Some of the simplicity comes from new functions in the scanner and Fujitsu software. Fujitsu warns that OCR might slow things down but everything has been lightning quick in my experience, with a barely perceptible delay for OCR. The new iX500 apparently has a processor built into the scanner itself that does OCR before the file is delivered to the computer. The previous model ScanSnap S1500 would at least send its scans directly to Acrobat for post-scan processing but that’s no longer necessary. That used to require opening each PDF in Adobe Acrobat and running a routine to “optimize” the file. Almost no scanners do OCR to make the scanned documents searchable.I’ve set up the ScanSnap so naming the file is a single organic step. It’s up to you to locate each one, preview it or open it up to confirm what it is, then assign a meaningful name. Most office scanners place the scanned documents in a folder and assign a generic name.

Note what’s missing! There are a few steps that are required by most scanners but not necessary with the ScanSnap. To recap: push the blue button type in a file name. I type in a file name: the date (in the format 2014-xx-xx), followed by a category (Tax, Medical, Insurance), followed by a brief description.

A dialog box comes up asking for the name of the file.That allows them to be indexed by Windows so the full text can be searched later. The scanner does optical character recognition (OCR) on the files automatically.If one side is blank, it’s automatically dropped – no need to choose one-sided or two-sided scanning ahead of time. There is zero delay after pushing the button before scanning begins and zero delay between pages. The pages are scanned so fast that it is literally unbelievable – 25 pages per minute, but it’s scanning both sides so technically it’s 50 pages per minute.I put one document (1 page or many pages) into the scanner and push the blue button.Let me tell you how I’ve set it up, then give you a few tips about how to get that result. You have to get one or two or several of them. Last week I decided to put a ScanSnap iX500 on my desk. I knew that from its reputation but I had never owned one. For years I have told clients that the Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 (previously the ScanSnap S1500) is the best tool for desktop scanning. Offices are stepping up their efforts to go paperless by scanning and recycling paper files and incoming documents.

What is magic desktop for scansnap