10 ms·

How I filled two dumpsters and went paperless

167 points by ryanwaggoner 16y ago

JabavuAdams 16y ago
One security consideration that I didn't see addressed -- if someone unauthorized accesses your electronic docs, it's easier for them to do it without your knowledge. If someone breaks into your house, you'll usually know about it. This may not apply to government docs which are presumably stored somewhere electronically, anyway.
- ryanwaggoner 16y ago
  This is a good point, and one that I hadn't considered. However, like you said, most of my docs probably also exist in the databases of companies and the government. Ultimately, it's not something I worry about that much; I'm probably more concerned with losing access to my documents than someone else gaining access to them.
  - Symbol 16y ago
    Encryption can help here.
    - deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]
    - mdda 16y ago
      On Linux (which it's not clear can be part of the scanning solution, which seems to rely on Fujitsu's PDFing software) - one can set up : cron : rsync : encfs --reverse . The last step sets up a filesystem that is identical to the existing real data, except encrypted - meaning that the whole back up is done securely (even if the backup devices are insecure). Maybe this is something that everyone is already doing, but it's a kind of 'obvious when you know how' thing if you're not.
  - ewams 16y ago
    This is a very dangerous viewpoint. You should not ignore security simply because the data exists somewhere else. If data exists in multiple locations it is all the more reason to try and keep it safe. Some simple steps can be taken to protect data integrity and security: -Don't leave the data connected to the Internet 24/7. -Power off the storage medium when you are done with it. -Keep it in a physically safe location when not in use. -Encrypt the data or the volume. -Have a backup of your backup on a different medium and if possible different location. -Don't advertise the data. These are activities which are easy to set up and can help insure a more pleasant digital lifestyle. You could go to more extremes but then it becomes invasive. Not worrying about it much because you find it unlikely or just don't care is bad. Not worrying about it much is what you want to do because you have taken the important but easy steps to keep yourself safe.
    - ryanwaggoner 16y ago
      You're missing my point. It's not that I'm ignoring security; I was responding to JabavuAdams' pointing out that if someone accesses my electronic records, I likely wouldn't know about it, while I'd find out if someone broke into my home and accessed my physical records. Since there are other places that my data can be accessed electronically, it seems short-sighted to avoid digitizing my copies to avoid undetectable access to my documents, since that can happen anyway. Having said that, I really am not worried about someone accessing most of these documents, and certainly not enough to go through the hassles of what you outline in your comment. If someone wants to go through the hassle of breaching my security so they can pour through my phone records for the last five years, or peer at my receipts for lunch at the restaurant around the corner, they're welcome to. What exactly are we worried about here?
      - b_emery 16y ago
        You mentioned rental properties (mortgage docs?), tax papers, both of which likely have SSN's, maybe you have credit card numbers and bank acct numbers in these pdfs. I'd think you'd want this stuff encrypted. Thanks for a great post though, I'm totally inspired.
rb2k_ 16y ago
I'd really love to do this too, but I just finished my studies and feel bad about spending 300 Euros on a scanner. Does anybody have good alternatives?
- brfox 16y ago
  Buy a used one, scan everything, then sell it. That's what I was going to do, but I liked the scanner so much I just kept it.
  - masklinn 16y ago
    The problem with selling it is that society as a whole hasn't gone paperless, so you still have boatloads of inbound paper, which means you continuously have to scan stuff.
- billswift 16y ago
  This was mentioned on HN a long while back, it uses ordinary digital cameras: http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-High-Speed-Book-Scanner-from-Trash-and-Cheap-C/ http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-High-Speed-Book-Scanner-... I don't have anything this elaborate. I have a cheap 3-in-1 printer that I scan some stuff with, and a cheap ~$70 digital camera that I use for stuff that it would be inconvenient to scan. The images are good enough to read on the computer though not great.
jrnkntl 16y ago
This is exactly why I have a Scansnap (s1300) on my wish-list this december.
- tricky 16y ago
