Document Check-out and Check-in
A true document management system allows only one person to edit a document at any one time. SharePoint’s check- out/check-in prevents multiple versions of a document from being created by multiple users at the same time, saving unnecessary confusion.
Version tracking
SharePoint keeps track of changes made to a document. You can compare versions of your work at any time to see what was done. Version tracking means that you will never lose your valuable work and can always incorporate content from old versions into new versions.
Virtual document review
SharePoint provides inline discussion and review tools, so that reviewers and editors in multiple locations can make comments and edits that can be seen by all other authorised reviewers, and all from within the document itself. This means that your editors will not need to continually switch from email or instant messaging to discuss document changes.
Central document repository
A central location for all your employees to store their work eliminates the need for a document to be held in multiple locations (this is what usually happens when a document is distributed by email or stored on the LAN in a shared folder). This prevents version control conflicts, and reduces the need for disk space. In addition, strong backup procedures mean that the risk of data loss is eliminated.
Full-text indexing
Fnding documents in a simple file system is a tedious and often frustrating process. SharePoint indexes the full text of each document in the repository, so that you search on a fragment of text. SharePoint will immediately find the documents containing that fragment.