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Before, when I need to send a paper document electronically, I usually just used a digital camera, much easier and faster than hooking up my scanner.
Not any more, with my new scanner, it's the other way around. You just put in the paper, hit the button, and 20 seconds later a PDF file sits on your computer to be emailed! Like sending a fax.
It scans both sides in one go. It corrects it if the paper came in crooked. And it uses Optical Character Recognition to embed the text in the image, to make the PDFs searchable! (For example, this makes it much quicker to find a specific receipt if you need it later.)
It senses paper sizes and corrects the scanned image to the correct size. When I think of all the BS I had to go through with all these things when I scanned documents back in the day.
It can take 10-15 pages at once, and they arrive in a single PDF file. (As a matter of fact, I could not find any option to turn off this setting, nor set it to scan just one side.) (James' tip below helped with the latter, but not the former, so I just have to feed one page at a time.)
A weird thing is that it comes in a different version for Mac! I never heard of such walking. It's all sent over USB, why make the scanner different?And of course I happened to buy the one for Windows. Well, so luck would have it I recently acquired a Win laptop (4-year-old HP from eBay) for just such occasions. It's slightly clunky, but it gets the job done.
This is a compact, easy, fun and helpful product.
- Fujitsu ScanSnap S300M Scanner for Mac - UK
- Fujitsu ScanSnap S300M Scanner for Mac - USA
- Fujitsu ScanSnap S300M Scanner for Windows - UK
- Fujitsu ScanSnap S300M Scanner for Windows - USA
2 comments:
The difference between the Win and Mac version is necessary because of how the OS communicates with the scanner. If it corrects crooked scans, and scans both sides simultaneously, and creates a searchable PDF file, the way the data is handled and the codecs involved would need to be completely different for the two OS's.
Yes, the data is sent via USB, but the conversion and transformation is done via software.
A Linux version is not likely coming out between today and Wednesday.
Eolake: I have been using Fujitsu's ScanSnap S1500M for some time and it is just a life saver for getting my office away from paper filing. It has made a huge difference, especially when it comes to tax time (organizing all those various receipts/expenses!). My accountant loves the new organized me!
I am not sure about your particular model (I would think it operates on the same software as my model). With my unit you can turn off the two side copying by going to ‘Settings’, then under ‘Scanning Side’ change the setting from ‘Duplex Scan ‘ (double sided) to ‘Simplex Scan (one sided).
To get away from scanning all of the pages into one file you go to ‘Settings’ and uncheck the ‘Continue scanning after the current scan is finished.’ The alternative is to just put the individual pages one by one.
Also you may find Mariner Software’s ‘Paperless’ for Mac OSX (http://www.marinersoftware.com) . They have designed this software for Fujitsu (your model and mine). In fact you can order their software and a Scanner from their site.
Another company NeatCo (www.neatco.com) has scanners and software. The software is called NeatWorks. This software is compatible for some of Fujitsu’s scanners, but not for our models as yet (they say it is coming - I am sure they would prefer you buy one of their scanners!).
I know two people who are using both NeatCo’s scanners and the software. One swears by these products – the other one isn’t that impressed. The reviews are not that great on Apple’s site either. From what I have seen, the software when working is really great when it comes to sorting and filing documents and receipts. If they make the software compatible with my scanner I will probably give it a try.
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