OS Document Scanning Support
I wish operating systems had native document scanning support.
I bought a scanner years ago in an attempt to manage paper load: scan to PDF, electronically file, and shred the original. It’s a great feeling to find an important document electronically, instead of sorting through reams of paper (and then having to scan it).
I just want simple “scan to PDF” — why are the tools so bad? The software supplied with my scanner stopped working one day (on Windows — it just went to permanent hourglass). I gave up trying to fix it, and turned to the world of $20 scan-to-PDF applications, most of which are pretty crappy.
Am I missing some easy solution?
I remember the days when sound cards were add-ons: driver hell, version conflicts, limited app support, etc. Apple and Microsoft: please provide bundled, well-designed, and well-integrated document scanning!
July 10th, 2008 at 11:30 am
MS Office comes with tools that are not great but acceptable for working with TIFFs when combined that with the scanning / faxing wizard.
I have been digitally storing docs for about 2 years now. I have found that I still need a filing / storage schema so that I can track stuff down.
Having docs available wherever I am and checked in to SVN is fantastic though.
(I would also recommend combining this with a fax to email service for incoming faxes to cut out the whole scanning step. You can even fax documents to yourself and let that service deal with it…)
Jim
July 10th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Andy,
I was feeling the same way until I got my Neat Receipts scanner. Simple and small form factor with only two buttons, “Scan” and “PDF”, the latter scanning your doc directly to a PDF. Nice and simple.
Pretty happy with software and hardware although it does require a reboot on my Mac to install. Yuck!
http://www.neatreceipts.com/products/neat-receipts-for-mac