When did email overtake snail mail? When did PDF overtake USPS? When did Quicken overtake bank statements? When is the last time you bought a ream of printer paper? When are you going to go through that filing cabinet? What are you going to do with all those papers? And what about those paper printouts that keep showing up only to be needed elsewhere in digital format?

Is this giving you anxiety? Just think of it. Human beings have lived on paper for TWO THOUSAND YEARS! In a single generation, electronic communication has nearly replaced the age-old tradition of recording our entire lives on mushed-up trees. It is a sad thought.

Let me see if I can take some of the pain out of this metamorphosis. Let’s feel the joy of traveling light. Let’s feel the power when someone asks us to email a document that is a click away. Let’s see the grin on our children’s face when we hand them a flash drive rather than a banker’s box. We don’t even have to decide what to keep and what to toss. Digital storage costs less than a ream of paper, so who cares if it’s 90% junk? Let’s scan those papers into the modern e-World.

How? We just have to run our papers through a scanner.

How? We just have to buy a scanner and start feeding it.

Ha! We all know it’s not that easy. There are settings and popups and warnings and Oh look! It took the paper. But who knows where that scan went. Did it even happen?

Yes, scanning papers requires a learning curve. Setting up your personal Scan Life rivals the detail-oriented diligence of building a new home from scratch. I know. I’ve done it several times with several scanners. I think I’m at #10 right now. We can break it down into three stages:

1. Choose a scanner.
2. Introduce the scanner to your computer.
3. Protect the scanned files.

Now that I think about it, #3 should be #1. If you can envision your digital filing cabinet, you are 75% of the way there. Your papers will fit in your computer and/or a flash drive smaller than a key fob. Would you feel safer with a professional cloud storage service, like iCloud or Microsoft? You’ll need to set up your provider. They’re free, till you start adding hoards of pictures and videos.

See what I mean? Setting up a scanner suddenly seems like the easy part. The real learning curve is keeping your digital files safe and organized. There are way too many options, and oftentimes, the computer makes the choice for you without asking.

Once you have your digital file cabinet ready, you are ready for a scanner. Self-feeding scanners are quite affordable now. You can get a nice, compact one for $100, or a high-speed toaster-sized for $300. Let the SPVCA computer tutor help you set it up. Then settle in to the Scan Life, until that day comes when no paper comes. Hopefully, your digital future feels a little more realistic to you now.