Digitize client files and name PDF documents

Digitizing paper files produces an intermediate state that is easy to underestimate: the scanner has done its job, the output folder holds eight hundred files called Seite_001.pdf, and nobody remembers which case was in which stack. Turning the scan into a usable digital file requires the step in between. This page describes it for law and consulting firms that work file by file.

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Before & After

Seite_001.pdf 2024_Mandant-Schmidt_Einkommensteuererklärung_2023.pdf

The scan station decides the rest

Three settings at the start save a lot of rework later. First, separation: use separator sheets or barcodes so that a case produces several documents rather than one single file of forty pages. Second, the output folder: a fixed path per client instead of one collection folder for the whole scanning day, otherwise cases blend into each other unnoticed. Third, text recognition: if the scanner embeds no text layer, you need OCR, otherwise the later analysis has nothing to read. In Filery, OCR can be switched on when required. Check these three points on a sample file before the first cabinet is worked through.

File by file, not the archive in one go

A file archive cannot be digitized in a single pass, and the attempt usually ends in a half-finished state where neither the paper nor the file is reliable. So work in closed units: scan one case file, name it, check it, file it, and only then start the next. The advantage is that every finished file is usable immediately and you can pause the project at any point without leaving an unclear intermediate state. Begin with active matters and work towards closed ones, which are needed less often. The benefit is then noticeable immediately rather than only at the end of the project.

Set up once: a pattern tied to the client

The naming pattern should answer the question the firm actually asks: which client, which document, which assessment or matter period. Year or period first, then client identifier, then document type, then a short qualifier has proven itself. Decide once whether the client number or the client name goes into the filename; both together make names needlessly long and hard to scan in a list. Filery recognises document type, date and parties from the content and places them into this pattern, and you see every suggestion before it is executed. Keep the abbreviations for document types in a short, binding list.

Spot-check before the paper leaves

Before paper is destroyed or returned, a check belongs in the workflow. Take a sample per case file: do document type and period in the name match, is every document present, were multi-page attachments kept together correctly, did the feeder pull anything twice. Filery shows every suggestion before renaming, so part of that check already happens while you walk the list. Record who signed off which file and when, and take your retention obligations and client agreements as the basis for deciding when paper may go. When in doubt the paper stays until the file has been checked in full.

Limits and how client data is handled

Filery is not a case management system. It builds no file structure, moves nothing into client folders, keeps no register, monitors no deadlines and replaces no practice software. It renames PDFs, with preview, confirmation and a history. Because client data is involved, here is the flow exactly: the PDF is read on your computer and its content transmitted encrypted for AI analysis. The recognised details come back, the renaming then happens again in the file system, and the files are not stored permanently. If the analysis is to run on keys from the firm's own provider contract, the Custom plan is designed for that.

FAQ

Whenever the scanner embeds no text layer, because without text the analysis has nothing to evaluate. OCR can be switched on in Filery; with carbon copies, fax copies and faint originals recognition stays uncertain even so, which is why there is a preview before every rename.

That depends on its size and above all on how cleanly it was separated at scanning. Experience says the larger share of time goes into scanning and visual checking, not into the renaming pass itself, which is usually done in minutes for one folder.

No. Folder structure and filing stay with you or your practice software. Filery changes filenames only and moves no files into target folders, not even on the basis of the client name it recognised. Filing stays a separate step you handle by hand or with your practice software.

Those have to be split before the run, because one file can carry only one name and otherwise the whole stack runs under the first document. Filery does not split PDFs. In the long run it pays to set up separation at the scanner rather than repairing it afterwards.

Related topics

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