Best Document Scanners

Dedicated document scanners for offices

If you have lots of documents to scan or need a scanner with a smaller footprint, buying a sheet-fed scanner can make sense. Though they can be pricey, they come equipped with software or modules that can send files to your word processing program. Most document scanners come equipped with an automatic document feeder (ADF), so you don't have to scan one page at a time, and they may offer duplex scanning, so you can copy both sides of a page at once.

Both the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 (*Est. $415) and the Epson WorkForce Pro GT-S50 (*Est. $340) are designed for one thing: scanning office documents. This means they have lower resolution capabilities than the top flatbed scanners, and image scans will be of lower quality That said, reviewers note that both scanners are more than capable of producing high-quality scans of text and basic office documents, allowing the included optical character recognition (OCR) software to take the images and turn them into searchable text. Of the two, reviewers say the Epson WorkForce Pro GT-S50 produces the best-quality color photo scans, and it also has a better track record for OCR results.

Epson's WorkForce Pro GT-S50 is recommended for small offices and workgroups by PCMag.com's M. David Stone, who says he is impressed by its 75-page ADF and affordable price. MacWorld reviewer James Galbraith concurs, praising the WorkForce Pro GT-S50's "respectable scan times, flawless (if dated looking) software, decent scan speeds, and the best looking color scans we've seen from a document scanner."

Stone says that Epson's software for scanning business cards is a drawback, since "the program is set to read one business card at a time, which means you can't scan a stack of cards at once." He also warns that the bundled software requires a bit of a learning curve. Other than that -- and the fact that the Epson WorkForce Pro GT-S50 has a slightly larger footprint than some sheet-fed scanners -- reviewers have nothing but praise for it. Users who post reviews on sites like Amazon.com, B&H Photo and OfficeDepot.com give this Epson WorkForce model high marks as well.

The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 scanner also gets high marks. Stone calls the S1500 "the best desktop document scanner in its price class," praising its speed and good looks. IT Reviews also gives the S1500 much praise for its business-card scanning abilities. Both PCMag.com and IT Reviews say they are disappointed that the scanner doesn't come with drivers, which would allow it to be used with third-party software.