I’m using DevonThink Pro and I’m planning to upgrade to DevonThink Pro Office and buy a document scanner. On the DevonThink webpage is mentioned that DevonThink Pro Office supports both Fujitsu ScanSnap scanners and Image Capture compatible scanners.
Is there anybody who can explain me the advantages of using one of the scanners mentioned above instead of using a non ScanSnap scanner that doesn’t supports Image Capture? And does nearly every scanner support Image Capture or is this some exotic feature? I didn’t find anything clear regarding scanning in Image Capture on the internet.
Just a suggestion to consider experimenting with your phone first. There are now lots of good apps that use a phone to scan documents. They compile multiple snaps into a single pdf document. Some are free, some cost $5. Many include a way to do OCR; otherwise you can do your own post-processing.
Of course, they only work one page at a time, so you may outgrow them. But with a little practice, you can do a 10 page document in one minute. I got a simple stand for $20 to hold my phone at the right distance above a page.
I use my phone with Scanner Pro and Scanbot Pro for single pages or small docs. When i am at home and batch process stuff I use an Epson ES-200. It is small, fast, good quality, can set up workflows and destination folders, and is a lot cheaper than scan snap. I have also read that Scansnap has some software issues with the latest Mac os but can’t speak to that from experience. I have had the epson about a year and would buy it again. Keep in mind i scan 50-ish pages a week so my thoughts are more for low volume users. Good luck.
I have been extremely happy with the several ScanSnap scanners I’ve owned. Among the advantages:
They are fairly light with a small footprint (especially when closed).
They are remarkably fast and automatically handle duplex.
The seem to handle almost anything. I’ve put stacks of varying sized receipts, some on lousy paper, in the document feeder and it has ripped through them without problems. Compared to other scanners I’ve used (mostly on multifunction printers), it very rarely jams or pulls multiple sheets through at the same time.
On the VERY rare instances it does jam, it is super easy to open up and remove whatever jammed.
It goes from standby to ready to scan very quickly.
The software that comes with it is quite good and handles presets (scan to mail, OCR and send to DevonThink, whatever) easily.
I am using a ScanSnap ix500 at work and an ix1500 at home. Both are great and work well with Mojave. Whatever early teething problems there were seem to have been resolved.
Regarding Image Capture, I think that is a reference to an Apple Technology for interacting with scanners. You will find an Image Capture app on the Mac, that will show you any connected Image Capture compatible scanners and let you initiate scanning with a usable, if not beautiful UI.
You can also, if memory serves, open Preview and use Image Capture via File/Import from Scanner…
If a scanner is not Image Capture compatible, you have to rely on whatever software comes with the scanner. Probably not a big deal, although it might add a step to some workflows.
(Apologies for the vagueness. I’m currently connected to my ScanSnap iX500, which doesn’t work with Image Capture, so I can’t confirm my memories.)
@R^2_is_misleading and nishiazabu
I experimented with an android app a while now. You are right. It’s a quite simple and reasonable solution. But I find it hard to get good scans by using an app. On most of my scans were dark shadows for example. I think I’ll still use an app when I just want so send something so somebody so that he or she can have a look. But when it comes to archiving e.g. invoices or letters from insurance companies I want scans in really good quality because I’m planning to get rid of the originals.
@ghoetker
I ordered a ScanSnap ix1500 and so far I can confirm that it’s really fast. I’m really impressed! It scans one page duplex in just a few seconds. And the results look very well so far. I think this scanner might be the right one for my purpose. I thought this through and I think a scanner with a special software like the ScanSnap is more practical than some scanner supporting Image Capture.
Now I need to try out which configuration is best for my purpose and think of a workflow with DevonThink and the ScanSnap.