I recently picked up a close out on the HP 7780 multi-function printer-scanner-fax. It’s overkill for most of what I needed but I was not sure where it would be setup so having wireless built in for both printing and scanning was a bonus. If that’s not a concern, you can get everything you need with the 7580.

When I got the unit home I started reading the user manual. that is when I found the gold mine - this thing can be setup to “scan to network storage”. I already wrote about my use of the ReadyNAS NV+ for backups and file storage. Now, it is also my electronic document management solution.

With the HP’s ability to scan directly to storage I am that much closer to a paperless office. As soon as I pick up the mail, I open up all the bills, bank statements, etc. and start to scan them. I have programmed the speed dial keys to perform “digital filing”. One key is for new bills, another for bank and financial statements, etc. I stick the mail in the document feeder and press the speed dial key. That’s it. After the scanning is done, I toss the mail through the shredder.

When I sit down to pay bills, I open my file explorer to the unpaid-bills folder and preview the bills. As I pay each one, I move the files to the paid folder.

The document filing system now keeps my financial records all in one place as well.

The only thing I now want to consider is “off site backup” as a safety precaution. I may be a new customer of Amazon S3 sooner than I thought!

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