Document library & search inside files
Every certificate, photo and pack, findable
Document management for tradesmen: a library with folders, expiry tracking, photo and video capture from the phone, files attached to jobs and customers, and search that reads inside PDFs, Office files and scanned images.
30-day free trial · No card required · Web app today, mobile & Windows apps in pilot
- Web Open nowBeta
Coming soon
Coming soon
Coming soon
Included onEvery plan, including Free
Paperwork in a trade business is not one folder; it is certificates that expire, photos of the job, the customer's signed quote, the van's MOT and the insurance schedule. TradeYoke's Document Library files all of it against the thing it belongs to, tracks expiry dates and warns you, and indexes the contents so you can search for a boiler serial number or a circuit reference and find the certificate that mentions it.
What it does
Document library & search inside files in TradeYoke
Folders and filing
Documents file against a job, a customer, a vehicle or the business, in a folder, with a category.
Expiry tracking
Set an expiry and the library warns you; the dashboard tile lists what has expired or is about to.
Photo and video capture
Take a photo or video on the phone and it files against the job.
Search inside files
Full-text search over PDFs, Word and Excel files, plain text and HTML, and OCR over scanned images.
Trade paperwork files itself
Certificates, quotes, invoices and receipts generated by the app land in the library automatically.
On the customer's record too
A document filed against a job also shows on that customer.
The real thing
As it looks today
A real screen from the product, not a mock-up. The same screen is on the phone app.
Filed, not lost
The paperwork finds itself
Job done
Filed against the job automatically
Certificates and records file themselves against the job and the customer the moment they're signed.
Every certificate, filed and searchable 
Months later
Found in seconds, not folders
Search reads inside PDFs and scans, so a certificate from months ago turns up in seconds.
Nothing to dig through by hand
More of it, as it looks today
The details
Also worth knowing
- Self-healing indexFiles that missed indexing are picked up by a backlog sweep.
- Receipts and expensesReceipts captured for expenses live in the same library.
- Sent-status on documentsWhen a document is sent to a customer, the library copy is stamped with when and to whom.
- Files are checked, not just trustedEvery upload is checked against what it actually is rather than its name or the browser's say-so, and a file only opens as a PDF preview when its contents really are one — so a disguised file can't be opened as something it isn't.
- A documents tab that follows youThe coloured documents tab on the edge of the screen opens the documents of whatever you are looking at: the job, the customer or the vehicle, each in its own colour, or your company's library everywhere else. It works on a phone as well as a computer, and opens full screen when you have a lot of paperwork to get through.
- A documents button that stays out of the wayA slimmer documents button shows a red or amber dot when paperwork has expired or is about to. Searching documents uses the same search box as the rest of TradeYoke, and New folder now uses a plus icon.
- Sensitive documents stay lockedSensitive documents stay locked on the server until the right password is entered, and the unlock lasts 30 minutes. Too many wrong tries locks the password for 15 minutes.
Questions
Asked about document library & search inside files
What file types can it search inside?
PDF, Word, Excel and PowerPoint, plain text, HTML, and images (scans and photos) through OCR.
Where are the files stored?
In your business's own storage container, alongside your other data.
Can I take a photo from the phone app?
Yes, on iPhone, Android and Windows; it files straight against the job.
Is it safe to open a document a customer sent in?
Yes — TradeYoke checks what a file actually is before deciding how to preview it, rather than trusting its name or file extension, so a disguised file can't run as something it isn't.
Can I see a job's documents from my phone?
Yes. On a phone TradeYoke shows a slim coloured documents tab on the edge of the screen. On a job it opens that job's documents, on a customer or a vehicle theirs, and elsewhere your company's, with a switch between the record and the company library. You can open it full screen.
How do I tell which documents I'm looking at?
By colour and name. The documents tab changes colour for a job, a customer, a vehicle or the company, and its title names the record it belongs to, so a job's certificate is never confused with the customer's own paperwork.
How does TradeYoke protect sensitive documents?
Sensitive documents in TradeYoke stay locked on the server until the right password is entered, and the unlock lasts 30 minutes. Too many wrong tries locks the password for 15 minutes, so a guess cannot be repeated endlessly.
See also: the Paperwork & compliance guide
See also: how searching inside documents was built
Try document library & search inside files on your own work
30 days of Essentials free, no card. Import your customers and see it against a real week.