Document Scanning

Cutting down on the amount of paper files you use, either in a home office or a place of work, can bring a lot of advantages: saved space, better security, and instantly searchable documents, to start with.

Here are 9 easy tips to help you dramatically cut down on paper files cluttering your office.

1. Convert to Digital Billing

An easy way to rid yourself of paper piles is to pay bills online. This also makes it easy to track payments, and is a secure and quick way to handle billing.

2. Get a virtual mailroom

Services like Traveling Mailbox and Earth Class Mail provide a physical street address that’s yours alone, but scan your mail and send you images so that you don’t have to handle any paper. You then have the option of saving or shredding each piece of mail. A virtual mailbox can work for bills and statements, and will also help you avoid junk mail – virtual mailrooms automatically remove it. Even if you have switched to digital billing, anyone who has your address can still sell it to marketers, so this is a good way to guarantee you don’t get bogged down in junk mail.

3. Get a high-quality document scanner

While many printers come with scanning ability, it’s worth investing in a good document scanner like the Fujitsu ScanSnap ix500 (about $450 on Amazon). A stand-alone scanner designed for documents (rather than pictures) will quickly scan stacks of pages, handle double-sided documents, and can auto-detect when pages are stuck. Many high quality scanners also include Optical Character Recognition (OCR), which makes all the typed text in your scanned files searchable. Along with a scanner, it’s also worth considering a shredder – once you’ve scanned and uploaded your documents, you can shred any sensitive documents and safely dispose of them.

4. Use a Document Scanning Service

If you’ve got a large volume of paper that you want digitized, you may need to consider a professional to convert your files. Digital scanning vendors typically charge per page or per image, and convert your files into an electronic format. That may be a pdf, TIFF, or jpeg. Some providers also offer OCR to help you search your scanned files.

5. Use an eSignature Service

Using a service like Adobe Sign or Docusign lets you add your signature to electronic documents without printing them out. Aside from saving paper, using an esignature cuts down on printing costs and can dramatically cut down on the amount of time it takes to get documents signed and returned.

6. Get a Smartphone Scanner

Sometimes you have receipts that you’ll need to save, whether for tax purposes, to record charitable donations, or for large purchases under warranty. Getting a scanner on your smartphone allows you to quickly save those receipts in the cloud and not worry about losing them or hunting them down later. If you already use a service like Dropbox or Evernote to store files, you can use the scanning apps they provide and save the receipts into those apps. Dropbox’s scanning function is built right into its app, whereas Evernote has a companion app called Scannable that will scan items directly into Evernote. Even if you don’t use Evernote, Scannable is a great standalone solution.

7. Try a Digital Note Taker

Services like Microsoft’s OneNote, Evernote, or the built-in notes apps in Android and iOS can help you cut down on the amount of paper you use and automatically keep all your notes in one place. Not only will you escape the piles of sticky notes, those online notes are backed up to the cloud and searchable, in case you can’t remember where you saved something.

8. Prepare Presentations Digitally

Rather than creating handouts to pass around during meetings, display presentations on a screen – or hold your meeting virtually. You can always email copies of your slides or documents after the meeting.

9. Use an Online Fax Service

For those that fax, this is one of the simplest and most cost-effective ways to cut down on paper. You won’t have to rely on a physical machine anymore, and will be able to send and receive faxes anywhere, at anytime. Some online fax providers also include smartphone apps that let you scan, send, or receive faxes on your phone without going into your email. Use the FaxCompare comparison chart to quickly find the service that best meets you needs.

Cost and time

Most document scanning companies will charge per page or per image, with prices ranging anywhere from $.03 to $.085 per page. Factors like the size of the job and the condition of the files will impact price. Data Storage, Inc., a document scanning and records management company, says that it considers details including the condition of the documents, paper and file sizes, the number and length of index fields, and metal content like paper clips or staples when determining the price of a job.

The time it takes depends, of course, on the size of the job. Leo Welder, founder and CEO of Zilker Ventures, used a document scanning company to help him convert what he estimates was about two filing cabinets worth of paper. That job took about two weeks. Document scanners may also be able to come to an office and pick up the files, if the amount that you need scanned exceeds something that could be easily transported.

Format

Once a company has your files, they will convert them into an electronic format – usually a pdf, TIFF, or jpeg format. Providers may scan an entire folder’s worth of papers into one document, which means you’ll have files named after the folder.

Some providers will also offer optical character recognition, or OCR. That means that once you have the electronic files you can type in a search term and search for that keyword in all the scanned documents.

Organization

Your office may have filing protocol already, and many document scanning companies will take that into consideration when naming the new, scanned files. Some options include creating index streams and folder structures so that files can be sorted numerically, alphabetically, by file name, or by file date.

When searching for a vendor, it’s worth clarifying whether the vendor provides services to load the images and index values into your existing system, or if that will be your responsibility.

How Do I Find Scanning Companies?

Although the idea of a paperless office seems like a modern one, many document scanning vendors have been around 20 years or more. Rick Wahlberg, president of Austin-based Image Micrographics Inc., says his company has been in business for 26 years. In that time their clients have come from myriad industries, but the biggest customer base has come from the medical field, oil and gas, and government entities. Wahlberg says projects his company takes on have ranged from as small as one file to millions of files.

Given the fact that most scanning companies have an established presences, you can certainly do a search through a site like Yelp, or find a vendor through industry contacts. Another option is to use a site like Austin Scanning and Imaging, which allows companies in the Austin area to enter information and get quotes from scanning vendors.

Max Robinson, with A Hume Country Clothing, says “We relied on recommendations from industry peers to find the best document scanning provider for our needs. We ended up paying roughly $300 for our entire document scanning needs, but we were prepared to pay more (and expected to pay more) as we understand the importance of document scanning to free up space and to ensure that all of our documents were securely stored.”

Other questions to ask

Other factors to consider when finding a vendor could include whether a scanning company has a documents quality control policy they can share; is there a disaster recovery plan; and has the company worked with others in your industry. There are also certifications and compliances around document scanning, depending on what country and region you’re in, and you might want to check to see which of those a potential vendor holds.

9 Easy Tips to Help You Go Paperless