Scanners, PDF technology, optical character recognition (OCR) software, and document management software can be time saving organizational/storage & retrieval methods in the legal setting. In order to make informed decisions about purchases, a review should be made to establish who, what, when, where and how the product(s) will be used.

Scanners come with many functions. Dependent on work load and type of document it is possible to auto-feed documents, scan over-size documents, or lay them on a flatbed scanner. Compatibility with graphics and color is another choice to be made when comparing scanners. Questions such as "will we be scanning documents as text files or as image files?" will determine whether OCR software is necessary. If documents are saved as text files (thus enabling text searching, editing, etc. in the future) the OCR software should be compatible with the scanner and the word processing program. Many scanners and OCR are integrated (bundled) to begin with, thus making it easy to buy a package that will suit the needs of the practice. OCR software also often includes a rudimentary document management component. If the need is for keeping track of the scanned-in text only, then be sure to look for this function in the description.

A popular format for storing documents is to convert them into a PDF (portable document format). A PDF can be thought of as a picture of the original document because all graphics and text will remain as they appear on the original instead of being converted to an OCR document. Adobe introduced the PDF format and the software needed to read PDF files (Adobe Reader) is available for free from the Adobe site. Because the Adobe Reader is free, and many scanners come with the software to create PDFs, PDF has become a standard for archiving information since it can then later be retrieved. The format also allows all of the original notes and markings on the document to remain intact.

In order to maintain both the scanned in documents and new documents as they are created please read about Document Management software. Other considerations when converting paper documents into a searchable digital archive include digital copier/scanners, outsourcing, and storage options.

When searching and purchasing new peripherals and software never hesitate to call the company and ask questions. Also, before purchasing anything, contact a consultant or expert for advice, finalization, and potentially implementation. This is intended as a guide only. Below are some of the major vendors for these products and some reviews.

• Bowe Bell + Howell
• HP Scanners
• Lanier
• Opex
• Nuance - ScanSoft Imaging Solutions
• Visioneer
• Xerox Scanners

• Interwoven Document Management
• Worldox
• Hummingbird Enterprise/Livelink ECM - eDocs/DOCS Open
• Net Documents

• PDFs: Pretty Darned Flexible by Sarah Palmer - April 2007
  • CutePDF and Zamzar - Free PDF creation tools.
• Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional: Reasons to Put It on Your Shopping List - by Simon Chester, Law Practice Magazine, March 2007
• Acrobat 8 Does Flips for Attorneys by Jason Krause, ABA Journal, March 2007
• Acrobat 8: New Examine Document Feature by Rick Borstein, Law Practice Today, December 2006
• Adobe Acrobat 8 Legal Resource Guide by Jim Calloway, Law Practice Tips Blog, December 2006
• Scanning and OCR with Acrobat 8 by Rick Borstein, LLRX.com, July 2007
• The Lawyer's Guide to Adobe Acrobat, Second Edition - by David Masters
• PDF Your Practice LTRC presentation from the 2004 Midwest Law & Technology Conference
• Email Archiving with Acrobat 8 by Rick Borstein - Law Practice Today, November 2006
• Setting Up the Paperless Office by David Masters - GP Solo Magazine, December 2003
• Reorganizing the Digital Law Office by Joe Kashi - Law Practice Today, January 2004
• Reducing Office Staff Requirements with "Enabling" Technology - Part 2 by Joe Kaski - Law Practice Today, April 2003

• The IR Guide to Desktop Scanners - Imaging Resource
• Scanner Review - PC Magazine
• PC World Top 10 Scanners
• ZDNet - Scanner Reviews
• Scanners - Yahoo! Tech

Digital copiers can do the traditional work of a copier, with added network capabilities such as printing directly from a digital document or storing a scanned-in document to a network. It will be important to keep in mind for scanning purposes, what capacity feeder is required and whether OCR is used. If the scanned documents are stored as graphic files then the ability to do full text searching will not be available. However, if the documents only need to be accessible by keywords or title than the digital copier, with its myriad functions, could be a good choice. Also remember to be aware of maximum paper size and capacity of auto-document feeder.

• XEROX copier/scanners
• OCE Digital Copiers
• Konica Minolta Digital Copiers

Rather than storing documents on the network, another option would be to burn information onto CD or DVD. A separate drive will be needed and an index will have to be created in order to access files on the CDs or DVDs once they have been created. Most computers come with a CD or DVD burner or these drives can be purchased as an external add-on for the computer.

• PCWorld's Info Center for DVD Burners & Recorders
• CNet's Review Center for CD-R/RW Drives