Experimenting with Vuescan and Exactscan. DTP does not see the scanner

I am looking for replacement software for my Fujitsu Scansnap. I am using Devonthink Pro v2.11.3. Based on reading the forum I am trying both Vuescan and Exactscan.

Both will talk to my Scansnap, but neither is seen by DTP in the import from scanner or camera. The flatbed in my Epson all in one printer is seen just fine. I have tried various combinations of program starting order etc. to no avail.

Any tips?

It’s not possible. Always check out Apple’s Image Capture or Preview to see about the compatibility of a scanner. If those apps see the scanner and can operate it, DEVONthink should be able to as well.

S500M that has worked with DT from day one using Fujitsu’s software that is going away.

Went and checked with Preview per your suggestion and it doesn’t see the Fujitsu.

Twain issue? But then again BOTH the scanning programs see the Scansnap just fine.

S500M that has worked with DT from day one using Fujitsu’s software

In what way?

But then again BOTH the scanning programs see the Scansnap just fine.

What scanning apps?

Plug in the S500. Load Fujitsu’s software. Load DT profile. Scan and it goes straight to DT just like it has for over a decade or so.

As noted in my original post the current software under evaluation given Fuitsu is EOL the current stuff are Exactscan and Vuescan.

RCK, I have an S1300 with the same EOL issue and am using DT 3 beta with Vuescan, so a different setup to yourself.

In Vuescan’s output tab select the DT Inbox as your destination directory.

That has been successful for me with a basic workflow: fire up the scanner, fire up Vuescan and scan.

In Vuescan’s output tab select the DT Inbox as your destination directory.

This is not advisable unless you are not processing them with OCR.

Bluefrog, thanks for that warning, its good to know. I happen to have Vuescan OCR set to off and hadn’t seen any issues but others might not so your warning will prevent problems.

You’re welcome. :slight_smile:

Thank you every one.

So to summarize, with the advent of Catalina my old work flow built on Fujitsu’s software and my S500M that allows me to scan something directly into the DTPO database and folder of my choice at the time of the scan is dead thanks to Fujitsu not updating their software.

Hardware like my Epson all in one that DTPO can see due to it having the right sort of compliant drivers can be used to scan in to the desired target database and folder in v 2.x (haven’t tried it in v3 yet).

Vuescan can be set to dump a scan into the inbox, but it is not necessarily advised if you are doing OCR. It also adds a step to the work flow in that once in the inbox you then need to send the file to the DB and folder you ultimately want to keep it in.

So as I see my choices are:

  • Don’t upgrade to Catalina. To be honest this is not an untoward option as I am getting pretty tired of BS like the keyboard issue on my MacBook Pro. The only reason I can honestly see to stay with Apple and their thinness fetish at the cost of performance at this stage is DT in all honesty. My working life is stuck in MS Office unfortunately and Windows 10 is becoming very good.

  • Upgrade to Catalina and dump the Fujitsu, go to the other room to load the sheet feeder on the Epson when I need to scan. Given my usual scanning workload this is not an untoward solution if Catalina has compelling features (I am not holding my breath.)

In any case Fujitsu has lost me as a customer with their software policies.

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I can’t speak of what Fujitsu will or won’t do, so I’ll leave my guesses behind :slight_smile:

For reasons of their own, Fujitsu’s ScanSnaps have always been beyond our and Image Capture’s control. Other scanners, like the EPSON (or the HP I have here) are still directly controllable in DEVONthink 3, so you can easily scan into specific locations with these scanners.

And from what I read here: https://www.fujitsu.com/global/support/products/computing/peripheral/scanners/scansnap/faq/s500-catalina.html


The issue with scanning into the Global Inbox while attempting to do an external OCR process is this:

  • The raw scan from the external scanning application is received in ~/Library/Application Support/DEVONthink 3/Inbox.
  • DEVONthink detects a file in that location and imports it somewhere in the internals of the Global Inbox’s database file. So the file no longer exists in the path to which the file was initially written.

Re Fujitsu, it is pretty clear to me what they are attempting to do. They built a little (and expensive) tank with the S500M. Bluntly put, they want to force an upgrade cycle on the end users. All they are going to accomplish in many cases is to cause customers to move to other vendors. I am sure am and it is good to know both Epson and HP will work.

I want to make sure I’m understanding this correctly, Jim. Do you mean it is not advisable to let Vuescan do the OCR, or not advisable to let DEVONthink do it (such as by Smart Rule) if scanned by Vuescan, or both? I presume the first, but want to make sure. I don’t have Vuescan yet, but am planning to test it soon, since Vuescan seems to have recently added support for my home scanner (which I use maybe once a month), the ScanSnap S300.

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If you let the Vuescan do the OCR, you should not set the Default Folder of the Output settings to the Global Inbox via the sidebar alias in the Finder.
The default location for the Vuescan software is ~/Pictures. If you’re using Vuescan’s OCR, it’s best to leave this as the default.
This admonition applies to other external scanning applications with OCR capabilities too.

If you are just using the external application as a scanner and want to do OCR in DEVONthink post-scan, you can send the unOCR’d file to the Global Inbox.

DEVONthink will not process an imported image (i.e., not scanned via DEVONthink’s Import sidebar) for OCR automatically unless you’re running a smart rule or specifically using File > Import > Images (with OCR).

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Thanks for the clarification.

No problem. :slight_smile:

So I’m one of those people who bought a Scansnap and it’s still going strong, the fact Fujitsu want to sell me a new one is not a good enough reason to put a working machine in landfill!

I’ve been playing with both Vuescan and Exactscan and I think either could work for me, personally I’m leaning towards Exactscan but still on the trials.

What I wanted to ask the hive mind is who’s got the best OCR engine? It seems it is an extra option in both Vuescan and Exactscan… yet DT 3 also has one!

I think I’m going to have to go with the ‘pro’ option of either Vuescan for the sheet feeder or the ‘pro’ option of Exactscan for the de-skew and autorotate so I’ll have their OCR engine as an option too.

I know DT use ABBYY FineReader, but can’t see what Vuescan or Exactscan use? Does anyone know?

Thanks all,

Paul