Office file cabinets are necessities in the workplace as well as in many home offices. I thought that computers were suppose to cut down on the amount of paper we saved, but it seems like we accumulate even more paper these days. If you haven’t shopped for a filing cabinet in recent years, you’ll be surprised at the amount of options that are available. Here’s an overview of the three kinds of office file cabinets we’re going to discuss here: vertical files, lateral files, and fireproof files.

Vertical file cabinets were the original design. If you have limited wall space, they are a good choice as they take up less wall space than lateral files. Vertical office file cabinets do not accommodate both letter and legal size file folders, so you must select either vertical or lateral cabinets. The other necessary decisions are paint color, depth, pulls (if the brand you are considering has more than one pull style), and the number of drawers (2, 3, 4, or 5).

Lateral file cabinets are the most popular these days and also more versatile than verticals. Many workstations use two drawer file cabinets under work surfaces. Laterals will accommodate both letter and legal size file folders, so it’s not necessary to make that decision. The folders will be arranged either side-to-side or front-to-back in the drawers. There are many choices for these cabinets. The necessary decisions are paint color, edge detail, choice of pull style, depth of cabinet, width (30, 36, or 42 inches), and the number of drawers (2, 3, 4, or 5).

Custom lateral file cabinets are available from some manufacturers, but they are more expensive. They are custom in the sense that you can “build the file” yourself; in other words, you choose each piece from the base to the top. Since there are so many ready made options, it is rare that you would need to go the custom route.

Lateral File Tips:

A five drawer lateral file is more convenient if the top module is a lift up door rather than a pullout drawer as it’s impossible for most people to see inside the top drawer.

For a more finished look you can order laminate or wood tops for lateral files that will match the work surfaces in your cubicle or your desk top.

Fireproof file cabinets are not widely used. However, they do serve a purpose particularly since they double as a safe. The things you need to know about fireproof files is that they are expensive and extremely heavy. If you purchase a large size be prepared to pay a hefty delivery charge.

Purchasing Suggestions For Vertical and Lateral File Cabinets:

Choose high-quality office file cabinets that are made with a thicker grade of steel. This will eliminate warping or bulging cabinets when they are filled to capacity.

Purchase units that allow only one drawer to be open at a time, which will prevent the cabinets from tipping over.

Purchase office file cabinets made by the same manufacturer as the furniture in your office or your workstations/cubicles. There are several reasons why this is important:

• The paint color or wood finish will match perfectly.
• Choose the same edge details and pulls as your furniture.
• All locking drawers can be opened with the same key as long as your furniture dealer orders it that way. It’s called “keyed alike” and insist that your private offices as well as your workstations are ordered “keyed alike.” If you order additional furniture with locking drawers, request lock cores with the same key numbers.

File cabinets come in many sizes, styles and levels of quality. In addition to offering a way to organize and access your documents, file cabinets can also become flexible and useful pieces of furniture that can be used in almost any room of your home or office.

You can buy either metal or wood cabinets file. Wood, specifically solid oak, is the most attractive and durable material to look for. It will last a very long time and be an attractive addition to your home or office.

The many styles of solid wood file cabinets include Mission, Contemporary, and Traditional and come in several standard sizes, which include:

1. Letter sized file cabinets, which generally hold only 8.5″ x 11″ paper, but can also be used for 8.5″ x 11″ legal size files.
2. Legal size file cabinets, which generally hold both 8.5″ x 14″ and 8.5″ x 11″ paper.
3. Lateral file cabinets, which come with 2 or 3 drawers and generally hold 8.5 x 11″ and 8.5″ x 14″ paper.
4. Personal file cabinets that are generally smaller and hold only 8.5 x 11″ letter files

The letter or legal size file cabinet can be used the alternate way by moving the metal brackets.

Wood file cabinets are available with 2, 3, 4 or even 5 drawers. When deciding which one would work best for you, consider not only the amount of file storage needed, but also the other uses you have for the file cabinet as a piece of furniture. It could be used as an end table, a storage chest, a credenza, a DVD or video tape cabinet, a nightstand, or a place to keep your printer, fax machine, copier, or coffee machine.

If you want to place some of the above items desk height, a 2-drawer cabinet allows you a 30″ high platform. If you line several up in a row you can have quite a large surface. A lateral file also offers you this advantage without a seam in the middle. For this purpose, look for file cabinets with flush sides so there won’t be any gaps between the cabinets.

