Think how nice it would be if instead of keeping that pile of paper documents on your desk you could digitize everything, in such a way as to keep them well-guarded and tidy on your computer, without having to sweat seven shirts, as they say, whenever you need them. to find this or that other paperwork. In fact, a few clicks and a quick one would be enough to have immediately at hand, or rather with a mouse, what you need.
Yeah, but how can you do that? A legitimate question, indeed more. If you want I can explain it to you, with this tutorial of mine focused on the best programs for archiving documents . Give me a few minutes of your precious time and I will show you some of the best solutions to succeed in the enterprise.
Thanks to the latter, you can then store, catalog, order and manage all your documents: not only those that were originally paper, but also those available directly in digital format; all in a very easy way and regardless of the operating system or device you use. Find everything explained below.
Index
- Programs for archiving documents on the PC
- Evernote (Windows / macOS)
- iDocument (macOS)
- Other systems for archiving documents on the PC
- Program for archiving documents online
- Google Drive (Windows / macOS)
- iCloud Drive (Windows / macOS)
- Other programs for archiving documents online
- App to archive documents
Programs for archiving documents on the PC
Let’s start this guide by seeing, together, which are the best applications for organizing documents in the computer’s memory, so that you can find them easily, without having to go crazy every time between various folders and disks.
Evernote (Windows / macOS)
If you need to organize your digital documents, I can’t help but suggest you consider Evernote . In this case, it is a service (with attached applications for computers, smartphones and tablets) designed to take notes and archive activities. Thanks to its attachment system, however, it is also possible to use Evernote to manage and organize your personal documents, with the possibility of finding them also on other devices (provided you access the service with the same account).
Basically, Evernote can be used with free registration, with some limitations (such as the ability to synchronize data on up to two devices and upload no more than 60MB of data per month and make notes smaller than 25MB each); the latter can be bypassed by subscribing to one of the subscription plans for the service, with prices starting from € 6.99 / month.
That said, to download Evernote on your computer, connected to this website , press the Download button located at the top right and repeat the same operation on the button of the same name, attached to the next screen.
When the download is complete, start the file obtained and follow the procedure that best suits the operating system you are using: if you use Windows , put the check mark in the box next to the item I accept the terms of the license agreement , click on the Next buttons and Go ahead and wait for the program to start automatically.
If, on the other hand, you are using a Mac , click on the Agree button , wait for the package to be extracted and, when prompted, drag the Evernote icon to the Applications folder on your computer. Subsequently, access this last folder, double-click on the icon you just copied and click on the Open button , in order to overcome the restrictions imposed by Apple against unofficially certified developers (it must be done only at the first start).
From now on, the procedures are the same: to subscribe for free to the service, type your email in the text field you see on the screen, press the Continue button and specify a secure password, with which to protect the account; finally, click on the Register for free button and confirm the e-mail address by clicking on the link that should be sent to you by e-mail in the meantime.
Alternatively, you can speed up the Evernote registration process by logging in with your Google account or Apple ID : to do so, click on the symbol of the service you want to use (the colored “G” or the “bitten apple) and, after having entered the access credentials to the latter, authorize the interaction with Evernote by pressing the Allow / Authorize button .
If you already have an Evernote account, enter its email address / username in the dedicated field, press the Continue button and complete the login, entering the password associated with the account and finally clicking on the Login button .
Once you have reached the main program screen, close any windows relating to plan changes and / or additional accesses (if visible) and immediately start creating your first notebook, by first clicking on the book icon in the left sidebar and then selecting the item New notebook .
Once you have created a notebook (which will act as a container for a given category of documents), press the (+) button to immediately start adding notes or attached files to it . You can quickly access the notes and notebooks by pressing on the dedicated icons (representing, respectively, a folded sheet and a book ) visible in the left sidebar; to search for an item, click on the magnifying glass symbol visible at the top left.
To act on the properties of a given note or of a specific notebook, right-click on its name and use the items that appear in the dedicated context menu. For more information on how Evernote works , check out my specific guide on the subject.
I point out that the documents stored on Evernote can also be viewed from other computers, from the Android smartphone and tablet of the same name (available both on the Play Store and on the alternative markets intended for devices without Google services), iOS and iPadOS , as well as by accessing the website of the service , provided you use the same account with which the documents were stored.
iDocument (macOS)
And if you are looking for programs to archive free documents for Mac , I would recommend iDocument 2 Lite . In this case, it is a free software (also available in a paid version and with additional features), which allows you to catalog the documents on the Mac, very quickly, using an interface that closely resumes that of the “old “ITunes.
To get it, connected to this web page , click on the View button in the Mac App Store (if necessary) and, once in the Apple home “market”, click on the Get / Install button and, if necessary, enter the Apple ID password configured on your computer or use Touch ID to authorize the download.
The game is practically done: now, you have to drag the documents to be organized into the application window, wait for them to load and, to categorize them, right- click on each of its previews, in order to access the dedicated function menu. Once the documents to be organized have been imported, you can search for them using the dedicated bar at the top left, or filter them by name, title, size and so on, using the filters available in the central part of the program window. To create new “containers” for the various documents (which, in this case, are called Collections or Collections ), click on the + button located at the bottom.
Other systems for archiving documents on the PC
How do you say? Are you simply looking for programs to archive PDF documents or other types of files, starting with paper elements? In this case, if you have a scanner or a multifunction printer , you simply need to connect the device to your computer and proceed with the digitization of the documents you want, then taking care to save them in easily accessible folders.
And if you do not have a scanner or a multifunction, you can always use the camera of your smartphone or tablet to scan the documents you want , and then connect the device in question to the computer to copy the scanned documents to disk.
