Continuing our series of educational posts about the various aspects of document scanning, here is some basic information about the way we make your documents text-searchable.
You might already know that every document you have scanned with OfficeDrop gets converted to a text-searchable PDF. The text-searchbility is what lets you search your documents by word or phrase in our system or others. If you’re wondering how we do that, then we have three words for you - Optical Character Recognition (OCR).
OCR for Text Search
OCR is a software that we integrate with every scan. Without it, your scan is just a recording of light as an image. It isn’t until OCR is employed that applications can start “reading” characters and interacting with features like search. You can see why we think OCR is so important considering search is one of the best parts about digital filing. To learn more about OCR and OfficeDrop, see our OCR scanning page.
There are a lot of choices when it comes to digital document format, but our undisputed weapon of choice is the PDF.
OfficeDrop Scans Documents to PDF
The PDF is a universal format, requires no exclusive software to be read, and maintains a consistent layout on any platform. This makes it ideal for sharing because it will view the same way for both parties. Also, since the PDF is so popular, it’s pretty unlikely that a recipient doesn’t already have a program for PDF viewing.
There are plenty of other reasons we think the PDF is an ideal format for digital filing. To learn more about the benefits of the PDF, see our scan to PDF page.
OfficeDrop has teamed up with Professional Organizer, Josh Zerkel, to guide you to a more productive, less paper, digital office. On July 15th we showed you the benefits of going paperless, and where you can get started in the first webinar, Saving Time and Money with your Paperless Office. Now it’s time to take the next step, and learn about the specific tools you can use in webinar 2, Online and Offline Tools to Master Your Paperless Office.
Register for Webinar Part Two: Online and Offline Tools to Master Your Paperless Office
Like the last one, this webinar is free, so all you have to do is register here. It’s kicking off on July 29th at 11am PST so hurry and get those registrations in. This is a great opportunity to learn about specific tools that will help you reduce paper, become more efficient, and lower costs.
Also, if you want to see the video from the first webinar you can visit our Digital Office page - the video is on the right!
A current user of ours recently sent an intriguing article about kid’s school documents, so we though’t we would share it with you here on our blog.
There are a lot of different ways paper infiltrates your home or office. The obvious culprits are bills, receipts, pamphlets, flyers, etc. In the article linked above, a woman tracks the influx of paper from a less suspected source, our children.
If you have kids in school, I’m sure you’ve noticed the piles of handouts, assignments, permission slips, worksheets, outlines, and syllabi that they pack up and deliver from class to your home. They seem so innocent, I know, but as a Southborough mother found out earlier this month, these kids are packing thousands of pages throughout one school year.
For the parent trying to reduce paper clutter, your own kids could be your biggest problem - dumping Spiderman backpack-loads of paper on the kitchen counter five days of the week. I remember back in middle school there was at least one handout every class and college wasn’t much better. At least a college student has a dorm to dump paper in, but middle and high schoolers probably don’t have their own filing cabinets in their rooms and so the paper inevitably ends up cluttering your home. It’s not their fault, schools simply distribute paper at an alarmingly unchecked rate.
What To Do With It All?
Kids’ paper flow is essentially the same as the influx of bills and invoices, it’s just delivered on shorter legs. Therefore, document scanning can be just as effective for kid’s documents as it is for mom and dad’s.
With OfficeDrop’s monthly scanning service, the kids can dump their paper directly into an OfficeDrop Scanvelope to be sent off for scanning before pages even hit the kitchen table. If you asked for it to be shredded, you won’t have to see those pages ever again, left to organize and delete the unwanted pages from our convenient online filing system.
Yep, it’s OfficeDrop. Check out our recent feature on Fox 43’s Hampton Roads Show on the episode outlining how to “Tackle paper clutter…with a computer!”
In the video featured below, organizer Amy Volk talks OfficeDrop and even flaunts one of our Scanvelopes. In first few minutes she reviews Neat Receipts scanners and then does a great job describing the benefits of OfficeDrop and comparing the Neat Receipts service to OfficeDrop. (OfficeDrop comes in at minute 3:00)
Thanks, Amy for talking us up and letting us know about the segment!
To see more organization tips from Amy Volk, see her website, Simplified Living.
We’ve got two great ways to learn about document scanning prices. The first is our document scanning price estimator, which will give you an idea of what a scanning project by OfficeDrop would cost. You can visit the estimator:
Or you can visit our new document scanning prices page, which has information on … the prices we charge for scanning your documents! Visit the document scanning prices page.
