Scanning and Digitising Paper Documents: A Practical Approach

Digitising paper documents saves space and makes them searchable.

Prepare

Sort documents first and remove staples. Decide which papers you need to keep in original form, such as certain legal documents, before discarding anything.

Scan well

A resolution of 300 dpi is usually enough for text. Save as PDF, and use text recognition so the content can be searched.

Name and store

Use a consistent naming pattern and store the files in the same structure as your other documents. Back up the scans, and only shred the paper once you have checked the digital copies.