Regularly, information workers print multi-page documents that are not promptly removed from the printers upon completion of printing. Where there are shared printers, this quite common. Co-workers or temps may also use the printer or pass the worker’s printer where the documents are vulnerable for various amounts of time.
The absence of a simple and straightforward method of document identification results in insecure and vulnerable information. In the event a document is misappropriated or misused, the consequences can be minor or catastrophic.
This situation is only too common in any number of companies and recurs every hour of every day. Paper documents are printed for review, collaboration, sharing or dissemination. The startling fact is that they are all too often printed without any type of identification indicating the intent or purpose of the document. For over a hundred years, a common practice was to use a rubber stamp in the top margin of the page. That was, and mostly is, the most common form of paper document management.
The most effective method of dealing with paper and PDF document management is to identify and label the document at the time it is printed. In the case of a PDF, the document marking should be done at the time it is created from Word. This requires both a method that is easily implemented and a policy requiring the action. If the PDF is not labeled or identified when it is created from Word, it requires a manual use manipulation and a PDF editing program to mark or stamp the document. Moreover, if the user wants to mark only selected pages of the PDF, each must be done individually which can be a tedious process.
If a paper document management program is to be successful, it must be able to mark a document in a manner that makes the document incapable of alteration. The program should, likewise, be flexible to accommodate the marking of any combination of pages based on simple user input. Finally, it must be able to create most any type of marking the worker requires.
Stamps that are not embedded in the text of a document are not too far away from the rubber-stamp-in-the-margin that is a process over a hundred years old. Combining stamps and text in a fashion which precludes removal is essential. Familiar menu-driven applications without cryptic commands will be the most accepted and thus, the most effective at maintaining the paper document identification policy.
Visible watermarks, while good for intra-office work and controlled-print environments, are not the most secure form of document identification. The visible watermark, if in shaded gray, can be almost instantly removed by a contrast setting on any number of copy machines with that setting. Color watermarks are a little more secure method, but still are subject to removal in a similar manner.
Marking that cannot be removed from a printed document is the most secure form of protection. This is accomplished by embedding a outline of the stamps in such a manner as to not interfere with reading of the document. There is no way to cover or easily remove this type of indicia from a document.
StampIt for Word is the standard for computerized document management and is the solution for eliminating the use of self-inking rubber stamps for paper document management. StampIt combines the power of word-processing with the power of your printer. It’s like having instant, total access to custom rubber stamps that are fully computerized.