Configuring Devonthink Pro 3 with Scansnap Home / ix1500

No there is no such plug-in (and never has been). Just edit a ScanSnap profile and set it to save to a file and the Send to set to DEVONthink 3.

You may have to add the application in ScanSnap Home’s Preferences > Applications first.

I followed these directions exactly. However it does not allow me to save. Under “Managing options” I selected Mac (Scan to file). There is a “Save to” line under that. It is grayed out and if I select “Browse” I am not sure what to select. I selected Devonthink 3 under “Application” (settings here is grayed out). When I click add I get the following message: An invalid folder is specified for the save destination.

The access rights are properly configured or check the status of the network connection and the server.
What am I doing wrong?
Thanks for assistance.

Select a folder in your Home folder, such as Pictures, or Documents. You’re trying to save to the DT application folder, which is not what you want

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Thanks so much for this! Perfectly concise and clear!

Thank you all for the detailed step-by-step directions and constructive discussion.

I just wanted to hear thoughts on the OCR engine in DT3 vs that that comes bundled with the ix1500. For several years I have been using the full version of FineReader Pro, which creates smaller files, but I have had to work with Hazel and a series of folder actions to get it to work, and it is highly inconsistent. Now, with a new Mac with Monterey, I do not want to upgrade FineReader Pro.

So do I lose much by using the DT3 OCR engine?

Thanks!

In my experience, I don’t think so but that’s only my opinion on it.

Thank you, BlueFrog. I have it set up, working fine once I scan. However, I have an issue with ScanSnap that I have not seen in the years of using their scanners. I start one scan, and after the doc has run through the scanner, with a few second delay, I insert the next document. I get an error message on my Mac:

‘Documents are being scanned or images are being processed. Complete the current scan and perform the next scan.’

Has anybody run into this? It slows the process down, especially if you feed a 5 or 10 page document.

Yes; ScanSnap will not react to the scan button until work on the current scan has finished. In my experience the time required for that decreases appreciably if you turn off OCR in the ScanSnap software and use the date/time as the file name rather than a name based on contents. I also have the software set to not manage my scans (i.e., keep no record). That way the scan is passed on to DT as fast as I can put another document in the sheet feeder. (Note, of course, that this delay only occurs after each scan, not after each page; so a 10-page scan from the sheet feeder will not incur a delay between sheets)

Hi, Blanc, and thank you very much.

I am not using the OCR in ScanSnap, but in DT3, as I followed the setup in the thread starter.

Also, I am not sure what setting you are changing regarding managing scans. In the same original setup, I set the Mac Scan to File option. Are you using a different option, and if so, how is DT3 recognizing that it needs to OCR each scanned document.

I suspect you have set up an alternative clever path to accomplish the same process.

Thanks

Yes, you should set up to Scan to File and point the Send to to DEVONthink, like so…

Thank you very much. Yes, that is the way its currently set up.

It works much better for me than my prior method using FineReader Pro, even with the delay in scanning each doc. I would still love to figure out that new error message, but I can live with it. But overall it is much more reliable, and works in the background while I do other things.

I appreciate the help.

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In the image above posted by Jim, note the Managing Options set to Mac (Scan to File); that was what I was referring to when I referred to managing scans.

In addition, I found that the following setting (found by clicking on Detailed Settings) helped:

It seemed as though Generate File name automatically meant that ScanSnap Home performed some OCR, and stopped doing so once I had selected Use scanned date instead (I’m not sure the difference was immediately apparent; it may be worth restarting your Mac).

And of course don’t select Convert to Searchable PDF in the File Format tab in the same window. Other settings in the other 2 tabs may also influence the time taken for ScanSnap Home to prepare the scan before passing it on.

The new version of Finereader Pro doesn’t have Applescript. It does support fraktur and I think it even supports blackletter. Not Apple Silicon native yet.

Scansnap’s software strikes me as just plain weird.

“Press OK to Cancel.”

I use my SV600 almost every day, and I’ve never gotten used to the user interface.

(I really wish that the Tool Menu was enabled. Newspaper background removal would be nice to have.)

btw, Finereader PDF is heaviily discounted November 22-24.

Where? I do not see any discount on their website.

https://digital.abbyy.com/us-finereader-pdf-deal-of-the-year-em.html

Personally, I have found FineReader Pro on Mac quite difficult to work with. Perhaps it makes smaller files than the files made with the version built into DT3, but the DT3 process is much, much. smoother.

After having used FRP for a few years, with scripts, Hazel and folders, and scanning through a ScanSnap ix1500, I am much happier now after a week of switching back to ScanSnap and DT3.

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Thanks. I found it in the meantime and am a bit underwhelmed. Seems as if they felt that they need a Mac version but didn’t know anything about the environment. Also, the documentation is nearly absent. Good that it was cheap (kind of)

The previous version was incompatible with Catalina/Monterey. The bit where you can tell the system-- this is text, this a table, you can ignore that was completely broken. The new version fixes that bug, but it also removes applescripting-- which also means that you can’t hack it with Hazel.

Old version.

New Version.

Sorry it didn’t work out for you.

No worries. I was just curious since the software has such a good reputation. Now I’m wondering why :wink: For example, I could not find out what “merge cells” in a table did (or even was supposed to do). Merging tables did certainly not change the OCR result in my case.

I have the same setup (ix1600, ScanSnap Home, DevonThink 3).

According to my understanding, the OCR:
-either take place directly in the ScanSnap device (for this, select “convert to searchable PDF” under file format options in the DevonThink profile in ScanSnap Home). This way DevonThink already receives the searchable PDF (works for me).
-Alternatively, the OCR can be done not in ScanSnap but in DevonThink according to the DevonThink configuration above (also works).

Now the following question: Which of the two options brings the better results with regard to the quality of the text recognition and possibly also speed - would therefore be preferable?

And a second question: Why might AbbyFineReader, which comes with ScanSnap Home, be necessary at all? I don’t have it installed and the OCR from the ScanSnap works beautifully. So why would I need this additional application at all?