A pile of scans named "Scan 1," "Scan 2," and so on becomes useless within weeks — a few simple naming and grouping habits keep a growing scan collection actually searchable months later.
Rename at the moment of capture
Renaming a scan immediately after capturing it — while you still remember exactly what it is — takes seconds and saves far more time later than trying to identify a stack of generically named files after the fact.
Use a consistent naming pattern
A pattern like "YYYY-MM-DD — Description" sorts chronologically and stays scannable at a glance, which matters more as the collection grows past a handful of documents.
Lean on OCR-powered search when available
If a scanning app makes documents searchable via OCR, you can often find a document by its actual content later even without perfect naming discipline — a useful safety net, though not a substitute for good habits upfront.
Is it worth organizing scans into folders by category?
For a moderate-sized collection, yes — broad categories (Receipts, IDs, Contracts, Medical) make manual browsing faster, though search becomes more important than folder structure once a collection grows into the hundreds.