▾ Why go paperless?
▾ Going green
▾ Getting bank and other company statements electronically reduces waste at many levels.
• Trees being cut down for paper
• Paper delivered to stores and to companies
▾ Company resources to print paper
• Printer, ink, electricity, mailing fees
• Paper transmitted via truck, mail, etc., takes fuel and further pollutes the atmosphere
• Paper waste (stuff you throw out) ends up in landfills polluting the environment
▾ Less clutter
• Having a paperless office, or a mostly one, means you don’t have stacks of paper everywhere in boxes and file cabinets.
▾ Better security
• If you have good data security, then your data on your computer should be more protected than paper files
▾ Disaster Recovery
▾ If you had a fire or flood, your offsite backed up paperless files would be totally intact.
• Note: Offsite backup is a serious topic but not discussed in this blog.
▾ Being able to find information quickly
• This is one of the best reasons to go paperless – SEARCH!
• Using software utilities, discussed below, be able to find just about anything ever scanned in seconds.
▾ Be able to automate paperless workflow!
• If it’s not automated, why do it?
▾ What you need
▾ A good scanner (not a flatbed scanner — too slow and cumbersome!)
▾ Take a look at the ScanSnap ix500. It can scan 25 pages per minute, double sided color, with OCR.
• Can also scan to MS Office formats, PDF.
• Includes a “Card Minder” application for scanning business cards
▾ Some software
▾ Scanner’s included software
• Scan to PDF
• Scan to Folder
▾ Automated software to move, sort, and rename your scanned images
▾ Software like Hazel (mac) or Belvedere (Windows)
▾ Lets you set up rules so the software will automatically move, rename, sort, etc., files you scan into some common folder
• It takes a while to get all the rules just right, but once they’re set up, you can scan and sit back and relax
• On Windows, consider a program like File Locator Pro to help you find the data you want on your PC
▾ On Mac, Spotlight is probably all you need, but you could also consider a program like DevonThink if your searching needs are greater.
• Note: DevonThink has support for the ScanSnap scanner
▾ Automation software for file names
• You can also use programs like TextExpander to help you automate file names.
▾ Some time to input old paper wanted
• If you have a good scanner, the time consuming part is just organizing all that old paper you want to scan.
• Get a good shredder for the scanned paper you no longer want or need
▾ A regular schedule to scan
• Put paper that comes into the mail or via other means into an “inbox” for later processing
• Then, set aside a little time each week to scan this paper into your paperless system
• Shred the paper if necessary
▾ Other considerations
▾ Make sure you have plenty of disk space
• Even OCRed PDFs can take up considerable space
▾ Make sure you do regular backups of your computer
• Backup is a huge topic, not discussed here, and a topic to be taken seriously
• Make sure you keep your computer up to date
▾ Have patience at the beginning
• Getting started with scanning and going paperless may seem difficult at first. However, once you get into the flow, and automate the filing with Hazel, for example, it’s a breeze.
Conclusion
Going paperless will take some time and money and may not be for everyone. Some people just prefer paper. There is also some risk about the computer that stores paperless information that could crash, etc. That risk needs to be understood and taken into account. If you’re not sure about jumping in and going paperless, but it sounds interesting, do some additional research and see if going paperless might be right for you.
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