Digital File Cabinet with tags? Hopefully contextualization?

[YoitsTmac]

Does anyone have any software they recommend for digitally organizing the paper documents in their life? My issue with paper is that I have all my documents in different folders, but some should be in multiple. For example, I have a sketch I made for an automotive product I made. That should be categorized in a few tags "sketches," "product development," and "automotive". On a more relatable level, how about car insurance receipts? "automotive" "insurance" "receipt" "nov22". Does anyone have any software they recommend for this?

There's Evernote, but that's a monthly subscription and I only need it locally (I also don't enjoy evernote). There's eFileCabinet, which has no images of the actual product on its website. EagleFiler looks good, anyone have experience? There's "Paperless," but all their screenshots look quite old and I'm concerned about long term support. Devonthink I just found prior to posting this and looks really good. Surely I am not the only person who wants to digitize their papers and finds the notes app inadequate.

Otherwise, I was thinking of using Finder and using forklift to try and help me empower the tags? Seems messy...would love some insight.

 

[jmckenzie]

I used Devonthink for many years, but am not an ideal reviewer as I am content with a lesser level of organization than I think you will be. It can do great things, but you have to commit to the program and the workflow, and I couldn't be bothered, in the end. lf I were you I would lean more toward Eagle Filer, because it works on top of the Finder, and you can always access your documents without invoking the program if you want. This seems much more future proof.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

I use DevonThink for this purpose and it is really nice for this. You can set up rules to move different digitized documents to folders automatically. Then from your iphone use a scanning program (I use Scanner Pro)—which can send directly to DevonThink. DevonThink also uses encrypted iCloud databases. (with Advanced Data Protection, it would be double-encrypted?)

I don’t disagree with @jmckenzie however on the longevity. DT is pretty much a one man band.

 

[cthompson94]

I use an app called "Genius Scan". Similar to the Adobe Scan (if you have used that) where you can use the camera to take a picture of whatever file(s) you want and they get converted automatically to pdf. The app automatically detects edges so that the table or whatever you are using to hold the paper doesn't show, and it does a prettty good job with filling in tears that may be in the paper also with somewhat crinkly paper. It was a one time purchase for some of the "pro" features, and the only subscription model I believe (sorry I am at work with no access to the app currently) is if you use their cloud for storage. Instead of this I have it set to automatically upload all scans to my iCloud drive and within the app there is a tagging system just as you mention and remembers the previously used ones so for me if I scan a medical related document I can just click "medical" then "who the doc is for, like myself or daughter or something" I also do the same for Taxes where I just have the general tag "tax" then I have a tag for each type of form and the year

 

[eltoslightfoot]

I use an app called "Genius Scan". Similar to the Adobe Scan (if you have used that) where you can use the camera to take a picture of whatever file(s) you want and they get converted automatically to pdf. The app automatically detects edges so that the table or whatever you are using to hold the paper doesn't show, and it does a prettty good job with filling in tears that may be in the paper also with somewhat crinkly paper. It was a one time purchase for some of the "pro" features, and the only subscription model I believe (sorry I am at work with no access to the app currently) is if you use their cloud for storage. Instead of this I have it set to automatically upload all scans to my iCloud drive and within the app there is a tagging system just as you mention and remembers the previously used ones so for me if I scan a medical related document I can just click "medical" then "who the doc is for, like myself or daughter or something" I also do the same for Taxes where I just have the general tag "tax" then I have a tag for each type of form and the year

This seems easier than what I do…

 

[MikeDr206]

Fwiw, I’ve used Paperless for 15 years now. It’s solid. There hasn’t been an update in forever, but the software still works (as of the latest Monterey version I’m running).

 

[4743913]

Devonthink Pro. I started with Yojimbo many years ago but DT Pro is just awesome..

 

[YoitsTmac]

Thanks everyone! Paperless's lack of updates leaves me concerned long term. Devonthink seems to be the way to go for me. I will look at eagle pro, but I have no issue having a MacOS VM just to handle my papers, or add it to my stack of home servers to ensure compatibility long term.

 

[ryanhunt]

Sorry if I'm hijacking this thread - but does anyone here have any insight into what's happened to Mariner Software, makers of Paperless and other great Mac apps? Their website is offline, emails are bouncing and haven't posted an update in a very long time. I believe the company has closed, but no message online and they're still selling their apps on the App store...

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Well, the company hasn't posted since 2020 on Twitter/X so that probably isn't good.

 

[zqbobs]

I organize documents with Finder folders, names and sometimes tags. Figure it is best for "future proofing" and usually enough for me. But, I have a much greater need with photos. We have some 5-10K photos, pre-digital and digital. I so far organize them with the date embedded at the beginning of the filename (yyyy-mm-dd), maybe some text in the filename and Finder tags. Finder tags do not seem sufficient sometimes to document "who, what, where" and can be clumsy with a lot of tags. A hierarchy may help, and I'm intrigued by EagleFiler. Anyone with experience using it specifically for photos? How is it helpful?