Tips To Learn How To Go Paperless | DocumentSnap Paperless Blog

Wow, it has been almost two years since I launched the original Unofficial ScanSnap Setup Guide, and I’m thrilled to announce that the Third Edition is available today.

There have been new models and software updates since last year’s edition, and I have changed the format of the Guide to be easier to read on a tablet for those screen-readers like myself.

Here are some of the new sections:

• A clearer primer on what is possible with each model.
• How to use the new software features that have been released in the last year and the new Quick Menu customizations.
• How to scan wirelessly with the ScanSnap iX500
• How to make your PDFs searchable in the background so that it is faster to keep scanning.
• How to turn your ScanSnap into a fax machine.
• A deeper dive into using ScanSnap Organizer.
• How to get around the ScanSnap’s lack of TWAIN support on Windows.
• How to use FineReader Express on the Mac.

Don’t Have The Guide Yet?

If you own a Fujitsu ScanSnap and need a little extra help, it might be worth your while to take a look at The Unofficial ScanSnap Setup Guide.

I get feedback every day that the Guide has helped readers get started using their ScanSnap the right way, so who knows, perhaps it could help you too.

Already Own The Guide?

You will be receiving an email with the update, at no charge of course.

If you didn’t get one, let me know and I will hook you up.

Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy the Third Edition.

Many Canadians will be familiar with Steve Dotto, who goes by “Canada’s Most Respected Geek”[1], and who has for years hosted Dotto Tech on TV and radio. In fact, I was recently interviewed on the show.

Steve is hosting a series of live events called ProTECHtivity, which is billed as “a workshop designed to massively increase your productivity”.

There will be a number of speakers, and I’m honoured to have been invited to join in at the Delta, BC event on Thursday, March 14.

I’ll be talking about The Paperless Office and the talk will be very tool and technique-oriented.

Lunch, coffee, and snacks will be included, and if you learn more and register here and use the code docsnapguest you can save 20%. Not bad.[2]

If you are in the Lower Mainland, I hope to see you there!

As you may or may not know, I do a series of weekly videos with short tips on going paperless.

These are available here on the Blog and also on the DocumentSnap YouTube channel.

Awesome DocumentSnap reader Susan recently wrote me with a great suggestion: why not have YouTube Playlists so that if you are only interested in specific aspects (for example Mac stuff or Evernote) you can just check out those videos and don’t have to deal with the ones for a platform you don’t even use.

Great suggestion Susan, so that is exactly what I have done!

On the right-hand side of the channel you can see the new Playlists. Here are the direct links:

• ScanSnap paperless videos
• Evernote paperless videos
• Mac paperless videos
• Windows paperless videos
• General Going Paperless videos

Let me know what you think or if you have any other suggestions. Going forward, new videos will be put into the appropriate Playlist(s).

PS: If you want to be sure that you don’t miss a video (and who wouldn’t want to hear my voice every week?), you can hit the Subscribe button at the top of the channel page.

(Photo by thms.nl)

Many readers choose to support the DocumentSnap site by making online purchases through some of the links that you see here. When you purchase, say, a scanner through one of my links, I get a small commission.

A nice thing about this is that at the end of the year, I can take a look at which products were the most popular with DocumentSnap readers. I obviously can’t see your purchase, but I can see what has been sold by Amazon and other vendors in an anonymous aggregate format.

For the third year in a row, here are the most popular going-paperless hardware, books, and DocumentSnap products that were purchased via my links in 2012.

By the way, just so we’re clear, the links below are also special links, so if you choose to purchase something after clicking one of them, I will get a small commission. If you don’t want to do that, not a problem. Just track the item down manually.

Physical Products

The top 10 physical products for 2012 are:

1. Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i and S1300. Part-way through the year, The S1300 was replaced by the S1300i, which is a little faster. Combined, these two models took top spot for the third year in a row. I really like this model, and until recently it was the one I used. It is small but also has a document feeder and is double-sided. My review of the S1300i is here.
2. Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 and S1500M. A few weeks ago, these two models were replaced by the ScanSnap iX500, which is now what I use. It is Fujitsu’s desktop model and is crazy fast. The reviews of the S1500 and S1500M were off the charts, and it looks like the iX500 will be similarly revered. My review is here.
3. Fujitsu ScanSnap S1100. The portable scanner that was released in 2011. My review is here.
4. Scanned Rubber Stamp. For whatever reason, every month I noticed that this stamp was flying off the virtual shelves. I guess you guys are doing a lot of scanning!
5. Fellowes W–11C Shredder. Fellowes’ 11-sheet cross-cut shredder.
6. Doxie Go. Doxie’s scanner that lets you scan without being plugged into a computer. It can even scan wirelessly. My review here.
7. Canon imageFORMULA P–215. Canon’s popular portable scanner with TWAIN support and Evernote integration. My review is here.
8. Eye-Fi Connect 4G: A wireless SD card. I can only imagine that this is being used with the Doxie Go.

