Document management solutions

[Vikram C.]

Do any of you have a recommendation for a good document management solution for my real estate invoices, insurance policies and other documents? I want to be able to scan every single document and store it in an electronic format so that it can be retrieved from anywhere. The solution will also need some method of categorizing the documents (by city and property, for example). Being able to search, as in gmail, would be great but is not a deal-breaker.

I have heard that Docusoft is good but it seems like something designed for large companies and I am looking for something simpler but equally effective.

[Dale Osborn]

Anything wrong with scanning it to a pdf file and carrying it on a geek stick? For example: Colorado Springs Property -
CSC_Insurance_Policy_2_4_2010. Just a thought.

[Vikram C.]

I have remote employees and I need them to have access to it as well. i would also like to have my accountant be able to access the records. That's why I need an online solution.

[Bryan Hancock]

I have used Google Docs in a couple of startups that we have put together and it works reasonably well. You may look into that.

[Vikram C.]

Bryan, does it allow you to upload pdf files without a size limit or total capacity limit? Does it also allow you to categorize the pdf files?

[James Hiddle]

I like Realtyman's idea with the exception that I would get a portable HD and create a special folder for it,scan,turn the file into a pdf or word doc file then transfer it to the portable HD.

[Bryan Hancock]

Not sure Vikram...I have 7234MB of mail in my Gmail account and an upgraded 20GB account costs $5/year. I don't think you will have size problems with anything related to Google, but you should check.

[Vikram C.]

Bryan, 20 GB will not be enough. An insurance policy alone, for example, looks like a book. Most scanners tend to create large pdf files - at least the ones I have used create pretty big files. I would need hundreds of GBs, I think.

[Bryan Hancock]

20 GB ($5.00 USD per year)

80 GB ($20.00 USD per year)

200 GB ($50.00 USD per year)

400 GB ($100.00 USD per year)

1 TB ($256.00 USD per year)

[Dustin M.]

I store all of my real estate documents on an SVN repository. I carry around my files on my flash drive and on any computer I can sync up to a central server.

With SVN you can have multiple individuals read / write to this repository and you can access the files anywhere you have an internet connection.

It also has nice features like roll back to a previous versions of files and see who made changes to what sections of files etc.

Dustin

[Vikram C.]

That's great, Bryan. That should probably do it.

I'll look into Google Docs a little bit more. I thought it was some kind of spreadsheet sharing thing.

[Vikram C.]

Dustin, is SVN repository something that I can understand? I tried Googling it and it seems like some high tech stuff.

[Dustin M.]

SVN is usually used for computer programmers to store their computer source control. However, it can actually be used for any type of document. I do computer programming full time so this stuff is second nature to me.

It is going to be more complicated to setup an SVN repository than it will to use google docs or any other pay system. However, you can setup a SVN repository for free.

I did have a website idea that would easily create SVN repositories for individuals to back up important documents such as contracts / documents / etc. I got halfway started and never finished it though.

There are paid SVN repository services out there and they are usually pretty reasonable (somewhere around $5 to $10 a month). They would do all the configuration for you. You and your employees would just need to point your SVN client to the repository they setup.

Dustin

[Vikram C.]

Thanks, Dustin. I appreciate the help. I will look into the paid SVN repositories to see if they can solve my problem.

[Cliff Rosa]

Have you ever thought about setting up a networked hard drive? I have a DNS 323 2 bay enclosure with 2 2TB harddrives for a total of 4TB. I have it hooked up into my wirless router so that I can stream media, photos and documents anywhere through out the house over the network. The best thing about it is that you can easily set it up as an FTP server where you can acess it from anywhere in the world with a internet connection, you just type in the website name which is free and it links you to the harddrive where you can acess the info. Check it out on youtube and other reviews. I think it will be the cheapest option for you in the long run.

[Eddie Brown]

I am interested doing the same with all my docs. An attorney Client of mine swears by the Fujitsu Smartscan Scanner. Double-sides pages are about 20-25 per minute. I personally find Google Docs to be slow but for sharing with others, it may be the best bet. Dropbox.com provides 2 gigs to back up your systems remotely.