Continuing with Part One of The Paperless Home Office, I felt the next step we should take is to talk about the software I use to make the paperless office work for me.
Once again, let me remind you that I use the Mac computer in my home office. So, all of the software I will discuss will be Mac OSX software.
The first piece of software I would not be without is the program I use to work with the PDF’s I get with my paperless office. PDFpenPro allows me to Correct and modify existing PDF text; resize, move, and delete PDF images and create fillable PDF forms. I use PDFpenPro to do just about everything I need to do with a PDF. I even use it to sign all of my documents including faxes that come in which require my signature.
Because I do not even own a fax machine, I had to come up with a computer based program to deal with faxes. For faxes I use PageSender. With PageSender, I can fax or email anything I can print. I use its built-in fax center to manage and automate my outgoing fax activities. And PageSender works with Apple’s built in Address Book. So, I no longer have to look up any fax number as long as the contact is in my Address Book.
For incoming faxes I use a web based application called, MaxEmail. MaxEmail allows me to get faxes anywhere I can get wifi. And, if I don’t have my MacBook with me, I can get my faxes on my iPhone.
Both PageSender. and a web based fax service like MaxEmail. are essential in my opinion to move your office in the direction of a paperless home office.
I also use box.net to share my paperless office with my virtual assistant. With box.net, I just download my client files and other documents to my account and my VA has access to them. In addition to that, I use it as a backup in my office.
Setting up and maintaining a paperless home office is not difficult if you take advantage of the great software which is available. If you are using a paperless home office or working towards one, please post your comments here as to the software you are using. Lets keep the conversation going.
Categories: Home Office, Paperless Office
3 Comments
I use Zoho.com, Officezilla,and others in my virtual office. My clients really appreciate the paperless apps I use.
Thank you for this great article. Just in case you have not had a look at it, you may want to have a look at DEVONthink Pro Office, too. It can be useful especially for scanning and filing all the paper stuff that comes in as well as integrating digital and analog documents. It comes with email archiving, a web interface as well as Spotlight support, too.
(Note: I am the President of DEVONtechnologies)
What a puzzling selection of software, and I don’t just mean the Mac bit. I’m thinking of the features on offer.
A Windows user, my own search for the paperless office goes back more than a decade. I want software that can scan paper and create files that I can use for several purposes.
A lot of the stuff I tried, and paid for, has gone out of business. The only serious product around these days seems to be PaperPort. It scans paper and creates PDF files. Not perfect, it is, though, better than most. It is also cheaper than Acrobat, which is an alternative worth considering.
Acrobat is grossly overpriced. But if you already own it, look at what this software can do in your pursuit of a paperless office before you spend any more money. After all, it is also Mac-ised. Acrobat does not have the filing and organising features of PaperPort, but it may work for you.
PaperPort alone does not fulfill another important function, the ability to find the stuff I have scanned. Add the OCR package OmniPage and you can get files that are “PDF Searchable”. Your desktop search software., I use X1, can then find those files in an instant.
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