30 Days to a More Organized Life, Day 6: Scan Everything You Can
Now that your workspace is set up you probably want to fill up that new filing cabinet of yours. But, before you do, you need to use the scanner you bought to digitize your files.
There are three big reasons to digitize:
- Digital makes backup easy.
- Digital makes searching easy.
- Digital takes up zero space.
I once worked with a lawyer who, using a ScanSnap s1500 and a weekend’s worth of time, took a room full of filing cabinets and fit it all on his computer. After going digital his documents were both easier to access and more secure than before and no longer dominated his workspace.
Sit down at your computer with the scanner on your desk and all your miscelanious paperwork at your side. Go through each sheet and ask yourself: ‘do I need this?’.
If you don’t need it, throw it in the shredder. If you do, ask yourself, ‘do I need the original?’. If yes, then put it in a ‘to file’ pile. If you don’t need the original, run the document through the scanner.
Important note: don’t get rid of the scanned document just yet! Put it in a ’scanned’ pile. Wait overnight until Mozy has completed backing up your computer. Once you know your files are backed up, you can shred them.
If you have a lot of documents, this will be a long day, so we’ll leave the ‘to file’ pile until tomorrow.
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I was planning to scan whatever I could get my hands on and use Evernote to organize it. Have you tried Evernote yet?
I tried Evernote. It’s a great tool, but not for me. I prefer to keep notes simple. It’s all text documents, pdfs and folders for me.