nextPage® digital thread™ service

The Digital Thread tracking service uses patent-pending algorithms to allow users to track and manage documents moving through disparate systems, including email, hard drives, servers, removable media—and even machines that do not have NextPage software installed.

When a document is saved, the Digital Thread service starts “weaving” the document’s metadata into a useful description of the processes and changes through which the document has passed. It can do so by embedding a small amount of opaque metadata, or simply by hashing the file. These are like the file's DNA. They allow the service to determine whether and how any two files are genetically related.

As the document evolves through its chaotic lifecycle, the Digital Thread tracking stores information about each version. This enables the document’s identity to survive location and filename changes as it travels through a multitude of different systems and across organizational boundaries. At any time, the Digital Thread tracking service stores a comprehensive view of where the document is and has been.