There are 3 main ways to scan documents and email them:

1. Using a desktop scanner

When you scan a paper document using your desktop scanner, you have several options of what to do with that document once it’s scanned. While you may want to simply scan and save the file in question as a JPG, chances are you’ll also need to share scanned documents with others via email.

Most scanning software has an automatic scan to email option. Instead of saving the scanned document, then opening your email account and uploading the scanned file as an attachment, the process is much simpler.

After scanning a document, click on it to highlight it. Your scanning software will then have an email option in the toolbar – usually a command that says “scan to email” or  “forward as email.”

Your scanned document will then automatically be attached to an email that will open in your mail client. Simply fill in the “to” field and any relevant message you’d like to include, and hit “send.”

2. Using a portable travel scanner

Travel scanners are a fantastic option for emailing scanned documents. When you’re away on business at a conference or at an offsite work location, use your travel scanner for all of your scan to email needs. Chances are you’ll need to share expense reports with co-workers and employees back at the office, so this is a handy way to email documents right as you scan them.

Your travel scanner will come with scanning software that is similar to the software included with your desktop scanner. After scanning, select the document and click the “forward as email” option. Keep in mind that your software may word the option slightly differently, so also keep your eyes peeled for “email scan” options or “send to recipient” options.

3. Using your smartphone

Another great way to scan and email documents is by using your smartphone. Your phone’s camera functions as a built-in scanner that can be used anywhere and everywhere you go.

If you have large stacks of documents to scan, a traditional scanner is probably the best option. But for daily business dealings, snapping a quick photo of receipts and single-page documents is the quickest, easiest solution.

Simply take a photo of a receipt or other document using your phone’s camera. In iPhone, touch the arrow icon in the bottom lefthand corner of your screen. Then select “mail.” Fill in the “to” field and the subject field, and your scan will be emailed to whoever needs it. This also means you now have two digital records of your scanned document – one saved within your phone’s Photos folder, and another cloud-based copy in the “sent’ folder of your email account.

If you didn’t have the means to buy your own scanner and scan documents at home, you had to try and locate the nearest FedEx Office or print shop, drive there, and use your credit card to pay for each and every document you scanned.

Talk about the Stone Age!

So how do you scan a document in the 21st century? Like so many things in the digital age, the answer is whenever and wherever you want.

Scanners are now more lightweight and compact than ever. You can purchase a travel scanner to scan your documents on the go, scan documents in the comfort of your home or office, or even scan documents using your smartphone.

When using a scanner like the Fujitsu Scansnap, all you have to do is place your document (or stack of documents) into the scanner’s feed tray. The scanner will do the rest, scanning a page every 7.5 seconds.

What’s more, modern scanners create digitized documents at 600 DPI, ensuring the scanned copy will be crystal clear and easy to read.

Another great feature of modern-day document scanning is the ability to digitize your data. When you scan a document, the scanning software will capture the data from whatever hard copy document you’ve scanned. It will then present that data in a variety of searchable forms, making it easy to create reports using Microsoft Excel or export data to a PDF. You can then incorporate this data into expense reports or other tax documents, and easily share it with colleagues, co-workers, and your tax professional.

When you’re on the go, the easiest way to scan a document is to simply snap a photo of it with your smartphone. Shoeboxed is a company that offers receipt scanning software for your iPhone or Android via their smartphone app. Whenever you need to scan a receipt or document, simply open their app on your phone and snap a picture of it. The information from the document will be automatically scanned and synced within your secure online account. You can then recycle the hard copy and prevent paper clutter from collecting in your home, office or car.

Shoeboxed is also great if you have massive stacks of paper that need to be scanned. Instead of snapping a photo of each individual piece of paper, simply place the stack within one (or several) of their Magic Envelopes. Drop the envelope in the mail, and sit back and relax as the Shoeboxed team does the scanning for you. In this way, the answer to the question “How do you scan a document?” becomes “You don’t – you let someone else do it!”

Whether you’re scanning from home or snapping photos on the go, it’s never been easier to scan a document, go paperless, get organized and stay that way.

Just a few years ago, you would have to physically go into a FedEx Office store to scan documents, or invest in an expensive scanner and receipt scanning software just to turn piles of paper clutter into digital data.

While you can still use public workspaces like FedEx Office to scan documents, doing so requires you to journey to and from their store location each and every time you need something scanned. That’s a lot of work and a lot of wasted time!

