Extensis Portfolio has been updated to version 8 to address known bugs and improve its collaboration features. For those unfamiliar with the application, it's a file manager that sits on multiple clients and gives a work group a shared platform to see file locations and associated rights and properties.

It's ideally meant for media production staff, perhaps involving freelancers or overseas parties, and has the main task of grouping together files by metadata tags so that everyone can see what stage a project is at and how the files are progressing.

Metadata accompanies files from source - for example, the resolution of an image is a type of metadata. Portfolio can organise files into folders and groups with accompanying metadata, establishing myriad ways to perform future searches.

Its interface is friendly to navigate with thumbnails and colourful buttons. It generally offers a tactile playground. Memory and locations A key strength of Portfolio 8 is the way it records the location of files on memory residing offline as well as on. It will remember a file's location from within large network drives, down to laptop hard drives, and to the level of an individual CD-R.

However, unlike corporate networks, which are built for nofrills stability, Portfolio can get the wobbles. Known issues from Portfolio 7 not addressed here are listed in the installation release notes - for example, EPS files that are CMYK images tend to be recognised as RGB images, which could cause a printoutputting nightmare.

Another clanger is Portfolio's problem with cataloguing large files with large filenames. It can't.

When we dropped a folder of mixed media, including MP3 and PSD files, into Portfolio, the larger files just appeared as empty or broken links with a red dot next to them. It transpired after referencing the release notes that large files with long names are not recognised, so while files can be quickly added by dragging and dropping, you will also need to factor in some renaming time, too.

But perhaps the overriding problem with Portfolio is the assumption it makes about the team that will end up using it. It's rather like when your mother gave you a personal organiser in the hope that it would tidy up your chaotic teenage life.