Going Paperless - How to Start and Establish My Paperless Office

!±8± Going Paperless - How to Start and Establish My Paperless Office

If you have a small business office or home office, chances are you have paper documents stacked (or scattered) on your desk, in folders, binders, inboxes, shoe boxes and probably a large bulky file cabinet or two. With today's computer technology, now is the time to establish and move towards a "Paperless Office". Here's how your small business or home office can get started in "going paperless".

At bare minimum, the "tools" you will need are a computer (or laptop) and a document scanner. Depending on the available storage you have on your computer, you may want to add additional hard-drive space either through an external or internal hard drive.

Next you should define a well-designed folder structure (directory structure on your computer) that will give you a simple and logical organization of where you store your electronic documents. Having all your files in one directory, or in a poorly thought out directory structure will quickly make your paperless office confusing and inefficient.

Second, you need to define a standard file-naming convention. This file-naming standard will be used for every document you scan into your computer. If you do not have a consistent way of naming your files, then as your paperless office grows, you will have a difficult time finding documents and managing your files.

Once you have your tools (computer and document scanner), and you've defined your folder structure and file-naming standards, you are ready to start managing your paperless office. I recommend focusing on current documentation first. Start with current papers cluttering your desk and inbox. Start scanning them into your computer, name your documents according to your file-naming convention and save them in the appropriate folders. Now enjoy shredding and/or recycling that physical paper document.

Once you have cleared your desk and inbox, you can begin the scanning and recycling process with the rest of your hard-copy documents. You will still need a small file cabinet or some physical storage in your office for critical and important "original" hard-copy documents. You probably do not want to shred the title to your cars or your birth certificates. But you will be amazed at how much physical space you can free up and how much clutter you can get rid of when you go paperless in your small and home office.

Going Paperless - How to Start and Establish My Paperless Office

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Going Paperless - How to Get Rid of More Clutter by Storing Product Manuals in Your Paperless Office

!±8± Going Paperless - How to Get Rid of More Clutter by Storing Product Manuals in Your Paperless Office

Do you keep paper-based product manuals and instructions throughout your home and office, just in case you need to reference them later? "Dude... that is so lame and yesterday". Clean out your home and office, clear out the clutter and be cool and hip by keeping your product manuals in your "paperless office".

You can find most manuals and instructions, if not all product related literature on the manufacture's websites as an electronic PDF document. Managing all your product manuals electronically is another great way to reduce paper clutter, and will help you quickly and easily find product instructions at the time you need them.

I have successfully found and downloaded product support literature from even really old products that I bought well before the Web was even around.

Here is a "de-cluttering home and office cleaning project". It will not only help get rid of unnecessary paper clutter, but the next time you need a particular product manual, you will be able to find it fast and hassle-free.

1. Go around the house and office and collect every product manual you find.

2. Throw out the manuals for products you no longer have.

3. Go to the company's website and search for the manuals you need. Most sites have an easy way to find their products and related support information.

4. Download the manuals into a well-organized location on your computer, so it will be easy to find later when you need them.

5. If you cannot locate a product manual on the Internet, then you should scan it with a document scanner.

6. After you store each manual into your "paperless office", you can comfortably recycle and discard it.

There are many reasons and benefits to going paperless throughout your home and office. And focusing on all your product manual instructions is another way to clear out paper clutter while helping you get more organized and efficient throughout your home and office.

Going Paperless - How to Get Rid of More Clutter by Storing Product Manuals in Your Paperless Office

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