  did you research the differences between the s1300 and s1500? if so, can you let us know?
  - jrnkntl 16y ago
    Why I choose the s1300 over the s1500: Price, size, hybrid (runs mac & windows). Someone else already did the comparison for me (and you). In short; if you want to scan a lot at once and care about the speed, go with the s1500. http://www.documentsnap.com/fujitsu-scansnap-how-are-the-s1300-and-scansnap-s1500-models-different/ http://www.documentsnap.com/fujitsu-scansnap-how-are-the-s13... Speed: 20 ppm vs 8 ppm Capacity: 50 pages vs 10 pages
dlib 16y ago
I did the exact same thing a year back, except for the books. Spotlight for the searching, Dropbox for the backups and an scansnap for the pdfs. It's working great, whenever I want to look something up I just search for the key words and there it is. It's a pity there is no search functionality in the Dropbox site. I don't think I'll part with my books though, but being able to search through them would be awesome.
- frossie 16y ago
  Same here, but used the ScanSnap-Evernote integration feature, so Evernote takes care of both the OCR and the searching, and if anybody is feeling particularly motivated they can also tag.
brianbreslin 16y ago
I bought that same scanner. Freaking amazing. My intention is to scan 8 years of business documents, just need a plan to organize them for backup purposes. I did manage to scan my dad's novels he wrote on a typewriter in the 70s and 80s for him in record time. Tha alone probably justified the cost.
cagey 16y ago
I did this over 5 years ago (Fujitsu fi-5110EOX w/Acrobat 6.0 Standard running on WinXP). It been a complete success, but we've also been a victim of it's success: I read about all the cool new features of the newer Scansnaps and am very jealous (chiefly because either automatic OCR + indexing isn't part of the setup we have, or I'm too dumb to have figured out how to enable it). This one feature is ALMOST enough to get me to buy a new Scansnap, but (a) the old one works just as good as it ever did, and our "filing system", such as it is, is "good enough" (to let us retrieve needed docs), and (b) new or old, these devices aren't cheap (and I'm not clear how much benefit automatic OCR + indexing would be). Anyway, it seems it should be a software only feature; if only I could use the old scanner with newer software... but I investigated a year ago and my scanner is in the "obsolete" category as far as the vendor is concerned (sigh; is there any open source software that can interface to any of the Scansnap scanners?). Also when I read the swooning reviews of the new Scansnaps, it seems the platform is usually Mac, which I have no plans to move to (are all the coolest features also present on the Windows version?). And yes, shredders have been far less reliable than the scanner: we must have gone thru at least 4 so far...
- lazyjeff 16y ago
  If you already have PDFs, isn't OCR simply a PDF --> PDF+metadata conversion? Why wouldn't some open source OCR software work, where you feed it your old PDFs and it outputs OCRed PDFs. Is this some kind of tactic for scanner manufacturers to sell newer versions of scanner or am I understanding this wrong. (Maybe OCR happens at the pre-PDF level where the scanner can read the document in a higher resolution?)
  - wladimir 16y ago
    You can indeed do OCR at any stage. The only potential issue I see is that JPEG compression (as used by PDF) might interfere with some OCR algorithm and make it less reliable, so OCRing directly on the raw output of the scanner might yield a somewhat better recognition. Then again, I know nothing of the protocols used by scanners over USB; it might well be that scanners send their result already compressed, or that the resolution is so high compared to the letter size that this doesn't matter.
whatrocks 16y ago
My apartment got robbed the day after I got a brand new external to back up my MacBook. Guess where it was at time of robbery? Plugged into the laptop. Luckily, I had a second, much crappier-looking external with most of my stuff that the thief didn't take. But I still lost tons of pictures and music. I've been Dropboxing ever since. But would love recommendations on secondary online storage providers in case Dropbox ever whiffs..
- chime 16y ago
  I've been using Mozy for over a year now. It works fine with my 700GB of storage.
  - eftpotrm 16y ago
    Serious question - I'm a photographer so generating 5-10GB of new data in a batch is far from unheard of, I've got hundreds of GBs stored and it's all on external drives. Mozy's FAQ doesn't seem designed for me ;-) When I've looked into this in the past, every provider has had issues with the new and archived content volume, and sometimes even the use of external rather than internal drives (!) that has made it unviable. I couldn't see from Mozy's site whether this was the case with them as well? If not and I can genuinely back up several hundred GBs of data (phone calls from ISP notwithstanding) and potentially add tens to low hundreds of GBs new data per month, from whatever drive source I choose, this sounds like what I want. Would this be the case from your experience?
