What Are the Advantages of Using a Lateral Filing Cabinet?

Lateral file cabinets simplify filing, and make files more accessible.

If you keep your office filing system simple, it will be easily understood by your employees. File cabinets are designed to give your employees as much ease of storage and access as possible.

Common Cabinet Styles

The two common file cabinet styles are vertical and lateral. Lateral cabinets, which are longer than vertical ones, are designed to store more files.

Ease of Filing

Lateral cabinets are not as tall as vertical cabinets. This design makes inserting papers into hanging files easier and allows simpler access to the files, especially for shorter employees.

Ease of Viewing

In a lateral cabinet, you hang files in side-by-side rows. In a vertical cabinet, files hang front to back in one long row. More files are visible in a lateral cabinet, because you view more at one time. In addition, it negates the need to pull files forward, to view the ones in back.

Room for Storage

The longer tops of lateral cabinet's provide extra space for storage. You'll have more room for lamps, phones or even a printer than you would with a vertical cabinet.

References

• Oregon State University: Filing Systems
• Hub Pages: Lateral File Benefits