Bought a new kettle, washer, TV set, or camera? Congratulations! Got a stack of paper user manuals with it? User manuals are usually stored forever, sometimes even when the appliance is gone, but why storing papers? Most likely, you will never need it, or if you need, you may have a hard time finding it. Check the manufacturer’s website, and if the manual is available (just google something like “nikon camera user manual download”), save it on your computer, and toss out the paper version! Why save it? Because some stupid manufacturers do not keep older user manuals when the production of your device discontinues. Some unlucky manufacturers go under and so do their web sites.
No digital version on the net? Scan your papers and dispose of them. Normally you do not need the whole user manual, just the real manual part. You will hardly need a full-text warranty unless this is something extremely expensive like the car or boat. You also will not need other languages, just English. (No, you do not need to scan it for your Spanish-speaking grandma, because she will not be setting up your device anyway).
If the device came with the user manual on the CD, copy it to your hard drive and get rid of the CD.
Do not forget to name your files under the same standard like “nikon camera”, so you will have no problems finding a needed one. Do not add additional specs, unless you have a couple of Nikon cameras.
A legitimate concern is what happens if the hard drive is damaged. If you do not know about file synchronizing software, check our page later (we will tell you about them), but the time being you can store copies of your manuals on a five-dollar 2GB (more than enough) flash drive.