Document Scanner Install

[#1]

I’ve just installed the Document Scanner I bought from Amazon, with setup taking as long as it takes to insert a CAT5 cable and power lead and turn it on! With it started I logged into its web management, UI created a user account for myself for network based scanning, again all done in under 60 seconds.

I scanned a handful of documents but so far I’d say it was money well spent. It can scan both sides of an A4 document (at once) in about 4>5 seconds and then saves the resulting PDF on my account on the NAS.

I then mounted the share from the NAS where the documents are stored on my Mac and using spotlight I indexed the volume and can now search the PDFs its generated. So I'm  feeling quite smug with myself right now, the only thing I have outstanding is when to shred the original documents!

[#2]

The Institute of Charter Accounts has this to say for document retention https://www.icaew.com/en/membership/regulations-standards-and-guidance/practice-management/documents...

2

In this guidance the term ‘documents’ is not confined merely to documents stored on paper, but extends to any information which can be understood by the senses or is capable of being made intelligible by the use of equipment. The term therefore covers information that is stored on microfilm or electronically, for example on hard disks, CDs and other media, including messages sent by e-mail and online sources.

3	Similarly, ss.386 to 389 of the Companies Act 2006 do not require the accounting records of a company to be stored on paper and, accordingly, members may be in possession of records of a client which may be stored on computer or some other non-paper format.

However you may need to use the original documents as proof of identity so I would retain some original documents for say the last 2 tax years. 

[#3]

Thanks for that @SpendLessTime, that's good to know. Some documents I simply wouldn't destroy but at least I know I can shred the majority of them.

[#4]

@Anonymous

Agreed there are some documents which you would never destroy; the retention was meant for regular repeating stuff like bank statements, utility bills, pay slips and so on.

of course, secure off site storage is the next consideration.

[#5]

@SpendLessTime, having just invested in a 12T NAS it's not getting much thought at the moment.

[#6]

Picked up a HP flat-bed scanner 9 years ago from a skip for nothing.

Still going strong!

[#7]

Whats all this talk about destroying paper copies? - I have stuff going back years in my archives!

I scan all my stuff via the ADF scanner using barcoded sheets from my app. Everything gets scanned into one big long pdf file and then my app will pick up the file, scan for the barcodes, determine what pages belong to which barcode and then import the entire lot into the database under the correct account. It's really rather groovy as i can find anything within seconds and see it on screen.