Again, if you prefer to keep the files on your computer disk organized without using any “external” program, it will be useful to define a series of guidelines to apply every time you find yourself creating (or copying) a new file on your computer: for example, you could subdivide files by category and / or creation date, insert the date of last modification within their respective names or “tag” them in a specific way, an operation which often proves particularly useful.
In this regard, a careful reading of my guide on how to create a digital archive will certainly be useful , in which I have deepened the themes mentioned in the previous bars of this chapter.
Program for archiving documents online
And if you are looking for a program that allows you to quickly send documents to the cloud, so that you can also retrieve them from other devices, the solutions that I am going to point out below will certainly be useful to you.
Google Drive (Windows / macOS)
The first program I want to talk to you about is Google Drive , that is the “companion” application of the homonymous Google home service: it allows you to quickly archive documents on the cloud, simply by dragging them into the dedicated folder on your computer.
As you can easily imagine, in order to use the service, you must have a Google account to use for the purpose: keep in mind that each profile has 15 GB of free storage space, which can be increased by subscribing to one of the service subscription plans. Google One .
That said, let’s see together how Google Drive works on your computer. To start, connect to this website and click on the Download Drive for desktop button , in order to get the dedicated client; once the download is complete, open the file obtained and, if you use Windows , click on the Yes button , put the check mark next to the options for adding icons to the desktop and finalize the procedure by clicking on the Install button .
If, on the other hand, yours is a Mac , double-click on the .pkg file that appears on the screen, press the Continue (twice consecutively) and Install buttons and, when prompted, enter the computer password and press Enter .
In both cases, the software should start automatically; when this happens, log in to your Google account by filling in the fields that appear on the screen, click on the Google Drive icon residing in the Windows indicator area (bottom right) or in the Mac area (top right) right) and then press on the gear symbol to start configuring the program.
At this point, click on the My laptop / My MacBook tab and add the folders that contain the files to be automatically stored in the cloud. To save one or more files manually, simply drag them to the Google Drive folder , accessible from the left sidebar of the Windows File Explorer, or the macOS Finder . If you are interested in learning more about how Google Drive for computers works, take a look at this guide .
iCloud Drive (Windows / macOS)
Another valid solution that you can use to send the documents you care about to the cloud is definitely iCloud Drive . It is a service dedicated in particular to Mac users (as well as iPhone and iPad), however it is possible to save items online and access those already stored also from Windows, as well as from the official website.
As it is easy to imagine, to use the iCloud Drive service you need an Apple ID which, by default, offers 5 GB of free online space; to expand the quota available to you, you can subscribe to an iCloud + subscription plan (which allows you to add 50 GB, 200 GB or 2 TB of additional space with prices, respectively, equal to € 0.99 / month, 2.99 € / month and € 9.99 / month), or the Apple One service (which offers 50, 200 GB or 2 TB of iCloud drive space and the advantages of Apple Music , Apple TV + and Apple Arcade , with prices at starting from € 14.95 / month).
That said, to use iCloud Drive on Windows 10 and later (eg. Windows 11 ), download the client through the Microsoft Store, by connecting to the dedicated section of the same and pressing the Download buttons in the Store app and Download . At the end of the installation, the program should open automatically: when you reach the configuration window, log in to your Apple ID and choose whether to automatically synchronize one or more folders on your computer, placing the check mark next to their respective names.
When you’re done, click the Apply button and, if necessary, wait for the files to be sent to the cloud. From now on, you can view the files stored in the cloud by clicking on the iCloud Drive icon , resident in the Windows File Explorer (on the left); to send a file to the cloud, drag it into this last folder.
On the Mac , however, you do not need to install any client, as iCloud Drive is already integrated into the operating system: to check if it is active, open the System Preferences (by clicking on the symbol of the gear residing on the Dock ), click on the ID items Apple and iCloud and, if necessary, sign in with your Apple ID. At this point, put the check mark next to iCloud Drive and, if you want the contents of some folders to be synchronized automatically, click on the Options buttonplaced in its correspondence and select the elements to be archived, using the panel that appears later.
To view the items stored on iCloud Drive, click on the folder of the same name, available in the left sidebar of the Finder ; to add more, drag them to this last folder and that’s it. Please note that the files stored on iCloud Drive are also accessible through the Files application for iPhone and iPad, as well as from the Web. More info here .
Other programs for archiving documents online
In addition to Google Drive and iCloud Drive, there are many other cloud storage services , which allow you to store files online in just a couple of clicks, using the official client for PC and Mac: Dropbox , OneDrive , MEGA and Box are just some examples . .
For further information on the services I have just mentioned, I urge you to read my tutorial on how to store files online , in which you can find valuable information about it. Please, take a look at it at least!
App to archive documents
Have you found the services I mentioned so far extremely useful, however would you like some more information about the apps for archiving documents available for smartphones and tablets? If so, I think I have some useful “tips” to give you.
First of all, if it is your intention to store paper documents in memory, you can “scan” them using the camera of the device, together with one of the many applications dedicated precisely to the purpose: I told you about the topic, in detail, in my tutorial dedicated to apps to scan .
If you then want to “catalog” the files already present in the memory of your device, you will be pleased to know that most of the apps to manage files on Android and apps to explore iPhone and iPad (including Google Files and Apple Files) they allow you to automatically organize and group files and folders, as well as to quickly search for items by name, by date and by category.
If, on the other hand, you want a quick system to send your favorite documents to the cloud, you can use the aforementioned cloud platforms Google Drive and iCloud Drive (integrated, respectively, in Android smartphones and tablets equipped with Google services, in iPhones and iPads ), or take advantage of one of the many cloud storage services available on the scene and equipped, in the vast majority of cases, also with a specific app for smartphones and tablets.
