During the course of running a business or operating a home office, you might come across a hard-copy document that you wish to copy and customize to use in the future. This can be accomplished in a matter of minutes, whether it’s a professional looking invoice, fax cover sheet, or any other type of document. There is no real technical expertise required to convert the scanned item into a reusable document.

Things You Will Need

  • Scanner

  • Word processing software

Place the item you wish to convert in your scanner or all-in-one peripheral device. Open the device’s software interface by clicking its desktop icon. Select “Scan” and then scan and save it as a “.doc” file or word processing file.

Open the scanned item using a word processing suite, such as Microsoft Word or Open Office. Review the scanned item to ensure all characters were properly rendered during the scan.

Save the file as an easy to remember name in the folder of your choosing. Then press “Ctrl” and “A” simultaneously, followed by “Ctrl” and “S.” Open a new word document by going to “File”and “New.” In the new document, press “Ctrl” and “V.” This creates a workable, editable document while preserving the original.

Save the new document with a similar, easy to remember name. Customize the content of the new document to your liking, inserting your particular information. For instance, if it is an invoice you’ve scanned and wish to emulate, then replace the other business’ name and contact information with your own. Save the document periodically to avoid losing information.