Are you getting tired of searching for the right file among a huge pile of paper documents?
Trying to physically retrieve a document from its storage space in your office and then refiling the paperwork once you are done can take a lot of time and energy. Besides tracking your number of prints and copies with managed print services, you can use the scanning capabilities of your copier to turn those paper copies into digital ones. This can save money and time as well as improve the security of documents. Here is how you can transform your office by using your copier to get rid of paper.
1. Using electronic documents like legal papers
Although heavily regulated industries and the government may have legal requirements for keeping original papers as records, most companies and business documents’ digital copies are perfectly legal. Document scanning is not new, and if done correctly, one can scan paper to PDF (or JPEG or TIFF) and be able to use these electronic documents instead of physical paper ones for daily operations of your business.
2. How to use your MFP to turn paper digital
To scan paper to your computer using scanner functionality on your copier, firstly remove sticky notes, staples and paper clips from the documents. If a page is torn, scan it individually instead of using the automated document feeder so that it doesn’t rip in half. Place similar sized documents together, orienting them all the same way and make sure your resolution is set to 300 dpi. Set your destination file, which can be your email, a shared drive or your document management system.
Check the display screen for status, like double-feeds, to ensure that all documents are captured. Then dispose of or if you want to keep records, file the paper documents and enjoy finding, using and sharing documents from your computer.
3. Storing digital data for retrieval
Digital files can also be impossible to find if you don’t index them when you scan them. This can be done in two ways, using full-text or with keywords. Full-text indexing requires software (optical character recognition, OCR) to index all the text in an electronic document while keyword indexing attaches a smaller number of keywords to a document for future retrieval. Your MFP should have at least one or more multiple options of software programs available to perform these tasks.
It’s harder to lose documents with full-text indexing but it requires more IT storage space. Keyword indexing is resource-intensive, as long as safeguards are in place to avoid losing data through miscategorized files. For high volumes of paper, it may be more efficient to purchase or lease a scanner dedicated to implement document imaging software and use your MFP for ad hoc scanning.
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