Document imaging software sits between the scanner and the record, and its only job that matters is filing on arrival: the page lands against the client and the matter, Bates-numbered, with a retention date set from the firm's policy, searchable at once. Software that scans to a folder and offers a naming wizard is a scanner driver with a price tag. For a small firm the second question is the daily load: a hundred and fifty pages a day is minutes of scanning, so the software's cost is judged against the retrieval hours it saves rather than the scanning it speeds. The free document capture worksheet on this site prints both; Batesio Pro files on arrival.
Filing on arrival, not after
The client, the matter, the number and the retention date are set as the page is captured, by the capture screen asking for them, rather than by a person naming files at the end of the week. This is the whole difference between imaging software and a scanner driver.
The daily load and the retrieval saved
Twenty paper lookups a day at five minutes each is eight hours a week, twelve and a half thousand dollars a year at thirty dollars an hour on the worksheet's defaults; the daily scanning is under four minutes. The software is bought for the first figure, not the second, and the worksheet prints both from your own counts.
The cost, compared honestly
Dropbox, cited below, prices its Standard team plan at $15 per user per month and its Advanced plan at $24 per user per month, storage without a filing rule. Batesio Pro is $19 per month for the whole firm, and the free worksheet stays free whether or not anyone subscribes.
Questions people ask about document imaging software
Is document imaging software the same as OCR?
OCR makes the scanned text searchable; imaging software files the page against its record. Good software does both on arrival.
Does a small firm need imaging software or a multifunction printer's scan-to-folder?
Scan-to-folder makes a digital pile; imaging software files each page. The retrieval hours the worksheet prints are the difference.
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