Books

The top 10 books related to going paperless are:

1. Evernote®: The unofficial eBook to capturing everything and getting things done. Daniel Gold’s excellent ebook about using Getting Things Done with Evernote. My review is here.
2. Evernote Essentials. If you want to master Evernote, this book by Brett Kelly is hard to beat. My review is here.
3. Take Control Of Your Paperless Office. An extremely comprehensive guide to going paperless by Joe Kissell. My review is here.
4. Take Control Of Getting Started With DEVONthink 2. I point people to this guide when they ask me about DEVONthink. Also by the ridiculously prolific Joe Kissell.
5. Springpad. Smarter Notebooks. Smarter Sharing. A Smarter Way to Get Things Done!. By, once again, Daniel Gold. All about how to use Springpad. My review is here.
6. Take Control of iCloud. All about how iCloud works. By… shocker… Joe Kissell!
7. Take Control of Backing Up Your Mac. The name says it all. What do you know, it’s by Joe Kissell!
8. Take Control of TextExpander. I use TextExpander all day every day, and this guide will help you become a TextExpander ninja. Also by Michael E. Cohen.
9. It’s All Too Much. Not about going paperless specifically, but it is a great book by Peter Walsh about clutter in general and dealing with the emotional aspects.
10. Getting Things Done. Again, not specifically about going paperless, but it has helped me and many DocumentSnap readers.

DocumentSnap Products

In case you are curious, here are the top products produced by the lovely and talented Brooks Duncan. Oh wait, that’s me.

1. The Unofficial ScanSnap Setup Guide – Mac. The Mac version of the guide just barely edged out its Windows cousin.
2. The Unofficial ScanSnap Setup Guide – Windows. The Windows version of the popular ScanSnap guide.
3. Paperless Document Organization Guide – Specialist. As you can tell, this is by far the most popular version of the Paperless Document Organization Guide, but not by as much of a margin as last year.
4. Paperless Document Organization Guide – Practitioner. The version of the Paperless Document Organization Guide without all the extras.
5. Paperless Document Organization Guide – Master. The “premium” version of the Paperless Document Organization Guide that includes the recordings from the last Paperless Action Plan and other goodies.
6. Paperless Action Plan. A month long online course all about taking action on going paperless. It is one of my favorite things to do, so look for it to make a return soon.
7. The Unofficial ScanSnap Setup Guide – Combo. Includes both the Mac and Windows versions, for you cross-platform folks.
8. Go Paperless With Hazel Webinar. I did my first ever live webinar, all about how to use Hazel to go paperless. It was a blast, so expect another webinar soon.
9. Going Paperless Jumpstart Teleseminar. I did a live call with a group of DocumentSnap readers to answer questions. The recording is available for purchase.

Thank you again for supporting the site in 2012. I’ll continue to strive to provide you with as much helpful information as I can.

If you have any questions or thoughts about this list, head on down to the comment section and let me know.

(Photo by terren in Virginia)

In December, for the third year in a row, I did a survey of DocumentSnap blog readers and readers of the now bi-weekly DocumentSnap newsletter.

I have found this very helpful each year, and last year for the first time I shared the results of the survey with you. Seems only fair.

In the surveys, I asked three key questions:

1. What is the biggest problem that you have right now with going paperless?
2. What would you like to see more of on the blog or newsletter?
3. What would you like to see less of on the blog or newsletter?

The main reason I share the results with you is that I want you to know that whatever feelings, reservations, or challenges you are having around going paperless, you are not alone.

Here are the results for this year.

What Is The Biggest Problem?

The Blog

Much like last year, organizing your electronic documents and finding the time to do this paperless stuff are at the top of the list, but joining them this year is just getting started.

Digital organization is a perennial big topic which is why I created the Paperless Document Organization Guide. However, there is clearly still work to do.

It is interesting that getting started has increased as it has. It was the topic of getting started that led me to write We Are Our Own Worst Enemy When Going Paperless, which ultimately led to the creation of the Paperless Action Plan. I’ve been receiving a number of waiting list requests for that one lately, so I think it is soon time to do another session.

The Newsletter

The heavy hitters from the Paper Cuts newsletter community are the same as last year, but this year finding time leads by an even larger gap.

This is one area in which I dropped the ball in 2012 – I did not do enough[1] to help you guys on this obviously important topic. Look for me to make that right in 2013.

What Would You Like To See More Of?

The Blog

Interestingly, quite a few of you wanted to see more software and particularly hardware reviews. One of my goals for 2012 was to expand the range of hardware that I wrote about, so I put together some reviews for Canon and Doxie scanners. I’ll see if I can increase that even more.

Case studies are always a popular topic, so I started the DocumentSnap Reader Stories series. I haven’t had many stories submitted recently, but I will try to drum up some more in 2013.

Being an automation geek, I liked seeing that automation is something that many of you want to see more of. I held a webinar on Hazel, but look for me to increase the automation blog posts this year.

The Newsletter

Digital organization is the big winner here (surprise!), but I was interested to have many of you asking for more Evernote tips. To be honest, I have been afraid that I have been overdoing it on Evernote stuff in the past few months.

I have something in the works for you Evernote users, so stay tuned for that.

What Would You Like To See Less Of?

The Blog

I was very honoured that there were very few entries in the “Less Of” category.

