the software innovations, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
Digital ArcHound is a registered trademark of Group Seven Technology, Inc. in the United States of America and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Note to Editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Digital ArcHound, please visit the Digital ArcHound Web page at http://www.DigitalArcHound.com.
When they say “new Office style ribbon technology”, I can’t help but think that it will soon become the “old Office style ribbon technology” once Microsoft releases Office 2010. Of course, it still looks quite nice!
26. January 2010 at 12:30 pm
Great that the new version is out but… I can't find any info on upgrade conditions for existing DA users, neither any info on how to upgrade from the previous version to the new version. Even more, you can ask a link for a demo download but the the link they send via shareit.com doesn't work.
All this makes me think twice to risk an upgrade and, most of all, pay once again the full price for a program license. I guess that a more professional approach wouldn't be a bad idea for groupSeven.
Nic
26. January 2010 at 2:02 pm
I read on their site before they released the new version if you had bought it within the past couple months or so the upgrade was free. Send them an email and find out for sure. I will probably be picking up this program here in the near future.
29. January 2010 at 7:55 pm
Nic, the purchase page has a link for existing uses to upgrade…it's actually in red http://www.archound.com/page983.aspx
30. January 2010 at 5:23 am
I guess they have added it afterwards. Thank you for pointing that out for me.
Nic
29. January 2010 at 9:45 pm
There is a reduced price upgrade available and it's well worth it. I have used the original since it first came out, but this upgrade really cuts the mustard.
The other thing is this company's fantastic customer support. I had been on the Beta test panel and everything was Ok until RC1 and final release – then I couldn't install the client software. An email one evening resulted in a teamview link the next evening and within about 30 mins they had found the registry error and put it right. Their support is absolutely brilliant, so use their software with confidence.
26. January 2010 at 2:13 pm
The link they sent me for the trial doesn't work.
26. January 2010 at 3:23 pm
I also have the problem with the dead link, but if you remove the word beta. from the beginning of the link, it will work. But again they must have made a mistake because the download is not DA2010 but a support program.
26. January 2010 at 10:32 am
This is the kind of software that I will definitely find useful on my WHS, all I need now is the 64bit WHS and I’ll be completely happy.
26. January 2010 at 3:58 pm
Ok, the link now mysteriously works. But… Norton 2010 quarantined it as a virus.
"digitalarchound-whs.msi contained threat Reser.Reputation.1"
Staying away from this one…
26. January 2010 at 4:06 pm
That same virus was being reported in Home Server SMART. Me thinks that Norton has gone off the deep end again. SOP for Norton…
26. January 2010 at 4:08 pm
I scaned it with Avast 5.0, looks clean
26. January 2010 at 4:11 pm
Download link ok. Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010 didn't find any virus.
26. January 2010 at 4:29 pm
They have made some really nice changes. Does anyone know if it includes integratation with Windows Desktop Search? There is iFilter plugin that developers can use to expose their database to WDS. I prefer to use WDS since it offers a common way to do all my searches.
26. January 2010 at 4:33 pm
DA2010 has a thread over at http://www.mediasmartserver.net/forums/viewtopic…. maybe you can post there. Hope I'm not stepping on any toes Jim.
26. January 2010 at 5:15 pm
np! We are all one big happy family of WHS enthusiasts.
26. January 2010 at 2:20 pm
I take it the version for WHS is not for headless servers (I have the Acer easyStore). I currently use omnipage to create searchable PDF's on my desktop which I store on my WHS, but I am always on the lookout for a more streamlined solution. I'm just not sure if this is it. I would be interested in seeing a good review of this product.
26. January 2010 at 3:31 pm
http://www.wegotserved.com/2009/02/15/add-in-revi...
27. January 2010 at 12:52 pm
What appears to be a valuable add-in to my digital home, it turns out to be a nightmare installation procedure. Though the add-in installed correctly, allowing to to “test database connection” with “Database Webservice OK” end result, the client appears to be UNABLE to connect successfully “.
Having used, computer name, domain name and IP address in the Home Server Name box, the end result is a repetitive password request and an ultimate “WebSevice Offline” message. All in All, an area which require more development thought before the program can be of any use!
There is no reason why it should fail since I’m in the LAN and moreover, even the remote access to WHS work perfectly OK! If these functions work OK, I fail to recognize why DA fails to connect. Surely, some development still required to make it a truly sales product!
27. January 2010 at 1:14 pm
I ran into a similar problem a while back, when I uninstalled the addin it left behind the DAWebService in IIS. Try uninstalling the addin and then go RDC to your WHS and open IIS Manager and look under Default Web Sites and see if it's still there, if it is, delete it then reinstall the addin.
If it doesn't work, you can always try the link above and post your issue with archound.
27. January 2010 at 1:10 pm
When it asks for your WHS, just fill in the name of it and when you have to fill out the username, click cancel. The connection will be made without authentication.
