Clients ask us all the time to provide estimates on copy or scan projects, which is easy for us to provide within a 10% margin of error. Here are some insider tips to help you guesstimate how many pages you need copied or scanned.

A typical paper box full of office files holds between 2,000 and 3,000 sheets of paper. When we estimate, we are most likely using 2,500 impressions as a starting point (an impression is considered one page). However, here are a few factors that may change that number:

• Are there any double-sided pages? Your 2,500 pages will turn into 5,000 pages quickly if they are all double sided. Maybe only 25% of the pages are double sided; if so, add another 600 or 700 pages to your estimate.
• Are there folders and binders in the box? The more folders and binders taking up space, the fewer pages inside that box. The same goes for staples, paperclips, and binder clips – the more there are, the less room there is for paper.
• Are there receipts and small pieces of paper? Those tiny sheets of paper can add pages in a hurry. We have seen boxes literally full of receipts that equate to tens of thousands of pages at a time.

If your documents aren’t in a box, use a measurement to help: every inch of standard office (or litigation) documents is about 200 pages (double-sided page rule from above applies). A typical file cabinet drawer is about 5,000 pages.

We hope these tips help! If you still have questions or need help with a copying or scanning project, contact our experts today.