Going paperless....

[BruceW]

I was looking for an all in one solution.

I went for the a samsung SCX-4612 (bacause of a rebate at the time).

Looks like the current street price would be about $350.

In any case it is a laser printer/fax/scanner. It has 600dpi output (laser was a necessity for us), a sheet feeder and a flatbed for when the sheet feeder isnt appropriate.


Although the software doesnt exactly support scan to PDF it is possible (frank this may be an option for you).

It has a copy functio.n, where its actually a scan and print (where you select the printer). Use this with a printer driver based PDF creator such as PrimoPDF and voila! your copy becomes scan to pdf. (for a lot less than some other devices that offer scan to pdf).

The only downside is that the process needs to be driven from the computer unlike the electronic document thingo we have at work with a touchscreen which cost very much more than $345

 

[geoffw]

I went for the a samsung SCX-4612 (bacause of a rebate at the time).

I have a similar model. It works OK. I have done heaps of scanning and copying with it- now the doc feeder doesn't work.

The scanning to individual documents was a pain- I had to save each scanned page separately. For the really high volumes (stuff required when I was buying the shop) my broker (Mr Ed) scanned using his scanner which scanned multiple to pdf.

I don't have those volumes any more, so it's quite OK. Scanning, printing and copying work great- just everything but the doc feeder.

 

[farone]

I am looking at scanning an obscene amount of files in my business, I am talking tens of thousands.

Can anyone recomend a high power scanner that has a feeder capable of taking large bundles of paper. It will be a full time job for one person for a solid few months.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[duncan_m]

Digital camera?

Here's one from left field.. How about a digital camera? quick, painless! pile up the things to be "scanned" and zap away. about 2-3 seconds per sheet/receipt, no feeding problems, crumpled receipts OK

Bulk process the Compact Flash Card afterwards for a batch resize/jpg quality reduction..

Here's a sample.. electricity bill. 76k (could wind up quality)

I like this idea

 

[FrankGrimes]

Haha. Just buy a scanner

A quick example, low quality scan..

http://bangor.gotdns.com/pictures/misc/example.pdf

username goons
password goons

 

[Glebe]

I got Canon MP780 - a multi function printer / fax / scanner / copier - inkjet. It has ADF so you can scan multi pages. Costs $540 from Harvey Norman.

Muppie, I've got the same, bought it from MSY very cheap. So far so great. Can it scan to PDF though? I've never tried...

 

[duncan_m]

Haha. Just buy a scanner

A quick example, low quality scan..

http://bangor.gotdns.com/pictures/misc/example.pdf

username goons
password goons

How do you with crumpled receipts, or folded bits of paper.. do you need to babysit the scanner through these?

 

[johnnyb]

Here's one from left field.. How about a digital camera? quick, painless! pile up the things to be "scanned" and zap away. about 2-3 seconds per sheet/receipt, no feeding problems, crumpled receipts OK


I like this idea

I like this idea too, but not sure about quality. You may be able to use some software like this to clean up the image (it work's great with photos of whiteboards, so I guess it should work with photos of paper). You can get a free trial to see if it works.

Disclaimer: I know the person who wrote this software, but I have no relationship with the company or receive any benefit from recommending it.

John.

 

[duncan_m]

I like this idea too, but not sure about quality. You may be able to use some software like this to clean up the image (it work's great with photos of whiteboards, so I guess it should work with photos of paper). You can get a free trial to see if it works.

Disclaimer: I know the person who wrote this software, but I have no relationship with the company or receive any benefit from recommending it.

John.

I compressed that image quite a lot.. the original can be zoomed into and you can see the finest detail.. just worried about drive space and back-up time..

Will check out that software, we've often wanted to take photos of whiteboards at work but the quality is never there.. Thanks.

 

[FrankGrimes]

How do you with crumpled receipts, or folded bits of paper.. do you need to babysit the scanner through these?

It is suprisingly robust, I don't think I've had to babysit it once. As you know, many invoices are different sizes, folded and can generally be in ratty condition.

When I get home tonight I will crumple up a piece of paper and un-crumple and try scanning.

Will let you know the results.

Regards

Luke

 

[FrankGrimes]

Yeah worked fine with a crumpled piece of paper. However, even with a document feeder you can still lift the lid and scan like a flatbed scanner..

 

[dee]

After inspiration from this thread I have decided to invest in a document scanner. I opted for the fujitsu 5110eox
http://www.ausmedia.com.au/docscanners.htm
Should receive it in the next few days

Ive just finished exams and have 20 piles on the lounge floor
each pile being 20-30cm high of paper

The scanner will scan straight to pdf at 15ppm, or 30ppm duplex

Ill report back when I get it
And hopefully have all piles scanned so I can chuck them