What’s Gotta Stay

Recently at work we purchased a good quality document scanner for archiving documents that were taking up a lot of space.  Though we rarely look at these old documents, it is necessary to have a record of them.  Bank statements, merchant statements, important faxes, etc.  The scanner we purchased works like a champ, with its sheet feeder option it can scan 10 pages a minute directly into PDF format.

As an individual, it may be a bit steep to invest in a $300 scanner to do this task so easily, but there are other options.  You likely have less than 10% of the paperwork to scan, but also just as likely have less designated space to keep the reams of paper that get acquired of time.   Scanning and digitally archiving paper is a great option.  If you are willing to take a little time each month or as documents come in the mail, using an inexpensive scanner that you simply place paper on by hand may work fine for you.   Many all-in-one printer/scanner/fax solutions are becoming a preferable option for home use anyway, and these can do the job just fine, including the sheet feeder for speed.

You may have to dedicate a short time at first to learn how the software works, but it will be well worth your time.  Many scanners come with software perfect for this concept, allowing you to scan directly to PDF.  PDF (Portable Document Format) is both small in file size and universally readable with the free Acrobat Reader software from Adobe.

Keep in mind that when archiving documents, there is no need to retain the color in a scan, nor the print quality needing to be perfect.  This is archiving simply for the sake of keeping record, particularly in case of an audit.  You can scan in black and white at 150 dpi, which will be very legible and small in size.

If you have moved into the digital word completely with all of your banking and statements through online accounts, keeping an “offline” digital archive is still a good move.  You never know when those online accounts might loose your information or encounter a major bug that effects you.  Again the ability to create PDFs of your statements is a great paperless option for storing copies of your records.  The full Acrobat program is very pricey for the average consumer, but many free options exist that allow you to have a virtual printer on your computer that you can simply print from your browser (or any program for that matter) directly into a PDF file.  doPDF is one such great option you can use for free.

Think ahead and use a naming structure that is easy to reference if and when you end up having to actually pull something from your archives for viewing.  I recommend starting with folders that represent good organization, such as bank and credit card names.  Then for the files, use a date format starting with the year: 2007-04-30 Bank statement.pdf.  By starting with the year, your computer will automatically sort the files in chronological order that is easy to browse through.

Once you have these files stored on your computer, be sure to make a copy.  Computers do on occasion fail; I know, big surprise there.  Use a USB thumb drive to make a backup copy of these important documents and keep it at work or somewhere safe out of the home.  These drives are very inexpensive, copy files quickly, and easy to transport.  By having a copy of these files out of your home, you are not only protecting against computer data loss, but also the worst case scenario of something happening to your home.

Getting started in this archiving technique may be the hardest part.  You likely have years of documents you would like to get ride of, so the prospect of archiving all of it may seem daunting.  Don’t let this keep you from starting.  Start with the documents for 2007 and see how it goes.  Once you get in the good habit, you can consider going back and archiving past documents, or simply choose to only look forward with this effort.