Archive Scanning for Cities, Counties & Records Rooms
Boxed files, full plan rooms and records-room backlogs take up space and are hard to search. J2 turns whole archives into organized digital files your team can find, share and keep. We take on long-running archive projects for cities, counties and other public agencies, plus AEC firms and facilities teams across Oregon and Washington. Every page is scanned in-house at our family-owned Vancouver, WA print shop, here since 1988.
Archive scanning for cities, counties and public agencies
We do a lot of long-running archive projects for cities and counties. Permit files, building and plan records, public works and engineering drawings, and records-room backlogs can all be digitized as one project or worked through in phases, so a large collection doesn't have to move all at once. Large-format drawings and letter-size files from the same records come back together as one organized digital archive.
Pickup and return for your originals
We can dispatch our own pickup service to collect your originals and a return service to bring them back along with your completed documents. Your records come to our Vancouver shop, where all of the scanning is done in-house, and then go back to you. If you'd rather not have the originals back, we can dispose of them instead. It's your choice.
How we scope your archive
Every archive is different, so we give custom quotes for large archives. Tell us:
the sheet sizes, from letter-size files up to large-format drawings
roughly how many pages, sheets or boxes you have
black and white or color
where the files need to end up, such as a shared drive or a digital asset management system
We'll scope the job, and the phases if you want them, from there.
Large and small format in one project
Plans and drawings up to 36 x 60 inches go on our large scanning bed, with no folding and no stitched-together scans. Letter through ledger/11x17 pages run through our document feeder. Bound, flatbed or fragile items are quoted separately; for delicate originals see archival scanning for fragile originals. Most plans and documents are scanned at 300 dpi, which keeps lines and text sharp, and we can scan at up to 1200 dpi when a job needs finer detail.
Organized, searchable files
A big archive is only useful if you can find things in it. Batch processing, file naming, indexing and metadata keep your archive in order instead of a folder of random file names. OCR for searchable PDFs is available on request.
File types: PDF, JPG, TIFF or BMP, with conversion to other formats on request.
Delivery: on a USB drive or as an emailed download link.
Your systems: direct integration with digital asset management systems is available for cataloging, indexing and sharing.
Done in-house, originals your way
Every scan job is done in-house at our Vancouver shop. When the work is done, your originals are returned to you or disposed of, whichever you choose.
Have a single fragile map, mylar drawing or piece of artwork rather than a whole archive? See archival scanning.
FAQ
Yes. We do a lot of long-running archive projects for cities, counties and other public agencies, including permit files, building and plan records, public works and engineering drawings, and records-room backlogs.
Yes. A large archive can be scoped as one project or worked through in phases, and each phase is quoted to fit what you send.
Yes. We can dispatch pickup service to collect your originals and return service to bring them back along with your completed documents. All scanning is done in-house at our Vancouver shop. See expedited pickup.
Large-format plans and drawings up to 36 x 60 inches, and letter through ledger/11x17 pages on our document feeder. Bound, flatbed or fragile items are quoted separately.
Most plans and documents are scanned at 300 dpi, which keeps lines and text sharp, and we can scan at up to 1200 dpi when a job needs finer detail.
PDF, JPG, TIFF or BMP, with conversion to other formats on request. OCR for searchable PDFs is available on request. Files come on a USB drive or as an emailed download link, and digital asset management integration is available.
They're returned to you or disposed of, whichever you choose.
We give custom quotes for large archives, based on sheet sizes, how many, black and white or color, and where the files need to end up.