Updated on October 28, 2025 by Sarah

Digitize and manage private documents

Tips for private document archiving and easy management with the Docutain document management system

Learn how you can digitize your private documents and what advantages electronic storage with a DMS such as Docutain has for you.

In this article, we talk about digital document storage and how you can digitize and store your private documents. The aim of private digital document storage is to have a structured overview of all documents and to be able to access them quickly.

Create a digital document storage system with the Docutain app
Download the Docutain Scanner and DMS app for Android or iOS and get started to organize your documents digitally.

Why you should digitize your private documents and files

The advantages of digital document storage over paper document storage are obvious: in addition to providing security in cases such as fire or water damage, digital, space-saving storage offers continuous, fast access to documents anytime, anywhere. Searchable PDF files allow documents to be found more quickly than by leafing through numerous folders. With sufficient storage space, documents can be kept indefinitely without taking up valuable space in folders. In this context, storage tables become secondary for the time being.

Even government agencies are now proving that the future lies in electronic archiving and digital document exchange. Digital document storage is widely known in a business context, but is not yet common practice in the private sphere.

In order to take advantage of increasingly digital communication channels, it is advisable to digitize documents, archive documents, and manage private records using a document management system, or DMS for short.

Download the PDF Scanner App Docutain for free

You are now asking yourself the following questions:

• Where do I file personal documents?,
• How can I organize my filing system and arrange my documents correctly? or
• How can I digitize my documents?

That's why we've put together the following tips on how to store your important documents privately:

Tip 1: Find the best place to store your documents

In our private lives, we receive several letters per week. Added to this is communication via digital channels such as e-mails or specific channels from which documents can be retrieved.

In order to get on top of your mail and bring order to your private filing system, we recommend storing paper documents in a central location, such as a letterbox or a folder system.

It is important that all documents are collected in one place so that you don't waste time searching for them before sorting and digitizing them.

Tip 2: Review documents by subject matter and define keywords

Organize your collected documents according to the various focal points or subject areas to get an overview of how many keywords, in the following called "tags", you need to manage the individual documents.

In a DMS such as Docutain, tags are the equivalent of labeled tabs in folders, with the difference that tags can be easily adjusted, deleted, or recreated as needed. This, in turn, represents a major advantage over rigid folder structures.

For example, the following topics can be distinguished as a private folder structure:

• Personal documents and certificates
• Insurance documents
• Documents relating to retirement provision
• Invoices for running costs
• Financial and banking documents
• Tax documents
• Certificates and attestations
• Documents relating to your profession and career
• Documents relating to property (apartment/house, car, etc.)
• Hobbies/Club activities
• Emergency documents

This private folder structure can be used to derive initial tags that you can use for digital filing and management to assign additional attributes to your documents in addition to meaningful labels. This will help you manage your private documents later on and find them more quickly, even if you no longer remember the exact name.

Please also read our article on the topic Using tags correctly: Why tags are better than folders.

Tip 3: Create a reminder function using follow-up

In a DMS, you have the option of linking reminders to documents.

For example, if you digitize an invoice that you have not yet paid or a cell phone contract that you need to cancel on time, you can easily set a reminder and receive a message when the date is due. This is similar to a traditional follow-up system and requires that you take the time to set this reminder in your digital document management system. However, compared to creating a follow-up system, this can be done with just a few clicks, allowing you to sit back, relax, and let the document management system do the work for you. Digital storage of invoices or contracts is therefore highly recommended.

Tip 4: Digitize private documents

Once you have thought about your digital filing structure, you can put it into practice: digitize your documents. To do this, we recommend using the Docutain Scanner App, that allows you to create high-quality scans that are transferred directly to the DMS.

PDF documents that you already have in digital form can be easily imported into the Docutain app via PDF Import and managed there. Email attachments can also be easily dragged into Docutain and stored there.

When digitizing documents, make sure you choose a format that is suitable for your needs.

Tip 5: Safety is paramount

In addition to managing documents in a DMS, it is also advisable to store digitized documents online in a cloud of your choice.

Docutain is a good example here too, as the most popular cloud providers such as Dropbox or OneDrive can be linked in just a few steps.

Tip 6: Regularly check and update your filing structure

Once you have set up a digital folder structure, most of the work is already done. Now it's important to stay on top of things and transfer documents to the digital document storage system as soon as they arrive or after they have been collected in the letter tray for a while.

When digitizing documents, make sure you stick to the keyword structure you created earlier. Tags are quickly assigned, which is good for the flexibility of the DMS, but it can also quickly lead to duplicates or keywords such as “miscellaneous.” This should be avoided at all costs, as it unnecessarily bloats the system and creates keywords that you may never search for.

So keep questioning your existing structure and test whether you can find the document you are looking for with just a few tags.

With these tips for archiving documents, you are guaranteed to be able to digitize your private and important documents and organize them into a digital folder structure. The aim of electronic archiving is to create a basis for digital organization and to have a secure place for all your important documents. A DMS with integrated scanning such as Docutain can provide optimal support for document archiving.

What is the best way to digitize my documents?

If you want to digitize paper documents, we recommend the Docutain document scanner app for Android and iOS. With Docutain, you can create editable PDFs while scanning documents.

---

Which software supports private document management?

The Docutain document management system is recommended for managing private documents. With the DMS, documents can be scanned in seconds and viewed from anywhere. This gives you access to important documents such as invoices, contracts, certificates, tax documents, and more at any time. The documents in Docutain are stored exclusively locally on the device. You also have the option of saving the documents in a cloud of your choice.

---

How do you archive digital data?

For digital archiving of documents, we recommend scanning with the Docutain Scanner app. Documents can then be managed digitally in Docutain after scanning. This means that documents are tagged with index information such as name, tags, and document types, and optional labels or reminder functions can also be set. With the Docutain document manager, your documents are managed securely in digital form and are always at your fingertips.