I’ve been blogging here through the years about my growing disenchantment with paper. I’ve stopped printing out documents I find digitally and instead save them to my computer and file them by surname. (That’s what works for me…you may choose to file differently.) I’ve started scanning notes and other genealogy paper that comes across my desk and discarding much of it after scanning. I do keep original documents as well as documents I’ve sent away for. But the vast majority of my genealogy information is not in my paper files

Last week when I was at the Allen County Public Library–I promise I’ll stop talking about that trip soon–I didn’t photocopy a single thing. Instead, I used the library’s copying machines to scan the documents I wanted to take home. I brought along a flash drive for that purpose and the process was very easy. The machines even allowed me to put all the documents from one source into a single file, rather than a file for each page. It does mean I had to rename each file and drag it to the appropriate folder on my hard drive. But I didn’t have a bunch of paper to process when I got home! Nor did I have paper to lug home. Or carry to the hotel from the library. Moreover, I was able to easily zoom in text to read it more easily. Not once did I wish I had a magnifying glass.

And here’s the kicker: The library (understandably) charges for paper copies. But they don’t charge a thing to scan to a hard drive, which was literally no more challenging than making a photocopy.

I feel better and better about limiting  paper in my genealogy research. It’s kind of amazing to me that just 3.5 years ago I was still printing much of what I found.

I was really pleased that my paperless inclinations were reinforced on my library trip!

Photo by Tom Woodward via Flickr. Used under Creative Commons License.

I used to print all my source documentation and then analyze the printed version and add facts to my Reunion software on my computer. In fact, as recently as 2013 I blogged about how printing gave me comfort.

But that’s changed and these days I’m not even tempted to print. In November, I posted 8 reasons not to print and I stand by it. Organizing my research is much easier now that I’m not looking at a lot of printed documents. Every now and then I pull out a paper file and look at something I printed years ago, but I bet that happens fewer than ten times a year.

Right now I’m going through all my source documentation and in the process cleaning up my electronic files. In doing so, I found the family who had been counted twice on the 1880 census. I needed to compare the two census documents side by side. That’s when I felt the urge to print. My initial thought was that it would be easier to look at the documents on paper, rather than on my computer. One of the documents had already been printed and was in my file. I came really close to printing out the other one, when I realized that looking at the paper documents would be harder for me, not easier. The type is so small on the printed document that I might have had to get out my magnifying glass and squint. That’s the opposite of easy!

I had originally found the census documents on Ancestry and saved them to my hard drive. So I just opened the documents on my computer in Preview (that’s the Mac default pdf and jpg viewer), zoomed in on the family in question and sized each of them so that they fit side by side on my screen easily–I didn’t need to see the entire document at a glance, after all. And then I was able to easily compare them, line by line. I had Reunion open as well, so it was simple for me to enter data into my ancestors’ records and source each fact properly.

What I’m learning in my research, over time, is that going paperless is just plain easier. When I transcribe my ancestors’ Civil War pension files, I use an electronic version, which allows me to zoom in when the handwriting is a little puzzling. And I’m not shuffling a lot of long pieces of paper. (Those documents came from the National Archives in paper form. I put source information on each and then scanned the whole file into one long pdf. I detail that process here.)

The keys to successfully eschewing printing, I believe, are twofold:

1. A good file naming protocol and folder structure, so that I can easily see what I have for each ancestor. I file by surname and individual, which is working well for me.
2. A solid backup protocol, in  case of hard drive failure. I use CrashPlan Pro to back up to the cloud and Time Machine to back my Mac onto an external hard drive that sits on my desk.

As commenter Maria Tello mentions, having a large monitor makes viewing electronic documents easier.

I was glad I resisted the urge to print that 1880 census document. It made analysis easier–and I’m sure it was easier on my eyes!