A 3-drawer file cabinet, which stands about 43″ high, offers more storage per square foot of floor space and you can still put plants or other light items on top. A 4-drawer file cabinet, which is about 55″ tall, offers a tremendous amount of storage, as does an even taller, but rare, 5-drawer file cabinet. We don’t recommend putting anything other than a very light item on top.

SAFETY FIRST!

Any piece of furniture that is holding a lot of weight can be dangerous. An important safety issue with file cabinets is the danger of tipping and crushing. Large and heavy file drawers can cause the file to tip forward. Therefore, several things can be done to minimize this danger.

1. Do not fill the file on the top drawer while leaving lower drawers empty.
2. As mentioned above, do not open more than one drawer at a time.
3. Attach file cabinets to the wall to prevent tipping.
4. Where possible, put your heaviest items in bottom drawer (to act as an anchor).
5. Do not put attractive nuisances like TV’s and games on top of tip prone furniture unless it is properly tethered. Children may climb up to retrieve the remote or turn on the TV with horrible consequences.

CHOOSE A HIGH-QUALITY WOOD FILE CABINET

The lowest quality wood file cabinets are generally made for self-assembly by the customer. This is usually more difficult than you expect and utilizes “cam” assembly hardware. You’ll also want to stay away from file cabinets that are made of particleboard. Even though the tag might say it’s made of wood, don’t be fooled because that description might still be referring to particleboard, so beware. According to the Furniture Manufacturers Association, solid wood includes particleboard. What you really want to look for is SOLID wood-either solid oak, pine, or cherry.

Another thing to keep in mind is that in order to hold a lot of weight a file cabinet should have glue screws and clamps–not cam locks in particleboard.

Next, know the difference between printed grain, genuine wood veneer, and solid wood without particleboard. The easiest way to tell if a piece of furniture is made of solid wood is to look at how the grain is running. If the end grain runs the wrong direction (perpendicular to the other grain), it is most likely veneer. I’m not saying veneer doesn’t have its place if properly done, however, you should not be misled and be able to purchase what you are looking for/know what you’re looking at.

Wood drawers are best made with English Dovetailed joints. If a drawer is assembled with cams, it won’t hold together. A drawer glued and stapled can be an acceptable assembly method if the staples are only holding the assembly together until the glue dries.

Another important element of a file cabinet is the hardware used to open the drawers. Check the runner system. Make sure it pulls out smoothly and evenly? How does the tracking system work? If the drawer pulls out less than 90%, you will loose storage space and it will be difficult to retrieve your documents from the back of the file. Euro type roller glides are unacceptable for any file cabinets. This type of roller system works with two interlocking wheels on a spindle and it can’t take the heavy weight of a file drawer and will likely not last very long at all. The better glide system for file cabinets is a full ball bearing–full extension slide system with at least a 100 lb weight rating.

Also, consider whether or not you want to lock up your drawers. You can put a lock on each individual drawer. This is the easiest way to lock up any particular drawer from which you want to keep prying eyes. You can also lock up all the doors by using a key just on the top drawer and the mechanism will lock all the doors below. Interlocking systems on quality wood files can be a costly and sometimes can hang-up creating access problems.

The wise consumer will take all these pointers into consideration when selecting a wood file cabinet. If you stick to solid wood and good glides and stay away from self-assembly, you’ll have good access to your files and your cabinet will last a very long time.

When looking to buy file cabinets there are various things that you should be aware of. To begin with you should always have some idea of what you will use the cabinet for. Knowing this will also allow you to know what size file cabinets that you will need and how what type you should buy. All to often people rush out and buy a file cabinet that is either way to large or too small for what they need. It is always good to go a little bigger than smaller. By having large file cabinets you can feel assured that you will have enough room for everything, the problem arises when you have purchased a file cabinet, filled it and you still have paperwork and files left over.

Vertical file cabinets are the more traditional form of file cabinets. This is the type of office that you will see in more homes and offices. These cabinets are taller than they are wide. These are great if you are working with small or limited spaces. Most of these vertical file cabinets will have five drawers, however, if the cabinets are shorter then they could have as little as three drawers, or they could even have more than five, but you will need a room will high ceilings for these types of cabinets.

File cabinets can also be bought in lateral form. These file cabinets are wider than they are tall. These cabinets are designed for high volume capacity. They are made to hold letter size paper in most cases, and can have anywhere from two to five drawers. These file cabinets are not as deep as vertical file cabinets. If you have this type of file cabinet then you will find that your files and be stored in a number of ways. If you are working with a small number of files then you could store the files from front to back. However to make more room, the files could also be stored from side to side.