New DevonThink Pro 3 user, first time poster & at home guy with a bunch of computers (windows and Macs). My wife and I are using both licenses on our Macs.
I’ve looked though prior posts and although there is a lot of great information, many of them are on the older side.
I’ve been using an old Brother MFP to make scans, other than being simplex it works OK in DT3 and using their iPrint&Scan utility. But with some scanning ahead, and as luck would have it the CFO mentioned a new scanner out of the blue, I’m searching for a new affordable, lightish use, duplex scanner with ADF.
Looking at Epson and Brother, the price is right, they appear to work from inside DT3 and their scanning software looks OK too. No issue using with all my computers and devices.
I consistently see the Scansnap line of scanners receiving high praise and good reviews. I was leaning toward the iX1300, a compact wireless model which should be easy to use with multiple computers and devices. The iX1600 is another choice but with a significant price jump. But after a deep dive on Ricoh’s website I found this note (paraphrased): Scansnap Home software is licensed for 1 computer and the iX1300 comes with 1 license while the iX1600 comes with 4. And since they don’t provide standard drivers (TWAIN, WAI, ICA, etc) it looks like you have to use their software, no other options.
I have a couple of questions I would definitely appreciate collective advise and experience.
Are these still Go To scanners since Ricoh has taken over?
Is it true that you can only use the scanner with ONE computer? (iX1300) I’ve never heard of such a thing.
are there any other options, Scansnap manager?, for being able to do basic scanning from multiple computers?
finally to help select between Scansnap and the others, is there an advantage to either of the 2-ish options to add scans to DT3? 1) scanning from within the app vs 2) scanning with the scanner’s software and sending it to DT3 either by a) saving in a folder or b) sending it to the application?
Thanks in advance for your help. I’m super excited to slay the paper dragon
Ken
I used a ScanSnap for many years (I bought the Evernote edition). Since I moved to DT3 this year to get away from Evernote, I have migrated to a Doxie Pro, and I’ve been quite happy with it. The software is very Mac friendly (seems almost Mac native). In general, I scan directly to my DT3 inbox, and I’ve had no problems at all. One nice thing is that I can rename the files within the Doxie software before I save them, so that they have a consistent name in DT3.
It would be worth taking a look and comparing with alternatives.
So far, I’ve completely stopped using my ScanSnap. The quality of the scans and the OCR has been excellent. It’s nicely portable - they have a travel case available (I don’t travel with it often, but I do have the case available). It is easy to switch between my Mac mini and my MacBook Pro.
The ADF works for up to 20 pages, although I don’t think I’ve scanned more than 10 or so at a time. The paper guides do feel a bit “3-D printed”, but they work quite well. One of the great features of their software is that you can “unstaple” and “staple” multipage documents, so it’s easy to remove pages from the document, re-order pages, or concatenate documents before storing them into DT3.
I’m definitely satisfied with my purchase. There is a bug in the software when scanning using the direct single-sheet feeder (flip down the front, and then scan a single thicker sheet). It scans the front normally, but it doesn’t properly detect the edge of the back of the sheet. I have reported it to their support and I’m hoping that they’ll provide an updated version of the software soon. It’s easy enough to work around (just flip the page and scan it again, then use the unstaple / delete the extra pages / staple functionality). I’ve had zero problems with scanning with the ADF, and nearly all of my scanning has been using the ADF.
I had been using Scansnap scanners with DEVONthink for years (the old and the newer 1300 models) and have never been fully happy with them. On the strength of this thread I’ve bought a Doxie Pro and I agree with what you say Kuntzelman. The Pro model is only slightly larger than the ScanSnap 1300, it scans faster and it has a sheet feeder. Plus the after sales service is good - an email asking if I had any trouble setting it up (answer no, as the set up is very easy) and a short survey asking what I thought of the scanner and whether I had any suggestions for improving the product or the software.
I was very close to getting the Doxie but wanted a Wi-Fi scanner so wound up with the ix1300. So far it’s OK, much better that the old Brother MFP I was using
I appreciate the feedback.
Wish me luck, ha!
Ken
so wound up with the ix1300. So far it’s OK, much better that the old Brother MFP I was using 