    - deleted 16y ago
      [deleted]
    - eco 16y ago
      Mozy was a big sponsor of a photography conference I attended last year so they definitely want photographers. I use them myself. Backed up a couple hundred gigs without any trouble (it did take awhile though). I don't use external drives so I can't comment on how friendly Mozy works with those.
    - chime 16y ago
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
documentsnap 16y ago
One thing I really like about his approach is he keeps it simple: instead of going crazy with a folder structure he relies on search. Instead of using some complex software product, he uses Spotlight. Very nice.
- ryanwaggoner 16y ago
  I just know that I'm too lazy to make some complicated scheme work. I'd just end up with stacks of paper that I intend to scan "someday".
melissamiranda 16y ago
Curious, did you PDF business cards to keep the image, or just save the OCR data to your contacts?
- ryanwaggoner 16y ago
  I don't collect a ton of business cards, and when I do, I usually just type it into my address book, or increasingly, friend them on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
thinkzig 16y ago
If I wanted to try this on a PC does anyone know of a good indexing app for Windows 7?
- documentsnap 16y ago
  The ScanSnap Organizer that comes with the ScanSnap is actually pretty good. Other than that, Windows 7 will index OCR'ed PDFs so you could do the same sort of thing as the article without needing "extra" software.
- runjake 16y ago
  Windows 7 comes with Windows Search as part of the system, and it indexes PDFs and is excellent (unlike the prior iterations of Windows Search/Indexing Service)
AlexMuir 16y ago
£30 cashback on these Scanners from Fujitsu in the UK, Germany, France and Italy. Just send them your invoice. http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/COMP/fel/scansnap/s1500-cashback-promo.pdf http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/COMP/fel/scansnap/s1500-cas...
DannoHung 16y ago
Why doesn't someone make a good scanner like the Snapscan that also has a cheapo laser-printer attached for when you need to print out something like an airline boarding pass or a cheatsheet etc?
- Kadin 16y ago
  That's kinda like asking "why don't more toasters have coffee pots built in?" They're two separate devices, which do two separate things. (Actually, you could come up with an argument for the toaster+coffeepot thing, since they're at heart both resistance-coil devices...) Most MFPs are horrible amalgamations, basically discrete devices held together with cheap plastic shells and shitty driver software. Back in the 90s I remember seeing some dot-matrix printer addons that turned the printer into a scanner, and there might have been similar gadgets for inkjets, but modern scanners and printers wouldn't share many parts. There's little to be gained from an engineering standpoint by combining the two.
  - haribilalic 16y ago
    I have a Canon MX850 all-in-one. It's almost two years old. It's a good printer, scanner and fax. The printer has two paper trays and a cradle for printing CD/DVD labels. The scanner has a flatbed scanner and an automatic document feeder with double-sided colour scanning. It's listed at US$275 on Amazon. I've used it with ABBYY FineReader Express[1] on my Mac to achieve the same result as the author for myself and my mum. If you are after a toaster with a kettle, you can get one from Breville[2] and other manufacturers, including one with an egg fryer. 1. http://www.abbyyusa.com/finereader/express http://www.abbyyusa.com/finereader/express 2. http://www.breville.com.au/products_detail.asp?prod=435 http://www.breville.com.au/products_detail.asp?prod=435
tlrobinson 16y ago
I did the same thing, but I got the ScanSnap S300M because it's more portable (and coincidentally the same shredder). I use Everynote, which does OCR automatically, though I'm not sure I should be trusting them with sensitive documents...
URSpider94 16y ago
