Ask Slashdot: How To Go Paperless At Home?

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Ask Slashdot: How To Go Paperless At Home?

Posted by timothy on Saturday February 11, 2012 @05:48AM from the zippo-would-like-to-help dept.

THE_WELL_HUNG_OYSTER writes "Over the years, I've had numerous scanners equipped with automatic document feeders — and all of them jam or grab multiple pages at a time (thereby missing pages). Like you, I've got years of tax returns and legal documents to scan, but with these kinds of barriers, it would take months to scan everything. Enterprise-grade machines cost 5 figures. How do Slashdotters become paper-free?"

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Evernote by xanadu113 · 2012-02-11 05:57 · Score: 5, Informative

Try using Evernote and scan as you go, keeping up on all current items. Do extra ones when you have the time.

--
-Myke
1. Re:Evernote by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-11 05:59 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Better yet, use the roundfile. 99.999% of all paperwork doesn't need to exist, much less be saved digitally. Even tax documents sunset in just a few years.
2. Re:Evernote by Opportunist · 2012-02-11 06:38 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  Plus, most companies are quite happy to deliver electronically, since it saves them money. Check with your delivery companies, they might even offer a discount if you go paperless.
  
  --
  We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
You don't have to BUY a machine by chronosan · 2012-02-11 05:58 · Score: 5, Insightful

Find someone who'll rent one to you.
Out source by NEDHead · 2012-02-11 05:58 · Score: 5, Funny

to China
Fujitsu ScanSnap or similar by introp · 2012-02-11 05:58 · Score: 5, Interesting

A sheet-feeder duplex scanner that'll scan and OCR to a PDF. Drop in your year of bank statements, press the button, come back in five minutes. Scan your receipts, product manuals, whatever you actually use. Throw out everything else.
1. Re:Fujitsu ScanSnap or similar by Alan+Shutko · 2012-02-11 06:02 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  This is the simple answer. This scanner actually works, unlike other ones I've tried. Multifunction printers with scanners, or flatbeds with a document feeder are all much slower and much more prone to jamming. The Scansnap rarely jams but when it does, it tells you and lets you fix it. It hardly ever grabs multiple pages at once, but when it does, it can notice it (mine has an ultrasonic sensor) and will let you fix it immediately.
  I've scanned some 10k sheets with mine (not pages, as a double-sided document counts as 1 sheet but two pages). It works extremely well.
2. Re:Fujitsu ScanSnap or similar by jrkotrla · 2012-02-11 07:12 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  As an owner and avid fan of the ScanSnap S1500, I tell you: "Read the manual" (or at least the help files)
  You can configure as you like, but on mine I press the blue magic button and I have a PDF file stored on my HDD in a folder I have preselected. This PDF is named according to the naming convention I have selected, and is later OCR'd when my computer is idle, as I have selected. No other selection boxes pop up and I don't have to click on anything at all on my computer. Just the one blue button.
  That's why the Scansnap is magic
  
  --
  In God we trust,
  everyone else we firewall!!
Do you think it's worth it? by jcreus · 2012-02-11 06:01 · Score: 5, Insightful

All those tax returns, legal paperwork... Can't they just stay on a box or at the basement? It'll require lots of work, and get few benefits. I would understand for new documents; i.e. introducing to a spreadsheet some taxes/things to pay. But why care about the past? Or, at least, why scan? Just type the figures, it'll be more semantic and wouldn't involve machines (except for you and the computer).
ScanSnap by MikeMo · 2012-02-11 06:02 · Score: 5, Interesting

Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 totally rocks. I bought that refurbished for $250. Add in Yojimbo or Evernote and you'll be set. We've gone paperless in our office and at home, and this machine is the heart of that. We scan everything and shred it.

It's nice not having the paper around, but the BIG thing is not having to find it - it's always at your fingertips, searchable by document content or via the keywords in Evernote or Yojimbo.
Use a mounted camera by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-11 06:13 · Score: 5, Interesting

I had this exact problem. With a scanner I was getting up to 3 scans per minute, and even at that rate it would have taken me months to scan all I wanted. I realized the problem was the physical moving of the element, and that if it were to take the whole snapshot at once then it would be a lot faster. A camera mounted overhead, with a trigger to snap photos dropped my scan time down so much I was doing 12-15 pages per minute. Assuming you get it well lit, with a decent camera that has little distortion, you can get images that are as good as a scanner MUCH faster. I posted about my setup here:
http://bobbaddeley.com/2011/05/fast-scanner/
"How to go Paperless at Home?" by John+Hasler · 2012-02-11 06:18 · Score: 5, Insightful

Install a bidet.

--
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
Re:Outsource it. by mj1856 · 2012-02-11 06:25 · Score: 5, Insightful

Why the hell would you give the guy at Kikos a box of your tax returns and legal documents? Especially since you are asking him to scan them! It only takes a minute for him to make his own digital copy and poof! There goes your identity.
Re:Huh? by devilspgd · 2012-02-11 06:33 · Score: 5, Insightful

Seriously. It is much, much harder to keep records electronically than to throw the pieces of paper into a file cabinet and forget about it. This is well documented.
True. Equally well documented is how much easier it is to index paper by multiple keys, as well as rapidly resort and search file cabinets. Oh wait, no, that's electronically stored documents.
Seriously, storing paper is a ton easier and it works for many purposes. Until you move, or have a fire, or your basement floods, or you need a copy of that letter you received from your insurance company 18-24 months ago confirming a change to your home because they're now claiming they weren't informed you're using natural gas instead of electric heat and are declining a $250,000 insurance claim after the aforementioned fire.
But sure, paper is easier to throw into a file cabinet and forget about.

--
Give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, but teach a man to phish...
Re:Can you go paperless? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-02-11 06:38 · Score: 5, Informative

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p17.pdf
Page 16.
Basic gist: can go paperless as long as the digital images are indexed, legible and retrievable.