Going completely paperless isn’t feasible just yet. Many offices have at least a few scanners as a staple of their office equipment fleet. But how your company uses its scanners determines the end result, the device’s service life, and workflow efficiency.

Stick to the following best practices to make the most out of your investment.

How to Use Scanners

Not everyone that makes a mistake when working with scanners does it because they’re in a hurry. Unfortunately, many people use scanners incorrectly.

But some practices should be enforced to avoid ruining documents, creating blurry scans, wasting time, or damaging the device.

  • Remove clips and staples – Scanners rarely malfunction without help from voltage spikes or the humans operating them. Wear and tear take a long time, leaving human error the biggest culprit. Paper clips and staples can make their way through the document feeder and damage the glass. That’s why it’s best to remove them before scanning.
  • Don’t scan glued paper – A scanner can generate quite a bit of heat, especially after an intense workload. Glued papers, although dry, can still stick to the machine and cause a huge mess if the heat melts the glue.
  • Don’t scan taped paper – Adding some tape to a piece of paper to make it hold is a common office fix. But some people overdo it and mess up their scans. Scanners can’t really handle tape. If you must tape documents or receipts together, use tape on a single side, preferably not the side, you want to scan.
  • Scan to the cloud – Sending newly scanned documents from office scanners to cloud-based storage solutions is an efficient way to operate. It can increase productivity, streamline the workflow, and ensure records aren’t lost by accident. At the same time, the scanner’s internal memory won’t get overloaded inadvertently.
  • Don’t use the wrong medium – Not all scanners can handle more than paper. Always check compatible mediums before forcing your devices to work on something they can’t handle.

Treat Your Scanners Correctly, and They Will Last Years

Office scanners, no matter how compact, are very robust. While the occasional maintenance may be necessary, if you use them correctly, the chances of something bad happening are slim to none.

These are reliable pieces of office equipment designed to digitize sensitive documents, accelerate productivity, and eliminate workflow redundancies even in the busiest office environments.

Reach out to Golden Gate Office Solutions in San Francisco for scanner solutions, configurations, and maintenance.