Although our world is increasingly digital, I love paper. I read student papers and research articles in hard copy form. I keep copies of my notes and activities for class in folders by class session so they can be easily retrieved during the next semester. This means I was collecting lots and lots of paper which required ever-growing file space needs. Pretty quickly, I filled up six to eight filing cabinet drawers. Enough was enough. Today, I have one drawer of paper files. In this post, I will share how to get rid of your filing cabinet. It is easier than you think!
Before beginning my mission to reduce my filing space needs, I thought about why I was keeping all the files in my filing cabinet. In almost every case, it came down to I might need this one day. Most of the files were infrequently accessed, but they would be hard to recreate again if it turns out I needed them in the future.
The majority of the files were related to teaching including activity plans, original copies of readings, and other class-related documents. Approximately 25% of the files were related to past research projects including everything from field notes to copies of research used in literature reviews.
It quickly became apparent only a small handful of files were used on a regular basis. At the same time, I was starting my position in the Center for Teaching Excellence, which meant I would be working out of two offices. I was concerned about trying to figure out the storage issues between two different office spaces.
Finally, I decided it was time to go digital with my files.
After researching various options, it became clear that Evernote was the best option. Evernote has a free and paid option (I chose the paid version which gave me more space to upload everything).
During the summer, my research assistant and I scanned all of my files into Evernote. It took about 10 hours one week to get them all scanned into Evernote.
I can’t believe I waited so long. One of the best features about Evernote is that it has OCR, which means the documents are searchable PDFs. Instead of hunting through the drawer for a particular file, I can search my entire filing cabinet anywhere that I have an internet connection using any device from my phone to my laptop.
As you can imagine, this is far superior to hard copy files. The search function is so powerful that it is impossible for something to be accidentally misfiled or misplaced. In an instance, I can search for exactly what I’m looking for, pull it up, and even print it if I want to recreate a hard copy of a document.
In the span of a week, I scanned and recycled 5 filing cabinet drawers. It was quite cathartic if a little strange at first. Today, I don’t know why anyone would keep large filing cabinets. With Evernote, I can more quickly and easily access my files. The only files that I keep in hard copy now are a few copies of official correspondence (although I also have a copy in Evernote) as well as short term files such as for active research projects.
Everything else goes into Evernote. I suspect over time as I will have even fewer files. If you aren’t willing to put everything into Evernote at first, just start small. I suspect you will quickly see the benefits that I have realized and move to get rid of your filing cabinet too.
