Scanner Guide
Document scanners: Everything you need to go digital in 2024
Find the right document scanner for your family, business, or both with this comprehensive guide
Find the right document scanner for your family, business, or both with this comprehensive guide
Document scanners are an essential tool for bridging that gap between the physical and the digital. However, finding the right document scanner for your needs can be challenging. Some are built to be affordable generalists, while others are built specifically for heavy duty workloads. The first step is to determine what overall category fits your digitization needs, then account for key features that will serve you best.
This guide will help you find the right document scanner for your home or business.
A home document scanner is a key part of any home office, and that's especially true as more and more workers report directly from their residences. Desk scanners are designed for home use rather than an office, and tend to be smaller than their enterprise counterparts. They're also meant to be easy to use, with a streamlined feature set that favors straightforwardness over the sophistication of an office document scanner.
Desk scanners come in a variety of sizes and configurations, so consider ahead of time what sorts of materials you will be most likely to scan and which members of your household will be most likely to do so.
Use the info you gathered in the last step to pick out the ideal location for your new scanner, then measure its dimensions so you know what will (and won’t) fit in that space. Smaller desk scanners are designed to fit next to your workspace, while larger scanners may need a dedicated shelf or end table to accommodate them.
Hybrid work models are great, but having to wait until morning to digitize documents to avoid waking up half the family isn’t. A quiet home document scanner means a happier household.
Did You Know? The ScanSnap® line is built to connect your physical and digital worlds with a range of consumer-friendly options. Learn More.
The ScanSnap iX1600 is a cloud-enabled scanner built to fit in with your home, with exceptional versatility and reliability. It makes digitizing documents fast and easy so you can spend more time focusing on your work and your family, and its built-in cloud support means it will be easy to integrate with the rest of your home office.
Read more about finding the best scanner for your home with our guide: Home Document Scanners: How to Make the Right Choice For Your Household.
Document scanners: Everything you need to go digital in 2024
Upgrade your cloud-centric office
With increasing electronic workflows, modern offices need more ways to digitize their paper with less bottlenecks. Network document scanners are built to increase productivity in offices by being a one-stop solution for digitizing documents and getting them right where they need to be, with no other devices required as a middleman. This can substantially streamline operations, though it also means you’ll need to ensure the scanner itself is compatible with your network and business software environments.
Any network document scanner worth its space will be a standalone device that can support multiple users.
Since it isn’t directly tied to any other devices, you should be able to place the scanner wherever it fits best for your workforce — not just where USB allows.
The right network document scanner for your organization will work with minimal installation time and allow for remote management.
Since it’s interfacing directly with your network, the scanner itself must work well with your corporation’s internal protocols and guidelines, such as being FADGI capable for archival purposes.
The interface should be intuitive and simple to use without any training.
Like any device in a business network, a network document scanner should support multiple security layers and digital authentication.
Make the most for your search for the perfect scanner with our blog post, Network Document Scanners: 7 Things to Look For in a Standalone Imaging Device.
Digital imaging in comfort
Save on great performance
Convenient and powerful document digitization doesn’t have to be cost prohibitive. Affordable document scanners open up a world of new possibilities for home and hybrid office use, with options for handling all kinds of different workloads. Affordable scanners are a perfect companion for digitizing everything from important financial documents to precious family memories.
Consider how you will use your scanner, paying special attention to document size and quantity of pages, then set your budget accordingly.
Measure ahead of time to be sure your scanner will fit where it needs to Note any moving pieces may need extra space during operation.
Factor in the level of image quality you’ll need from scans, as well as any additional features, such as automatic size detection and streak reduction, that will benefit you the most.
The ScanSnap iX1300 is a high-quality document scanner that’s both affordable and versatile. Its compact footprint — occupying the same space as a single sheet of paper — means it will be just as easy to fit into your home as it is to fit into your budget. It’s an ideal choice for a reliable, fast, and convenient scanning solution.
To find out more about scanners to fit your finances, read our blog post, Affordable Document Scanners: How To Choose The Right Model on a Budget.
Upgrade your cloud-centric office
Reliably tackle big workloads
High-volume scanners are built for organizations that process a lot of physical information on a daily basis. They're capable of scanning pages en masse — tens of thousands in the space of a day — with minimal human intervention, freeing up employees to handle other tasks. These heavy duty document scanners minimize the chance for time-consuming paper jams and other errors while also supporting flexible workloads of various sizes.
