[Macworld]

Post your comments for Review: Fujitsu ScanSnap S300M here

[typ993]

"Unfortunately, Fujitsu doesn't bundle any OCR software with the S300M. However, since you can scan to a PDF file, you can use Adobe Acrobat's OCR Text Recognition feature."
That's too bad, because Acrobat OCR is poor compared to the ABBYY FineReader OCR included with the ScanSnap 510M. ABBYY's accuracy is way better than Acrobat's.

[Schneb]

For scanning a pile of documents, this scanner is fantastic. In fact, in its design its almost perfect. Very small footprint when folded up, comes to life and ready to go in a second when you open it, and basic yet effective software.
My only negative would be no easy pulldown menus for various custom scan setups. I would like one setting for single scans, double sided scans, photo scans, and another for grayscale scans.

[wolfneuralnet]

I too have found this scanner to be almost perfect for the paperless office concept. I love that you can select which app the PDF is sent to and create profiles for this.

BTW - these are easily accessible from the dock. A single click on the dock icon gives you access to all your your profiles, and you just select one. Right click on it to open up configurations.

Not sure why you need pull-down menus to do the same thing Schneb...

Thrilled they came out with this, since it only takes up a tiny footprint on my desk.

[Schneb]

wolfneuralnet said:

these are easily accessible from the dock. A single click on the dock icon gives you access to all your your profiles, and you just select one. Right click on it to open up configurations. Not sure why you need pull-down menus to do the same thing Schneb...

Because I did not know the Dock selection existed. I will give that a looksee... I might have an older version of the software.

[rloyola]

> That's too bad, because Acrobat OCR is poor compared to the ABBYY FineReader OCR included with the ScanSnap 510M. ABBYY's accuracy is way better than Acrobat's.
[/quote]



Unfortunately, Abbyy FineReader for Mac is no longer available. An Abbyy representative told me that the company is focusing their Mac efforts on an SDK that includes the FineReader engine. Other developers can write Mac software using the Abbyy SDK; I'm unaware of any Mac developer who is planning on releasing an OCR package based on this SDK.

[wolfneuralnet]

Schneb - mine came with the scanner on day one, so you should have this functionality too... Check it out. Its not very "mac" like, but it does work. I can see how you missed it.

[bobinnm]

Then again, if you are truly trying to achieve a paperless office, you should be using DevonThink. DevonThinkPro Office has OCR built in and interfaces with the ScanSnap scanners. I eagerly await my S300M (Supposed to be delivered TODAY :) and look forward to using it and DTPO to go completely paperless.

I have been using DTPO for over a year now and can attest that it is a GREAT document mamagement system. The only reason I have not been using a ScanSnap was the price of a ScanSnap 510 ( plus, I was NOT going to pay $500 for YA "thing" to sit on my desk - I have a MBP on a wireless home network with wireless printing and NAS storage - I wanted something PORTABLE!)

I am happy to read that the only negative aspec of this scanner package is the support software - I am suspecting DTPO will more than adequately overcome that issue.

I was, however, interested to note that forgoing the brick in favor of USB power increased scan times significantly - this to me seems to be a significant finding for a scanner that is obviously targeted for the mobile user, and one I was not aware of when I ordered my S300M. I guess I will have to live with this because and am NOT going to lug around a brick along with all the other tech items that by necessity go in my Brenthaven 17" MBP backpack.

[mrhoni]

You can create custom profiles. You may need to download version 2.2 L11 Scansnap Manager. Just a click on the dock icon will popup the list of the profiles you created. When you launch Scansanp Manager to get to the settings, in the upper section of the window is where you select a profile where you then see a choice to Add Profile.

[wolfneuralnet]

ScanSnap300M plus DevonThinkPro is definitely a great way to go. Have been using this system for the last 3 months, and am thrilled with it.

I hope that DTPro is updated soon, as its a bit long in the tooth, but it is a rock solid place to keep all your notes and documents, and as mentioned above, interfaces very well with the ScanSnap.

I have shredded tons of paper instead of filing it since then.

[paleface]

REBATE WARNING!
I bought the S510M scanner early in Nov 2007 when it was offered with rebates for $50 cash and free Readiris Pro V11 and Cardiris V3.5 software.
While the scanner has worked perfectly I have had major problems obtaining the cash and software rebates.
The company handling Fujitsu's rebates is the Continental Promotion Group and they operate the web site www.rebatestatus.com
It has been six and a half months since the rebate forms were correctly submitted and I have rung their "customer service" section every month to try and receive the money and software.
I have been lucky enough to buy the scanner through Pacific Document Imaging in Hawaii and Jann Michishima has been a great help in finally securing the $50 this week. The software has yet to arrive.
A quick search of the web for Continental Promotion Group reveals I am certainly not alone in not getting rebates honoured. The company deals with rebates for a wide range of otherwise reputable companies but CPG leaves a bad taste in the mouth from the experience of buying good products offering rebates.
Be warned!

[teacher24_70]

I'm assuming that the PDF scans are searchable? I've been thinking about purchasing one of these--especially since the cheaper S300M came out--in order to rid my file cabinets of much of it's paper.
However, individual PDF's would have to be searchable--which I'm assuming also makes the content searchable in Spotlight.
Can anyone confirm that the PDF's are searchable out of the box with the built-in software?

[paleface]

Yes I can confirmn that the PDFs are searchable

[zzztimbo]

Has anyone tried using the ScanSnap S300M + Evernote as a workflow?