ScanSnap Organizer and/or Evernote

[Bud Kerr 4]

I started my paperless journey about 3 years ago.  I have a small business and scan all business documents and personal documents to ScanSnap organizer.  I use Evernote (as well as Organizer) for reference materials, to do's and the like.  I see where many of you scan directly to Evernote.  Are you talking about business files?  Am I complicating my paperless journey?  Pros? Cons? 

By the way, I have redundant backup with both external hard drive and web backup.

[ClutterBGone 152]

I started my paperless journey about 3 years ago.  I have a small business and scan all business documents and personal documents to ScanSnap organizer.  I use Evernote (as well as Organizer) for reference materials, to do's and the like.  I see where many of you scan directly to Evernote.  Are you talking about business files?  Am I complicating my paperless journey?  Pros? Cons? 

By the way, I have redundant backup with both external hard drive and web backup.

Hi Bud,

Been using ScanSnap for five years now and it is the best! I feel that I have a little more control of my documents if I use Organizer first. After scanning I place them in the organizer window,

(I use two monitors one for the organizer and the other showing the ScanSnap Manager) really give you excellent control of everything. After using organizer to arrange and be sure that all of the document are right side up (it happens sometimes!) then I rename and copy to Evernote in the desired directory/folder.

I have tried scanning straight into Evernote, but if a I see a problem with the document, then it is back into Organizer to clean it up. I like just doing the job one time, file, tag, and if needed in the future, document is ready to go.

 

The only paper left in my home are: insurance policies, car titles, and several other documents of that type, but I have scanned copies of the above in Evernote, just so that I always have them with me if needed.

My policy is receive, scan, Evernote, then shred!

Happy scanning

David in Wichita

Go Shocks!!

[CalS 5,280]

I am a bit lazier, I use a ScanSnap and have created my own profiles which put the output of the scan in an EN import folder so that it automatically loads into a local notebook called Scans in EN.  Then I decide on tags, a note title (or not for receipts), whether to rename the PDF, and finally move the note to the appropriate notebook.  Scans acts as a clearing house.

I understand some, or most for all I know, rename and/or pre-process the PDF prior to adding to EN.  Just not my cup of tea since I only rename about 10% of my scanned PDFs.  Search still works fine, so that's where lazy kicks in.  If I have to make any adjustments I do it from within EN, Adobe for editing or right click rename on the rare occasions I need to share the PDF with someone.

I scan everything and store it in EN.  If it is a sensitive document I will place the note in a local notebook.  No cons for me in using EN as a home for PDFs.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

 

I started my paperless journey about 3 years ago.  I have a small business and scan all business documents and personal documents to ScanSnap organizer.  I use Evernote (as well as Organizer) for reference materials, to do's and the like.  I see where many of you scan directly to Evernote.  Are you talking about business files?  Am I complicating my paperless journey?  Pros? Cons? 

By the way, I have redundant backup with both external hard drive and web backup.

Hi Bud,

Been using ScanSnap for five years now and it is the best! I feel that I have a little more control of my documents if I use Organizer first. After scanning I place them in the organizer window,

. . .

I have tried scanning straight into Evernote, but if a I see a problem with the document, then it is back into Organizer to clean it up. I like just doing the job one time, file, tag, and if needed in the future, document is ready to go.

My policy is receive, scan, Evernote, then shred!

 

@Bud:  I pretty much follow the same process as @ClutterBGone, except that I don't use the SnapScan Organizer.  I just scan to a "Scan Inbox" folder on my Mac where I rename the PDF giving it a standard, descriptive name, and then review and OCR, and often add PDF comments before the import to Evernote.  When it is imported into Evernote, the Note Title is set to the PDF file name, so both have good descriptive names.  

 

This also allows one other step for sensitive documents:  I encrypt the PDF using Adobe Acrobat.

 

Once in Evernote, I do a quick preview to make sure it imported correctly, add Tags, and move to the appropriate Notebook.

 

I also don't scan every receipt that I get -- only those that are material/important.  I rely on my credit card records (pulled into Quicken) to provide a master list of all my purchases.

 

I should also add that I don't need to scan that many documents, as most documents I want to keep come electronically already in PDF form.  So, often it's more a matter of forwarding an email I received with a PDF attachment to my EN account.  Or downloading the PDF from a web site.  So I'd say that I need to scan only about 10% or less of all the documents I put into Evernote.

 

I have used Evernote for years to store most records for both my business and personal support.  I do like having everything in Evernote where I have only one place to search.  Since Evernote can't search the encrypted PDFs, I make sure to use good descriptive Title, Tags, and add keywords as text in the body of the Note.

 

Bottom line:  I think you'll be happy with everything in Evernote.  Just be sure to encrypt all sensitive documents first.

[Bud Kerr 4]

Thanks for all of the input.  Maybe I'll have to tweak my process.

[Bud Kerr 4]

ClutterBGone,  I began using your model by going to my past files in ScanSnap Organizer, making changes if necessary and making correct filenames.  How do you "Scan to Evernote" and have the scan show up in the Evernote "Inbox Notebook" rather than just in "Notes" folder?  I've tried to figure this out.  I there a way other than copy & paste?

