Documents… What Should I Do?

Tips for Prepping Documents:

Option 1. You Prepare Your Documents for Us:

• Unbind documents – Remove from folders, take off rubberbands, etc.
• Carefully unfold and smooth out folded or wrinkled documents.
• Remove staples, paper clips, and other fasteners.
• Tape torn documents.
• Align all pages to the same orientation so that the top of every page faces the same way and the front of every page faces the same way.
• Maintain the original order and sort documents into batches and separate using colored paper, taking notes of which batches have double sided materials in them.

Option 2. Bring us a banker’s box (approx. 2500 pages) and we’ll scan and prep your documents for a reasonable additional charge.

Lifespan of a scrapbook.

Because of the wide variety of materials used for scrapbooks and the common use of newspaper clippings and other items, the aging of a scrapbook is all over the map. Still, you can count on a few rules. Most modern scrapbooking after 1990 used archival materials. Although this doesn’t guarantee eternal life to the photos inside, these scrapbooks properly stored will probably last 30-50 years. Scrapbooks from WWII until the 1990’s usually gas chemicals that cause fading and discoloration of photographs. The faster you have them digitized, the better. Older scrapbooks from WWII and back are almost always extremely delicate. That paper usually has surpassed it’s predicted 75 year lifespan and you should consider yourself lucky to have them intact. We highly recommend meeting with an expert in older, ancestry scrapbooks and make a plan for immediate digitization of these treasures.

FREE help organizing your Documents!

If you have a large collection of documents, arrange a pre-scanning organization appointment. These can be had at your home or place of business or by Zoom. Our experts will share tips and secrets that are certain to save you a lot of time and money!

What do I get back?

Digitized documents become PDF files. We keep your groups together as muti-page PDFs. All documents can become Optimal Character Recognition (OCR) friendly with a short extra step. We put everything on an archival DVD and can also provide USB flash drives, Google Drive upload or however you need it.

Why Now?

Let’s face it – the era of paper is coming to an end and there are distinct advantages to having important documents easily accessible via computer, tablet and even mobile phone. Plus, almost all typed words will be searchable on your computer for easy finding of everything!

Can I organize my documents?

Yes! We digitize the documents in the exact order they are given to us. So, keep them in their binders and in their file folders and these will be put into clearly labeled digital folders that are titled just the way you tell us.