Administration almost always involves paperwork. Any business, government department or other organization uses forms and official documents in its procedures and archiving system. While this enormous volume of paperwork has traditionally been the subject of annoyance or jokes, paperless office-document scanning offers an electronic alternative.

A paper-based bureaucracy carries the expense of paper, printing and storage space. Productive time is lost to filing processes. The transport or transmission of paper items is also challenging sometimes. Large files are heavy and faxes do not always come out clearly on the other side. Physical records are always at risk of being damaged or lost.

Environmental activists have raised the issue of how the manufacture of paper uses trees. They oppose the use of paper as a storage or correspondence material. Recycled paper, which was introduced in response to this negative sentiment, is not yet a universally utilized resource. Discarded paper is a significant element of landfill sites and pollution.

Using electronic methods to manage paperwork is therefore a sensible option. Masses of documents can be loaded onto a single device, such as a computer hard-drive or a USB drive. Backing up the documents is fast, even if they constitute the entire archive of an institution. Electronic equipment takes up a small amount of space on the premises, and is easy to move around. In any event, transporting the equipment is not necessary if e-mail or document cloud services are in use.

A document cloud service is an internet site that allows user to upload and store large amounts of data, files or documents there. This is convenient because it enables users to access the stored material from anywhere, without the need to keep copies with them in some other form. A cloud service may be paid or free. Potential users are advised to check security features and available storage space to see which option suits them.

A paperless office has advantages over the traditional one. Electronic documents, if scanned properly, are always legible. E-mail is an instant form of communication and allows large amounts of material to be attached and sent. Some file formats can condense hundreds of pages into a relatively small file of only a few hundred kilobytes. Faxing that same item would take hours and would not be attempted, not to mention the paper that would be used.

The costs of operating an office can be diminished by the use of scanning and computer or online document archiving. The electronic equipment's expense should be contrasted with the saving in stationery and staff time. Paperless administration is a part of the economy that has seen the replacement of physical paperwork by modern technology and innovation.