Ideal Bite

Would you rather get planewrecked on a desert island than deal with your paper files?

06.30.2008

Submitted by tmeronek on Mon, 06/30/2008 - 12:24am.

The Bite:

File docs digitally, rather than printing them out. Creating portable document files (PDFs) of online bills, contracts, and receipts on your PC and keeping them in folders on your hard (or external) drive saves you paper and printer ink, and makes keeping track of things simpler than saving a group of schoolboys from self-inflicted doom.

The Benefits:

Saving trees for escape rafts. Paper makes up more of our garbage than any other type of trash at almost 40% (you can always print out docs later if you need to).
It's easier than playing a conch shell, and it's a whole lot easier than dealing with physical folders and those annoying multicolored tabs.
Easy file rescue. Searching your hard drive takes way less time than digging through file cabinets.

Personally Speaking:

While the Biter offices aren't totally paperless, our file cabinets are more notable for the plants perched on top than the measly number of files inside.

Wanna Try:

Mac Users - select Print for your document, then click the PDF button or select it from the pull-down menu. Save the new document inside a folder. To search your hard drive for files, just select File from the desktop menu, then Find.
PC Users - if you don't have one installed, download a PDF maker such as Adobe Acrobat or the free CutePDF Writer. Once you set it up, follow the directions for Mac users above. To search your hard drive for files, click Start, then Search.
Definitely back up your files with an external hard drive from time to time, since you never know when your computer's gonna crash.
Google Desktop - search your whole hard drive using the power of Google; free download.
Microsoft Home Magazine - tips for keeping your file folders tidy.