Learning how to efficiently organize your life with personal document management and scanning can help you cut down on clutter, speed up processes, and free up space. If you feel like you are drowning in paper records or struggle to keep up with important records, you do not have to feel overwhelmed!
With these tips for managing personal documents, you will be able to find exactly what you are looking for right when you need it.
Why Should You Digitize Your Personal Records?
When stacks of mail and paperwork are not purposefully managed, crucial information can pile up and potentially become lost. Converting all of your paper documents and records into digitized files can help make your life easier.
Experts estimate that 80 percent of paper that enters the average home serves no purpose to the recipient. The other 20 percent is critical information and must be saved, such as a mailed tax return. Adopting a document scanning strategy is the best way to capture and preserve essential data.
To keep up with personal records, we suggest picking out a designated place at home to keep paperwork until it can be filed away later. Digitizing paper records in your home routinely will help you manage the flow of paperwork and information circulating inside your home.
How to Start Managing Your Documents
The first step to start managing your documents is getting a handle on all unwanted paper you have around. You should set aside documents you want to keep and identify what is no longer needed.
If you have overflowing file cabinets and lots of junk mail to sort through, organizing your documents might seem overwhelming at first. Remember that digitization does not happen overnight and it is best to have a plan before you start your project.
There are quite a few things you can preserve with digitization including:
Blueprints and maps
Photos
Real estate documents
Tax records
Legal filings
Medical bills and doctors notes
4 Steps to Personal Document Organization
While you catalog your paper records, consider these 4 steps to personal document organization to guide your digitization plan.
#1: Digitize Anything You Can
If you want to cut down on the flow of paperwork in your life, digitization is an obvious choice. There are plenty of easy ways to eliminate recurring paper statements including:
Signing up for paperless billing
Subscribing to digital newspapers and magazines
Rerouting paper mail to a digital mailroom, so all inbound correspondences are automatically scanned and saved
Using digital lists and notebooks that track handwritten notes and automatically convert them into digital files stored online
Habitually recycling and shredding junk paper
#2: Establish a Scanning Strategy
After you have an inventory of all the paper in your life that must be digitally preserved, you can establish a scanning strategy. You can adopt either a day-forward or backfile scanning approach when scanning and organizing documents.
Day forward approaches select a date to start only scanning new records. Paper records are eliminated by digitization from that day onward.
Backfile approaches focus on scanning documents from the past. With this strategy scanning current and active documents comes later on.
Sometimes a combination of the scanning approaches can be used to make personal documents work together. Depending on your needs, a document scanning partner can help determine the right conversion option for your project.
Once a scanning strategy selection has been made, rules such as the “touch it once” method can be implemented. Whether it is a piece of mail or parts of a personal project after you touch something you immediately make actionable steps for digitally filing items away.
#3: Set Up a Digital Filing System
Do you know what you will do with your personal documents once they are scanned? Optical character recognition (OCR) technology can help integrate scanned documents into a digital filing system.
OCR puts your information to work for you. With our document indexing services you can:
Scan documents to PDF files
Have searchable documents
Extract data from unstructured sources like receipts
Optimize your scans for readability
Think about the family historical records you have in your home. OCR technology can help you connect with your past by sharing your digital archive of genealogical records and artifacts.
#4: Safely Save on a Recurring Basis
One of the biggest challenges of personal document organization is saving files. With cloud storage, you can safely save files on a recurring basis.
With our system, your files are backed up daily. When there are technical issues, you have our support. One of the biggest benefits of storing documents in the cloud is the safekeeping and fast recovery you receive in the event of an emergency or disaster like a fire or flood.
Go Digital With a Professional
Going digital without the help of a professional can sometimes lead to problems. If you don’t have the right tools or processes you might produce low-quality scans. Professional scanning equipment and technology can be a costly venture.
When you condense your paper documents with Didlake Imaging’s process you are equipped for success. Our team is trained to handle and organize your records efficiently. Our services allow you to:
Digitize paper records on a routine basis
Route your mail and files to the right storage location
Face less risk of losing documents
Handle and retrieve text, images, and other files with ease
Ready to have long-term success with your digital organization? Request a sample scan of your personal documents to start organizing your life today!
