Deputy District Attorney Diane Ortiz dons a black backpack and heads to the courthouse a block from her office.

Until a couple of months ago, she and colleagues in the Yolo County District Attorney's Office went into court carting stacks of files in bins and briefcases.

Now the documents she needs are accessible via the laptop computer she carries in her backpack and a wireless connection in the courtroom.

The District Attorney's Office launched its "Paperless Project" in April when it began replacing paper files with digital files for new misdemeanor cases. District Attorney Jeff Reisig said he expects the office to be paperless for all new filings by late summer.

It's a matter of eliminating not only paper but paperwork.

"We took a 20 percent hit to our staff last year," Reisig said. "We're trying to do the same amount of work with less."

In 2010, the office's secretaries and attorneys appeared in court with nearly 13,000 files. Officials estimated 40 percent of staff time was spent creating, retrieving, updating and returning paper files to storage.

Secretaries create the electronic files, but attorneys update them.

Unlike paper files, digital files can be accessed by many people simultaneously, and secretaries don't have to spend time retrieving and refiling paper documents.

"We're no longer searching constantly for files," said Miriam Franco, supervising legal secretary.

The conversion to electronic files has cost about $200,000, but it is expected to save the county about $450,000 over the next three years. The project is funded primarily with asset forfeiture monies seized from people convicted of certain drug-related offenses, as well as a $26,000 grant from the Yolo Indian Gaming and Local Community Benefit Committee.

Yolo County is the first district attorney's office in the Sacramento region – Reisig believes the first in the state – to go paperless.

"I think this is the way everybody is going to have to go," said Nancy Anderson, executive secretary to El Dorado County District Attorney Vern Pierson.

Although the office scans some documents, Anderson said, "we're nowhere close to paperless. I don't think our budget at this point would allow us to do that."

Shelly Orio, spokeswoman for the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office, said many reports are received and filed electronically, and the goal is to receive police reports electronically. But Orio said in an email, "Our own budget and the budget limitations of the police agencies we deal with prevent us from meeting that goal right now."

Placer County also is working toward a paperless system and seeking to coordinate with the courts and the state Department of Justice, said Suzanne Gazzaniga, supervising deputy district attorney with the Placer County District Attorney's Office. The office scans some documents now but does not have a timeline for complete conversion, she said.

Craig Walker, information technology manager for the Yolo County District Attorney's Office, said the county IT staff developed the system in-house, working with SyTech Solutions, an Elk Grove-based document and data management company.

The electronic network provides additional resources, allowing attorneys in court to access digital recordings, such as 911 calls, photographs and videos. They also can keep in touch with office staff via email.

Approximately 30,000 case files dating from 2005 to 2011 are housed at the District Attorney's Office. Additional files, going back to 1992, are in off-site storage facilities. As those files are converted to electronic files, Reisig said, the county will realize a savings in storage costs.

Staff members also will be able to quickly find documents for people who come to the office's public counter, Walker said.

Contents of the electronic files are backed up each night to prevent loss from a mechanical failure or a disaster such as a fire.

Kevin Yarris, county IT director, said the Board of Supervisors also has gone paperless, and the next step likely will be to develop an electronic file system for the Public Defender's Office.

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