One challenge for mobile churches is where to store important documents and files. Space is a premium for a mobile church and keeping all the receipts and reimbursement records can be a pain. There is an easier way using hardware you probably already have and a free program called Evernote. I’m a mac guy so below are instructions for mac users. I got the idea from the Evernote blog, but the instructions were quite right for Snow Leopard. I’m sure there’s a PC way to do this do. If you know, please detail it in the comments below.
Step 1: Download Evernote
Step 2: Launch “Image Capture”. It’s found in the Applications folder.
Step 3: Make sure your scanner is turned on and connected to your Mac. You should see it show up under devices. In the bottom right corner, click “Show Details.” The scanner should start and you’ll see a preview image of the scan.
Step 4: You have several settings to choose from. Under Kind you can choose Black and White or Color. Choose your resolution. I find 300 dpi is fine for most documents. Uncheck the box “Detect Separate Items”. Under Scan To: Choose “Other”. This will bring up a finder window. Click on Applications in the sidebar and choose Evernote.
Step 5: Name the file. Be organized in your naming. Use the month and year and name of the bill. For reimbursements, use the month and year and name of the reimbursee. This will help you find it later.
Step 6: Under format choose JPEG. Evernote will read the words in the JPEG and make the entire document searchable. To enable this for .pdf files you must have the paid version of Evernote.
Step 7: Click Scan. Evernote allows you to tag documents. Add a tag for the month (ex. January 2010). Add a tag for the category (ex. reimbursement, utility, contract, etc.)
Future scans with image capture will now be set up to with these settings so all you need to do is title the document and go. Now you have an electronic file cabinet of all your receipts and reimbursements that is backed up on Evernotes servers. When you need to find a particular document, Evernote’s search feature is a breeze. You can search by tags, words within the document, etc. Evernote even allows you to create separate notebooks. Think of notebooks as folders that allow you to store specific files. Thus you could have a reimbursements notebook that you store all your reimbursement docs in. Thanks to the Evernote team for creating a very flexible and usable piece of software.
Tags: church planting · Evernote · new churches · record keeping
