Can I throw away paper records after scanning them?

Often yes — but not automatically, and not without meeting conditions. Disposing of paper originals after scanning is allowed in many cases, but only when the digitization is done properly and the disposal is authorized. Treating “we scanned it” as automatic permission to shred is a common and risky mistake.

The conditions that must be met

Before disposing of source records after digitization, you generally need to satisfy two things:

1. The digital version meets quality and metadata standards. The scan must be a complete, legible, faithful surrogate of the original, captured at appropriate resolution and color, with enough metadata to identify and manage it. Federal agencies follow NARA’s digitization standards and the FADGI technical guidelines; organizations in other sectors should adopt comparable benchmarks.

2. Disposal of the originals is authorized. The destruction of the paper must be covered by an applicable retention schedule or disposition authority. In the U.S. federal government, NARA’s rules permit agencies to digitize records — including permanent records — and then dispose of the paper once the digitization meets its standards.

Why the caution

If the digital copy is incomplete, illegible, or lacks the context to be trusted, destroying the originals can mean losing the record entirely — a serious problem if the record has legal or evidential value. And destroying originals without proper authority is itself a recordkeeping violation.

Plan before you scan

The organizations that get the most value from digitization decide the disposition of the originals up front, as part of the project design: they define the quality and metadata targets, confirm the disposition authority, and document the process. Done that way, digitization lets you reclaim space and consolidate management. Done carelessly, you end up keeping both the paper and the scans — the worst of both worlds. See the digitization and imaging hub for more.