Another option to consider is NeatReceipts. The base version comes with a very slim USB-powered scanner that can travel around with you, and they sell a higher-end version with a sheet-fed scanner. It can also be set up to work with certain third-party scanners, I believe the ScanSnap is one of them. The default is that each page goes into its own PDF, which is pretty annoying, but you can merge files together to make bigger documents. What NeatReceipts offers over bulk PDF is the ability to capture and extract lots of metadata that is specific to the document type (it supports three types: document, receipt, and contact). You can use it to extract and export contacts from your big stack of business cards, or to create a formatted expense report from a pile of travel receipts. What you lose is portability and accessibility, since all of the files live in a "cabinet" on your computer. I'm in the early stages of de-papering, and I'm considering using NeatReceipts for business cards and receipts, and dumping all of the docs to PDF's that I tag and organize using Punakea (a great tagging program for MacOS).
seltzered 16y ago
I'm working on similar goals right now, but focusing on making a bookscanner (see http://diybookscanner.org http://diybookscanner.org ) instead, namely because many of the books I have are out of print. I figure I can later just use the bookscanner for documents as well
teach 16y ago
Anyone know if either version of this scanner would work under Linux?
- RK 16y ago
  There seem to be a few reports of success, but not a lot of details. See, for example, here http://www.documentsnap.com/fujitsu-scansnap-in-linux/ http://www.documentsnap.com/fujitsu-scansnap-in-linux/ And from an Amazon review (November 30, 2009): Also of interest is that the scanner works under Ubuntu GNU/Linux using SANE drivers and gscan2pdf. However, in my experience the scanner controls are not as complete under SANE and gscan2pdf as with Fujitsu's proprietary drivers on a MAC and PC. Other seem to have had better experiences than I. Ultimately, Linux users should know that it is possible to use this scanner; however, it may take some tweaking. But if you use Linux, you are most likely used to this.
- martey 16y ago
  The FAQ at http://lawyerist.com/fujitsu-scansnap-s1500-document-scanner/ http://lawyerist.com/fujitsu-scansnap-s1500-document-scanner... suggests that it does. Based on the information in the subthread at http://www.documentsnap.com/fujitsu-scansnap-in-linux/#IDComment21868910 http://www.documentsnap.com/fujitsu-scansnap-in-linux/#IDCom... , you might run into issues if you are using a distribution of Linux with an older version of sane-fujitsu.
marknutter 16y ago
I went through my only filing cabinet the other weekend and realized I had no reason for holding onto 99% of the crap that was in there. I threw it all away, and I have one small file folder with stuff in it, and most of it sentimental. Good riddance.
troymc 16y ago
When I moved from Ontario to BC about a year ago, I scanned about 95% of my books using a similar system. Carrying them in my computer (+ Time Machine + Carbonite) was much easier than hauling them across Canada in boxes. I kept some books: my Tufte books (e.g. Visual Explanations), an old book of poetry that I inherited, my Physics 101 textbook (of sentimental value)... I didn't run the OCR. I found it too slow and the final results didn't impress me. OCR can't handle mathematical equations. I suppose I could have used OCR on the novels, but I didn't bother. Scanning my books was a gamble because there was no tablet or e-Reader that seemed good enough, but there were rumors of an Apple tablet coming soon. Thankfully the rumors were true!
davidmathers 16y ago
For shredding, I picked up the Fellowes Powershred W-11C Cross-Cut Shredder. Also not super cheap, and pretty noisy (what shredder isn’t) My Fellowes Powershred MS-450Cs isn't. I paid $170 for it, but totally worth it as I hate the loud shredders.
cowmixtoo 16y ago
My wife and I just finished getting rid of two file cabinets worth of papers using this MFP: http://www.okidata.com/mkt/html/nf/MFP.php?sku=b4545series http://www.okidata.com/mkt/html/nf/MFP.php?sku=b4545series The pdf's it created were pretty small and the result of the project fits into a very small chunk of my Dropbox account (50GB). Its great having all my files for the past 20 years available everywhere I go.
mike463 16y ago
Ok, I have a question about this: Should you do it? I've done this for a long time. I have the fi-5110EOXM for the mac that I love. Here's what I learned. I spent a lot of time scanning stuff. When in doubt, scan it. I spent a days and weekends here and there. I felt SUCH a relief after tossing all that physical stuff, but keeping it "just in case". But... I've NEVER looked at the stuff I scanned. I mean, I could look at it. I could data mine my power bills for trends. I could start categorizing my spending over the years and predict stuff. The reality is that maybe I could have tossed the stuff (make a DECISION) and live with the consequences (which in my experience are zero). I think I couldn't toss the stuff out of fear. Maybe I could have used all the time saved to live a little more.
stcredzero 16y ago
It's your own personal Rainbows End! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End

