I am a freelance consultant and have built up huge quantities of paper notes and so on over the years.I now wish to start scanning my paper notes so that I can save them as PDF files on my PC.I have a very limited budget, so.... can anybody recommend a good scanner which has an auto sheet feeder? My budget is really, really limited though.Many thanks.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=best+scanner+auto+feeder&meta=&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Do it at work?

David - you may already be planning to do this but my first step would be to shred everything you don't need.Then you need to be clear why you want to keep the rest. If it is to be used as a searchable database you are going to have to get a good quality scanner/application with the increased cost that will bring about.

One thing I cannot warn stronly enough against is using this shredded paper for your rabbit's bedding. It may seem like a "good idea" at the time - and, hell, we've all had good ideas at times (I recall the time I drank a whole glass of tizer and watched Def II - crazy times!). But it's not. Consider paper pulp or compressed sawdust as a handy alternative. Your rabbit will thank you in the end...

I did think about just shredding the lot, but smoe of it is the sort of stuff that could potentially be needed even in several years time. I also have various articles which are not particularly useful at the moment, but I'd like to hang on to them 'just in case'.I've seen various document scanners for around £300 and can't believe how much they cost! I seem to remember you could get a simple flatbed scanner in the 90's for about £50, so why are they so expensive all of a sudden? Is there anything out there for less than £100 or so that might do the job?

David, you exhibit all the signs of a hoarder! Easy to spot as that is my natural way to do things as well. I recently went through my pile of 'useful' documents which was several inches thick and realised that all of it could be found with a very simple Internet search. And, depending on the area in which you work, a lot of stuff can be out of date quite quickly.So, my new approach is to rely on the Internet more as they have the funds and the means to do your scanning for you.

Yes, you are right - a lot of it probably is out of date, will never be used, or can be found on the net. You just spurred me on to throw away two sacks full of leaflets and product info which, you're right, I'll never need - and if I do, I can find on the net!My client notes are similar - I will probably never need them, but I'm very hesitant to throw these away. Sometimes it is useful to be able to look back on these things even after many years. I think I do need to keep copies of all my written notes, just in case, but the hard copies can go in the bin.I'm still trying to find a decent, cheapish auto-feeding scanner, but they seem ridiculously expensive for what they are. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong places! Any ideas?

I've found that bonfire night is extremely useful!

How limited? Is £90 too high? I have had this http://bit.ly/9Neqj5 for some time. It comes with OCR software. I too have a backlog of paper, but if you want to get through it you will have to be very systematic. Hand feeding to a flat bed scanner takes time!

Hi Malcolm, £90 would be just about right, however I would definitely need a scanner with an auto paper feeder. I'm talking about scanning hundreds, maybe thousands of pages of notes.

David - have you thought about photocopying all the papers? That way, you can just throw all the notes away....?

Child labour?

Don't you mean "intern"?