If you own a smartphone or a tablet (if not, time to get one!), I’m going to suggest a Microsoft app to help you cut down on those piles of paper in your home or office. It’s called “Office Lens” and it’s available in the Apple and the Android stores. Here’s some good news upfront – the app is free!

You might be asking, “What does Office Lens do?” Great question! It helps eliminate stacks of paper! You can use Office Lens to scan documents, business cards and/or photos. You can also use it as a whiteboard. When you’ve created your scan, you can then put text or even draw on what you’ve scanned and you can crop it as needed. Once you’re ready, you can name the scan whatever you’d like and then save it to your photo gallery, OneNote, OneDrive or a ton of other places, depending on what options you have on your smartphone or tablet.

Once it’s saved securely – and this is the awesome part – you can shred the paper!

Oh, I know. Now you’re wondering how you use Office Lens. Here’s what I’m going to do: I’m asking you to download the app onto your smartphone or tablet and try using it. Play with the app on your own and see what kind of problems you run in to. You can’t hurt anything, so have fun with it! In a week or two, I’ll release a video showing how I use the app on my phone and you can compare what you did with my process!