The world isn't yet entirely digital. The organizations I work with all the same deal with plenty of paper documents in the form of letters, documentation, articles, photos, or reference textile. While many of these organizations used Google Bulldoze and G Suite, most scanned documents to a local computer or server.

Recently, though, these organizations moved to browse-to-deject storage setups. Scanned documents at present go directly to Google Drive. Different locally-stored files, documents on Google Drive are simple to share, accessible from anywhere, and easy to observe with Cloud Search, which delivers keyword search (like Google search, but for your organization's Grand Suite data).

To enable the ability to browse direct to Google Drive you'll demand a network-connected scanner–or a multi-function printer/scanner–that supports a Google Bulldoze connection. For instance, I've configured both Blood brother and HP printers to scan directly to Google Bulldoze. You'll also need access to both a spider web browser and the Google account where yous want to shop scanned items. Follow the steps below to connect your scanner to Google Drive.

1. Select the Google Drive app on your scanner

When you select scan, you'll typically see destinations such as a calculator, an SD card, or email.

Instead, look for Google Drive somewhere in the apps option on your scanner. You'll likely demand to navigate through a few menus on your device to find it. Once you locate it, open up it to starting time the connection process. (Note: You may demand to register your device with the manufacturer'south spider web services before y'all go on.)

2. Connect to a Google account

Switch to your browser and become to the address specified on your scanner/printer. For example, when configuring scan-to-cloud for an HP printer, I opened my browser to http://world wide web.google.com/device. Specify the Google account to receive your scans using your Gmail or G Suite address. In an organizational setting, yous might create an account specifically for the device. (If you do this, you might likewise share the destination folder with people who will be scanning documents.)

Then, enter the code displayed on your scanner/printer into the browser, while logged into the same Google account chosen above. This establishes that you take control of both the Google business relationship and scanner/printer.

3. Protect with a Pin

Protect your account with a Pin–especially in an office setting. Once configured, you lot'll need to enter the PIN every time you use the Google Drive app to scan. This protects your business relationship in two ways: You'll foreclose unwanted items from beingness scanned to your account, and yous'll also preclude unauthorized access to your Google Drive documents.Without a PIN, anyone with admission to your printer could browse and impress files from Google Bulldoze.

4. Configure scanning options

On most devices, you can besides choose from at least a few scanning options. These include things such as:

  • Color or gray-scale,
  • Resolution (e.g., 75, 200, 300 dots per inch, etc.)
  • File format (e.g., PDF, JPG, PNG, etc.)
  • Input (flat-bed or document-feeder)

Your pick of file format volition vary with the blazon of items you scan. If you scan documents, choose PDF (or searchable PDF, if it is available) as the default scanned file format. Otherwise, select PNG or TIFF (or JPG, if neither of these options is available) if the items you scan nigh ofttimes are photos or images.

I suggest yous scan in color and at the highest resolution available, especially if you intend to continue your scans for long-term reference. Better scans crave more storage and have longer to consummate, but Google Drive storage costs are relatively low (and, in some cases, already unlimited) and the time savings for lower-resolution options, in about cases, is negligible. Documents scanned at low resolution today may compare poorly to documents scanned in the future, since imaging, display, and printing technologies volition probable only improve. Unless y'all need the time or storage savings, capture the best scan your device allows.

Repeat for additional accounts

Repeat the higher up process to let your device to send scans to different Google accounts, or with different settings. For case, in one office I connected a Brother printer to 2 different Google accounts, and saved 2 scanning shortcuts–one for flat-bed images, the other for document feeder scans–for each. The 4 shortcuts immune each staff member to press one button, enter their PIN, and apace scan dissimilar types of source documents.

Scan with your telephone

You can also use your phone to browse items to Google Drive. The Google Bulldoze Android app supports multi-folio document scanning. Third-party apps, such equally Scanbot or CamScanner, also back up auto-uploading of multi-page scans to Google Bulldoze. (Scanbot and CamScanner offering both Android and iOS apps.) And Google'southward own PhotoScan app does an splendid job of capturing and converting photos to digital files. However, a desktop scanner will likely be faster if yous want to browse multi-page, 2-sided documents.

Have you configured your scanner to send scans directly to Google Drive? If so, what default browse settings practice you utilize? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter (@awolber).