Document Management Software: AI Visibility Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Microsoft SharePoint led the Document Management Software category in October 2026 with a valid recommendation coverage of 50.1%, ahead of Box at 40.2% by 9.9 percentage points. FileHold posted the largest coverage increase since the July 2026 baseline, rising from 1.0% in July 2026 to 5.3% in October 2026, up 4.3 percentage points. Laserfiche posted the largest decline over the same span, falling from 34.5% in July 2026 to 22.5% in October 2026, down 12.0 percentage points.

October 2026 recorded significant movement for six of ten tracked brands relative to the July 2026 baseline: five decliners and one riser. Most decliners moved higher in the single month from September 2026 to October 2026, but not by enough to recover their losses since the start of the series. Microsoft SharePoint rose for a second consecutive month, gaining 5.0 points from September 2026 to October 2026, and its October 2026 coverage of 50.1% was the highest of any month since July 2026.

The October 2026 benchmark began with 800 prompt-surface observations and produced 395 qualified observations after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the six canonical AI/search surface families with at least one qualified observation: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. Both months recorded observations across all six families. Recommendation-shaped answer share rose sharply in October 2026, to 57.5% from 29.6% in September 2026, while the valid recommendation shortlist share was broadly level with July 2026.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Document Management Software

Research Scope and Qualification

Questions This Section Answers

• What was measured in the October 2026 benchmark, and how many qualified observations produced the results?
• Why do brand-level percentages use qualified observations instead of the raw 800 prompt-surface observations?

The public benchmark uses qualified observations as its denominator, not raw prompt volume. July 2026 produced 385 qualified observations across the ten tracked brands; October 2026 produced 395 qualified observations.

Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection. Link AI Visibility Market Discovery Methodology.

Current Brand Standings

Questions This Section Answers

• Which document management software brands lead on valid recommendation coverage in October 2026?
• How do presence rate, top-three rate, and rank-one rate differ for the leading brands?

This table is the primary current-month benchmark view, sorted by valid recommendation coverage.

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: share of qualified observations in which the brand is mentioned at all.
• Valid recommendation coverage: share of qualified observations in which the brand appears in a valid recommendation, the primary metric for this benchmark.
• Top-three rate: share of qualified observations in which the brand appears among the top three recommended options.
• Rank-one rate: share of qualified observations in which the brand is the first or primary recommendation.
• Net sentiment: share of positive mentions minus negative mentions among all mentions, on a scale from -1 to 1.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Visibility Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Questions This Section Answers

• Which brands recorded genuine coverage shifts since the July 2026 baseline, and which stayed within normal variation?
• How large were FileHold's gain and Laserfiche's decline in valid recommendation coverage?

Six brands registered moves beyond normal month-to-month variation between July 2026 and October 2026: FileHold rose, while Box, Laserfiche, M-Files, Microsoft SharePoint, and Revver (eFileCabinet) declined. The declines for most of those brands were concentrated in the July-to-August and August-to-September steps, and several posted gains in October 2026 that were themselves within normal month-to-month variation. Dropbox Business was the only brand whose prior-to-current move was itself beyond normal variation, rising 6.5 points from September 2026 to October 2026, though its baseline-to-current position remained 1.9 points lower.

Largest Increase: FileHold

FileHold's valid recommendation coverage rose from 1.0% in July 2026 to 5.3% in October 2026, up 4.3 percentage points, the largest increase of any tracked brand across the series. The rise was flagged as a genuine shift rather than routine variation. Its presence rate moved from 1.8% in July 2026 to 7.6% in October 2026. FileHold's coverage has now risen in each of the three months since July 2026, reaching 1.1% in August 2026, 2.8% in September 2026, and 5.3% in October 2026. Its absolute figures remain small: 21 valid recommendations, a 1.0% top-three rate representing 4 observations, and a 0.2% rank-one rate representing 1 observation.