Luckily, things have changed a lot in the past few years.

Now, it’s easier than ever to scan documents from the comfort of your own home or office. Scanners are more compact, more lightweight, and more powerful than ever. As more and more small business owners go paperless, scanners are becoming one of the most – if not the most – important office supplies to have on hand.

A mobile scanner like the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1100 weighs only about 12 ounces and scans everything from business cards to bank statements.

Fujitsu ScanSnap S1100 Mobile Scanner

When wondering “Where can I scan documents?”, the answer with ScanSnap is “anywhere you want!” Convert paper documents to PDF, Word, Excel, or JPG, connect directly to your laptop or mobile device, and organize full color scans by category or keyword.

Another great answer to the question “Where can I scan documents?” is “Nowhere!” That’s because there are receipt scanning services that will scan all of your documents for you, eliminating the need to buy a scanner at all.

With a service like the one available from Shoeboxed, you can dump all of your paper documents into a big envelope, drop the envelope in the mail, and watch as your account is magically populated with digital data. All of your documents will be scanned, digitized, categorized, and stored in a single secure account. This is a great option if you’re a busy small business owner and don’t have the time to spend hours scanning.

Shoeboxed also has an app for iOS and Android that functions in a similar way to the ScanSnap scanner. Instead of bringing a portable scanner along with you on business trips, you can use your smartphone as a scanner.

Open the Shoeboxed app on your phone and simply snap a picture of the receipt or document that needs to be scanned. The app will then automatically beam the document to your Shoeboxed account and sync the new data within your account.

There is no longer any need to leave your home, go back to the office, or try and find an open FedEx Office simply because you need to scan a few business cards. With the ScanSnap starting at just $199, and Shoeboxed accounts starting at under $10/month, it’s easy to start scanning documents (or not!) when it’s most convenient for you.

Digital receipts are also extremely beneficial for the environment, and may even protect you from cancer! That’s because some of the chemicals used to make paper receipts have been shown to cause cancer in lab rats – yikes!

Save money, save time, save the planet, and protect your health. Not too shabby, right?

Here are seventeen of the top benefits of scanning receipts and going digital:

17. When you go digital, there will be no more paper clutter in your car, wallet, purse, home, or office. You’ll be able to stay organized and get back to doing what’s most important to you.

16. A digital receipt will let you instantly track your expenses with receipt scanner software and cut time spent doing your taxes in half.

15. Protect yourself from harmful BPA, the chemical found in paper receipts that’s been shown to cause cancer in lab rats. Every time you touch a paper receipt, you’re exposed to this chemical. Switching to digital receipts will reduce your risk of exposure significantly.

14. Reduce the amount of paper being dumped into landfills each year. According to Will Hines, writing in the Huffington Post, paper receipts account for 1.5 billion tons of waste annually in the United States alone. That’s 10 million trees cut down, a billion gallons of water and over a quarter of a billion gallons of oil used. In the UK, 11 billion receipts are printed each year.

13. Capture receipts while you’re on the go by using receipt scanning apps for your smartphone.

12. Create one-click expense reports with your receipt scanning software’s reporting tool. You’ll never have to staple a stack of receipts to a hard copy expense report again.

11. Organize your receipts by category to get an instant snapshot of your spending.

10. Instantly upload your digital receipt to your application in real time, ensuring that each and every expense is tracked and your accounts are up to date.

9. Save money on costly printer ink and paper by going paperless in your office and at home.

8. Share your information with your accountant or tax professional with the click of a button.

7. If you ever need to find a receipt for tax purposes, it’s as easy as searching by date or keyword within your receipt scanning account.

6. If the IRS requires you to produce a receipt, you can simply print it out and submit it.

5. You can create digital receipts while working off-site by using a portable digital receipts scanner made for travel.

4. Going paperless extends beyond receipts. Most receipt scanner software will also scan bank statements, itineraries, budgets, or any other documents that need to be digitized.

3. Digital receipts lead to a more organized, clutter-free office, which in turn improves productivity in the workplace.

2. Thermal paper receipts are not recyclable, making e-receipts more important than ever for making a positive impact on the environment.

1. When you ask for an emailed receipt or snap a picture of a receipt with your smartphone, you’ll enjoy the feeling of a more organized personal environment and a more sustainable environment for everyone.

