The realization of the "paperless office" is a long way off. Paper is still being used in substatial quanity. The true description of the effort is more accurately described as "less paper." But, paper and PDF documents still require a management system as they exist separately from their electronic creator. Document management for paper and PDF is much simpler and far less costly to implement than its electronic counter-part. One is not substituted for the other, it is part of the document management system that allows you avoid risks by clearly indicating the how your document is to be used or interpreted.
After creation, as in most things, the document lifecycle begins. However, a common practice in the creation process is the printing of copies of the document for review, sharing, editing, finalizing and any number of other reasons that we still generate paper documents. This is the point at which the degree of document risk is determined for the life of that document.
Consideration must be given to the following:
Who is going to receive the document? What is the purpose or intent of the document? Can the purpose or intent be misinterpreted?
Because the font is frequently the same size (or smaller) as the rest of the text in the document, the document identification doesn't readily inform the recipient of the document purpose or intent. Moreover, it was and is easily removed with today's digital copiers.
The problem with header/footer marking is that it usually was (and is) in the same font as the body text and frequently, smaller. This made it easy to overlook and easy to remove with a late-generation copier.
Finally, word processors were able to overlay watermarks on documents that were "embedded" in the body of the document. These watermarks were frequently applied manually. Printer manufacturers incorporated the function into their printers but accessing and using the feature made it unpopular. The problem with the watermark was the almost the same problem the header/footer marking created - it was easily removed with a late-generation copy machine.
A Picture is Worth a 1000 Words
Word Document Management Using Graphics
Images draw the eye and get attention much faster and more effectively than text. With that knowledge, it is clear that documents should be marked in a manner that is convenient, precludes alteration and concurrently conveys the document's purpose.
Microsoft Word has superior tools to effectively carry out this process. The WordArt functions provide a host of graphics that can be inserted into your document. The greatest degree of document security is achieved by embedding a graphic in a document that cannot be removed by a copier's contrast setting and does not affect the readability of the document.
After creation, as in most things, the document lifecycle begins. However, a common practice in the creation process is the printing of copies of the document for review, sharing, editing, finalizing and any number of other reasons that we still generate paper documents. This is the point at which the degree of document risk is determined for the life of that document.
Consideration must be given to the following:
Who is going to receive the document? What is the purpose or intent of the document? Can the purpose or intent be misinterpreted?
Because the font is frequently the same size (or smaller) as the rest of the text in the document, the document identification doesn't readily inform the recipient of the document purpose or intent. Moreover, it was and is easily removed with today's digital copiers.
The problem with header/footer marking is that it usually was (and is) in the same font as the body text and frequently, smaller. This made it easy to overlook and easy to remove with a late-generation copier.
Finally, word processors were able to overlay watermarks on documents that were "embedded" in the body of the document. These watermarks were frequently applied manually. Printer manufacturers incorporated the function into their printers but accessing and using the feature made it unpopular. The problem with the watermark was the almost the same problem the header/footer marking created - it was easily removed with a late-generation copy machine.
A Picture is Worth a 1000 Words
Word Document Management Using Graphics
Images draw the eye and get attention much faster and more effectively than text. With that knowledge, it is clear that documents should be marked in a manner that is convenient, precludes alteration and concurrently conveys the document's purpose.
Microsoft Word has superior tools to effectively carry out this process. The WordArt functions provide a host of graphics that can be inserted into your document. The greatest degree of document security is achieved by embedding a graphic in a document that cannot be removed by a copier's contrast setting and does not affect the readability of the document.
About the Author:
StampIt for Word automates all the important Word features for effective business document management of paper and PDF workflows. It provides a convenient and unified control that makes your document identification easy to handle. Get the 15 day free trial now.
