Any time you can avoid scanning you should, and MiFILE is setup to help keep things digital. Scanned documents are generally much larger than the original format and when you scan a document you are losing many of the key features to edit the data that are present in the original format. MiFILE will accept the following file formats:
- Microsoft Word (DOC and DOCX)
- Adobe PDF (PDF)
- Plain Text (TXT)
- Rich Text Format (RTF)
- Scanned Images (TIFF, JPG, and PNG)
(this information is available if you have a MiFILE login on the MiFILE help pages)
MiFILE will automatically render these formats into a PDF file for you, so you can, in some case avoid scanning altogether by uploading the original format file.
What if I need to sign the document? In many cases the Michigan Court Rules allow you to sign a document using the “/s/ FIRSTNAME LASTNAME” nomenclature, instead of a “wet” signature which can further alleviated the need to scan (review the Michigan Court Rules for further information).
If you need to upload photographs, and you used a digital camera to create them, there is no reason to scan them again, keep them in digital form. Check this blog for information on handling digital photographs.