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How to Estimate How Much Paper I Have

How to Estimate How Much Paper I Have

When planning a document scanning project, it is necessary to calculate the amount of documents you have to scan in order to have a preliminary estimate of the size and costs of your project.

Needless to say, nobody has the time to count every piece of paper in a filing cabinet or bankers box.

Fortunately, with more than 40 years of experience, Octacom can work out a close estimate which has proven to provide our clients with the most accurate and transparent quote for your scanning project.

diamond-colorHow much paper can fit in a standard Bankers Box?

Figuring out how much paper you have is not that difficult if you just know how much paper is in one box, assuming all boxes are the same.

Most businesses store their historical documents in Bankers Boxes, measuring about 10” tall x 12” wide x 24” long. These boxes can hold between 2,000-2,500 pages; 2,500 if tightly packed. The quantity also depends if the documents were packed length-wise or width-wise.

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How much paper can fit in a standard filing cabinet?

The number of pages per inch on a filing cabinet depends on how tightly the papers are packed together. On average, you can figure that you will have around 5,000 paper sheets per drawer in your filing cabinet.

A standard 4 drawer filing cabinet can hold 2 Bankers Box per drawer and as much as 10,000 pages if it is full.

Although this is an approximate number, it will give you an idea of how many boxes you have, or approximately how many actual documents that you might need to scan.


Octacom is a SOC 2, Type II Audited enterprise software and services company focused on document and data automation solutions, including automated data capture. Founded in 1976, Octacom specializes in accounts payable automation and automated invoice processing, among other digital / automated business process outsourcing services. 

If your organization is looking to learn more about our solutions and services, please contact us and we would be glad to help.

 

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