167 points by ryanwaggoner 16y ago

One security consideration that I didn't see addressed -- if someone unauthorized accesses your electronic docs, it's easier for them to do it without your knowledge. If someone breaks into your house, you'll usually know about it. This may not apply to government docs which are presumably stored somewhere electronically, anyway.

ryanwaggoner 16y ago
This is a good point, and one that I hadn't considered. However, like you said, most of my docs probably also exist in the databases of companies and the government. Ultimately, it's not something I worry about that much; I'm probably more concerned with losing access to my documents than someone else gaining access to them.
- Symbol 16y ago
  Encryption can help here.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - mdda 16y ago
    On Linux (which it's not clear can be part of the scanning solution, which seems to rely on Fujitsu's PDFing software) - one can set up : cron : rsync : encfs --reverse . The last step sets up a filesystem that is identical to the existing real data, except encrypted - meaning that the whole back up is done securely (even if the backup devices are insecure). Maybe this is something that everyone is already doing, but it's a kind of 'obvious when you know how' thing if you're not.
- ewams 16y ago
  This is a very dangerous viewpoint. You should not ignore security simply because the data exists somewhere else. If data exists in multiple locations it is all the more reason to try and keep it safe. Some simple steps can be taken to protect data integrity and security: -Don't leave the data connected to the Internet 24/7. -Power off the storage medium when you are done with it. -Keep it in a physically safe location when not in use. -Encrypt the data or the volume. -Have a backup of your backup on a different medium and if possible different location. -Don't advertise the data. These are activities which are easy to set up and can help insure a more pleasant digital lifestyle. You could go to more extremes but then it becomes invasive. Not worrying about it much because you find it unlikely or just don't care is bad. Not worrying about it much is what you want to do because you have taken the important but easy steps to keep yourself safe.
  - ryanwaggoner 16y ago
    You're missing my point. It's not that I'm ignoring security; I was responding to JabavuAdams' pointing out that if someone accesses my electronic records, I likely wouldn't know about it, while I'd find out if someone broke into my home and accessed my physical records. Since there are other places that my data can be accessed electronically, it seems short-sighted to avoid digitizing my copies to avoid undetectable access to my documents, since that can happen anyway. Having said that, I really am not worried about someone accessing most of these documents, and certainly not enough to go through the hassles of what you outline in your comment. If someone wants to go through the hassle of breaching my security so they can pour through my phone records for the last five years, or peer at my receipts for lunch at the restaurant around the corner, they're welcome to. What exactly are we worried about here?
    - b_emery 16y ago
      You mentioned rental properties (mortgage docs?), tax papers, both of which likely have SSN's, maybe you have credit card numbers and bank acct numbers in these pdfs. I'd think you'd want this stuff encrypted. Thanks for a great post though, I'm totally inspired.

rb2k_ 16y ago

I'd really love to do this too, but I just finished my studies and feel bad about spending 300 Euros on a scanner. Does anybody have good alternatives?

brfox 16y ago
Buy a used one, scan everything, then sell it. That's what I was going to do, but I liked the scanner so much I just kept it.
- masklinn 16y ago
  The problem with selling it is that society as a whole hasn't gone paperless, so you still have boatloads of inbound paper, which means you continuously have to scan stuff.
billswift 16y ago
This was mentioned on HN a long while back, it uses ordinary digital cameras: http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-High-Speed-Book-Scanner-from-Trash-and-Cheap-C/ http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-High-Speed-Book-Scanner-... I don't have anything this elaborate. I have a cheap 3-in-1 printer that I scan some stuff with, and a cheap ~$70 digital camera that I use for stuff that it would be inconvenient to scan. The images are good enough to read on the computer though not great.

jrnkntl 16y ago

This is exactly why I have a Scansnap (s1300) on my wish-list this december.

