Welp MagazineSettling on a scanner that meets your specific needs can be challenging. Most scanners on the market today can handle everyday office tasks, but they come in a wide variety of types and sizes that are fine-tuned for different purposes.
The first step to finding the best scanner to meet your needs is to determine what document types you will be scanning and exactly what you need the scanner to do. Let’s take a closer look at a few common document types, and then we will talk about how you can distinguish the differences between scanners designed to read various types of pages.
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Brother Wireless Document Scanner
Large Format Document Scanners
Large format document scanners are ideal for reading older or photocopied documents that have a unique ink pattern. This type of scanner is not optimal for scanning modern documents made out of thermal paper (a color film that is produced by a special process). Thermal paper adds a different kind of dithering pattern during the scanning process to help distinguish lines of pixels. When the patterns don’t line up, the image can be distorted.
The only way to get around this problem is to use a scanner with the highest resolution that you can afford. However, a high-resolution conversion is often of little use. The photos in a color photocopy will look identical to those in a black and white photocopy.
To mitigate this problem, you can use a scanning device that accommodates multiple page types. You can also use a machine specifically designed to handle these types of scan jobs.
Most large format scanners are designed to read business cards or legal-sized documents. While the two are similar, they differ in a few key ways.
While they might be made from archival materials, both types are often waxy or sticky. This can make them difficult for your scanner to read, and the process of massaging the paper helps to produce a better contrast.
The paper is thicker which may mean that the scanning hardware must be replaced. Also, the text is raised on cards and is not level with the top of the page. This requires different techniques during the scanning process to accommodate the personalization.
Medium Format Document Scanners
Medium format document scanners have a hole in the middle for your business card, and they are not designed to scan paper that has a raised surface. They are commonly used for documents that fit perfectly on regular-size paper, such as brochures.
The scanning hardware will help to guarantee that the document scans on a level plane with the surface of the page. This allows a more accurate representation of the text.
Also, the scanner will handle documents with text and graphics that are printed on a waxy surface with raised ink. This is where the difference between business cards and letterhead varies.
Hard Copy Documents
They don’t count as a type of document. However, some business cards and letterhead are made of special materials that cannot be scanned using normal technology.
These materials include both transparencies like masks that are used in the film industry and certain types of paper that are treated to make them less absorbent. In this case, you may need a multifunctional document scanner that can read both types of media.
If you are scanning blotches that have color variations, you should go for a scanner with a higher resolution. Black is more saturated than other colors and will be easier for your scanner to discern between.
Reverse Type Scanner
The latest trend in the office scanner business is a clam-shell device that allows you to scan both sides of the page. This makes it easier to read documents that have calligraphic text. It also allows you to check a whole page at once.
Many of the office scanner models that you find in the market today have this capability. In fact, they will need to have this capability if they are going to handle documents formatted in a traditional way like old-fashioned drafts or office memos.
While this will help you to save time when you are scanning throughout the day, you may need a scanner with extra upgrades to keep it up to date.
Most office scanners on the market today are designed for portable use or for scanning documents that fit on traditional paper sizes like letterhead, legal-size documents, and so on. For this kind of task, an office scanner with the software to accommodate the widest range of document types that you can imagine is preferable.
Many office scanners have software on board that will allow them to handle a huge number of formats, be it for text, graphics or photographs. The software must be kept up to date so that it can do more than the product is designed for.
The software that comes with various office scanners will also accommodate a wide variety of document types. However, this software will vary considerably from device to device since these devices have been designed with different purposes in mind.
Different Document Scanners Will Handle Different Types Of Data
Large Format Scanners
Most document scanners can handle images that are on paper or relatively small items like stamps and bonus cards. While they will not be able to read photographs and other highly complex documents, they will be able to handle lots of documents with a distinct paper pattern.
If you need an office scanner that can handle detailed documents, you will need one that has incredible resolution and the greatest number of settings. While you may get by with a scanner with a basic resolution, it is safe to say that any single-option scanner will not produce flawless scans. However, for documents with specific characteristics, the most expensive models become invaluable.
Many office scanners can read documents made out of sensitive material like plastic and glass.
