5 steps to organizing your household documents

Achieve home office organization by using an HP All-in-One or scanner and creating organized digital files.

Scanning your documents to create a digital filing system offers instant rewards as well as long-term benefits:

Easy access
Eliminate stacks of dusty file folders—a digital archive puts all your information at your fingertips!

Save space
While hard copies of data take up valuable filing cabinet and desktop space, a flash drive backup of your digital archive can fit in your pocket.

Simplify searches
Use OCR (optical character recognition) software to quickly search the contents scanned documents. (See Step 2 to learn more.)

Get security and peace of mind
Create a reliable backup of crucial documents that could be lost in a fire, flood, theft, or other disaster.

Connect an external hard drive to any PC for a fast, simple way to transfer files and backup your digital information.

Online backup
It’s important to subscribe to a reputable online backup storage system. These may charge a nominal annual fee, but most offer easy global access to your data and offer the best guarantee of security in the event of a fatal computer crash.

External hard drives
Back up content from your PC using external hard drives—compact, portable devices that connect to your computer and allow you to transfer files for safekeeping.

See the section Get equipped to find out more about HP’s selection of storage solutions.

With OCR software, you can search for scanned documents using a keyword or phrase.

OCR (optical character recognition) software comes with HP General office scanners and select HP All in Ones, enabling your scans to be translated into searchable, editable text.

With OCR software, you can even search the contents of PDFs (if scanned correctly), giving you access to your files with just a few keystrokes, rather than a tedious search through bulky filing cabinets or large piles of loose documents.

Watch a demo of OCR software in action.

Subfolders are key when creating a digital filing system. For example, when creating a primary folder for medical documents, be sure to also create subfolders for each member of your family.

Tax season is one time when a digital filing system will be especially helpful. Be sure to create a separate folder for each year.

Create a primary folder entitled “Home”, and create subfolder categories including “Maintenance,” “Repairs,” and “Improvements.” You can also use this system to store ideas that inspire you or that you want to remember.

With the right categories, staying organized becomes much easier. Set up your folders on your computer’s desktop or somewhere easy to access. Here’s what we recommend*:

General: Create one subfolder in this category for each member of the family. This is where documents such as birth, death, and marriage certificates will reside. Also include backups of Social Security cards and passports.

Medical: Create one primary folder entitled “Medical,” and subfolders for every member of your family. For every family member, create folders labeled with each year, moving forward, and a folder marked “General.”

Insurance: Create one primary folder and subfolders for “Auto,” “Home” or “Renters,” “Life,” “Health,” “Disability,” and any other policies you might hold.

Bills: Create subfolders for each of your credit card accounts, utility accounts (water/sewage, garbage, electricity, oil, gas), telephone, cell phone, cable or satellite TV, subscriptions), mortgage, and any other accounts.

Banking: Create a subfolder for each of your bank accounts.

Investments: 401(k) accounts, Roth IRA accounts, traditional IRA accounts, brokerage accounts, stocks, bonds, and any other investments you may have.

Estate: This category could include subfolders for any trusts, wills, durable power of attorney, advance directives, living wills, etc.
Taxes: Create subfolders by year. Use the previous year’s tax return to guide the setup of your subfolders.

For example, include subfolders for: 1099-INT, 1099-MISC, 1099B, K1, W-2, 1099-SSA, education, charitable contributions, daycare/childcare costs, medical/dental expenditures, and subfolders for any other income received, including alimony, rental, self-employment, or other.

Home: Set up subfolders such as “Maintenance,” “Repairs,” and “Improvements.”

Other possible topics could include Education with transcripts or report cards, Professional categories to cover work contracts or invoices, and folders for hobbies that require paper (writers, animal breeders, etc).

Make sure to create backup copies of important documents such as marriage licenses, home loan documents, and tax information. ll the fun.

Don’t get overwhelmed by scanning every paper from the past. This home office organization system is about moving forward. However, there are a few documents that will help form the basis of any electronic backup system:

• Medical records
• Cost basis of stocks
• Home loan documents or other contracts
• Estate documents (scanning should be a backup for these—hold onto the originals)
• Actual insurance policies
• Digital backups of documents such as birth and marriage certificates, social security cards, passports, your most recent tax return

Scanning older documents that pre-date your new home office organization system can be a good project for a quiet afternoon. You’ll feel more organized and be able to get rid of more clutter!

The final step in your home office organization is establishing (and continuing) a routine.

When paper comes in the door (bills, statements, etc), either scan it to its proper folder, recycle it, or (for sensitive or private information) shred and then recycle it. These are the only choices within a clutter-free universe.

Of course, it will be easier to keep up with your routine if you also remember to have fun:

• Use categories like “Home: Wishlist” for scanned images of things you want for your home, projects you hope to do, or examples of inspiring designs.
• Make back-scanning enjoyable. It’s a great project for a rainy afternoon with tea and good music or whatever treats will make the time fly by.

Many HP e-All-in-Ones, like the HP Officejet Pro 8600 e-All-in-One, feature HP ePrint, allowing you to print from any e-mail capable mobile device.¹

A flatbed is essential for scanning bulky objects such as books and 3-D objects, or for scanning delicate documents.

An HP General office scanner, such as the HP Scanjet N6310 Document Flatbed Scanner with ADF, is a great choice for small businesses with high-volume scanning needs.

Use a portable external hard drive such as the HP 500 GB Pocket Media External Hard Drive to conveniently back up your system.

Choose the right scanner
Whether you want an HP All-in-One or a stand-alone scanner to help you turn over your organizational new leaf, you’ll want a device with an ADF (automatic document feeder), which allows you to load up your documents and walk away while they scan—a necessity to keep up a scanning routine.

See the advantages of an HP All-in-One versus the situations that call for an HP stand-alone scanner, along with some specific recommendations:

HP All-in-Ones
Several useful office machines in one, an HP All-in-One allows you to print, scan, copy, and, on most models, fax. These are a great choice for home offices and micro-businesses with low-volume daily scanning needs:

HP Officejet 6500A Plus e-All-in-One
$149.99
HP Photosmart 7510 e-All-in-One
$199.99
HP Officejet Pro 8600 e-All-in-One
$399.99

To see more about what makes each HP All-in-One a good office companion, and to examine other models and features, visit the HP Printer buying guides.

HP scanners
An HP General office scanner is a great choice for small businesses with high-volume scanning needs (some models can handle up to 2000 documents per day) or offices that have printing, copying, and faxing already covered.

HP Sheet-feed scanners have a small enough footprint to make great desktop partners for your organizing efforts, while a flatbed scanner is key if you plan to scan 3-D objects, books, or delicate documents:

HP Scanjet 5590 Digital Flatbed Scanner
$299.99
HP Scanjet N6310 Document Flatbed Scanner with ADF
$499.99

Explore the HP Document Scanner buying guide to see HP’s entire selection of HP General office scanners. Or, learn more about the Key features of HP scanners to help you decide.

HP storage solutions
See the entire selection of HP storage solutions, which come in a variety of sizes and offer storage capacities up to 1TB (terabyte), which is roughly equal to 1000GB (gigabytes).
And try this tip for quick scanning: Some HP All-in-Ones let you scan directly to a flash drive (such as the HP v125w 4GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive) rather than to your computer, freeing up your computer while your documents scan. When you’re done scanning, simply plug the flash drive into your computer, and then drop and drag your files into the correct folders. This method also gives you an instant, extra backup.