tricky 16y ago
did you research the differences between the s1300 and s1500? if so, can you let us know?
- jrnkntl 16y ago
  Why I choose the s1300 over the s1500: Price, size, hybrid (runs mac & windows). Someone else already did the comparison for me (and you). In short; if you want to scan a lot at once and care about the speed, go with the s1500. http://www.documentsnap.com/fujitsu-scansnap-how-are-the-s1300-and-scansnap-s1500-models-different/ http://www.documentsnap.com/fujitsu-scansnap-how-are-the-s13... Speed: 20 ppm vs 8 ppm Capacity: 50 pages vs 10 pages

dlib 16y ago

I did the exact same thing a year back, except for the books. Spotlight for the searching, Dropbox for the backups and an scansnap for the pdfs. It's working great, whenever I want to look something up I just search for the key words and there it is. It's a pity there is no search functionality in the Dropbox site. I don't think I'll part with my books though, but being able to search through them would be awesome.

frossie 16y ago
Same here, but used the ScanSnap-Evernote integration feature, so Evernote takes care of both the OCR and the searching, and if anybody is feeling particularly motivated they can also tag.

brianbreslin 16y ago

I bought that same scanner. Freaking amazing. My intention is to scan 8 years of business documents, just need a plan to organize them for backup purposes. I did manage to scan my dad's novels he wrote on a typewriter in the 70s and 80s for him in record time. Tha alone probably justified the cost.

cagey 16y ago

I did this over 5 years ago (Fujitsu fi-5110EOX w/Acrobat 6.0 Standard running on WinXP). It been a complete success, but we've also been a victim of it's success: I read about all the cool new features of the newer Scansnaps and am very jealous (chiefly because either automatic OCR + indexing isn't part of the setup we have, or I'm too dumb to have figured out how to enable it). This one feature is ALMOST enough to get me to buy a new Scansnap, but (a) the old one works just as good as it ever did, and our "filing system", such as it is, is "good enough" (to let us retrieve needed docs), and (b) new or old, these devices aren't cheap (and I'm not clear how much benefit automatic OCR + indexing would be). Anyway, it seems it should be a software only feature; if only I could use the old scanner with newer software... but I investigated a year ago and my scanner is in the "obsolete" category as far as the vendor is concerned (sigh; is there any open source software that can interface to any of the Scansnap scanners?). Also when I read the swooning reviews of the new Scansnaps, it seems the platform is usually Mac, which I have no plans to move to (are all the coolest features also present on the Windows version?). And yes, shredders have been far less reliable than the scanner: we must have gone thru at least 4 so far...

lazyjeff 16y ago
If you already have PDFs, isn't OCR simply a PDF --> PDF+metadata conversion? Why wouldn't some open source OCR software work, where you feed it your old PDFs and it outputs OCRed PDFs. Is this some kind of tactic for scanner manufacturers to sell newer versions of scanner or am I understanding this wrong. (Maybe OCR happens at the pre-PDF level where the scanner can read the document in a higher resolution?)
- wladimir 16y ago
  You can indeed do OCR at any stage. The only potential issue I see is that JPEG compression (as used by PDF) might interfere with some OCR algorithm and make it less reliable, so OCRing directly on the raw output of the scanner might yield a somewhat better recognition. Then again, I know nothing of the protocols used by scanners over USB; it might well be that scanners send their result already compressed, or that the resolution is so high compared to the letter size that this doesn't matter.

whatrocks 16y ago

My apartment got robbed the day after I got a brand new external to back up my MacBook. Guess where it was at time of robbery? Plugged into the laptop. Luckily, I had a second, much crappier-looking external with most of my stuff that the thief didn't take. But I still lost tons of pictures and music. I've been Dropboxing ever since. But would love recommendations on secondary online storage providers in case Dropbox ever whiffs..

chime 16y ago
I've been using Mozy for over a year now. It works fine with my 700GB of storage.
- eftpotrm 16y ago
  Serious question - I'm a photographer so generating 5-10GB of new data in a batch is far from unheard of, I've got hundreds of GBs stored and it's all on external drives. Mozy's FAQ doesn't seem designed for me ;-) When I've looked into this in the past, every provider has had issues with the new and archived content volume, and sometimes even the use of external rather than internal drives (!) that has made it unviable. I couldn't see from Mozy's site whether this was the case with them as well? If not and I can genuinely back up several hundred GBs of data (phone calls from ISP notwithstanding) and potentially add tens to low hundreds of GBs new data per month, from whatever drive source I choose, this sounds like what I want. Would this be the case from your experience?
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - eco 16y ago
    Mozy was a big sponsor of a photography conference I attended last year so they definitely want photographers. I use them myself. Backed up a couple hundred gigs without any trouble (it did take awhile though). I don't use external drives so I can't comment on how friendly Mozy works with those.
  - chime 16y ago

