A stand-alone method and system is provided for processing the contents of a plurality of envelopes, and includes at least an opening device, an image acquisition device and a control device. The opening device opens the envelopes on at least one side forming opened envelopes, thereby exposing the contents thereof for extraction. The image acquisition device is in operable communication with the opening device and is used to acquire an image of the contents and store that image in digital form in a file. Finally, the control device is operably connected to at least the opening device and image acquisition device, whereby when the image of the contents are acquired from one envelope, a next envelope is opened and a new file is created.