You’ve just spent an hour scanning documents into your digital vault. Your insurance cards, car title, birth certificates, mortgage papers—they’re all safely uploaded and organized.

Now you’re staring at the pile of original papers and thinking: “Can I finally get rid of these?”

It’s a reasonable question. After all, if the whole point of going digital is to eliminate paper clutter, what’s the point if you’re just creating duplicate copies? But the answer is more nuanced than you might expect.

✅ The Short Answer: It Depends on the Document

Not all documents are created equal, and not all digital copies carry the same legal weight as originals. Here’s the framework you need:

❓ Why Can’t Everything Go Digital?

The frustrating truth is that we’re living in a transitional period. Some institutions have fully embraced digital documents, while others still require physical proof. This creates confusion about what you actually need to keep.

🔀 The Smart Hybrid Approach

Here’s the strategy that makes the most sense for most people:

💳 Special Case: Insurance Cards

Since this comes up constantly, let’s address it directly. Your health insurance card is one of the few things you might need physically at unexpected moments—emergency rooms, doctor’s offices, pharmacies.

🔮 What About Future-Proofing?

Technology changes. Formats become obsolete. Companies go out of business. What happens to your digital documents in 20 years?

For documents without long-term legal implications, this isn’t as concerning. But for lifetime documents? Keep the original as your ultimate backup.

✓ The Real-World Test

Ask yourself these questions before discarding any document:

⚠️ The Uncomfortable Truth

The promise of “going paperless” isn’t quite reality yet. You can go mostly paperless, which is still a huge improvement over filing cabinets full of paper.

Expecting to eliminate physical documents entirely means accepting risk that doesn’t make sense for critical documents. A birth certificate takes up almost no space. The peace of mind of having the original is worth the few square inches in your safe.

💡 What CareTabs (and Similar Services) Solve

Here’s what your digital vault is actually doing for you:

🎯 The Bottom Line

Can you throw away physical copies after uploading to a digital vault? For many documents, yes. For critical documents with legal significance, probably not yet.

The good news: even keeping originals for 15-20 critical documents still frees up 95% of your filing space. You’re not choosing between “all paper” or “all digital.” You’re choosing “smart hybrid” where digital handles accessibility and convenience, while originals provide legal backup for things that truly matter.