I remember my first job in information management. Technically I was a file clerk, and the filing system I was in charge of was 100% paper to the point that I would get e-mails sent to me, asking me to print off the e-mail so it could be placed in the tenant file (shudder). I’m hoping that the filing system you are working with is ever so slightly more digital than that. In today’s environment, we are getting closer and closer to the ability to have an actual digital filing system, but we’re not there yet. For that reason, we all need to have the ability to get our physical documents into our digital system.
1) What was commonplace before is less so now – When I was growing up (and quite a bit of my adult life as well), having a printer was standard fare. You needed one to print off your assignments or to edit documents. It made sense to have one. Now, however, it makes less as less sense to have a printer in your home. Most of the documents you would deal with daily don’t come to you through snail mail; they get e-mailed to you. Not only that, but with everyone having smartphones, we all have access to our documents and filing systems no matter where we are, so there is no need to print off documents if you need to bring them with you.
2) Paper has to get into your system somehow – Printers are well on their way to going the way of the dodo. Scanners, however, are in their prime. NO matter what I do, I still get mail sent to me in hard copy format. Also, I get report cards and other things from my kid’s schools in hard copy, which is fine. I have my scanner for that kind of thing. I need to keep these records, and there is simply no space in my home big enough to keep all the documents in my filing system. It’s crucial that I keep them, and they have to go into my digital system somehow, right? Having a scanner is a key component of your digital filing system because there will always be some sort of paper document which will not be sent in digital format. Wills, Deeds to a house, or any other legal documents that you can’t (and shouldn’t) shred. Scanners are great tools to help you keep your digital system in order.
3) So many different methods to replace paper – For those of you who still like to edit documents, sign things by hand or even keep journals, I want to be clear, I am one of you. I like writing things down by hand, little notes to myself, notes in meetings, to-do lists, or anything else you can think of. Luckily there are loads of options for people who want to write things down. There are a variety of different apps that you can put on your iPad. Personally, I do all of my handwriting in my reMarkable, which is my preferred method for writing anything down.
At the end of the day, we have to realize that the time of the printer is coming to a close. Technology is getting closer and closer to an actual paper-free world where everything is done digitally. There is no problem with paper per se, however, because once something is printed on paper in order to take that data with you, the paper needs to come along as well. After a certain period of time, that could become quite cumbersome. Scanners allow you to get those pages into your filing system where they belong so that no matter where you are, you will be able to access whatever you may need.
Do you have a scanner in your home?
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