Best Document Scanners

Losing important documents can be a really frustrating and sometimes costly experience — one that is a lot more likely to happen if you only keep your documents as hard copies. To avoid this, digitizing your documents is your best bet. This way, you can have as many backup copies of the same document as you want, in many different places, and not worry about clutter.

To easily upload your hard copies to your computer or cloud storage, you'll need a reliable document scanner. With many varieties out there differing in functionality, size, and cost, picking just one can be a challenging task. Read on to find out how to select the best document scanner for your needs.

What are document scanners?

Scanners are tools for digitizing documents, business cards, photos, and other papers. They convert documents into digital information and are essential pieces of equipment for individuals and businesses. Because many types of document scanners exist, they can cater to people with varying needs and preferences.

Why Should I Get a Document Scanner?

With document scanners, the risk of losing important documents becomes significantly reduced. You can digitize your documents and store them on various devices and even across various servers. Digital copies don't degrade with age, so you don't have to worry about your document becoming less readable with time. Digital copies can always be converted to hard copies by printing them out whenever you need them. With document scanners, you don't need to keep those gigantic filing cabinets. Even if you do, you don't have to go looking through them whenever you want something. You can quickly pull up the file on your computer and read it immediately. This way, you save time and space. You can safely store sensitive documents on encrypted computers, reducing the risk of them falling into wrong hands too.

What Factors Should I Consider Before Getting A Document Scanner?

Document scanners come in many different sizes, shapes, specifications, prices, and varying degrees of functionality. To decide which one is best for you, you have to put all of these factors into consideration. Although we have given you a list of the best document printers on the market, we recognize that that may not be enough to help you make a decision. Also, we'll run you through the factors that you should consider before buying a document scanner, and hopefully, help you make a decision.

Portable vs Desktop

Portable scanners are smaller-sized units that typically cost less than their full-sized counterparts. Because of their small size, they are easy to carry from place to place. So if you need to scan documents on the go or you're working with a small budget and do not need a heavy-duty scanner, this may be the better option. Some of the newer models can be used with smartphones or have embedded memory cards to store scanned documents, so they don't need to be attached to computers.

Desktop scanners are larger and generally more expensive. They are also generally the better option for businesses as they are usually faster and offer a vast array of features. These can usually scan faster and hold more paper in the document feeder so you don't need to feed in one piece of paper at a time.

What Do You Need To Scan?

When you scan documents, you want the digital version to retain as much of the quality of the hard copy as possible. Because of this, an important consideration should be the type of document you are going to scan. If you only need to scan paper records and receipts, you may not need to be too particular about the scanner you choose, as most document scanners can handle this with ease. But if you want to scan documents with high-resolution images in color, you'll need a scanner specifically designed for photographs. These offer better and preserve the appearance of the photographs much better than regular scanners.

You should also consider the maximum size of the hard copies you need to scan, to ensure the originals can fit into the scanner. Another thing to consider is whether you'll need to scan both sides of a document. If you do need to scan both sides of documents, consider getting a duplexing (two-sided) scanner.

How Many Documents Do You Intend To Scan?

Another important consideration is the number of documents you intend to scan at once and how frequently you intend to use the scanner. If you only plan to scan documents occasionally and only a few pages at a time, you could go with a less expensive model, like a portable scanner, that does one page at a time. But if you intend to scan large documents, a high-volume document scanner will work better for you. These document scanners usually come with an automatic page feeder, so you can quickly and easily digitize large volumes of paperwork without having to manually feed one page at a time. Also, you should consider the scanning speed of the scanner before purchasing it, especially if you have a lot of pages to process. However, most scanners only take a few seconds to scan a page.

Do You Need Optical Character Recognition (OCR)?

Optical character recognition allows your computer to "read" the text on your scanned documents, making the documents searchable. With this, you can very easily retrieve documents by entering whatever portion of the text you remember in the search bar. You can also find words and phrases within a document. If this is a feature you'd like to have, you should buy a scanner that processes scanned documents through OCR technology.

What Operating System Are You Using?

Although most modern scanners work seamlessly across operating systems, some are OS-specific. It is important that whatever scanner you buy, it is compatible with your computer. Usually, you can install third-party drivers to fix compatibility issues, but these can reduce functionality and performance.

Is It Wi-Fi Compatible?

This is especially important for large businesses where several people share a scanner. This allows for ease of connection and usage.

How Much Do Document Scanners Cost?

This depends on factors like the size of the scanner and the range of functions it offers. It is important to strike a balance between cost and functionality. Portable scanners can cost anything between $50 and $300. The larger desktop scanners can cost as little as $200 and as much as a couple thousand for a heavy-duty model.

Document Scanner FAQs

Q. Do I need to buy a document scanner?

A. A document scanner is an important piece of equipment for anyone to own. However, if you don't think you will be using it very often, you can get one of the cheaper options for as little as $50.

Q. Are document scanners easy to use?

A. The ease of use varies from model to model and from brand to brand, but document scanners are typically easy to operate and use. You should read through the user’s manual before attempting to operate one.

Q. How much should I spend on a document scanner?

A. It depends on your unique needs. You should try to strike a balance between the cost and the variety of functions you require.