Medium Format Scanners
Medium format scanners are the workhorses of the office scanner community. Most of them can handle letters and cards. To get the most out of a medium sized document scanner, you will need to get an original version that was designed for paper as well as one that was designed for scanning materials that are similar to thermal paper.
Many office scanners that can handle pages of documents have an option specifically designed to scan both sides at the same time. This means that you can scan one copy of the document, copy it, and then scan it again.
Some things that you must look for in a scanner designed to scan paper are the ability to process documents created by a monochrome plate photo, documents that have delicate paper like that made out of SiO2, and the ability to read documents with a higher degree of contrast.
The more contrast and greater resolution that you have on your document, the better the performance of your medium format scanner is going to be.
Hard Copy Scanners
While small format scanners are designed to scan paper sizes such as letterheads and card, hard copy scanners can handle a huge range of document sizes and can scan banks, magazines, and insurance cards. This is why they are also used to scan old documents including receipts, photographs, and so on.
They are also designed with a specific capacity to handle difficult documents like bank statements that are cluttered with numbers.
The extra power that you need in a hard copy scanner is for your business. While most scanners can handle documents with only one to two pages of text, you will eventually need to scan lots of paperwork and decide which of them are important enough to scan.
While most scanners on the market today can handle documents that are made out of paper, some of them excel in this area.
One of the most important features of any document scanner is to be able to handle black & white documents. While most office scanners can only handle documents that are black and white, some can handle both colors.
Some of the most highly advanced office scanners can scan documents in a manner similar to an optical system. This will allow you to scan documents that have been copied at a high resolution using anything from one layer to a stack of white paper.
Printers
Pages from the most advanced office scanners can be transferred to a printer. This is a more modern way of moving documents from your scanner to the printer, but the only problem with it is that you will only be able to scan one page at a time.
Some of the most highly advanced office scanners can handle documents that have been scanned from a digital camera.
Flexible Archive Scanners
Like scanners, archive scanners have a number of purposes. The most common ones are copying, accessing, scanning, and image enhancement.
Archive scanners are flexible as they switch their focus from document to document depending on their focus and their needs.
A direct-to-card reader is commonly found in archive scanners. This way, they take full advantage of their focus to treat documents like maps, maps, passports, and so on. This is why developers have specifically made these scanners for these purposes.
Black-And-White Scanners
Black-and-White scanners come in several flavors. While many of the office scanners are designed for copying and scanning documents, some of them are designed to capture color images.
These scanners are usually sensors that are connected to a small monitor and an audio recorder. The trick here is finding the sensor that will yield the best images and the best audio. It’s not easy to do, but it can be done.
Most of the older scanners lack the capability to deal with color whereas the most modern ones have all sorts of features designed to enhance the quality of color images or to enhance the quality of black and white images. The classic scanners have gone for the latter.
This will allow you to scan images and pictures that you can give to your printer without having to edit them in any way.
The enhanced images are more realistic and will usually look better in screen displays and on printouts.
Image Enhancement
A special scanner can enhance images by adjusting the contrast, brightness, sliders, and so on to yield better-looking images.
When you photograph an item, you will have three main things to watch for in a scanner: resolution, lighting, and the camera lens. Resolution is the foremost consideration for most people. You can always choose a better scanner to handle the resolution that you want.
Contrast is the next thing to look for with high brightness setting and little contrast you will get a better scan when you select a black-and-white scanner.
On the other hand, when you are taking pictures of black paper, for example, you need to use a medium brightness setting to get good results. Setting with a dark background and little or no contrast will make it difficult for your scanner to get good results.
Remove the light from your room, your surroundings, and the object you are scanning to get the best possible scan every time.
Black-and-white scanners are different from color scanners in that each image will not be read at the same time. It will be scanned at a time. For that reason, black-and-white scans are usually known for accuracy.
Some scanners will allow you to adjust the contrast of the image being scanned and some will give you a gray scale image.
These will help you pick the best scanning option for the job at hand.
Card readers or card slots are a special type of scanner that are specifically designed to read cards. While most scans utilize a slot and accept documents, these scanners are specifically designed for the purpose of reading cards.
For the most part, they are designed to read a specific kind of card. They will have a cavity that will accept one type of card and not another.
This serves as a safeguard against identity theft.