Lifehacker is known for providing tips and tricks that make you more productive. That’s why we were psyched to see that ScanDrop caught their eye. ScanDrop lets you scan your documents directly to Google Docs or Evernote. Lifehacker thought that was a pretty handy trick, so they gave a quick outline noting ScanDrop’s “seamless uploading…to Google Docs, Evernote, or [OfficeDrop] itself, for free.”
If you’ve been looking for a way to get paper into Google Docs or Evernote, there are few easier ways than ScanDrop. Get to the OfficeDrop page and get the free ScanDrop download now.
Our link to Google Docs feature has been getting a lot of hype lately so we just wanted to remind you the two easy ways OfficeDrop lets you scan directly to Google Docs. Whether you want us to do it, or you want to do it yourself, OfficeDrop gets your paper out of those filing cabinets and into Google Docs.
Scan Directly to Google Docs (2 Ways)
1. Have Us Scan It
Hopefully you’ve heard that OfficeDrop provides mail-based scanning either in bulk, or with monthly scanvelope submission. When you have us scan, you have the option of automatic upload to our online digital filing system. Now that you can link your OfficeDrop account to Google Docs, you can configure your OfficeDrop account to automatically send every page we scan to your Google Docs account. Keep in mind that because you scanned with OfficeDrop, every document is converted to text-searchable PDF, ready to search on Google Docs.
2. Self Scan with ScanDrop
With our increasingly popular ScanDrop scanning software (free for download), you can turn your own personal scanner into a direct portal to Google Docs (*see below for compatible scanners). Configuring your scanner with ScanDrop allows you to view, edit, delete, reorder, and upload any scans right to Google Docs - all from the same intuitive application. You can even choose which Google Docs folder to upload to, and name your scans. However, keep in mind that documents sent directly to Google Docs through ScanDrop are not made text-searchable. See ScanDrop’s recent article on Life Hacker.
If you use Google Docs, then don’t miss out on these two simple and affordable ways to get all of your paper documents directly to Google Docs. Send to us or scan yourself and start putting your paper to work in Google Docs.
Break out the birthday cake because OfficeDrop turns 2 years old today. Though we were founded in 2007, we launched our service on July 19, 2008, meaning we’ve now completed two successful years of document scanning and digital filing services. Don’t worry, you don’t have to sing or anything.
Considering how much we’ve grown in the last two years, it’s like perusing baby pictures when we look at the Boston Globe article that covered our ‘08 launch as Pixily. We’ve changed our name since then and have continued to grow in functionality and user base. We even look different now that we’ve made the transition to our new website.
Though some would call our age the terrible two’s, we don’t see anything terrible about it. In fact, we’ve only gotten better, adding new features like context menus, new integrations with FreshBooks, Google, and Evernote, and new products like our ScanDrop scanning software and iPad application.
As we venture into our third year, you can bet this trend will continue and we will work hard to make OfficeDrop better, faster, and easier to use. As for today, however, we’re going to kick back and have some cake. Many thanks to all who have used and supported OfficeDrop over the last two years!
Web how-to blog, MakeUseOf.com, recently polled their readers with the question “Are you paperless?” Obviously our ears perked up to this since the results could tell us the general reception of the concept on which our company is based.
The results came back (pictured below) and we were actually pretty excited about the outcome.
Why should I be paperless? I don’t care. 8% (23 votes)
Yes 100% paperless. I get all my bills online.23% (65 votes) I am trying. I have gotten more than half of my bills to stop sending snail mail. 50% (138 votes) I think I might try to go paperless in the near future. 14% (38 votes)
What do you mean by paperless? 5% (13 votes)
Total Votes: 277
As you can see, the majority answer is that people are working towards a paperless environment which, for us, is a best case scenario.
It shows that people are open to the idea of going paperless, but they are hesitant to get started. OfficeDrop helps with this by providing an easy way to start reducing paper in your office. Since we do all of the scanning for you, our mail-in submission system replaces hours spent scanning with a quick trip to the post office.
Congrats to those who have eliminated paper altogether, and as for those of you that are trying to get there, keep fighting the good fight. Going paperless yields a mountain of benefits, and isn’t nearly as hard as you might think. If you’ve hit a wall trying to get paperless, we encourage you to try our document scanning services which is sure to simplify your conversion process, and get you managing digital documents online in no time.
OfficeDrop’s Document Management and Document Scanning Service Blog
OfficeDrop, formerly Pixily, helps small businesses and home offices go paperless and manage their paper and digital documents online. OfficeDrop provides document scanning services and an award-winning online document management system. In this blog, we’ll discuss cool ways customers are using our service to tame their paper problem and get organized. We hope to share tips and tricks we are learning as we scan, image and digitize documents for our clients. We’ll also highlight new features in our document management system, let you know what the press is saying about us and keep you up to speed with the goings-on at OfficeDrop!
