Who this is for
An office manager or administrator responsible for one archive of business documents: scanned boxes of paper, old Word and Excel files and folders nobody can navigate.
A move to new storage, a staff change or a request that cannot be answered without searching hundreds of files by hand.
The result
You buy the finished archive, not the individual steps. Every file in the agreed inventory ends up converted, made searchable and renamed into the agreed structure, or is listed as an exception, and a manifest and an index spreadsheet account for all of it.
What is included
- One archive that you have already scanned and collected into one place, with a fixed inventory agreed after we have read it. Three separate caps apply: up to 3,000 files in all, up to 1,500 scanned pages in total (a page count, not a file count) and up to 300 old Word and Excel files
- Conversion of old Word and Excel files to current formats, and a searchable text layer on scanned PDFs, each on copies
- A naming rule and folder structure agreed with you, applied to a copy after you approve a dry run
- A manifest linking every final file to its original with checksums, and an index spreadsheet with the metadata you choose from names, folders and dates
You receive
- The organised, searchable copy of the archive and your untouched originals
- A manifest with old path, new path, size and checksum for every file, linking derived files to their originals
- An index spreadsheet listing each final file and the agreed metadata columns, and an exceptions list
- A search-test report on the terms you choose
What is not included
- Scanning paper, handwriting recognition or promised text-recognition accuracy
- Deciding what to keep or destroy under a retention rule or legal hold, which is legal advice
- Archives that hold personal data (people's names, contact details, staff, member, customer, patient or client records) or regulated records, including in file and folder names: this project does not take them
- Removing duplicate files by content, writing descriptions of documents from their contents, or loading the archive into other software
- Items added to the inventory after the price is agreed, unless you add them in writing
What we need from you first
- A description of the archive: counts of files by type, how much is scanned, the folder depth and the total size
- Where it lives now and where it needs to go, and how people will search it
- No files or documents in the first enquiry
Never send passwords, keys, customer records or confidential code in the first enquiry. Secure handover is agreed after scoping.
How we check it is done
- The manifest lists every file in the agreed inventory with its outcome (kept as is, converted, made searchable or exception), links each derived file to its original, and the counts reconcile to the inventory.
- Each component stage meets the checks set out for it in the proposal: counts reconcile, originals are unchanged by checksum, and the search test on your terms meets the pass floor agreed in writing before processing (every term on a page classed clean is found, and misses are shown on the page image).
- The index spreadsheet has one row for every final file, each row's path exists in the organised copy, and no new name breaks the agreed character and length rules.
- Your named person approved the dry run before it was applied, and accepts the final result in writing.
You browse the organised copy, run searches of your own, read the manifest and exceptions, and accept the finished archive or send it back with comments.
When we would stop or decline
- Most of the material is handwriting or scans too poor to read
- The archive cannot be copied and handed over by a secure route agreed first
- The archive holds personal data or regulated records
- The archive is really several different projects, so we propose a different scope
- No secure way to hand the archive over and delete our working copies can be agreed in writing; nothing starts and nothing is charged
Questions
Do I buy steps or a result?
A result. You agree an inventory and a price, and you accept the finished archive. How we get through the stages is our job.
Do you scan our paper?
No. You scan or collect everything first. We work from the files.
How is this different from buying the single jobs?
Each single job handles one stage on its own. The project runs them in the right order on one inventory and ends with one manifest and one index that account for everything.
Is there somewhere to upload the files?
Not yet. Files travel only by a secure route that we agree with you in writing before anything moves. If we cannot offer a route you are comfortable with, we decline and nothing is charged.
Can you take an archive that holds staff, member or client records?
No. Archives with personal data or regulated records, including in file names, are not covered by this project.
Price and terms
From £2,450 · untested offer price. The payment schedule is set in the written proposal. Nothing is charged until you have agreed it.
This is a new service with no published client results. The price is a starting point we have not yet tested with buyers. Nothing is ordered or charged by the enquiry. The full specification is on the Synthetic Industry catalogue.