Roughly calculate how many documents your business needs to digitize daily. Account for growth as well, since a high volume scanner should be a long-term investment.
A high volume scanner is only as good as its ability to reliably work through large volumes of information. Look for scanners that use proven methods to prevent paper jams and mis-scans.
Industries that handle sensitive information often must meet specific government guidelines, which means certification from the relevant regulatory bodies is a must.
Did You Know? The RICOH fi-8950 has a 750-sheet automatic document feeder and can perform double-sided scanning of up to 150 pages per minute. Click here to learn more.
The RICOH fi-8950 features a 750-page automatic document feeder and compact design which allows it to work through the business world's most commonly used document sizes. Its Clear Image Capture technology and automatic skew correction offer reliability and stability, allowing the scanner to manage daily duty cycles of up to 130,000 pages.
Get more essential info digitized in less time with our dedicated article, High Volume Scanners: How to Choose the Right Model for Big Jobs.
Save on great performance
Cut cords at home or in the office
Wireless document scanners complement every office as they can be placed wherever there is a Wi-Fi signal. Wireless devices can scan PC-Less to cloud, mobile device, or a plethora of useful destinations with the simple touch of a button.
Digitizing documents directly to cloud storage services such as Google Drive makes a big difference for efficiency.
A powerful and easy-to-use local interface is important, as is the ability to use the scanner via networked computers and mobile devices.
Will the device be used on the go? If so, favor a smaller form factor. Otherwise, a larger and more fully featured device may fit the bill.
Did You Know? According to PCMag, the ScanSnap iX1600 is "easy to use, fast, accurate, well built, and quiet." Click here to read the full review and find out why it was awarded a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars..
The ScanSnap iX1600® comes with support for Wi-Fi and popular cloud services out of the box, and its capacity for 40 double-sided pages per minute and 4.3-inch touchscreen make it ready to handle a wide range of workspace needs. It’s the perfect tool for teams that need flexible digitization solutions.
Learn more in our guide to Choosing a Wireless Document Scanner: What to Know When Cutting the Cord.
Reliably tackle big workloads
Save time on demanding tasks
High speed document scanners help workspaces break through the bottlenecks presented by massive piles of documents. Scanners built specifically to work through large quantities of information in a small period of time are built with special considerations in mind, with everything from expanded hopper sizes to carefully controlled document stacking.
High speed document scanners can work through anything from 24,000 sheets to a massive 130,000 sheets in a daily duty cycle.
The process of feeding documents into the scanner must be as reliable as it is fast, with a large hopper and automated technologies to prevent skewing and jams. Papers must exit the machine in orderly stacks.
Minimal manual adjustments should be necessary to get the optimal scans for all types of documents. Reduced file size and accurate reproduction are important for every scanned image.
The fi-7700 is suited for nearly any high-performance scanning situation, with a feature set and capacity built for demanding applications. The device can scan up to 100 pages per minute with sustained and reliable performance, and it even features an integrated double-letter-sized flatbed ideal for exception documents.
Improve your office’s efficiency with our guide, High Speed Document Scanners: How To Pick The Right Model When Time Is a Factor.
Cut cords at home or in the office
Find the right fit
The ideal document scanner will vary greatly depending on needs and expected workloads. While many scanners offer unique features for completing specific tasks, there are several features no scanner should be without. Looking at a broad range of scanner capabilities will help you pinpoint the most important specifications for your use case, allowing you to hone in on the perfect scanner for your needs. Here are a few guidelines to consider as you search for the best document scanner.
These devices allow for one-touch scanning, all-in-one software, and a small operating footprint to work for as many people in as many places as possible.
Finding the best document scanner to fit the needs of your enterprise means allowing for high expected daily volumes, with automatic image enhancement to produce ideal results with minimal intervention.
Workloads that regularly include documents of non-standard sizes, such as bound books or pocket-sized IDs, require special solutions. Fortunately, overhead scanners and mini flatbeds are purpose-built for just such use cases.
Make sure your search for a new scanner is as comprehensive as possible with our blog post, How to Find the Best Scanner for Documents By Use Case.
Save time on demanding tasks
Even with all of the uses for document scanners we've covered so far, there are still more ways to go digital. The full line of ScanSnap and fi Series scanners can help your home and business preserve what's most important today and tomorrow — click here to learn more.