Understanding the digitisation of contracts, agreements and legal records.
What is contract digitisation?
Contract digitisation is the process of converting paper contracts and related legal records into controlled digital copies.
What can be included?
Projects can include agreements, amendments, schedules, supporting correspondence, deeds and related contract files, subject to the client's requirements.
Why is document order important?
A contract often has associated schedules, appendices and amendments. The digital structure should preserve those relationships.
Should signatures be captured?
Yes. Digitisation should capture the document image and any significant signatures, annotations, stamps or other visible information.
Can OCR be used on contracts?
Yes. OCR can improve searching, but the image remains important because OCR output should not be assumed to reproduce every visual detail accurately.
How should legal records be quality checked?
Checks should confirm that pages are complete and in order and that important elements such as signatures, seals, annotations and attachments have been captured.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can signed contracts be scanned?
Yes. The scan should preserve the visible content, including signatures and annotations.
Can contracts be made searchable?
Yes, through OCR where the source is suitable.
Should the original contracts be destroyed?
That is a records-management and legal decision for the document owner, not an automatic consequence of digitisation.
Further Reading
Oxford Duplication Centre — Practical Expertise
Professional document digitisation depends on matching the capture method to the original. Modern loose documents may suit production scanning, while fragile, bound, oversized or unusual records need specialist handling and equipment. The aim is to create reliable digital records while protecting the original material.
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