[ClutterBGone 152]

ClutterBGone,  I began using your model by going to my past files in ScanSnap Organizer, making changes if necessary and making correct filenames.  How do you "Scan to Evernote" and have the scan show up in the Evernote "Inbox Notebook" rather than just in "Notes" folder?  I've tried to figure this out.  I there a way other than copy & paste?

 

Once I have the PDF to my liking I just copy then document using the copy button at the top of ScanSnap Organizer, then just drop it into a new note in Evernote. I usually have the note started in Evernote by giving the note a name and the location I want the note to reside.

For example, I have a notebook called LIBRARY, within that notebook are several other notebooks, Books Pending, Manuals, Tax Info, etc. When I get a new TV or something that has a manual, I scan it and then name it "NEW TV" and just drop it into the LIBRARY/Manual folder.

It has been sometime since I thought about how I Scan to Evernote, but in checking my old download directory, and found the file "ScanSnap - Evernote Profile.zip." If I remember correctly this will set up several links in "your" profile directory on ScanSnap that will scan directly into Evernote and I think you can setup the folder where you want it directed. Another quick way to dump documents into Evernote is to go to Tools in Evernote and set up an Import Folder, mind is called C:\Evernote Upload. Now you can just drag a file to this directory and it will send the file to the Notebook of your choice.

Hope this will be of help.

Regards,

David in Wichita

Go Shocks!!

 

 

[JullietteM 2]

I'd like to move towards paperlessness too, and have been putting alot of my data into Evernote. 

But I had a scare the other day when I thought I lost some notes and researched how I'd be able to restore those notes from my backups. I was dismayed to realize that a restore from backup would be an all-or-nothing proposition with many negative side-effects.  This made me realize that if I'm going trust shredding originals after I've scanned them in Evernote, I want a way to backup my data in a more granular, readily retrievable way in case I'd mistakenly delete a notebook or some notes I put alot of time into.  

I thought a good solution would be to export whole Notebooks to Word documents so that at least I wouldn't lose the data. But that turned out to be cumbersome since the images didn't come with the file and I had to copy them all manually.  

What are you all doing about backup of those crucial files of yours?  

Julie

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

9 minutes ago, JullietteM said:

What are you all doing about backup of those crucial files of yours?

Julie, please do a search on "backup" using the forum search tool, or "evernote backup' using google.

We have had many in-depth discussions about backup and restore.  Search is your friend.  If you have any backup questions, please post them in one of the backup threads.

[CalS 5,280]

@JullietteM

You should consider trying the export to ENEX format capability provided by EN.  Typically folks back up by notebook.  Should you ever accidentally delete a note, you can restore the notebook using the ENEX file.  The notes will be put into a new notebook, named Imported Notes in the Windows version.  You then find the note you want, move it, and then delete the new notebook.

[JullietteM 2]

Thank you both JMichaelTX and csihilling.  I'll take your advice and search on backup. 

I like what you said csihilling, about backing up Notebooks to ENEX files.  Seems to me, however, that might encourage keeping Notebooks relatively smaller than we might otherwise. 

But as you suggested, I'll move this conversation to a backup thread.

Julliette

[DTLow 5,736]

On 1/20/2016 at 4:44 PM, JullietteM said:

I thought a good solution would be to export whole Notebooks to Word documents so that at least I wouldn't lose the data. But that turned out to be cumbersome since the images didn't come with the file and I had to copy them all manually.  

I have my standard backup procedures with my Time Machine (Mac Speak); Its there, but I'll probably never use it.

I do a weekly html export of all my notes.  Its much easier than trying to do this to Word.  Its very visible; I can easily see any notes.
It doesn't include other information like tags or notebooks, and it would be useless for a restore procedure.

An enex export would be more useful for reload purposes.  I don't do it, but if I had local notebooks I would export each of them.

So far, I've mostly relied on reinstalling Evernote on my device and downloading all my data.  This should not be your only backup process.

[CalS 5,280]

On 1/21/2016 at 6:17 PM, JullietteM said:

Thank you both JMichaelTX and csihilling.  I'll take your advice and search on backup. 

I like what you said csihilling, about backing up Notebooks to ENEX files.  Seems to me, however, that might encourage keeping Notebooks relatively smaller than we might otherwise. 

But as you suggested, I'll move this conversation to a backup thread.

Julliette

You are welcome.  Just FYI, I don't let the backup process affect the number of notes I put in a notebook, of which I have 6 prime and a few temporary.  The largest has 7800 notes in it.  Easier to back up a few notebooks than a bunch.  May not work for you, just giving you some input on how I do it.

[JMichaelTX 4,117]

2 hours ago, JullietteM said:

Thank you both JMichaelTX and csihilling.  I'll take your advice and search on backup.

I think you will find that beneficial.  There are many other options and considerations that you may find important in the threads on backup.

[mbuck 0]

Like ClutterBeGone, I use a ScanSnap and go from Receive, Scan, Evernote, and then Shred.  I have run into a small problem, however.  Sometimes when I scan a document and it imports into Evernote, Evernote gives me a notification that says, "Clipped" and the scanned document is cut off.  Does anyone know how you can tell Evernote to leave the document alone and not clip it?