I've finally made up my mind to actually do something about the amount of personal and business paper I deal with.
Here's my new ScanSnap scanner. It's just a little larger than about two books but it is definitely a powerful scanner for personal and small business use.
On the business side I've scanned about two filing drawers of client files onto my PC and than back it up to a thumb drive and an online storage site. Every piece of paper and email associated with a transaction is scanned and stored digitally. The only paper files I'll be keeping in 2009 are the ones that are active. Once closed, scan and store.
The speed of this machine is just incredible compared to other scanners I've used in the past. It scans at about thirty pages a minute, both sides at the same time. Files are automatically converted to PDF.
The scanner comes with the full version of Adobe Acrobat 8.0 Standard, as well as OCR software to convert directly to Word, Excel or PowerPoint.
Four different quality scanning modes. The one I've been using is the second best quality and it's more than I need.
I've scanned about four thousand pages so far and have had about three misfeeds. All the misfeeds were because I didn't remove the staples.
You can load the scanner with different size paper and so far...not a problem. When it scans it automatically recognizes color and black and white documents and doesn't slow down a bit.
One button scanning. Put the paper in the hopper, hit the green Scan button and watch the computer screen. Couldn't be any easier.
2009 is my year to go paperless.
The thumb drive contains two full file cabinet drawers of paper and is only about half full. More to go as I find the time, but I'm committed to making it work next year.
If you're looking for a downside to the ScanSnap it's the fact that it doesn't have a TWAIN driver. You can't use it with other scanning software or over a local area network. It has to be attached via a USB cable to a computer.
Other than that, so far its been bullet proof.

Richard Iarossi, REALTOR®
Long and Foster® Real Estate, Inc.
Crofton, MD 21114
410-451-6255 Office
443-995-9595 Cell
Web: http://www.RichSellsHomes.com
eMail: Rich@RichSellsHomes.com
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