Has anyone ever had a paper free office?

[pziecina]

Since the late 60's, people have been talking about how computers will enable us to have a paper free office.

Am I in a minority in never being able to realise this utopian dream?

No matter how i try i always find myself, making notes, (in notebooks) drawing sketches of layouts, (in sketch books) and prefering printed reference books to their e-reader versions, (when i can find one with large enough text).

Does anyone else still prefer the old methods for ease of use, or have you found that dream of being paper free, (if so please tell me how it works!!!).

[Nancy OShea]

Paper free doesn't exist in my world.

If you've ever dealt with real property transactions or legal matters, the mountain of paper is endless.   Everything I'm doing right now with my mother's estate has to be executed with tangible documents, original signatures, snail mail and/or private messenger service.   I honestly don't see RE or Courts in my State changing over to pure digital anytime soon.

Nancy

[Pariah Burke]

I think paper-free is a naive hope. Individuals and even some small business in certain industries might be able to go paper-free internally, but clients, vendors, governments, and the rest of the world simply aren't going to be paper-free any time in the foreseeable future. I am happy that we have to deal with far less paper as time goes on, with most of the superfluous hardcopy content being moved toward digital delivery and storage, but paper is still far too common and important for many things.

[SJRiegel]

We have a growing bank of more than a dozen file cabinets to hold printed backup and physical sign-offs for every piece of packaging, labeling and instructions for the several thousand products that the company I work for produces and packages. I can't see any of that going away.

[davescm]

I read your post - looked across my desk and burst out laughing. I'm not even close .

Like you - I make notes in note books, always have paper around for sketching and I like to print images. For text books I do prefer to thumb through a paper book.

I did however, give up paper appointment diaries a few years ago and have not borrowed a paper library fiction book for a couple of years (preferring e-reader downloads).

Dave

[Peru Bob]

I still use paper notebooks and love those Post-It Notes.

I have a Wacom tablet -- on my bookshelf.

In my business (video is just a hobby), we try to send customer statements via email or fax, but some customers still only do snail mail.

[Nancy OShea]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Peru+Bob  wrote

we try to send customer statements via email or fax, but some customers still only do snail mail.

I can relate to that.  If I don't see a mailed Credit Card statement each month, the bill does not get paid.  I've had too many breaches to my credit lately that I would have never noticed without seeing the statement.  Despite valiant efforts (cash incentives & other rewards) to convert my CC accounts to paper free & automatic bill pay, I'm not willing to make that leap of faith just yet.  I'm still a firm believer in paper trails and the US postal authority.

[pziecina]

Well I'm glad to know that it is not just me that continues to use paper. I think the 'paper free office' must be just another one of those sayings that someone came up with, in order to promote all those time saving must have programs we all use .

It probably falls into the same catagory as the, 'automation will give us more free time' saying that industry leaders and politicians use.

[OldBob1957]

Myself, I think and plan best on paper; I sketch everything out. Laying out, rearranging, and shuffling sketches around and together; that's just how my brain works best.

The closest we ever came to a paperless office was about six years ago. But it wasn't intentional; there was a fire at the plant. Now all paperwork is produced in quadruplicate so that two sets can be stored off-site... just in case.

Oh well; so much for the paperless office.

--OB

[Ussnorway]

old people like paper... if you hire | work for or have to deal with them then you also need to use paper but if you stay under 20 years (sometimes under 30) then you can have a paper free work flow and it is a joy to behold but isn't any faster because the time | effort saved is placed into making backups or looking for that invoice from 2012?

[davescm]

Ussnorway  wrote

old people like paper...

old !!!  ... OLD !!!!!!   

Now where did I leave my glasses.....do I come here often?

Dave

[OldBob1957]

Ussnorway  wrote

old people like paper... if you hire | work for or have to deal with them then you also need to use paper but if you stay under 20 years (sometimes under 30) then you can have a paper free work flow and it is a joy to behold but isn't any faster because the time | effort saved is placed into making backups or looking for that invoice from 2012?

Not just old people. The court system (at least around here) also likes paper. Electronic documents with applied e-signatures are very shaky in a court situation for things like waivers, permissions, etc. For a sharp lawyer, their authenticity is easy to challenge. Especially until more people understand (and trust) how e-docs are generated, verified, and secured.

And yes, I have seen it happen. More than once.

--OB

[pziecina]

Ussnorway  wrote

effort saved is placed into making backups or looking for that invoice from 2012?

That's the problem i found when making notes.

No matter which computer program i have tried, it was always easier and a lot quicker just to flip through my notebooks, than to try and find a note i made in a program.

Maybe younger people do not have the same problem, because they do not have 10's of years of notes stored in multiple files yet.

BTW: I am not old, just not very well preserved

[Ussnorway]

pziecina  wrote

Ussnorway   wrote

effort saved is placed into making backups or looking for that invoice from 2012?

That's the problem i found when making notes.

No matter which computer program i have tried, it was always easier and a lot quicker just to flip through my notebooks, than to try and find a note i made in a program.

I have people asking me questions about servers I made them over ten years ago and know the joy of looking up my old notes but I also see the next gen happy to put everything in the cloud and carry only a phone... it is true that their memory tip goes back two hours

p.s, I'm hitting the 50 mark this year so I am old... even if I don't always feel it

[Nancy OShea]

<I'm hitting the 50 mark this year so I am old.>

50 is the new 30.

[AxelMatt]

Ussnorway  schrieb

p.s, I'm hitting the 50 mark this year so I am old... even if I don't always feel it

No!! You are not old. You are an "Best Ager" 

PS: I'm near the 60. This is old.

Axel

[AxelMatt]

Hi,

I know the idea of a paperless office since I've started to works as a system administrator in a engineering office. I think that is a dream that can't be realized soon or even never. Quite the opposite I feel that more and more paper is produced in our office.

For myself I can say that I prefer to read a documentation on paper and not on a screen. Because on a paper I can noticed my thoughts and can marked something.

[pziecina]

I didn't know that we thought age was important, but so far i can call all of you children, (relatively speeking).

[Ussnorway]

pziecina  wrote

I didn't know that we thought age was important, but so far i can call all of you children, (relatively speeking).

translation = who's your daddy?

[mindyg94130165]

I'm not completely paper free, but I've started using a small dry erase board instead of sticky notes.  I just snap a pic and email it to myself then I add to my project  doc folder. 

[Chuck Uebele]

When I was working, we got pretty close. No more mail services, as all info was shared via email and webinars. I used to make thousands of overhead transparencies, and halftones for meetings and such. That all went away with Powerpoint. All the photos that I used to print were emailed to the requestors. About the only thing I did still print were posters. Yea, still had a few sticky notes.

[Abambo]

no! simply no!