Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
Since we reviewed the original Fujitsu ScanSnap image scanner more than two year ago ( ) , the ScanSnap has run through two more incarnations . The latest model , the S510 M ( the Mac version of this product ) , improves on the original example ’s already good design with faster public presentation and smart package .
Unlike flatbed scanners made primarily for glance over figure , the ScanSnap has a summary , upright project more appropriate for scanning papers . It can churn through stacks of up to 50 sheets of paper at a time , scanning both sides of the page at once ( with a rated top speeding of 18 tabloid , or 36 English , per minute — up from 15 sheets per bit on the original good example ) . The image scanner automatically detects the paper ’s sizing , orientation , and whether the text file is in colouring material . The ScanSnap ’s 600 - dpi optical resolution is idealistic for rake office text file and adequate , if not terrific , for photographs . ScanSnap S510 M
save scanned text file as printable , high - resolution image is useful , but being able-bodied to seek , prime , and copy the textual matter in your scans is good still . You could reach this with the original ScanSnap by manually using the OCR feature of the included Adobe Acrobat 7 Standard or by employing anAppleScript Folder Action . But the S510 M makes the mental process much easier thanks to its ABBYY FineReader for ScanSnap software , which can perform OCR automatically ( and in many languages ) . The S510 M also include Acrobat 8 Professional ( ) , a $ 449 value by itself , though FineReader alone does as much processing as most users will postulate .
ScanSnap S510M
The S510 M ’s update ScanSnap Manager package offer some convenient new options , too . By default , when you skim a document ( by press the Scan release ) , a ScanSnap Quick Menu windowpane appears , offering an array of one - click action : keep your scan to a folder , institutionalize it as an e - mail enclosure ( Scan2E - ring armor ) , impress it , add together it to iPhoto , or using FineReader to make a searchable PDF . you’re able to opt to skip this windowpane , and instead select one action mechanism that will apply to all scanned documents until you change the selection ; available action include sending the scan immediately to another practical software , such as DevonThink Pro Office .
Unfortunately , the Quick Menu window ’s Scan2E - ring armor feature work only with Apple Mail , not Entourage . you’re able to enclose CAT scan in an Entourage message by set Entourage as ScanSnap ’s default program , but then you must manually change the options if you require to do something else with your next scan . Aside from that problem , all the one - click option worked as they should .
To easily choose among several common destinations for your scanned document , click a button in the Quick Menu windowpane . Also , be cognisant that the scanner will work with the Mac O as far back as Jaguar ( 10.2.8 ) , but if you desire to use Adobe Acrobat , you ’ll demand to be running Tiger ; and FineReader require 10.3 or higher .
To easily choose among several common destinations for your scanned documents, click a button in the Quick Menu window.
The S510 M include a plastic attack aircraft carrier plane that you may utilize to feed small , ticklish , or irregularly mould text file through the scanner . It also lets you scan some oversize document : if you fold up a yellow journalism - size ( 11 - by-17 - inch , or A3 ) sheet in half and put it in the carrier , ScanSnap Manager can “ unfold ” the ensue scan into a undivided full - size of it image .
The S510 M is good than the original ScanSnap at find page predilection for small tack of paper ; it ’s also much less prostrate to sending through multiple rag at a metre . I receive no muddle when scan creased or wrinkled rag , or even pages torn out of a escaped - leaf notebook . The only real innervation was that the FineReader software ca n’t keep up with the S510M — or queue CAT scan for subsequently OCR . If you scan a document while FineReader is busy serve a late scan , you ’ll get an alert message ; after the first OCR finishes , you ’ll have to drag the new scan onto the FineReader icon manually or use the above Acrobat folder action .
Macworld’s buying advice
If you need to become your paper archive into searchable PDFs , it does n’t get any easier than the Fujitsu ScanSnap S510M. At $ 495 it ’s not cheap — but its bundled computer software alone is worth far more than the scanner itself .
[ Joe Kissell is the senior editor of TidBits and the generator ofnumerous e - Book about Mac OS X. ]
