Configuring Devonthink Pro 3 with Scansnap Home / ix1500

DEVONthink
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To upgrade to Mac OS 10.15 (Catalina), I had to upgrade my old Scansnap s1500 to an ix1500 and Devonthink 2 to Devonthink 3, even though the old scanner and software were working just fine in 10.14 (an unexpected $500 expense – thanks Apple).

The Devonthink help article for configuring Scansnap Home is out-of-date and incomplete, as are the various threads I found here. Here are the steps I took – perhaps others will find this useful. Please add any corrections or enhancements.

1 - Start Scansnap Home and go to Scansnap Home > Preferences > Application.

2 - Click the Add Or Remove button at the bottom.

3 - Click the Add button.

4 - Click Browse and navigate to “/Applications/Devonthink 3.app”, select it, and click Open.

5 - In Display Name, type “Devonthink” and then click OK.

6 - Click Exit and then close the preferences window.

7 - Go to Scansnap Home > Scan Settings.

8 - Click the Add Profiles button in the upper right (a circle with a “+”).

9 - In the left column, click Scan To Folder.

10 - Change the profile name to “Devonthink” and the description to “Scan to Devonthink”.

11 - Change Managing Options - Type: to Mac (Scan To File).

12 - Change Application - Send To: to Devonthink.

13 - Click Add and then close the Scan Settings window.

14 - Start Devonthink 3 and go to Devonthink 3 > Preferences > OCR.

15 - Set Convert Incoming Scans: To Searchable PDF.

16 - Check Original Document: Move To Trash. (If you don’t do this, copies of the scanned PDFs will accumulate in “~/Documents/ScanSnap Home folder”.)

17 - Close Preferences.

18 - On the Scansnap ix1500 touch screen, above the big blue Scan button is a row of blue buttons labeled Scansnap Home, Scan To Folder, etc. With your finger, swipe left until you see the Devonthink button. Tap that button to select it. (Note that the current profile selected in the Scansnap Home app is ignored when you tap Scan on the scanner’s screen.)

12 Likes
2

Nicely done. I don’t see anything wrong with that set of instructions.

1 Like
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Thanks for this. Exactly what I needed. Concise and easy to follow!

4

Worked great and clear directions! The only problem now I get two copies in my inbox folder and the dialog box (shown here) pops up with this message “Scans shouldn’t be saved in the inbox folder, OCR might fail otherwise”

The OCR appears to work just fine; however. I’d like to eliminate the dups and the recurring popup box. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks

2020-02-01_10-40-12

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You should not be directing the output to DEVONthink’s Global Inbox.

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Bluefrog, thanks for the quick reply. Just not sure where to change that setting for scan direction. I made the following selection in DevonThink; however, I’m prompted after each scan which I don’t want. I’m using a ScanSnap IX1500, is that where I should be directing Output? I know you don’t offer support outside of DevonThink, but I just need to know where I should focus on changing this setting; DevonThink or scanner.

Thanks again for your help!

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Bluefrog, Figured it out.
DTP3
Preferences>Import>Destination: Set to Global Inbox.

ScanSnap
Edit Profiles>Select profile created for scanning to DevonThink>Managing options:
Type: Mac (scan to file)
<<<In Finder: Created a new subfolder under my Documents folder called “Prewash”>>>
Save to: /Users/yourname/Documents/*Prewash"

DTP3
Preferences>OCR>Original Document Set to Move to trash

This directs my scans away from the global inbox but instead to my new Prewash folder. DTP3 OCR’s the document and places it in the DTP3 Global Inbox. My Prewash folder holds the original scanned document for a moment (I suppose while the document is being OCR’d) and then its automatically deleted. I suspect you could simply direct all scans to your Documents folder. I just like to have a specific destination.

ScanSnap confused me. Under Edit Profiles>Managed options>Save to: the destination is grayed out (see below) which indicates to me that it’s not used; however, it is. This is where I inadvertently directed scans to the DTP3 Global Inbox causing my dups and pop-up warning about saving to Global Inbox. Problem solved!

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Indeed! We generally tell people to leave the software at the suggest default, which is usually in the Docs folder or the ~/Pictures folder but yours will work as well. Just not in the Global Inbox directly in the Finder.

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Since the old blog is outdated, can we have new updated one published soon? I guess lots of users would be benefited by it.

1 Like
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We don’t say “soon”, as it means different things to different people. Many think it means Now. But yes, we will likely issue an updated version at some point.

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Bluefrog, Can you explain why you recommend not using the global inbox to receive scans? I’ve been using this as my default location for scans since setting up the ix1500 a few months ago. Seems to work fine.

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Remember: We are not talking about DEVONthink’s Preferences > Import > Destination.
We are talking about people pointing an external scanning application at the Inbox alias in the Finder. that should NOT be used.

The Global Inbox is a dynamic location in the Finder. It receives a file, then moves it into the Global Inbox’s inertnal structure. When the external application goes to process the file, it’s no longer there.

13

This thread in Devonthink last August mentions Vuescan
"I have a Fujitsu iX500 and ScanSnap Home refuses to recognize the scanner under Catalina. However VueScan does recognize the iX500 and offers far more control over the scans than Fujitsu’s ScanSnap software ever did.

I still hope to get ScanSnap working again!"

(Read the thread for other comments)

14

I followed the instructions and it works well for me - thank you!

However, after importing the scanned PDF and going through the OCR process, DEVONthinks shows a small preview windows (where you can enter the tags etc.) and asks for confirmation (“save”) before storing the document.

Is there a way to skip this step and automatically import the scanned PDF without further “questions” ?

Thanks!

15

Welcome @metamind

Disable Preferences > OCR > Searchable PDF > Enter metadata after text recognition.

16

Thanks for this post. Just got an IX1500 and things are working great. Sad to retire my S500m :slight_smile:

17

Welcome @anibru
Glad to hear things are working well.
My condolences for the old scanner :slight_smile:

1 Like
18

I’m in exactly the same situation (goodbye perfectly functional old scanner), hello ix1500. 6 months later, is there an “official” guide for this setup somewhere?

19

Welcome @Gajah
Are you using ScanSnap Home?

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Yes, I’m using SS Home. I expected there to be a plug-in or something so DT3 would be listed in the applications.