The Paperless Desk Plan

Set up the desk and go paperless with the numbers checked: a screen sized to the distance your desk really gives and OSHA's preferred range, every cable inside its limit, one power strip straight into the wall, the scanning timed, and the payback worked in cash

DeskPaperless's free tools give a viewing distance, a cable length and a yearly paperless saving. They never meet: the screen rule asks a 34 inch screen for 44 to 54 inches where OSHA's preferred range ends at 40 and a desk gives less; the cable planner rounds a run up to a length you can buy without knowing whether it is USB or Ethernet; and the savings calculator's $2,004 a year at its defaults is mostly filing time valued at $25 an hour, with no minute for scanning and no scanner on the bill. This plan puts them together. In its worked example a 30 inch deep desk gives 38 inches, so a 27 inch screen fits and a 34 inch does not, even on an arm; a shelf scanner needs a 6.5 m cable, past USB 2.0's 5 m, until it moves to the desk end and a 2 m cable does; and the same office keeps $168 a year in cash, so a $480 scanner setup takes 35 months to pay back, against 6 for a phone app and a backup drive. A 12,000 sheet backlog is 18 hours on the scanner and 60 on the phone: the scanner earns its price only if your hour is worth $9.52 or more. Every figure is computed by the site's own calculators, and every example is labelled as one. OSHA, the CPSC, USB-IF, Fluke Networks and the IRS are quoted, not paraphrased; it is not medical, electrical, tax or legal advice. Included: 7 steps, 4 printable working pages (desk sheet, paper count and scan log, payback sheet, keep-or-shred register), reference tables, a quickstart, and a personalised sheet worked from your own calculator inputs.

Look inside

Two full pages from the plan, exactly as printed. Click either to read it at full size before you decide.

What is in it

• The Desk Decides Rule: the distance your desk gives, OSHA's preferred 20 to 40 inches, and the largest screen that fits
• The Run and Rating Rule: every cable run rounded up and checked against its type's limit; one power strip, straight into the wall
• The Sheet Count Rule: pages that will actually stop, documents, arrivals and the backlog, counted in sheets
• The Backlog Rule: scanning time per document, backlog hours, and the hourly rate at which a scanner beats your phone
• The Cash Payback Rule: cash a year kept apart from hours valued at a rate, and a payback in whole months
• The Check Before Shred Rule: the IRS's general record periods quoted, originals that stay paper, and shredding last
• The Two Copies Rule: two copies in two places, sized from your own first 100 pages, and a monthly check
• Four printable working pages: desk sheet, paper count and scan log, payback sheet, keep-or-shred register
• Reference tables: screens against OSHA's range, backlog hours by size and speed, cash payback months, cable limits with sources
• A quickstart checklist and a personalised sheet worked from your own calculator inputs

The plan picks up where the free Paper-to-Digital Savings Calculator, Desk & Monitor Reference Chart and Cable Length Plannerleave off. They give a yearly saving, a viewing distance and a cable length; the plan checks the screen against the distance your desk really gives and OSHA's preferred 20 to 40 inches, each cable against its type's limit, the power strip against the wall, and the savings against what you would actually pay and keep in cash, with the scanning time and a payback in whole months. Every figure in it is an example for you to replace. It is not medical, electrical, tax or legal advice.