Since 1998 National Archives, Inc in Garden City, NY has worked with many businesses both large and small to meet their document imaging needs. Whether you have documents to be scanned once a month or every day, our staff works diligently to get you high quality images of your documents in a timely manner. We are living in a more paperless society as technology advances each year. There is no longer a need to keep paper documents in storage for years, nor is there a reason your office should be filled with past information that you will rarely need to look back at.
Sure, you can buy a scanner and spend hours upon hours removing staples, rubber bands, post it notes, paper clips etc. to feed through page by page, but let us do the mundane tasks for you and help you keep your important files organized.
Our Document Recognition Services also help you find the information you are looking for quickly and efficiently. Save time by bringing up any file on your computer instead of spending hours looking through countless boxes or file racks for the file you need. We can organize your files by Name, Description, File Number, Birth Date or any other identifier you choose.
Benefits of Scanning:
- Easier access to business documents. Once scanned, documents can be retrieved quickly using keywords or indexes to locate the file you need. Paper documents are often easily lost, destroyed or misfiled. The ease with which documents can be retrieved will also save time/and or costs for your company. Faster access to information will help workers respond more quickly to customer inquiries, leading to increased customer service and satisfaction.
- Reduced need for paper storage. We will be more than happy to store your paper files and help you clean all the clutter out of your office. However you can save money by converting all those large paper documents to electronic images, instead of placing them in storage for years.
- Increased document security. Scanning preserves vital company documents in an electronic form. Paper documents can easily fall into the wrong hands. With electronic images you choose who can access your files. Files can be protected digitally using firewalls, encryption and other computer security measures. Even more importantly, by backing up your documents digitally, you can protect them from fire, flood and other disasters. Physical documents may be destroyed or require an extensive recovery process, digital files can be easily retrieved from secure storage, allowing quick disaster recovery.
- Flexible, fast and cheap sending options. A scanned document can be easily sent through various forms (fax, email, drop-box, google drive, etc), eliminating time and cost of physical distribution.
Our goal is to preserve your paper documents by maintaining document imaging integrity. These images will be replacing your hard copies so there must not be a single page missing. Through our quality assurance process each page is counted and captured (front and backside) using our digital image capture software by Kofax Capture. With the tools available to us within this enterprise level software suite we are able to guarantee 100% complete replicas and high quality resolution scans through the entirety of the original paper document. This level of document scanning requires skill and industry know-how, please contact us to set up a sample scan of one of your documents.
Are you sick of trying to stuff that file back into that old filing cabinet drawer that squeaks every time you open it? Overwhelmed by the clutter and lack of space in your office? Spending too much time looking for that important file you can never find when you need it? At National Archives we want to eliminate your headaches by helping you cost effectively manage and efficiently keep track of each of your documents forever.
Attempting to keep track of your piles of boxes and files on your own is costly, time consuming, and often very stressful! Most importantly, it also puts your business and customer information at risk. By using National Archives as your offsite storage solution you can be assured your documents will be kept safe and secure, and available 24-7.
- First we will help you decide on the best document storage solution to meet your needs.
- Then we will work with your schedule to organize the best time and day for us to come pick up your documents. You can prep and pack your boxes yourself or allow us to come do the packaging for you.
- Next we will barcode each box we pick up, and give you a receipt with the total amount of boxes picked up.
- Once back at our storage facility in New York, we will inventory the boxes accordingly. If you choose to box the files yourself we will input your content list for each box into our system respective of each unique Archiving SKU Barcode assigned to each box. If you don’t have the time to index each file we will go through and inventory the contents of each box for you and provide inventory reports at your request.
- Once in storage your documents are protected by our safe and secure storage facility, including advanced fire protection, alarm, and 24/7 security monitoring.
- Your documents will be readily available to you at your request. You can come pick up your order at our storage facility or schedule a delivery.
It’s time to end the mess in your office, it’s time to clean the clutter, it’s time to be organized and keep track of all of your important files. Call National Archives or contact us at your convenience.
Should I Scan to TIF or PDF?
We’ve been asked this a number of times and there are differences and advantages to each document scanning format. Here are just a few-
Advantages to PDF
Can contain multiple pages
True Black Text – Better Print Quality, good OCR
Embed into web pages, readable in a web browser
System wide integration Adobe Acrobat reader is commonly pre-installed on most pc’s
PDF files can contain vector and raster graphics or no graphics at all
Advantages to TIF Files
Capture Graphics and Colors Well at Higher Resolutions
More changeable than PDF files, PDF files require special software to change the contents
Can be manipulated with most image editing or page layout programs
It really comes down to personal preference, and/or software dependence by your company. Typically we scan in minimum 300 DPI to PDF format, but it is not uncommon for us to scan to TIF. Given that Adobe Acrobat reader is installed on most computers so users can view PDF files without a problem, we recommend scanning to PDF if you are not sure. Also, PDF allows for fully searchable text (take advantage of Optical Character Recognition), as well and true black print capabilities, so your scanned documents will print clear like the original. If you have a system-wide software that integrates with specific file types and prefers TIF for example, that may be the way to go.
Contact Us today for a no obligation document imaging quote and/or consultation.
Do you consider your files a valuable asset to your business?
Do you have multiple departments, categories, or document types?
Do you have employees dedicated to managing your documents?
Have you ever misfiled a document, waste hours, days, or weeks trying to locate a file?
