About Filing Cabinets and Tips to Choose

A systematic filing cabinet takes care of filing paper documents and makes it an easy and uncomplicated job. Today, filing cabinets are built to look attractive and can be custom built to suit or match the existing décor and office furniture. Filing cabinets can be horizontally wide or can be tall boys as well, to make maximum use of space.

Filing cabinets have become an integral part of office furniture and any and every company requires paper work to be filed every day. Many companies have separate filing departments that take care of the thousands of files and documents that move around in the company. Before choosing the filing cabinet, it is important to decide what kind of documents are to be filed, as this need will decide the size, type and security required in a cabinet.

Some sizes of documents that you will require specific sized cabinets for:

• Letter size documents (8.5×11 inches)

• Legal size documents (8.5×14 inches)

• Odd size papers (11×17 inches, etc)

• Blue prints and drawings (up to 36×48 inches)

• Cards (example: 4×6 inch card)

Look of the cabinet

Executive offices require the cabinets to be made from wood to give that elegant look. The filing cabinets in other areas, like, say, with the secretary, needs to match the décor of the secretary’s office space or this will only stand out. The filing cabinets in back rooms can be made of re-enforced steel, which look stylish but don’t necessarily match the décor.

Security

Some files are top secret and thus require to be kept under lock and key. Such filing cabinets need special locks and a code system (if there is a need). Filing cabinets also need to be fire proof, as they hold combustible material, like paper. Also these papers can be very important and so should be protected under most measures.

Mobility

If you will require moving the filing cabinets around, then you will need to buy cabinets with casters. They are basically small wheels that allow them to be moved around freely. Make sure the casters are the ones specified for the flooring used in the office.

Frequency of Retrieval of files

Some documents needs to be accessed everyday and some are not touched for months. In such cases the need will determine the type of filing cabinet you will require. Like:

• Filed and Retrieved Frequently: You will require open shelf cabinets

• Filed Frequently but Retrieved Rarely: For such cases the solution is a vertical cabinet, for example, accounting statements and invoices, etc.

• Filed Rarely but Retrieved Frequently: For this you will require lateral file cabinets, like the ones used to keep student records or service records.

• Filed and Retrieved Rarely: For this you will require an inexpensive vertical files cabinet or some office fitouts or you can even store them in cardboard storage boxes.