Comments on: Paper vs. Digital Filing

By: Sean Alam

Sean Alam — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 19:27:26 +0000

In GTD, David Allen mentions a reliable reference system for important information you come across that you want to access later.

Has anyone found a reliable system for this? Reviewing the above comments brought evernote to my attention, i was thinking possibly bento box.

Any suggestions about a reliable system that people are using?

By: Föreläsare

Föreläsare — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 10:23:49 +0000

I am personnaly on a change towards avoiding papers as much as possible…

By: Ryan Malone

Ryan Malone — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 22:54:19 +0000

I went through this same trade-off, especially since I am always all over the place, physically.

I finally settled on evernote. If I am in a position to take notes in evernote, I do. If I am at a meeting and need to use paper, I scan it into evernote. Either way I can tag it, which is my filing system. Great stuff.

By: A D Miller

A D Miller — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 04:13:46 +0000

I have started this process myself and am currently operating paperless in a prospective sense. My sorting through my old files, converting the ones to .pdf which should stay and destroying the rest will be a big task.

The first step is getting a good scanner. If you are a Mac user I would suggest the Fujitsu SnapScan 1500M. Scans well and fast, with a large sheet feeder. It will automatically convert files to .pdf and will due text recognition on the entire file or the first page. The text recognition will allow you to later find the files using keywords with Spotlight.

Once you have the digital files creating folders for storage is basically the same system as if you were working with manila folders with less paper-cuts.

Next limit the amount of paper ending up in your inbox by electing paperless billing and statement options from your various accounts.

Finally, do not overlook having a good back up plan. Time machine is a good start, but you can take it up a step by stating to back up with Jungle Drive.

By: Kai

Kai — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:40:46 +0000

To speed things up (if using Active Words or the like), use an active word such as “date” or “da” after setting the output format for the date as the file name-friendly format mentioned above (YYYY-MM-DD)

By: KH

KH — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:00:10 +0000

I have been digitizing many documents over the past year and have found that emailing them to myself with keywords in the body of the email with a PDF of JPG attachment creates a searchable archive of the material that I can categorize at will. I use Gmail, so I have not only the Gmail labeling system, and virtually limitless storage space, but quickly searchable and accessible remotely via any Internet connected computer, including my BlackBerry. I sometimes also upload Word and Excel docs into Google Docs for the same remote reference capabilities.

By: Ben Keller

Ben Keller — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 00:05:33 +0000

Copiers that convert to .pdf & email you the file are amazing.

David discussions his paper-filing system (make it fun, make it quick, easy, and simple) – the same rules apply to digital filing.

You will potentially have to commit to more time spent renaming filings, and moving them to the correct digital folders

I find its best to mirror the organizational structure of your paper file. “Financial” section, “Family” section, etc. Accept that categories will expand over time.

As the system expands (and stays organized!), it should naturally trend toward simple alphabetizing. If not, you may want to force it to.

Do your best to choose a file-naming scheme so that the files will self-organize alphabetically by key-words and dates. TIP: If you use dates in filenames, (US) Windows likes 2010-12-25 as the format. This keeps stuff in chronological order. I use 2010-12-xx if things don’t have a specific date, to keep everything lined up. Mind the leading zeros for months & days.