OCR with Snapscan or wait until item is in DT?

DEVONthink
1

As per the title. Any thoughts on whether to OCR using Snapscan manager OCR software or to allow the OCR function to happen on arrival in DT? All scans are only accessed through DT.

Thanks

2

I just do it in the Scansnap software. Doesn’t really make a difference in the end. They both use Abbyy.

3

Doing the OCR via the ScanSnap software is feasible as long as the file isn’t set to save to the Global Inbox’s alias in the Finder’s sidebar.

Also you should disable OCR on incoming scans in DEVONthink’s OCR preferences.

4

That’s exactly how I do it. Works great. Least I haven’t run into any issues that I know of.

5

And not saving directly to the Global Inbox in ScanSnap’s scan profile, correct?

6

No I do save there directly. Have not had any problems at all. Have been doing it that way for years actually. I do “scan to folder” and then select that folder. I don’t know that it stores it in the profile tho. I think it’s on the screens you get when scanning. I’d need to double-check for sure. But I don’t have automatic OCR turned on in DT.

7

It is not advisable to save directly to the Global Inbox from the ScanSnap software’s settings. You should only set the Send to option to DEVONthink.

8

Thanks for the thoughts and guidance guys.

1 Like
9

So in my profiles I copied “Scan to Folder” and set my own settings for DPI, etc. When I actually scan a document I select the Global Inbox. It saves that between scans but Scan to Folder always gives you the option of where to scan. I’ve been doing it that way for years and have never had a problem. Would be curious to know why I shouldn’t be saving a PDF there directly. It’s just a link to a folder in the DT Application Support folder and no different than any other on the file system.

In fact I almost ALWAYS save there regardless of application. That is the whole point of that link.