I see both the ScanSnap S1500M and S300M do duplex (I think). Is there any advantage to one over the other? Does the 1500 just have a larger capacity of throughput and resolution? Do both batch scan 4x6 photos?
Also, I can’t figure out how it does duplex. Is it scanning both sides at once?
Thanks
Both do duplex scanning and yes, both sides of the copy are scanned at the same time. The setting for duplex scanning is available in ScanSnap Manager. Duplex scanning can ignore a blank page, so single-sided and double-sided copy can be mixed and everything comes out right.
The S300M is a portable, lighter duty cycle than the S1500M and significantly slower. But it’s cheaper than the S1500M and a good scanner.
Don’t expect a ScanSnap’s resolution and quality of scanned photos to be as good as can be done using a scanner designed for photo work, or to provide as many adjustments for quality and color. If you will be satisfied with 300 dpi color images, it will work for you. I’ve been quite satisfied with image scans for my purposes.
Will the sheet feeder hold a stack of photos and feed them reliably? That’s more likely to work on the S1500M, but ScanSnaps really are not designed to feed thick photo stock, if that’s what you have. A jammed feeder could scratch or mangle a photo, so ScanSnap provides a one-at-a-time holder to protect photos.
Thanks for that feedback. I’m looking for basic “get the photos digitized”, nothing more elaborate. No plans to reprint or expand.
But to the point of speed with papers/documents, that shouldn’t be a issue.
And scanning to DTPO 2 will keep duplexed images grouped?
Doc 1, front/back
Doc 2, front
Doc 3 front
Doc 4 front/back
Will that automagically result in four documents in DTPO or will it be six documents?
Thanks
Edit: Reading reviews of the S300M is says it lacks OCR, but that’s the point of using DTPO right? I’ll just let DTPO do the OCR, correct? If so, I think that it will fit my small office needs.
The S1500 has double feed detection.
Does that mean in my example, the 1500 would make 4 documents, the 300 would make 6?
No, double-feed detection means detection of multiple pages incorrectly pulled through the sheet feeder. The feeder is supposed to send only one page at a time through the scanner. That has nothing to do with the duplex scanning feature.
to my question. scenario mentioned above, scanning via DTPO interface will it produce 4 or 6 documents? it looks like via scansnap soft it would be 4. same via DT? thx
The way you’re describing it, it would produce a single document with 6 pages unless you scanned them at different times, which would then product two 2-page documents and two 1-page documents (4 documents).
If you scan a bunch of unrelated docs at the same time, you’ll have to split them into separate docs. This is also pretty easy if you follow Bill DeVille’s step by step instructions found here:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=8174&p=38207#p38207
It’s the third post from the bottom.
Beware about the advice saying that Scansnap discards blank pages: sometimes the print on one side is sufficiently black enough that Scansnap thinks it’s on the other side and will count that as a page. When you look at the scanned images, you’ll see what I mean. However, it’s a piece of cake to delete an unwanted page from a group.
I don’t understand the question.
ScanSnap Manager’s Settings tabs control the way scans are performed. Duplex scanning works the same way on both the Fujitsu scanners you mentioned.
DTPO2 then receives the scanner output, performs OCR and stores a searchable PDF.
I was looking at this video and it appears that the bundled software creates a new file for each document. Does DTPO do the same is my question.
(this is from memory so may not be totally accurate, but the essence is there.)
When you first set up Scansnap (or later using the “manager”) you can set the target application as “DevonThink Pro”, as opposed to “scan to mail,” “scan to print,” etc. This is in the Scansnap Manager, Applications tab, and in the dropdown list under Applications.
Once that has been set, any scanning you do is sent to and intercepted by DTPO for processing. Remember also that unless you specify otherwise in the DTPO Prefs (OCR > Original Document = Move to Trash) then Scansnap will store the raw scans in some location on your hard drive (Scansnap Manager, Save tab, Images Saving Folder (browse) ). Some people like the extra copy of the scan while others prefer to have them deleted. You can experiment to see which is best for you.
Once the Application has been set, then when you scan, DTPO will collect the pages you scan and automatically perform OCR on them*.
The great thing from my POV in DTPO is that a whole stack of pages is saved as a single PDF document and I can later break it down into discrete PDF docs of varying pages*.
As I noted previously, the scanner is controlled by ScanSnap Manager and the way configuration is set up in ScanSnap Manager answers your question.
You can configure ScanSnap manager to create a multipage PDF of indeterminate length as you continue to add pages to the scanner, or to create a PDF for each page scanned, or to create a PDF that contains the same number of pages as the number inserted into the sheet feeder.
With ScanSnap Manager foremost, see Help > ScanSnap Manager Help.
DTPO2 accepts the PDFs sent to it by ScanSnap Manager, runs OCR and stores them as searchable PDFs.
I think I’m getting it now. I’m used to having a flat bed scanner, where I have time to rename each document and break it down by group (front-back). With this, it’s a large batch file all at once, but I can split it later on, right?
The video seemed to show using the scanners software that it created a new document for each item (front one sided, doc1, front-back, doc2, front one sided, doc3, etc…), which adds to the workflow outside of DTPO.
I guess I was trying to understand the workflow inside of DTPO a little better. I’m planning on getting the s300m, so I’ll do some trial and error, but was looking for feedback with it’s usefulness from real-world users of both.
I think I got that, but may have questions when it arrives.
Thanks
It’s making more sense now. I no longer use ExactScan with the ScanSnap. I didn’t realize that (not having the SS at the time of my question). I’ve got the S300M and love it. I went through a folder full of papers last night in no time.
I am confused about the settings on the scanner though. I scanned the same document (Simplex, BW, 8.5x11, text only) at three different compression/file size settings and all three files in DTPO were nearly identical, 88.4-89.6 kb.
Any tips for better working with the presets in SS? It seems I grab a profile from the drop down, but it’s no different from the previous profile (or seems to revert to another profile)
Also, anyone notice it randomly flipping pages 180 degrees? I scanned a batch of 10 creditcard statements and all of them were feed the same way and the 6th one was upside down in DTPO, yet picking them out of the scanner they were all facing the same way. How do I flip them back to upright in DTPO? I’m not doing OCR on these, I just want them upright for easy reading.
Thanks