Tracking your spending doesn’t have to be this stressful chore though! You can prepare yourself for how much you will probably spend every month and build in a cushion for unexpected expenses. We’ve compiled an easy-to-follow guide for how to create and organize your monthly expenses worksheet to help you stay on top of your budget.

Worksheet Structure

For your worksheet, you want to create a column that outlines your expected budget and a column for what you actually spent during any given month. Your initial worksheet calculations might be off, but don’t worry about it. You can always adjust your budget once you start diligently tracking your monthly spending habits.

The first thing you want to do when tracking your monthly spending is divide all costs into fixed expenses and flexible expenses to be entered into your monthly expenses worksheet.

Fixed Expenses

A fixed expense is anything you pay regularly to meet your basic needs. These expenses occur every single month without fail. Rent or mortgage, life, health and car insurance all fall under this category.

Find an average amount for a bill that might have a small variance from month to month (like electricity). A copy of your last year’s annual bill will help you come up with a reasonable idea of what to expect on a monthly basis. If you can’t find last year’s bill, it might be a good idea to look into buying a scanner or start using a scanning service so all your bills are saved digitally. This is a foolproof way to ensure that all your bills and receipts are saved online.

It’s also a smart idea to include savings under fixed expenses, this way you’ll be setting some money aside every month, without fail.

Flexible Expenses

After examining your monthly fixed expenses, move on to flexible (or variable) expenses. A flexible expense is an item or activity that might not occur every month, but instead every couple of months. It can also be a spending area where you can control how much and when you spend. Groceries, meals eaten out, clothing, recreation and medical expenses are all examples of flexible expenses.

Variable cost is an area where you can compensate if you go over your budget in another area. Try skipping that extra meal out a week or carpooling to work to cut down on these expenses.

With these easy steps to creating your monthly expenses worksheet, you will always know how much you should (or more realistically – are) spending per month.

Do you have any tips you would like to share for tracking or cutting down on your expenses? We would love to hear them!

After looking at many document scanning software reviews, we’ve repeatedly come across two main options that sound worth your while to check out.

Shoeboxed

Shoeboxed is an offsite service that will make digitizing your financial data easier than ever. The way it works is this:

• First, your documents must be scanned. You can scan them yourself in any way you choose. But the great thing about Shoeboxed is that, if you don’t want to bother with buying a scanner or doing the work of scanning, you can actually mail them your receipts and they will use their own document scan software to image them for you and then either dispose of them or return them to you, as you wish. They will even provide special tracked envelopes to help you with this mailing process.
• Second, if you scanned the documents yourself, rather than mailing them in, then you need to get the electronic versions to Shoeboxed. You can do that by emailing them the images or by using their web-based uploader. (Obviously, if you have Shoeboxed do the scanning for you, then this step is unnecessary).
• Third, once Shoeboxed has your images, they, along with their information, will be organized in an online account that you can then access and work with securely from anywhere.

TRY SHOEBOXED FOR FREE: Shoebox offers a FREE 30 day trial of its receipt scan software services. Take advantage of it right now by just clicking here.

Neat

If you’re looking for a more complete, integrated receipt scanning software solution, consider using Neat’s products and services.

(Note: Links in this section will show you the products discussed on Amazon)

Neat makes their own scanners, including both desktop and mobile models.

These scanners work seamlessly with Neat’s special “digital filing cabinet” software. When you scan your receipt into this software, it will not only store a digital image of it, but it will automatically recognize the various types of information on the document and input them into the proper fields in its database. This is highly tuned receipt scan software that will save you a tremendous amount of time entering and modifying your electronic financial information.

A nice bonus is that this “digital filing cabinet” also has a special module that allows it to act as business card scanning software. So you can not only store and digitize your financial records, but also your business contacts.

Versions of Neat’s products and services are available for both Windows and Mac users.

Which Option is for You?

If you want to truly outsource this receipt scanning software process and get it out of your hands, Shoeboxed is an excellent choice. They can simplify the process to the point that all you have to do is toss your receipts into an envelope and then periodically drop them in the mailbox. And with a free month-long trial, you have nothing to lose giving them a shot.

On the other hand, if you want more substantial control over all aspects of the digitization process, then you may find it worthwhile to invest in Neat. If you purchase a Neat scanner, as an additional benefit, you can use that scanner to do plenty of other tasks, as well. And their desktop scanner, in particular, can do bulk scanning.

In the end, you can’t really go wrong with either of these receipt scan software solutions. Both will greatly ease the process of documenting and tracking your finances.