Going Paperless. There are many implications

Transcription

1 Going Paperless There are many implications

2 Overview Why go paperless? From paper to What? Before you start Dealing with current and backlog paper Scanning hardware and software Mac Compatible document scanners The scanning/naming/saving process Some things I learned Conclusions

3 Why Go Paperless? Reduce Cutter Think through what you really want to keep and why Save space Save time in searching and retrieval Reduce risk to documents you need Better searches Easier sharing Go green

4 More than Less Paper You want to find these documents again You want others to find them also Business increasingly accepts digital documents Some pdf documents are legal and stand up in court How you do it is important.

5 From Paper to What? Enter the Searchable PDF document. Allows search of the contents as well as the title. Not all scans result in a searchable pdf. Some only save a pdf image. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) places an additional layer on the document to make it searchable and print just like the original.

6 Before you Start Storage considerations. Back ups Hard Drive capacity Longevity Plan B Naming conventions Legal considerations (what original documents must be kept) The family discussion Understanding the work flow.

7 Dealing with Current Paper Stop paper before it gets to you. On line statements Credit Cards Insurance records Account records Print less Save to pdf Scan the paper that reaches you Establish good work flow habits. Deal with that paper (pay the bill, etc.)

8 Dealing with Backlog Decide what to trash, shred, keep as paper or scan. Scan the documents you don t absolutely need to keep as paper. Be ruthless with yourself. Shred, recycle or trash them afterward. Get a document scanner instead of an all-in-one hardware. Document scanners are different. Much faster Duplex scanning Built in OCR software

9 Scanning Hardware and Software Document scanner Features you need Handles various paper sizes Single pass duplex scanning. Automatic document feeder Scanning speed of at least 20 pages per minute Detects when documents stick together Duty cycle of pages per day Built in software Communicate with your Mac Other apps such as ABBYY, Readiris, Adobe Acrobat etc. for handling OCR You do not need TWAIN software

10 Mac Compatible Scanners Desktop Canon Image Formula DR-2510 Canon Image Formula DR-2010 Epson Workforce Pro GT-S50 Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500M NeatDesk for Mac Convertible (detach the ADF and take it with you) IRIS Pro 3 Visioneer Strobe 500 Xerox Documate 3115 Portable Doxie Cannon Image Formula P-150 Fugistsu ScanSnap 1300 IRIS Scan 2 IRIS Scan Anywhere Neat Receipts for Mac Visioneer Strobe 400 All these scanners connect to your Mac with a USB cable.

11 My Document Scanner Fujitsu Scan Snap s1500m Compact: Decent speed Comes with Adobe Acrobat Pro v 8.0 ABBYY Fine Reader Cardirs Pro Cost $ at MacMall Easy set up and operation.

12 The Work Flow Process Decide on a naming convention for your scanned files. Allowing the scanner to name them will result in a string of numbers like Decide where to save it (Drives/volumes/folders) Decide on scanning in a batch or deal with it one file at a time. Some extra effort at the beginning can save lots of time later. Decide on what to do with the paper once scanned. Keep, shred, recycle, trash

13 Paper In Basic workflow when scanning documents

14 Scanning Business Cards Do this from the Cardiris application Sends the scan directly to address book Still requires editing for many cards Scanner handles the business cards well Great if you have a lot of cards to input and don t mind the editing Cumbersome for just a few cards.

15 Some Things I learned Not all pdf documents are equal. Older version pdf documents may not convert to OCR. Renderable text is searchable. Download statements when they become available Typing is important (Statement vs. Statment) Discussion and agreement are important. Legal considerations are necessary Many Companies are just getting into paperless and their ability to meet your needs varies.

16 Conclusions If you are going to get into more than scanning the occasional piece of paper, a document scanner is essential. Planning your process will save a lot of time and frustration later. The risks with digital documents are different from the risks of paper but they still have their risks. Understand them. Understand all the implications for your life when you take this path. It is more than just scanning. There is satisfaction/joy in reducing the clutter and reams of paper in our lives yet still be able to access files when needed.