Nic
27. January 2010 at 3:09 pm
Not very impressed, after installing it ive been notified that the trial has ended and that the service dosent have permision to run the database.
Me thinks il be leaving this add-in for some time, if it dosent work out the box then theres no garentee there wont be problems down the line.
28. January 2010 at 4:14 am
I installed the trial and it works like a champ. The only complaints I have so far is that the "monitored folder" option only supports 1 custom location (in addition to the defaults), so you have to remove some of them in order to add multiple locations (really only neccessary if you have a complex storage setup). The other side to this is the user guide clearly states you can use a UNC path, however when you try to use one it pops up with a handy message saying "you cannot use UNC, you must use a mapped drive letter".
Anyone know if it supports full-text PDF indexing? The advanced search options suggest it does, but it's greyed out. The user guide also suggests it's usable, however there's no indication anywhere of when or how full-text PDFs are usable.
I'm crossing my fingers that I can replace NeatWorks with this…
29. January 2010 at 7:39 pm
Hello, I am trying out the software on my WHS. I continue to recieve an error message that says " Digital ArcHound Archive Folder is not accessible on hpserver" Has anyone had any problems like this? Please help. Im still in the trial period and would like to evaluate it before i buy. and Archound has no tech support to call… only email… which they have not responded and it has been 3 days. and 4 emails.
29. January 2010 at 8:53 pm
Not completely sure here, I believe the user selects where the Archive folder is. It usually is in the Documents shared folder unless you redirected it. Then you would have to make sure that the User has permission to read/write under the Users Tab in the Console. You might also try changing the location of the Digital ArcHound Archive Folder in the DA2010 addin on the Console and select Relocate Archives.
12. March 2010 at 4:26 pm
Hello
Did you ever get this figured out. I am having the same problem.
Thanks
Eric
11. February 2010 at 3:13 pm
Been using the new program for a couple of weeks and my wife and I love it! Had a minor glitch early on and support was quick to respond and resolve. We love the new interface!
13. February 2010 at 9:18 am
As a follow-up to my earlier comment above, I was able to sort out the connection issue through ArcHound Customer Support using Teamviewer. and thus able to progress further evaluation. All in all a very interesting add-in which unfortunately had to be squashed due to the following reasons:
1) Installation is not a straightforward plug and play but merely plug and "pray" since the connection routine can't handle a system hosting multiple Web sites.
2) All files which entitle for archiving reside in a self explanatory windows explorer folder structure. I would have liked to see that the application retained this structure in their database reference instead of dumping the archive file in a general “vault” .
3) Instead of converting everything to pdf, I would have liked to see that different viewers allowed retention of original file extension.
4) Number 2 above is in particular relevant since once you have deleted a file out of the windows explorer folder with a file extension other than pdf, the (new) files detection routine does not pick this up, retaining an archived copy for which there is no original anymore on file. In case the original holds a pdf file extension, one would be alerted that the file has been deleted, which it should do allowing to clean-up the archive.
5) Unless I’m wrong due to testing over LAN, it would suggest that the application can’t be used over WAN.
If the above could have DA's further attention, the application could turn out to be a very valuable asset. Given DA's claim that all their enhancements are a result of "user feedback", realization could turn out to be promising. In the meantime, it is of little value.
13. February 2010 at 11:04 am
A note to existing customers of the old version of Digital Archound – unless you specifically need some of the new features (which are not particularly revolutionary) don`t bother upgrading. Its not worth the money.
New versin looks pretty, but thats about it.
Its still excellent software, just pretty much the same as the old vesion.
13. February 2010 at 11:34 am
Maybe you'd better let the existing customers choose that for themselves?
13. February 2010 at 11:45 am
Im simply posting my own personal opinion, based on my personal experiences. Thats what these boards are for.
13. February 2010 at 11:54 am
I think there is a difference in giving your own opinion about a program and telling people what they should and what they shouldn't do. And I know very well what these boards are for.
13. February 2010 at 12:14 pm
You`re entitled to your opinion. As am I. Petty flame wars over nothing don`t help anyone.
20. March 2010 at 4:40 pm
Sent this to Archound tech support this morning.. what a PIA…
>>>
Trying out your whs product and all I'm getting on my client is that the archive folder is inaccessible on the server… The client appears to have a connection to the server, but the archive folder itself in not accessible… I've gone into the WHS console and made sure the folder I"m using "public" is not secured.. I've set read, write, display authority for all users.. I"ve even gone into the archound/vault path and defined explicit "everyone" is allowed to do everything permissiosn on the folders.. yet still your software client says the archive folder is not accessible..
I checked your user guide and there is nothing on this error.
I checked your support site and there is nothing on this error.
There are two users that have this same issue here… both of which appear to remain unresolved… http://www.wegotserved.com/2010/01/26/add-in-upda...
Get it together guys…
Would appreciate assistance.. pretty much ready to toss this one in the can…