I tripped across an app that has skyrocketed towards the top of my “can’t live without” list: JotNot Pro, for iPhone.
JotNot uses the iPhone’s built-in camera to take a photo of a piece of paper and turn it into an electronic document for emailing or faxing. It supports several standard/popular formats such as JPG and PDF. This app shocked and amazed me with it’s robust features, high quality results.
I was skeptical at first. I mean, how good/clear could it be? But after reading some great reviews, I bought the Pro app for $0.99 on sale. (There is also a free version, albeit with somewhat limited functionality). I figured for a buck, what the heck.
As it turned out, this completely surprised me. The quality is EXCELLENT, and it’s so fast and easy to use, it’s now my preferred method of “scanning”documents versus my actual desktop scanner. You just take a photo of the page. The app automatically “finds” the page edges and eliminates the background (such as the desk, table or whatnot). You can shoot multiple pages and then have them assembled into one multi-page PDF, name it whatever you want, then save it or send it off.
I have been moving towards the Utopian “paperless office” for several years. Faxing has waned for me. 98% of my documents arrive via email now. For those occasional (once a month?) incoming faxes I use the eFax service with a dedicated phone number so that all faxes get received and turned into PDFs and emailed to me. So there’s never any paper — email and faxes both show up in my email. Then I can save them to my server for filing / keeping.
For sending, I basically scan paper and then just email it. Who doesn’t have an email account these days? (I’ve never run into someone with a fax who doesn’t have email).
The only break-downs in this all-paperless scheme are:
1. those rare cases when I absolutely *MUST* send via fax (usually a government bureaucracy thing) and emailing is not allowed; or
2. when I have to send a document that I have physically on paper and I’m not at my desk (i.e. out on the road)
JotNot is a godsend! With a snap of the camera I can digitize a document and fire it off, literally, in seconds.
And as alluded to previously, I have learned that this is faster and easier than using my desktop scanner. I’m finding myself using it to scan receipts for expense reports/reimbursements, legal documents, letters, and more.
It’s like having a scanner, PDF generator and fax/email system right in your pocket, wherever you go! The truly mobile office, ready instantly on-demand.
This app is a major productivity boon! Highly recommended.
