How to Digitize and Track Important Paper Documents

Did you know that each week, employees waste around 6 hours searching for lost paper documents? 

If you deal with this problem, you might be able to save time by digitizing your paper documents. That’s because if you digitize your documents, you’ll have a centralized location wherein all your documents can be found. 

Read on, and you’ll discover how to digitize the documents in your office. If you use these tips, you may never have to deal with lost documents ever again. 

Let’s begin!

1. Identify the Important Documents

Before you can digitize the important documents in your office, you first need to figure out what counts as an important document. 

Now, this might sound like an obvious step, but if you figure out what counts as an important document, you can apply this process to future documents. This will then allow you to develop a reliable process, which ensures all critical files are digitized. 

Ideally, you want to write this information down somewhere, as you may put someone else in charge of digitizing documents. 

2. Scanning Documents

If you want to digitize important documents, one of the best options you have is to scan your documents. 

If you’re going to do this, you don’t need to invest in a physical scanner. That’s because there are now apps that’ll ‘scan’ documents, by using the camera on your phone. 

If you have a unique use case, it’s worth noting there are specialist ‘scanning apps’ that cater to certain niches. 

For instance, if you’re an auditor, it might be a good idea for you to download an app dedicated to this niche. That’s because such apps will not only have a ‘scanning’ feature, but they will also allow you to edit the documents you’ve scanned.

This can be especially helpful if you need to sign a document for a client. You can find such apps by going to the App Store and searching for something like ‘app audit.’ 

3. Focus on Security

If you’re going to digitize documents, you must focus on security. 

Fortunately, keeping your documents secure isn’t difficult, and you just need to focus on a few best practices. 

To begin with, you need to make sure you upload your documents to a well-known cloud storage service. That’s because such platforms will already make use of certain security best practices.

Additionally, you want to think about selecting a complex password, and you want to change this password regularly. You should also think about using 2-factor authentication so that nobody can hack your account using just a password. 

Do You Know How to Digitize Your Documents?

If you know how to digitize your documents, it will be a lot easier for you to keep track of your important documents. 

Remember, you must create a process for digitizing your documents. If you don’t do this, you may end up with a stack of papers that need to be digitized, and this may put you back at square one. 

Getting used to digitizing documents might take a lot of effort. However, once it becomes a habit, you’ll never have to deal with lost documents ever again. 

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