How to Choose the Right Scanner

In this article

1. 1. Start with your paper
2. 2. How much you scan
3. 3. Feeder or flatbed
4. 4. Quality: resolution and colour
5. 5. Protecting your pages
6. 6. Connecting and workflow
7. Wider than A3
8. Scanner terms in plain English
9. Other costs to plan for
10. Frequently asked questions
11. Choosing is only the start
12. Questions to answer before you choose

The best scanner is the one that suits your paper, your volume and what happens to the files afterwards. It is not always the fastest, and not always the cheapest. This guide covers the six things to weigh, explains the jargon in plain words, and ends with the questions that make the choice easy.

1. Start with your paper

• Size. Most office scanners take paper up to A4, and some up to A3. Measure your biggest page, and include long ones such as receipts. Drawings and maps wider than A3 need a large-format scanner.
• Type and thickness. Standard office paper, thin paper, plastic cards, envelopes and thick card all feed differently. If you scan cards, receipts or thin forms, check the scanner is built for them.
• Condition. Stapled, folded, torn or fragile pages can jam a feeder. Bound books and delicate originals suit a flatbed instead.

For example, a medical practice scanning A4 forms, receipts and plastic cards needs a different scanner from a council scanning A3 plans and bound registers.

2. How much you scan

Pages per day matters more than top speed. Scanner makers publish a recommended daily volume, often called the duty cycle. Choose a scanner rated comfortably above your busiest day, and leave room to grow. Running a scanner at its limit every day wears it out sooner.

Speed is quoted in pages per minute (ppm) or images per minute (ipm). A sheet printed on both sides gives two images, so a scanner rated 60 ppm and 120 ipm scans about 60 double-sided sheets a minute at best.

Real speed is lower once you add loading, sorting and checking. For example, 2,000 pages at 60 ppm is about half an hour of pure scanning, but preparing the paper and checking the results often takes longer than that. For a one-off backlog of thousands of pages, it can be cheaper to have the scanning done for you than to buy a scanner.

3. Feeder or flatbed

A feeder (automatic document feeder, or ADF) pulls a stack of sheets through the scanner. Its capacity is counted in sheets. A bigger feeder means less standing at the machine, because you can load a larger batch and walk away.

A flatbed has a glass bed like a photocopier. You lay the item on the glass, which suits books, fragile letters and odd-shaped items. Some scanners are feeders with an optional flatbed attachment, and a few have one built in.

If some of your paper cannot go through a feeder, plan for a flatbed from the start.

4. Quality: resolution and colour

Resolution is measured in dots per inch (dpi), which is how much detail the scanner captures. For most office documents, and for turning pages into searchable text, 200 to 300 dpi is enough. Use higher settings for photos, fine print or anything you may enlarge.

Higher resolution means bigger files and slower scans, so more is not always better. Colour works the same way:

• Black and white gives the smallest files and suits plain text.
• Greyscale keeps shading, such as in pencil notes or stamps.
• Colour suits logos, coloured highlights and photos, but a colour page can be many times larger than a black-and-white page. That adds up across thousands of pages.

5. Protecting your pages

A missing page is the costliest scanning mistake, because nobody notices until the document is needed. Two features help:

• Double-feed detection (also called multifeed detection) senses when two sheets go through together and stops the scanner so you can fix it. Ultrasonic detection is a common method.
• A straight-through paper path lets thick or fragile items pass without bending around rollers, which helps with cards, thick forms and delicate paper.

6. Connecting and workflow

Think about where the scans need to go, and who will scan.

• USB connects a scanner to one computer. Network (Ethernet) lets a team share a scanner, or scan from several desks.
• Drivers such as TWAIN and ISIS are standard ways for software to control a scanner. Check that your software supports the scanner you choose.
• Capture software does the work after the scan: separating batches, reading barcodes, naming files and sending them to your document system. See our guide to document capture.

For example, a team scanning mixed mail at one desk may only need a USB scanner and simple software. A team scanning at several desks needs a network connection and shared settings.

Wider than A3

Large-format scanners handle drawings, maps and posters. The ones we supply range from about 24 to 60 inches wide. The main choices are:

• Width. Measure your widest original, then choose the smallest scanner that fits it. An A0 sheet is 841 mm wide, so a 36 inch (914 mm) scanner takes it.
• Thickness. Some scanners take mounted or thick originals, and others only normal paper.
• Colour. Maps and posters need good colour. Plain line drawings often do not.
• Copy and print. Some systems combine a scanner, touchscreen and stand so you can copy drawings as well as scan them.

The large-format scanner finder walks through these choices.

Scanner terms in plain English

Other costs to plan for

The price of the scanner is only part of the cost.

• Wear parts. Feed rollers and separation pads wear out and need replacing.
• Software. Capture software is often licensed separately.
• Setup and training. A scanner set up well saves time every day.
• Support and warranty. Know who to call when something stops working.

Frequently asked questions

How do I choose a document scanner?

Start with the biggest and most fragile paper you scan, then your busiest-day volume, whether you need colour, and where the files should go. Our scanner finder asks these questions and gives you a shortlist.

What is duty cycle?

It is the daily volume the maker recommends for a scanner. A scanner rated for 5,000 pages a day is comfortable at 1,000 pages a day.

Do I need a feeder or a flatbed scanner?

A feeder takes a stack of loose sheets quickly. A flatbed suits bound, fragile or unusual items that cannot be fed. Many offices use both.

What costs money besides the scanner?

Wear parts such as feed rollers and separation pads, capture software, setup and training, and support or warranty.

Choosing is only the start

A scanner that is well chosen but badly set up still disappoints. The difference is what happens after the purchase. With Vision and Beyond, you get:

• Setup that fits your work: installed, configured and connected to your software and document system.
• Training for your team, so the scanner is used properly from day one.
• Help with the workflow, including how files are named, indexed and stored.
• Support when things change: a new type of paper, a bigger volume, or a fault.
• Advice from over 30 years in document capture and records, so you do not have to learn it the hard way.

We do this because the aim is a scanning process that works for years, not a box delivered to your door.

Questions to answer before you choose

1. What is the biggest and thickest paper you scan?
2. How many pages do you scan on your busiest day, and in a month?
3. Is any of it fragile, bound or unusual?
4. Do you need colour, or is black and white enough?
5. Where should the files go, and will one person or many scan?
6. What is your budget, and how much help will you need?

These are the same kinds of questions our scanner finders ask. Answer them in a few minutes and you will have a shortlist. We help you choose, and we stay with you after the purchase.

Ready to start?

Prefer to talk it through? Send us a message with what you scan and we will talk through what is realistic.