The most common methods used to estimate the size and costs of your scanning project your papers is by the number of bankers boxes or file boxes you have, or how many sheets of paper per inch you have in a filing cabinet or shelf. How many pages are in a bankers box? A standard bankers box contains 2,000 – 2,500 sheets of paper.
To receive the most accurate quote, we’ll explain how to estimate your cost based on your current storage method. Whether you store documents in a filing cabinet, on shelves, in bags or even on pallets, you can convert the volume into bankers boxes for a scanning cost estimate.
Estimation of Pages or Sheets By Container
The type of container your documents are in can help you estimate the number of pages you have to scan. Check out this quick reference table to help estimate your volume.
| Type of Container | Approximate Number of Pages or Sheets |
| Standard Bankers Box or Copy Box (measuring 12.5” W x 15.5” D x 10.5” H) | 2,000 – 2,500 sheets of paper |
| Large File Box (measuring 15” W x 24” D x 10.5” H.) | 4,000 – 4,500 sheets of paper |
| Shelf or Filing Cabinet (per inch of space) | 150 – 200 sheets of paper |
To estimate how many boxes of documents you have, you can also consider this:
- If your documents aren’t packed tightly and you have 150 sheets per inch, then you need 1 standard bankers box for every 13–16 inches of space on your shelves.
- If you can’t fit one more piece of paper on your shelf, you’re probably closer to 200 sheets per inch. In that case, you’ll need 1 standard bankers box for every 10–12 inches of space on your shelves.
Although this is an approximate number, it will give you an idea of how many boxes you have, or approximately how many actual documents that you need to scan.
FAQ
A bankers box holds 2,000 – 2,500 sheets of paper; no matter where you have your documents stored, our volume calculator helps you convert the number of pages in a bin, filing cabinet, pallet or other storage container into bankers boxes.
A typical filing cabinet may hold 150 – 200 pages of paper per inch of space. A shelf may be able to hold about 200 pages per inch.
The bankers box-to-pages estimate via our volume calculator provides a general estimate based on document volume estimates for a variety of storage containers, including bins, pallets, filing cabinets and even bags. The estimate is based on the capacity of each of these containers, allowing you to understand the number of bankers boxes you will need for your project.
Once you know how many bankers boxes you may need for your project, get a free quote from a local provider or use our Scanning Price Calculator for an estimate.
