A couple weekends ago I was traipsing through court houses collecting deeds and other documents for my ancestors.  And yes, it was as much fun as you imagine!

But how do you easily make copies?  And cut down on the expense?  Some court houses charge 0.50 cents a copy!  And that can add up quickly.  Also, the books that you find deeds and other documents in can be very difficult to photocopy.  Sometimes you have to take them apart which is very time consuming; sometimes you have to balance a heavy book on a photocopier.

Not all courthouses will allow you to take pictures of documents.  And you should always ask and follow the rules.  ALWAYS!

But if they do allow it, I recommend an app I use on my iPhone called TurboScan.  It’s available on both Apple ($4) and Android ($5). (And I have no connection to the company at all.)

It takes 3 copies of the image and chooses the best one.  You can then crop it on your phone or use the full image.  You can also choose between black & white, color or photo.  I usually go with photo because I want the detail of how the document looked.  On this map, you would hate to lose the detail that the color provides.

Once I’ve scanned all the pages in the document, I can then save it or my preferences is to email to myself.  I label the document with the book and page numbers so I can source it correctly later, and then when I get home, I can go through my email and start processing the documents.

I think I probably made twice as many copies as I would have if I had gone with the photocopier method.  And save a lot of money.  I must have copied around 250 pages.  At 0.50 cents a page that is $125.  Money better spent elsewhere!

It’s an affordable app and I suspect you’ll be happy with the results.  And thanks to my friend Kathleen for introducing me to it.