Does the new DevonThink Office Pro work with the Fujitsu ScanSnap S500M ?
Yes, indeed!
Bill,
Although this forum is not about SnapScan scanners, your new DevonThink Office makes use of this scanner. Therefore, hopefully you and others will help with my decision process. I have a SnapScan 5110EOXM scanner and while the scanner is fast and provides a quality scan, it jams so often that is almost useless as multi-page scanner. I got so fustrated with the scanner, I immaturely picked it up and threw it on the floor. Needless to say, the scanner does not scan properly now.
I am now looking for a document scanner to use with your DevonOffice Product. I have looked at the Fujitsu ScanSnap S500M, but, I am afraid I might have the same jamming problem with this scanner.
Have you or any Devon users had any experience with this scanner and can you advise me on whether it has jamming problems? Is there another scanner you may recommend to use with DevonOffice ? (my budget is $1000.00 or less). I have had good luck with Canon printers and maybe someone has used their scanners.
If anyone can offer some help with the above, I would greatly appreciate it.
Sincerely,
BWC
I’ve never used a sheet-fed scanner or copier that didn’t jam on me at some time. Paper jams are one of life’s irritations.
The problem is that I sometimes need to scan paper that’s not going to stand up properly in the hopper, as it’s supposed to, or that tends to stick together, like a stack of paper after using a staple remover. Flimsy (light weight) paper is likely to jam on any sheet-fed scanner or copier I’ve ever used.
I’ve scanned almost 2 thousand pages since getting my ScanSnap when we first started internal tests of DTOP. I love it.
But I’ve learned some tricks to minimize jams.
Example: I scan letters and statements that I receive by mail. They have been folded to fit into an ordinary envelope. If one unfolds it and places it in the sheet feeder, it flops down rather than standing up straight, because of the folds. A single page feed will probably go through all right. But a multipage letter or statement will almost always jam (not just on the ScanSnap; a heavy-duty scanner costing thousands of dollars doesn’t like that kind of feed, either).
Every month I get a three-sheet statement for each of several investment accounts. They are printed on 24 pound paper stock and tightly folded to fit in a business-size envelope, so they are heavily creased. They are printed on both sides, so it’s a 6-page document.
Here’s my secret. Take the first sheet and fold it vertically. It doesn’t have to be very tightly creased. Take the second page and fold it vertically also, but in the opposite way. That is, if the first page was folded print side in, fold the second print side out. Then fold the third page in the same way as the first page. Now insert the stack in the ScanSnap. Instant success!
Don’t put the ScanSnap down because one has to do some preparatory work on some feeds. I’ve had to do the same operations on similar documents fed into a big copy-scan machine whose monthly lease cost is more than the cost of the ScanSnap.
And then there’s stapled material. Suppose you’ve got a 24-page report that’s stapled together. You use a staple remover, then insert the stack in the ScanSnap feeder. Result: a paper jam. Why? Because some of the pages are still stuck together at the staple holes. My trick: Clip off the corner of the pages with staple holes. Insert the stack. Instant success. (For small stapled stacks, I use shears to cut off the corner that’s stapled. So I don’t have to use a staple remover.)
I still encounter a jam occasionally. But the OCR module is smart enough to alert you to the paper jam. You will see a message to unjam the feeder, which is almost ridiculously easy compared to a big copy machine that has jammed. And the software has maintained a count of the successfully scanned pages, and will let you re-stack the feeder and continue.
Tip: If your experience with paper jams on the ScanSnap has soured you on that scanner, be sure to buy the biggest, heaviest sheet feed scanner you can afford. It will occasionally jam, too, perhaps triggering a maniacal rage. But it’s too heavy to pick up and throw, which probably makes it more cost-effective than the ScanSnap. 