Document management/organizing software suggestions for home

[spideyontheweb]

Hi

I am trying to go paperless or at least keep a digital copy of all my family's relevant documents in one place organized. I know it's going to be hard job but would like to do something good this xmas!

Would you have any suggestions for a free document management and organizing software whereby I could arrange and store the scanned and digital copies at home most probably in an external hard drive ( for security purposes) rather than the cloud.
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I will have mainly PDF files,photos and digital copies arranged hopefully in a hierarchy.
If I could arrange it in some way whereby I could also get a reminder a month before my insurances,warranty,etc lapse out it would be great! It would mean I need to connect my drive at the beginning of every month at least and to update the documents.

Any suggestions for a free software which can work at least with windows ?

Many Thanks

 

[lxskllr]

I don't have a software suggestion, but would suggest using native tools to do what you want. Folder hierarchies, logical file names, and syncing to an external source. For bill reminders, simple would be using a calendaring software. More complicated would be money management software, but you could tie it in to a more thorough finance regimen.

I prefer generic tools to handle core infrastructure. That way I'm not tied into a single provider to do what I need. A single provider can be be a single source of failure, and that would be bad if you have extensive time invested in the setup.

Food for thought...

Sorry I couldn't help with what you specifically asked for.

 

[Ketchup]

If you are talking about previous important docs, I don't think you want to do that. Hard drives die. Documents in a fire-proof safe last forever.

If you are talking about going forward, pretty much every bill I pay save one has an option to email me reminders x many days before it comes due. As far as going paperless, I found that to be a waste of time. With most of my payments I have opted for digital only, and I just "print to pdf" on the ones I want to keep. The small amount of paper I do have fits in a small area taking up very little space.

I used to use Quicken, but it's features "expire" after a couple of years, and I have found that Excel and some thinking time works better for me.

 

[Dahak]

If you are talking about previous important docs, I don't think you want to do that. Hard drives die. Documents in a fire-proof safe last forever.

Well cant hurt to have both, 1 digital for easier access and the originals in the fireproof safe.

OP, I dont think there is any particular software that would do what you would want, you would have to probably do what Ixskllr said and do a manual structure

While not specifically a software, http://lifehacker.com/5817021/in-ca...important-records-in-a-master-information-kit
has an excel file that could help