Knowledge · documents

From Scanner Straight to the Archive: Scanning Without Detours

Your office device can send scans directly to the document storage via WebDAV – without a PC in between. Here's how to set up scan-to-archive in minutes.

From the scanner straight to the archive means: your office device sends every scan to the document storage without a PC step in between, where it is automatically read, classified and made searchable. Technically, this runs via WebDAV – a standard that many scanners and multifunction devices support, often hidden under the label "SharePoint" or "SharePoint/WebDAV". Setup: enter the URL and access credentials on the device, done.

The Problem with Scan-to-Email and Scan-to-Folder

The usual scanner workflows all share the same weak point – a manual intermediate step:

• Scan-to-email: The attachment sits in the mailbox waiting for someone to file it. Often it waits a long time.
• Scan-to-USB: The stick ends up in the drawer, the file remains unnamed.
• Scan-to-network-folder: The file is called "SCAN_20240312_0815.pdf" and is worthless for searching until someone renames and sorts it.

Every intermediate step is a place where receipts get stuck or lost. The solution is to cut out the detour: the scanner delivers directly into the system that handles the indexing.

How the Direct Connection Works

In webRichtung documents, under "Bulk upload & scanner", you'll find an organization-specific access with a username and password. You use this to connect your device:

1. On the scanner, select the destination type "SharePoint/WebDAV" (that's what many devices from Kyocera, Brother, HP and others call it).
2. Enter the URL and access credentials from documents.
3. Scan. From now on, every scan lands directly in the processing: read, classify, make searchable.

You don't need any additional software. By the way, you can also open the same WebDAV access in Windows Explorer or macOS Finder – just drop files into it. The step-by-step instructions are in the documentation.

For Large Volumes: SFTP, FTPS and Batch

If you have an older digitization project coming up – such as folders from past years – you use SFTP or FTPS for batch processing. The advantage, besides automation: in batch mode, the price per processed document drops from €0.09 to €0.06. A year's worth with 1,000 receipts thus costs €60 – one-time.

What Happens After the Scan

No matter which route a document arrives by: it goes through the same processing. Afterwards, you find it by content, document type, date or amount – not by the cryptic scan file name. Completed receipts move to the GoBD archive with Object Lock (6, 8 or 10 years) and remain searchable there. If the processing detects a deadline in a document, the platform prepares a task from it – you approve it.

This turns the stack of paper mail into a single motion: place it, scan it, done. The broader picture – from the inbox to audit-proof storage – is described in the article Digitizing receipts: the simple way.

Setup Checklist

• WebDAV access opened in documents under "Bulk upload & scanner"
• URL and access credentials stored on the device (destination type "SharePoint/WebDAV")
• Test scan made and found again in the workspace
• Scan profile saved as a favorite on the device so the team can use it with one button press
• Briefly communicated to the team: paper mail is now scanned when it's opened

These five points are all it takes – the setup is done in a few minutes and then runs without any maintenance effort.

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