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Comment by kylec | Hacker News Reader

I bought a Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 a few months ago and I love it. It's a document scanner that scans both sides of the page as it goes through, and the desktop software runs OCR and converts the document into a multiple-page searchable PDF. If something goes in crooked (like a long receipt) the software automatically straightens it out. And since Spotlight indexes the text in PDFs, I can find any document I've scanned within seconds. Storing the scans in DropBox allows me to access the scans on multiple devices, and gives me the security of an online backup. Going paperless is liberating, and the ScanSnap makes it enjoyable. Highly recommended.

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I also got a ScanSnap S1300 after a friend of mine wrote a similar article, "The Tools of the Estate" about how he went paperless after he became the Personal Representative of his Mom's estate: http://alexvollmer.com/posts/2011/01/30/tools-of-the-estate/

Also talks about adding in DEVONThink Pro into the mix for document management and auto-classification, which I'd also recommend (though it takes a bit to get used to).

I'm very happy with the paperless setup I've got running now.

I have the same scanner and pretty much the same workflow. It scans and the documents go into my Dropbox folder under a specific folder hierarchy (e.g. taxes, kids related, house related, etc.). They're searchable but it's nice to be able to scan through them easily by subject if necessary.

As for shredding - my wife works in a medical office with those big locked garbage cans. Once a month I just drop off a box of papers into the can and they get shredded during the next pick-up.

Sounds handy, but much did the wife cost?

And what's the on-going maintenance?

One reason the author chose Doxie was because "Its software has a great, polished UI." How do you like the Fujitsu software?

The UI isn't exceptionally pretty, but once it's configured you don't have to look at it much. There are a few changes I'd like to make (being able to scan another doc while the OCR is running, preventing the scan progress window from remaining on top, etc) but functionally, the software does it's job and does it well.

What do you do with all the papers you legally have to keep for seven years (or however many years where you are)?

What kinds of papers are we talking about?

taxes related stuff.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0403/p16s01-wmgn.html

> According to an IRS spokesman, there are a number of ways that a taxpayer can meet the recordkeeping requirements to prove a deduction or other expense. Documentation can include hard copy or electronic records such as direct receipts, acknowledgment letters, credit-card receipts, and credit-card statements, that show the payment date, amount, recipient, and any other information required for the particular type of deduction (such as business purpose for a business deduction).

as someone that's been audited by the irs, i can tell you that having printouts of line-items from my web-based billing system, credit card statements, and copies of receipts worked fine. in fact, having everything on a computer in pdf format would probably make the whole process even easier because you could search through them all on a laptop at the audit. the auditor will probably want printouts of the scanned copies at the end, though.

IRS, IRS... You Americans keep forgetting there are other countries in the world.

And you're suggesting that these other countries don't have tax offices who carry out audits?

Where are these countries and can I move there?

No, where did you get that from? I am suggesting that there are other countries where it is required to hold on the paper copy of certain documents for tax purposes.

Ah, apologies, I misunderstood.

I scan them but I do keep the files is paper form that I'm required to. However, I only have very few files like that, and they're easy to store and manage.

Which papers do you need to keep that actually have to be in paper format?

I did this (also with a scan snap) and its been great. One of the things I really like is taking back issues of magazines, pulling out the two or three articles I'm interested in, scanning them and then tossing the issue.

Yeah, the S1300 is another option if you're willing to spend a bit more.

Except with your set up, the OCR'ing software is independent from the scanning software, so presumably one can scan while OCR'ing. (See reply to my other comment: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2589018)

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