Hello everyone, this is Helen Huang @ Organizing, based in Beijing, China. In order to better learn and practice the YiXiaoNeng Time Management System, after finished publishing 100 Chinese articles, I decided to continue writing and publishing a daily English article in another 100 days based on the "YeWuBin Time Management 100 Episodes" audio program. Today is the 188th day.
Today's topic is: How to Digitize All of Your Paper Documents
Today I want to share a tool with you called CamScanner.
I believe most professionals will have encountered the following situation: Your office produces large amounts of paper documents which are used in the office. However, when you travel somewhere else, those papers are still at the office and you suddenly need to see documents that are inaccessible. What can be done to solve this problem? It's impossible to transform into a completely digital system and forgo pape entirely, so what we need to do is digitize and store all of this paper information online.
The tool I use to digitally store paper information is CamScanner. It's similar to what we said about the handwriting tools Notability. I follow the same process in CamScanner as I do in Notability. After taking a photo of the paper document with the app, and briefly revising the document, I will eventually store it in Evernote.
Now first, I would like to introduce the basic function of CamScanner, then I want to emphasize some of its key features.
First, let's talk about the basic functions.
CamScanner can capture documents through either importing an image or by taking the photo directly. Both of these functions are easily found in the software interface. On the bottom right side of the app, there is a button which allows you to choose whether you're using the camera or import image functions. It's as simple as that.
Now let's talk about some of the special features of this app.
First, CamScanner has the ability to create labels within the document. This allows you to classify each document for easy retrieval later on. If you don't label each document, it will be very difficult to find the ones you need later. So the label and title are very important!
Let me explain how I classify the documents:
1. I have a lot of documents that I have digitized. I categorize these together into a category called "Documents."
2. I read a lot of books and in order to save time I don't read the entire book. Instead I skim and find the important pages and scan them. I categorize these into a "Book" category.
3. Medical records, health examinations, and bills of the sort, are categorized into a category called "Health" and labeled so in the CamScanner app.
4. Our contracts, brochures, warranty cards, and travel documents, need to be recorded.
5. There are records of family affairs, documents for our children, transcripts and so on.
6. Meeting minutes, important documents, training notes, etc. all need to be recorded and classified as well.
Maybe your classification is different from mine, but it doesn't matter what it is and how you do it. All we have to do is set up a good classification system and consistently label documents the same way over time! So, when you scan your documents there is a place to save them and a place to label them for later retrieval.
CamScanner also has its own sharing capabilities. It has its own storage system in the cloud. This provides storage and synchronization between multiple devices. To get started, you can simply register online. You are given some space for free and then if you need additional space it will cost you a little bit of money.
What I do is store the files temporarily on the CamScanner cloud space and then edit the document, and briefly label it. After that I move them to Evernote to be stored permanently.
It's also easy to export files from the CamScanner app, and we can even export it to pdf form. The advantage of PDF is that the document is a relatively small size. The disadvantage is that PDF documents are difficult to modify once they are in the document form.
For this reason, it's a good idea to keep the original scan file before exporting so that you can make changes later if needed. For example, let's say you wanted to change one of your family documents, maybe a lable or something else about it. You can open the original file within the CamScanner app, modify it, export the new version to a PDF and then move it to Evernote. Then delete the old version.
You may be wondering – why can't you just take a picture of the file and upload it directly to Evernote by passing CamScanner entirely? While Evernote is great to store a PDF, it cannot generate a PDF. So CamScanner is needed to create the PDF first.
PDF documents are preferable because of the smaller size and it's ease in sharing with others without fear someone will modify the contents. Sharing in PDF format is the most convenient and safe way to share important documents like this.
It would be great if Evernote came out with the capability to both label and export in PDF, but unfortunately every app has its own set of features. And unfortunately, no one software or app meets the needs of every customer. Even if a software or app could meet the needs of everyone, it might not be the best option for the business. Specialization in core niche areas is a business strategy that works out well and effectively.
When you join Yixiaoneng, we'll help you distinguish between the pros and cons of various apps and help you choose the best one that will be a good fit for you.
CamScanner has another great feature I want to share with you: it can not only take and import pictures but it will even automatically crop each picture to size and orientation. For instance if you take a picture at an angle and it's not squared out, it will automatically square it for you. It's really amazing!
CamScanner is a full-service app that does most of what you need. If you follow a few simple steps it will serve your needs nicely. You first take or import a picture, then edit it and finally export it in PDF form to your Evernote. Be sure to keep the original CamScanner file in case you want to modify it later.
And don't forget to add a good title and label, or else you'll never find it later! Good luck everybody!
That's all sharing today. Thank you being with me together. Have a wonderful day!