Your Top Going Paperless Products Of 2012

Your Top Going Paperless Products Of 2012

TrophiesMany 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

Top 10 Physical Paperless ProductsThe 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

BooksThe 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

Top DocumentSnap ProductsIn 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)

About the Author

Brooks Duncan helps individuals and small businesses go paperless. He's been an accountant, a software developer, a manager in a very large corporation, and has run DocumentSnap since 2008. You can find Brooks on Twitter at @documentsnap or @brooksduncan. Thanks for stopping by.

Leave a Reply 3 comments

Nikki - February 21, 2013 Reply

I am confused as to the difference in the levels of "Paperless Document Organization Guide – Master vs Practitioner. Which one does a simple farm operation need. We do little billing but have lots of vendors and grain/ insurance,/farm programs documents.

Diana - January 24, 2013 Reply

Great article Brooks! Not only is it interesting to see what items are most popular, this is a perfect reference list for anyone going paperless.

    Brooks Duncan - January 24, 2013 Reply

    Thanks Diana! That was my hope!

Leave a Reply: