Scanner
It can be difficult to choose a scanner that fulfills all of your daily scanning requirements. The majority of flatbed and sheetfed scanners on the market today are designed for routine office tasks or the capture of photographic images. But they are available in a wide range of types and sizes. Some of which are tailored for specific uses. Scanners for documents, images, receipts, and film are just a few items on the list. The best scanners that we examined across a variety of categories and potential usage scenarios are listed below.
Then, read on for a deeper look at scanner specifications and how to pick the best model for what, exactly, you scan. “Scan” the list for the type of work you do. The first step in purchasing a scanner is to decide what type or types of media you’ll be scanning. Everything you need to know about the features you’ll need will be revealed by knowing what (and how frequently) you expect to scan.
The most obvious items to scan are pictures, unbound paperwork, invoices, and business cards, but you may also need to scan bound books, magazines, film and originals of things like postage stamps that are prone to damage. Things like cash or flowers are a bit less typical.
You should also take into account factors like the maximum size of the originals and whether you’ll need to scan the reverse side of each page of the document. This will let you know whether to look at a traditional flatbed scanner. A model with a sheet feeder, or something else entirely.
Do You Need a Flatbed Scanner or an Overhead Scanner?
You need a flatbed scanner, which has a large glass platen on which you place the documents, photos, books, or objects, to scan photos or other easily damaged originals, bound material, and 3D objects. (In this case, when we refer to scanning objects, we mean converting three-dimensional objects into two-dimensional images. A completely different animal altogether are 3D scanners, which digitize objects into unique 3D files for display or printing on a 3D printer.)
A good candidate for an overhead scanner, which resembles a vintage overhead projector with an illuminated scanning head that looks down on a flat surface, are books, magazines, and objects thicker than a sheet of paper or a driver’s license. These function like cameras, taking pictures of objects that are then fed into the appropriate software for optical character recognition (converting the images to editable text) or flattening the curve of a book’s spine.
A sheet feeder can handle delicate originals like pictures and stamps, but you run the risk of harming them. If you only sometimes need to scan this kind of original, you might be able to get away with a sheetfed scanner that includes a plastic carrier to keep the originals safe. However, keep in mind that even brand-new, unblemished plastic carriers can slightly reduce scan quality. Direct to glass is better than indirect.
In particular, flatbed picture scanners tend to stay on the market for a very long period between modifications of their models. If you come across an “oldie but goodie,” it simply means that no newer model that we’ve reviewed has yet to outperform it. We update our Best Scanners roundup frequently.
Does Your Scanner Need a Sheet Feeder?
You almost certainly need a document-centric scanner with a sheet feeder. If your primary scanning requirement is routinely scanning documents, especially those longer than one or two pages. It’s not difficult to open a flatbed lid and place a page on the glass, but it gets tedious doing it ten times for a 10-page document. Some sheetfed scanners are capable of scanning thick originals, including ID cards.
A manual sheet feeder is likely all you need if you’ll mostly be scanning one or two pages at a time, or you can get by just fine with an all-in-one (AIO) printer’s scanning feature. However, if you plan to regularly scan larger documents. You’ll need an automatic document feeder (ADF) that can scan an entire stack of pages while you’re not looking. Based on the number of pages in the usual document you anticipate scanning, choose an ADF capacity. You can add more pages during the scan. The feeder processes them if you occasionally have a document with more pages than the ADF can hold. Some ADFs are also adept at managing stacks of business cards.
Do You Need Duplex Scanning?
Duplex scanning refers to reading a page from both sides. You need a duplexing scanner, a duplexing ADF, or a scanner with a driver that has a manual-duplex capability if you routinely scan documents that are printed on both sides.
The best, fastest duplexing scanners contain two scan elements, allowing them to simultaneously scan both sides of a sheet. This layout will be quicker than a scanner with a straightforward duplexing ADF. But it will probably also be more expensive. An average duplexing ADF will only scan one side, mechanically flip the page over, and then scan the other side.
The scanner driver automatically interfiles the pages when you use a scanner with a driver that supports manual duplexing. Which allows you to scan one side of a stack before being prompted to flip and re-feed the stack to scan the other side.
What’s the Right Resolution for Your Scanner?
Having a high enough resolution available for the task at hand is often not a problem when scanning. Even a scan at 200 pixels per inch (PPI), for example, of tax documents. Will provide you with excellent enough quality for the majority of uses. Nowadays, it’s challenging to find a scanner with a maximum resolution of less than 600ppi; a 300ppi scanning resolution is almost always adequate. For photos, 600 ppi is more than sufficient unless you intend to enlarge the image or print it at a smaller size than the original.
However, some originals call for a higher resolution. You need a scanner that states an optical resolution of at least 4,800ppi if you’re scanning 35mm slides, negatives, or something small and finely detailed like a postage stamp.
The issue of the largest scan size you can capture is another one. It may seem apparent to choose a scanner that can handle the size of the originals you need to scan, but it’s simple to forget. For instance, if you occasionally need to scan legal-size pages. The fact that the majority of flatbeds only have a letter-size platen will be a problem. Legal-size pages can typically be scanned using an ADF on flatbeds, but not always, so make sure to double-check. Larger flatbed scanners are also available, but they will obviously take up more desk space.
What Software Will You Use?
Basic scanning software is usually included with scanners. Optical character recognition text indexing, photo editing, and the capacity to produce searchable PDF documents are a few of the. capabilities to look for depending on what you intend to scan. Platform-specific scanners are a thing of the past; today’s scanners are universal and work with both Windows and macOS without a hitch. Many of them can also scan to your phone or a cloud drive.
Software with unique features is available for specialized scanners. Accounting software is included with receipt scanners to help you organize your financial data. If the cards aren’t too intricately designed for OCR software to read. Scanners that handle business cards can typically extract the card data into a contact database.
Look for a scanner with TWAIN drivers that can scan directly into your photo editing program if you intend to scan photos or other images and then edit them in a program like Adobe Photoshop.
Do You Need a Special-Purpose Scanner?
Finally, decide if you require a specialty scanner. The most popular special-purpose options include receipt scanners and tiny ones. Very portable business card scanners (small and equipped with specialized software). Smaller than flatbed scanners, specialized slide scanners aren’t much more effective at scanning slides than flatbed scanners with comparable features.
If you travel frequently, a portable scanner that fits in your laptop bag or a handheld scanner that you hold and scans over text may be what you need. While scanning to a memory card or smartphone, certain portable devices can function without a computer connected. You can also find some that combine a portable scanner with a docking station with an ADF to serve as both a portable and a desktop document scanner.
What’s the Best Scanner to Buy?
Built-in scanners are a common feature of all-in-one and multifunction printers; nearly all have flatbeds and many have ADFs. That might be adequate for modest scanning requirements. However, you should certainly purchase a single-function scanner if you want to get the most out of your scanning. The models listed here are some of the best we’ve tried, but there are plenty to pick from. If having a scanner attached to your printer sounds more appealing, take a look at our roundup of the best photo scanners and our list of the best all-in-one printers for more targeted advice. (And finally, once you’ve converted every piece of paper to digital form, check out the top shredders we’ve tried.)