Old files are hard to use for a quick information search. This is especially true for paper files, because there’s no way to automate the search and, even though individual file folders might be organized, boxes and boxes of old folders collectively won’t be. Even some electronic documents can be hard to search, even though it’s often easier to scroll through a file than flip through pages.
How can you make your electronic files more searchable?
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Switch to OCR or image-to-text scanning. Older scans often make image files. You can read the text and go through the pages, but you can’t copy text or search for specific phrases. But scanning technology is getting better and better at breaking down pictures of letters into searchable letters. So whether you’re just starting to change from paper files to electronic files, or you want a more updated solution for an ongoing project, see what OCR options are available.
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Create meaningful, informative titles. Maintaining a consistent shorthand in a long-term business where there is employee turnover can be tricky, but standardizing your file names can make searching a lot faster. Come up with the right combination of ‘[Document Type] – [Customer Name] – [Date]’ or other information so you know where to start a manual search if your files aren’t fully searchable.
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Add image search software that can recognize templates. If you’ve ever Google searched for a particular image, you may have used their drag and drop features. Any image can be dropped into the search bar and the database will pull up similar images based on colors, shapes, and more. Integrate similar software into your document storage so you can pull up every version of similar documents, whether they’re tax records, legal documents, or cover sheets from specific states.
Searchability is one of the key benefits of switching to electronic documents. Whether you want to switch all over your images over to searchable text or you want better ways of filtering through your current files, go to Imagex, Inc. to get started.