Do you want to shred old documents?
If you answered Yes to any of the above, we can help. National Archives provides services to manage all of the above for you.
Every business needs a place to store records. At first a few filing cabinets may suffice, but businesses often underestimate their need for efficient documents management processes from the get-go.
Eventually piles scatter your office, filing cabinet drawers are stuffed, and suddenly you are overwhelmed with the thought of organizing everything. So what to do…? In the back of your mind you know there is a local self-storage place just up the block, why not rent a room and move it all out quick? Stop! Don’t do it!!
Note: It is common for a self-storage company in NY to rent you a 10’x10’ room for around $150.00/mo. At National Archives store a standard size bankers box for just $0.40/mo. each. Let’s say you’ve managed to jam 200 boxes into your 10’x10’ room for $150.00/mo. For those same 200 boxes stored at National Archives for $0.40/mo. per box you’ll pay $80.00/mo. That nearly 50% savings monthly!
But, you did it, you’ve succeeded in tidying up the office and you feel good. Essentially all you have done is move a mess to a bigger space. A few years later you’ll find yourself back in the same position all over again. Your storage room is packed, you’re overwhelmed with the thought of organizing a bigger mess. To add to that your employees cannot locate the files you need today. You also know there is no need to keep half the documents in your storage room, they are ancient. You can’t find the time to go through everything and consolidate your records, so now what??
Document Storage Checklist
We’ve created a Document Storage Checklist. See why our Archiving Facility and record center is the wise choice compared to a Self-Storage Facility or rented space. Generally our storage rates translate to 50% savings per month than those who utilize self-storage or currently renting office space for storage. We will make the switch seamless and integrate your record keeping with our state-of-the art storage facility and Document Management Software, allowing for safe, accurate and fast retrieval of your documents.
Contact Us today for a no obligation friendly quote.
When it comes time to make a decision to store your documents at an off-site storage facility be sure you’ve weighed the risks- especially the transportation of material to and from your business.
New York State/Nassau County unfortunately recently had fallen victim to human error- an unnatural disaster. Newsday covered a story on the transportation of confidential Nassau County documents while in route to their new facility located in Pennsylvania. The article: Crash-Sends-Nassau-Crime-Files-Flying.
Howard Schnapp | A truck carrying documents from the Nassau County District Attorney’s office struck and overpass at exit 18, Eagle Avenue, on the westbound Southern State Parkway.
Recently we worked on a bid (for those documents in the article) for New York State regarding the transfer and maintenance of their documents that were at the time located on Long Island. We are always thrilled about a new opportunity to work for anyone, especially locally, so we wanted to bid.
The main requirements were (and are usually all the same), quick access, security, confidentiality, low storage rate, etc. A meeting was held to discuss the RFP (Request for Proposal) with participating vendors such as ourselves. After a few minutes a question came up as to the reasoning behind New York State seeking a storage facility located at least 150 miles from the current location of their documents on Long Island. This fact was then confirmed by the state officials at the meeting. Us, along with the only other vendor from Long Island were therefore both disqualified from the bid – our facilities were too close.
What could possibly be the reason to move thousands of confidential boxes 150 miles away? Keep in mind that they still had the expectation of quick access and retrieval of these records! Well, the explanation went something to the tune of, ‘To protect our confidential documents from a natural disaster, like a flood, we need to have them at least 150 miles away from that disaster.’ In other words, when all is lost on Long Island, we still have our documents somewhere in a land far, far away (where nothing could ever happen…).
This was just before Hurricane Irene roared through our area and our facility and others centrally located were all left standing, and (may I add) dry as a bone. Now don’t forget, Irene was said to be a “100 Year Storm” by many meteorologists and hurricane experts- just some food for thought…
What you may not know is most storage facilities, like us, are built to protect and withstand a natural disaster, especially one from water which most are concerned with here on Long Island. That is why we are here, this is what we do. All of our client records are stored above ground from the lowest level of the floor (already 5 feet above ground) up on shelving to about 30 feet higher, equipped with climate control and fireproof steel shelving for protection. We do not down play the risk, but we are confident because we are prepared.
Unfortunately an ill informed decision regarding document management is often made based on the lowest storage rate per month, without considering the value of having the records close. By storing your critical business documents locally you lessen the threat of falling victim to a human disaster which happens daily. Accidents, traffic, weather patterns, and other obstacles may cause a big delay or what we may view as an unexpected disaster; ironically they should be the most expected disasters, and be a big part of your document storage vendor selection process. Moving your documents far will also lead to slow accessibility and higher activity rates due to the length of the time and distance traveled to deliver and pickup your storage boxes. You will quickly realize the value in keeping your documents readily available, because they will still be secured and protected by your vendor locally. Keep in mind, by utilizing a local off-site document storage facility less money will also be spent on activity services such as pickup and delivery. The activity rate savings may be so much greater that you will actually pay less monthly, even if your storage rate per box per month is a few cents higher versus an out-of-state vendor. We also encourage you to visit your local archive facility if you are considering using a document management service, they will be more than happy to show you around.
For over 13 years National Archives, Inc. in Garden City, NY has successfully stored valuable and critical documents for businesses throughout the Long Island, New York Metro area. If you have found this information helpful please let us know. Also, if you are seeking storage vendor, or have a need for document shredding or document scanning please contact us, call 516-794-0021, or email info@natlarchives.com.