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

documentsnap 16y ago

One thing I really like about his approach is he keeps it simple: instead of going crazy with a folder structure he relies on search. Instead of using some complex software product, he uses Spotlight. Very nice.

ryanwaggoner 16y ago
I just know that I'm too lazy to make some complicated scheme work. I'd just end up with stacks of paper that I intend to scan "someday".

melissamiranda 16y ago

Curious, did you PDF business cards to keep the image, or just save the OCR data to your contacts?

ryanwaggoner 16y ago
I don't collect a ton of business cards, and when I do, I usually just type it into my address book, or increasingly, friend them on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

thinkzig 16y ago

If I wanted to try this on a PC does anyone know of a good indexing app for Windows 7?

documentsnap 16y ago
The ScanSnap Organizer that comes with the ScanSnap is actually pretty good. Other than that, Windows 7 will index OCR'ed PDFs so you could do the same sort of thing as the article without needing "extra" software.
runjake 16y ago
Windows 7 comes with Windows Search as part of the system, and it indexes PDFs and is excellent (unlike the prior iterations of Windows Search/Indexing Service)

AlexMuir 16y ago

£30 cashback on these Scanners from Fujitsu in the UK, Germany, France and Italy. Just send them your invoice. http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/COMP/fel/scansnap/s1500-cashback-promo.pdf http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/COMP/fel/scansnap/s1500-cas...

DannoHung 16y ago

Why doesn't someone make a good scanner like the Snapscan that also has a cheapo laser-printer attached for when you need to print out something like an airline boarding pass or a cheatsheet etc?

Kadin 16y ago
That's kinda like asking "why don't more toasters have coffee pots built in?" They're two separate devices, which do two separate things. (Actually, you could come up with an argument for the toaster+coffeepot thing, since they're at heart both resistance-coil devices...) Most MFPs are horrible amalgamations, basically discrete devices held together with cheap plastic shells and shitty driver software. Back in the 90s I remember seeing some dot-matrix printer addons that turned the printer into a scanner, and there might have been similar gadgets for inkjets, but modern scanners and printers wouldn't share many parts. There's little to be gained from an engineering standpoint by combining the two.
- haribilalic 16y ago
  I have a Canon MX850 all-in-one. It's almost two years old. It's a good printer, scanner and fax. The printer has two paper trays and a cradle for printing CD/DVD labels. The scanner has a flatbed scanner and an automatic document feeder with double-sided colour scanning. It's listed at US$275 on Amazon. I've used it with ABBYY FineReader Express[1] on my Mac to achieve the same result as the author for myself and my mum. If you are after a toaster with a kettle, you can get one from Breville[2] and other manufacturers, including one with an egg fryer. 1. http://www.abbyyusa.com/finereader/express http://www.abbyyusa.com/finereader/express 2. http://www.breville.com.au/products_detail.asp?prod=435 http://www.breville.com.au/products_detail.asp?prod=435

tlrobinson 16y ago

I did the same thing, but I got the ScanSnap S300M because it's more portable (and coincidentally the same shredder). I use Everynote, which does OCR automatically, though I'm not sure I should be trusting them with sensitive documents...

URSpider94 16y ago

Another option to consider is NeatReceipts. The base version comes with a very slim USB-powered scanner that can travel around with you, and they sell a higher-end version with a sheet-fed scanner. It can also be set up to work with certain third-party scanners, I believe the ScanSnap is one of them. The default is that each page goes into its own PDF, which is pretty annoying, but you can merge files together to make bigger documents. What NeatReceipts offers over bulk PDF is the ability to capture and extract lots of metadata that is specific to the document type (it supports three types: document, receipt, and contact). You can use it to extract and export contacts from your big stack of business cards, or to create a formatted expense report from a pile of travel receipts. What you lose is portability and accessibility, since all of the files live in a "cabinet" on your computer. I'm in the early stages of de-papering, and I'm considering using NeatReceipts for business cards and receipts, and dumping all of the docs to PDF's that I tag and organize using Punakea (a great tagging program for MacOS).

seltzered 16y ago

I'm working on similar goals right now, but focusing on making a bookscanner (see http://diybookscanner.org http://diybookscanner.org ) instead, namely because many of the books I have are out of print. I figure I can later just use the bookscanner for documents as well

teach 16y ago

Anyone know if either version of this scanner would work under Linux?