As with last year, some Mac users would like to see less Windows posts and some Windows users would like to see less Mac posts. I will continue to try my best to keep things balanced, but if I go too far one way or the other, feel free to call me out on it.

The Newsletter

Again, there were very few responses in the “Less Of” category. Some Windows and Android readers would like to see less mentions of Apple stuff, so I will see what I can do there. I did pick up an Android device in 2012, so I will try to up that coverage in 2013.

I also had a few readers saying they’d like to see less travel reports. I did a bananas amount of travel in 2012 (for me), so for trips that were relevant to the DocumentSnap audience I reported back. I’ll try to keep that more to the blog.

Newsletter Frequency

For years, the DocumentSnap Newsletter was weekly. I had never received complaints about that, and whenever I had asked readers at conferences if it was too much they always told me that it was perfect.

However, I always worried that maybe it was a little too high volume, so as a test, I started doing it bi-weekly part way through the year.

In the survey I asked the newsletter community what they thought, and it looks like I made the right call. I do want to say thank you to the 20% of you who said you wanted it weekly again. It’s humbling and not every day you have people asking you to receive more e-mail!

2013 And Beyond

I want to express my deep appreciation to everyone that has provided feedback throughout the year. I will do my best to make the blog and newsletter better and better for you.

I have some great things planned for 2013, and if you have anything you’d like to share, feel free to leave a comment or hit me up any time. Have a great and as paperless as possible 2013!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of appearing on Steve Dotto’s DottoTech radio show and podcast. As you can imagine, we talked about going paperless.

My episode is Dotto Tech 90 – Genealogy, Writing And A Paperless Life, and my part starts at about 20:00.

It was my first time doing a “for realz” radio show so I was a bit incoherent at first, but eventually I think it worked out.

You can listen online here, or subscribe to Steve’s great podcast in iTunes. The DottoTech radio show is also on CISL 650 on Wednesdays at 6pm for those in the Vancouver area.

By the way: we got into Noodlesoft’s Hazel quite a bit. If you want some help setting that up to go paperless, feel free to check out my webinar on the topic.

Here are some of our posts from this week in years past.

2011

• Preserving Family History
  A nice scanning story about preserving family memories.

• Doxie Go Review
  My review of the Doxie Go, which I guess has been out for a year now. If you are interested, its cousin the Doxie One just came out as well. Here is my review of the Doxie One.

2010

• OCR Smackdown: ABBYY FineReader vs. Adobe Acrobat
  Comparison of ABBYY and Acrobat on Mac and Windows.

• Evernote Gets Stacks
  Stacks are Evernote’s implementation of a hierarchical notebook structure.

(Photo by Ayleen Gaspar)

Here are some of our posts from this week in years past.

2011

• A Paperless Genealogy Research Trip
  I love reports like this.

• Video: Seed Your Initial CrashPlan Backup
  If you have a lot of data to back up, it might take ages to upload. If you are backing up to another computer, CrashPlan has a way that you can save your stuff to a local hard drive, take it to the remote computer, and attach it. If you’re backing up to an online service, they have an interesting service where they’ll mail you a drive to do the same thing.

• Use Microsoft OneNote For Paperless Genealogy
  A helpful video if you use OneNote to do genealogy.

2010

• Use Adobe Acrobat To Create A Digital Signature Stamp
  There are many ways to do a digital signature stamp. This is one way to do it in Acrobat.

• How To Fix PDF Search In Windows 7 64-Bit
  This is still a huge problem for many Windows 7 users. If you use Windows and have troubles searching for PDFs, check this out.

(Photo by Ayleen Gaspar)

Every year at this time I like to pause the regular flow of tips and ranting and ask you what you’d like to see on the blog going forward.

This will be the third year in a row that I have done the DocumentSnap Blog Survey, and if this year is anything like the previous two, the results should be incredibly helpful.

Much of what I do has been either a direct result of, or heavily influenced by, the suggestions that you (the best readers on the Internet) have been kind enough to share with me.

Now that we are heading into 2013, I’d like to do it again. So, it would be incredibly helpful to me if you would provide your feedback to these super-quick 6 questions.

Click here to take the DocumentSnap 2012 Blog Reader Survey.

It is completely anonymous and you don’t have to give any personal information or anything, and this is not a sales thing where I will chase you down. It’s so that I can get a better idea of what you all are interested in seeing on the site for the rest of 2012 and beyond.

Thanks again!

PS- It is only fair that you get to see the survey results too. If you want to see what came out of last year, read all about it.

Here’s the link to this year’s questions again.

(Photo by Sean MacEntee)

Here are some of our posts from this week in years past.

2011

• How Screenwriter John August Writes
  Always cool to read the different ways that people use their scanners.

• Video: Find All PDFs On Your Windows Computer
  Sometimes you just want to find them all.

• Doxie Go Goes Cordless
  Looks like the Doxie Go was announced a year ago this week. Time flies.

2010

• Shoeboxed Review – Receipts, Business Cards, And Documents In The Cloud
  It has been too long since I have dug into Shoeboxed. I’ll have to rectify that soon. They’ve been up to some great stuff.

(Photo by Ayleen Gaspar)