Tips To Learn How To Go Paperless | DocumentSnap Paperless Blog

We all know that staying up to date with software is generally important, but sometimes it can have unexpected side effects.

Recently, a whole bunch of people started getting green checkmarks beside their document icons. For example, if you had a Word document, when you looked at it in Windows Explorer there would be a green checkmark on the icon.

Support forums flooded with questions- What is going on? Do I have a virus? How do I get rid of it? What is up with the green checkmarks?!

Well, it turns out that the culprit is one of our favorite backup utilities, Mozy.

An update was released that added a feature (annoying to some), where there is a red exclamation point beside the icon of a file if it needs to be backed up, which changes to a green checkmark once the operation is successful.

I can see the reason for doing this, but if you want to get rid of it, here is what you need to do:

• Click on the Mozy icon in the system tray (the lower right corner of your screen)
• Choose Configure
• Go to the Options tab
• Check “Disable icon overlays in Windows Explorer”
• Hit Save

There you go, check marks should be gone.

If anyone has been wanting to sign up for Mozy’s Unlimited Service, I have a coupon code for you. It’s for 10% off all annual and bi-annual signups.

To get the discount, click here to go to the MozyHome Unlimited signup page, and then enter the coupon code OCTOBER (really sneaky).

Of course, if you don’t need more than 2 Gigs right now, there is always Mozy Free.

(Note, I do get a small tip if you use that link, so if you’re interested in buying me a coffee, there you go. Either way Mozy is great).

There has been a lot of debate lately about “living in the cloud” and whether to keep data and applications locally or stored out on the Internet with backup services like Mozy or Carbonite.

Which is better for backing up your documents?

Online Backup

Pros:

• The data is (hopefully!) encrypted
• Depending on the service you use, you may be able to get to your files via the Internet which can be very handy
• If you have a fire, flood, or theft, your backup is offsite so you don’t have to worry about it
• Chances are, your backup provider will have a much more advanced setup than you do with respect to replication etc.

Cons:

• You don’t have direct control over your data
• If your provider goes out of business, what happens to your data?
• If you have a lot to upload, it could take a very long time to transfer the data
• If your internet connection is down, so is your ability to backup/restore

Offline Backup

Pros:

• The data is totally in your control
• Its on your network so access is fast
• If it is a portable drive like a MyBook, you can take it to another location
• You don’t have to worry about uptime/downtime or your internet connection.

Cons:

• If you have a fire or flood, your backup might be damaged along with your computer
• If you have a theft, and have a portable hard drive, your backup could be stolen
• Hard drives fail (boy do they), so depending on your setup your backup could bite the dust

After all that, which is better? It depends on your needs and how nervous you are about storing your data on someone else’s servers. Personally, I am a big fan of online backups but that is just me.

The good news is, you don’t have to pick one or the other. Back up your critical files to an external hard drive, and then also send your most critical files up to Mozy or Carbonite. The best of both worlds!

How do you do your backups (or do you? ). Do you trust online providers? Let us know in the comments.

Possibly None

It could be that you already have all the software that you need. If you have a ScanSnap or other scanner, it will come with software to scan and possibly even convert it to a searchable PDF.

It might even come with some simple document management software.

If you have an external backup like a MyBook or a Time Capsule, it might already have software to do backups for you.

However, if you want to “take things to the next level” and have a full document management workflow, there is software out there that can help.

Manage Documents Like A Pro

Mac users are spoiled for choice when it comes to document management software. Here are a few favorites:

DEVONthink Pro Office

DEVONthink is called a “Personal Information Assistant”. There are a number of different flavors, but the one that works best with the ScanSnap is DEVONthink Pro Office.

It manages documents and classifies them and files them automatically, and has very advanced OCR and searching technology .

It automatically takes documents from the ScanSnap and turns them into searchable PDFs.

Yep

Yep is an iPhoto-like file PDF browser that allows you to add tags to documents in order to manage them. It will assign tags based on the folder that they’re stored in, and then you can of course add your own.

PDFPen

PDFPen is a PDF editing solution that lets you add comments, highlighting, signatures, move around pages, and other general document management stuff. It’s kind of like a scaled down Acrobat for 1/6 of the price.

For Windows users one solution is Microsoft OneNote 2007

OneNote is a “digital notebook” that lets you bring in documents, images, media, etc. For documents, it will OCR them and allow you to search through.

Another Windows program is Home Document Manager.  Home Document Manager will scan, organize, and make your documents searchable.

Stay Safe – Backup

There are a ton of backup programs for Windows.

For local backups, SyncBackSE is a favorite.

If you want to go the online route, there is Mozy and Carbonite. Here is more information about online backup solutions.

For Mac, OSX Leopard comes with built in backup software called Time Machine. You can use that with any external hard drive, or use a Time Capsule.

The online route for Mac users is a bit more limited, but Mozy is an extremely popular choice. The best part is that the first 2 Gigs of storage is free.

Do you have any other software for managing paper and documents that you can’t live without? Sound off in the comments.