Document Scanners

Best office scanners

If you have lots of documents to scan, buying a document scanner makes lots of sense. Though pricey, they come equipped with software or modules that can send files to your word processing program. Most are sheet-fed (instead of flatbed) and come equipped with an automatic document feeder (ADF). Here, say experts, speed matters. However, comparing speed among document scanners isn't easy, according to PC Magazine's M. David Stone. The reason, he says, is that scan speed varies with resolution. Speed is also affected when text recognition is added, such as searchable PDFs. Still, if you often need to batch scan hundreds of text pages at a time, a document scanner with an ADF is a huge time-saver.

In this category, the Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 (*Est. $480) draws the best consideration, though part of that is based on its pedigree. This scanner is the replacement model for the highly praised ScanSnap S500, and reports say that it does improve upon that already impressive document scanner.

The Fujitsu ScanSnap S510's hardware remains largely unchanged from the S500, which drew top grades from PC Magazine, PC World and elsewhere. Important specifications include a resolution of 600 dpi, automatic duplexing and a 50-sheet ADF.

Instead, most of the upgrades are software-related, including a new multifunction menu, Adobe Acrobat 8 (instead of 7), and improved organizing and business card scanning software. Of most interest to users, though, is likely to be the scan speed upgrade; Fujitsu claims that this new version is 20 percent faster. Since the ScanSnap S500 was already considered by experts to be one of the speediest document scanners on the market, the S510 is the ticket for offices with lots of text scanning needs.

The Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 comes in two versions, one for PC (S510) and one for Mac (S510M). In his Macworld review, Joe Kissell summarizes, "If you want to turn your paper archives into searchable PDFs, it doesn't get any easier than the Fujitsu ScanSnap S510M." Contributors at Newegg.com and Amazon.com overwhelmingly agree with this assessment. The only downfall noted by reviewers is the lack of Twain or WIA drivers, which means that the scanner cannot be activated from within any program with a scan command.

The Xerox Documate 152 (*Est. $450) gets a thumbs-up in a couple of professional reviews as the best document scanner. It's an Editors' Choice at PC Magazine, where it's called a "well-thought-out package." PC World does not rate it as highly, but still thinks enough of the scanner to place it on its list of Top 5 Document Scanners. Both publications commend the Xerox Documate 152 for its solid software package, which includes ScanSoft PaperPort 10 for document management and ScanSoft OmniPage Pro14 for OCR. PC World says that the image quality is mediocre and that it's also slow, but PC Magazine found no issues with the output and says that the hardware is "relatively fast."