RK 16y ago
There seem to be a few reports of success, but not a lot of details. See, for example, here http://www.documentsnap.com/fujitsu-scansnap-in-linux/ http://www.documentsnap.com/fujitsu-scansnap-in-linux/ And from an Amazon review (November 30, 2009): Also of interest is that the scanner works under Ubuntu GNU/Linux using SANE drivers and gscan2pdf. However, in my experience the scanner controls are not as complete under SANE and gscan2pdf as with Fujitsu's proprietary drivers on a MAC and PC. Other seem to have had better experiences than I. Ultimately, Linux users should know that it is possible to use this scanner; however, it may take some tweaking. But if you use Linux, you are most likely used to this.
martey 16y ago
The FAQ at http://lawyerist.com/fujitsu-scansnap-s1500-document-scanner/ http://lawyerist.com/fujitsu-scansnap-s1500-document-scanner... suggests that it does. Based on the information in the subthread at http://www.documentsnap.com/fujitsu-scansnap-in-linux/#IDComment21868910 http://www.documentsnap.com/fujitsu-scansnap-in-linux/#IDCom... , you might run into issues if you are using a distribution of Linux with an older version of sane-fujitsu.

marknutter 16y ago

I went through my only filing cabinet the other weekend and realized I had no reason for holding onto 99% of the crap that was in there. I threw it all away, and I have one small file folder with stuff in it, and most of it sentimental. Good riddance.

troymc 16y ago

When I moved from Ontario to BC about a year ago, I scanned about 95% of my books using a similar system. Carrying them in my computer (+ Time Machine + Carbonite) was much easier than hauling them across Canada in boxes. I kept some books: my Tufte books (e.g. Visual Explanations), an old book of poetry that I inherited, my Physics 101 textbook (of sentimental value)... I didn't run the OCR. I found it too slow and the final results didn't impress me. OCR can't handle mathematical equations. I suppose I could have used OCR on the novels, but I didn't bother. Scanning my books was a gamble because there was no tablet or e-Reader that seemed good enough, but there were rumors of an Apple tablet coming soon. Thankfully the rumors were true!

davidmathers 16y ago

For shredding, I picked up the Fellowes Powershred W-11C Cross-Cut Shredder. Also not super cheap, and pretty noisy (what shredder isn’t) My Fellowes Powershred MS-450Cs isn't. I paid $170 for it, but totally worth it as I hate the loud shredders.

cowmixtoo 16y ago

My wife and I just finished getting rid of two file cabinets worth of papers using this MFP: http://www.okidata.com/mkt/html/nf/MFP.php?sku=b4545series http://www.okidata.com/mkt/html/nf/MFP.php?sku=b4545series The pdf's it created were pretty small and the result of the project fits into a very small chunk of my Dropbox account (50GB). Its great having all my files for the past 20 years available everywhere I go.

mike463 16y ago

Ok, I have a question about this: Should you do it? I've done this for a long time. I have the fi-5110EOXM for the mac that I love. Here's what I learned. I spent a lot of time scanning stuff. When in doubt, scan it. I spent a days and weekends here and there. I felt SUCH a relief after tossing all that physical stuff, but keeping it "just in case". But... I've NEVER looked at the stuff I scanned. I mean, I could look at it. I could data mine my power bills for trends. I could start categorizing my spending over the years and predict stuff. The reality is that maybe I could have tossed the stuff (make a DECISION) and live with the consequences (which in my experience are zero). I think I couldn't toss the stuff out of fear. Maybe I could have used all the time saved to live a little more.

stcredzero 16y ago

It's your own personal Rainbows End! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbows_End