The process or act of, scanning paper documents and converting them to digital images is called document imaging or digital archiving. The digital images are then stored on a hard drive, external drive, CD, or on the Internet. Copies of the stored documents can then be kept within the office or off-site for an emergency backup. Directly scanning a document to be saved electronically, stored and retrieved at a later time, is a great method of retaining copies of documents for information and archival purposes. This storage method saves businesses thousands of dollars a year in paper costs, actual storage space within the office, and in time spent by employees handling paper documents through the process of filing, retrieving, and later re-filing once a task is complete. By using document imaging, office staff can call up an image of any document with a few key strokes and put it away with even fewer strokes. Depending on the type of storage system a business uses, others can view the same document from another location at the same time, even if that location isn’t in the same building.With the huge hard drive and CD storage space available today it makes sense to keep digital copies of documents even if you still prefer to keep the hard copies on site. By having a backup of all your data, you are protected from their permanent loss in case of fire or other disaster.

What is Document Scanning?