Largest Decline: Laserfiche

Laserfiche's valid recommendation coverage fell from 34.5% in July 2026 to 22.5% in October 2026, a decline of 12.0 percentage points, the largest of any tracked brand across the series. The decline was flagged as a genuine shift rather than routine month-to-month variation. Its presence rate moved from 48.8% in July 2026 to 36.5% in October 2026, also a move beyond normal variation. Laserfiche's top-three rate moved from 10.7% to 8.1% over the same span, and its rank-one rate from 2.3% to 1.8%, both within normal variation.

Other Significant Decliners

Box's valid recommendation coverage fell from 49.6% in July 2026 to 40.2% in October 2026, down 9.4 percentage points, with presence moving from 71.2% to 64.1%. Its single-month move from September 2026 to October 2026 was a gain of 6.4 points, within normal variation. M-Files declined from 46.8% in July 2026 to 38.7% in October 2026. Its top-three rate fell from 26.5% to 18.7% and its rank-one rate from 6.5% to 3.0%, both beyond normal variation. Microsoft SharePoint fell from 59.0% in July 2026 to 50.1% in October 2026 but remained the category leader and has risen in each of the two months since September 2026. Revver (eFileCabinet) fell from 17.7% in July 2026 to 10.6% in October 2026, with presence falling from 23.6% to 12.4%.

Stable Brands

DocuWare, Dropbox Business, OpenText, and Templafy registered baseline-to-current changes within normal month-to-month variation. DocuWare's coverage moved from 43.6% in July 2026 to 37.7% in October 2026, though its top-three rate rose from 20.3% to 24.8% and its rank-one rate from 5.2% to 6.8%. OpenText moved from 15.3% to 16.0%, rising in each of the two months since September 2026. Templafy recorded no valid recommendations in October 2026, unchanged from September 2026.

Category Leader: Microsoft SharePoint

Microsoft SharePoint led the category by valid recommendation coverage in October 2026 at 50.1%, ahead of Box at 40.2%, M-Files at 38.7%, and DocuWare at 37.7%. Though the leader declined 8.9 points across the series, no other brand was within 9.9 points in October 2026, and Microsoft SharePoint's rank-one rate of 24.1% was more than three times that of the next closest brand.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Questions This Section Answers

• Which brands appear most often in the top three positions, and how does that differ from first-position rates?
• Why can similar coverage still hide very different rank-one results between Microsoft SharePoint and DocuWare?

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. This table shows how often the leading brands appear in the top three and at rank one.

Microsoft SharePoint's 24.1% rank-one rate is more than three times that of the next closest brand, DocuWare at 6.8%, even though DocuWare's 24.8% top-three rate sits close to the leader's. Relatively close coverage can still hide substantially different first-position rates.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

Questions This Section Answers

• Which buyer-intent classes are represented in the current qualified observations, and which are missing?
• What does it mean that no Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison observations qualified in either month?

All qualified observations in both months fell into the Brand Recommendation class.

The current public series measures brand-recommendation discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Evidence and Source Layer

Questions This Section Answers

• What source types and domains were most frequently cited across AI platform responses in this measurement period?
• Does a cited source prove that the source caused a brand recommendation?

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and, where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure:

• Market share or sales attribution
• Every possible AI response to a query
• Organic-search ranking positions
• Social media mention volume
• Private or sponsored channels
• Causality from a metric movement alone

Top 10 Cited Domains

Across all AI platform responses in this measurement period, 5,766 citations were observed across 1,976 unique domains.

Citations were broadly distributed rather than concentrated: the top 10 domains together accounted for roughly one fifth of all citations, and the remaining share was spread across more than 1,900 additional domains. No tracked brand's own domain appeared in the top 10. The most-cited sources skew toward general reference and community platforms such as youtube.com, reddit.com, and en.wikipedia.org, alongside analyst and review destinations including gartner.com, g2.com, and spiceworks.com; microsoft.com was the only vendor-owned domain in the top 10.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Visibility Market Discovery Index tracks how AI and search surfaces present brands during discovery and consideration. It measures presence, recommendation coverage, placement, and sentiment across six canonical surface families.

• AI Visibility Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Visibility Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Visibility Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Visibility Authority Value

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