So what exactly is an ADF scanner? ADF stands for Automatic Document Feeder, this technology gives you the ability to place several pages on the scanner’s tray and not have to feed them one by one. Simple right?
In comparison, flatbed scanners are designed to scan each page individually. The user places the page on the glass and presses the “Scan” button. As you can imagine, this is quite a bit of work. Imagine having to scan 40 documents or more! What are flatbed scanners good for? If you have a page that is old or in bad shape and wont go through the document feeder well flatbed scanners can come in handy. Also, if you are at a front desk with low volume flatbed scanners can get you by but are not the most efficient. They have a cover you need to open, place the paper in, close the cover….you get the picture.
ADF document scanners are by far the most efficient way to digitize your documents.
So you are in the market for a scanner? What makes one scanner better than the other? How do you chose the scanner that is right for you? Talk to the experts who deal with scanning daily (that’s us). Dealing with scanning and OCR technology for the last 16 years we find that some brands are much better than others and there is a very big range of price difference. In your search you have probably seen the well known brands like Fujitsu, Canon, Epson and Brother scanners. Depending on the model, they are all good or adequate solutions. Our company has an affinity to Avision Scanners .
There are several reasons why we like them:
- The Avision AD series is the fastest most advanced line they have manufactured to date.
- Avision scanners are very easy to install.
- The default rate is less than 1% per our experience, they work and work very well.
- Avision corporate is focused on customer service and works directly with resellers like us to make sure there is 100% customer satisfaction.
- The scanners work perfectly bundled with OCR’s remote scanning software (VirtualScan)
- The software driver does not try to pop up and sell you more consumable parts like other brands. It doesn’t need to, the scanners just work and work well.
Sheet fed scanners are a must for any business that needs to digitize documents. There are many choices out there and they all have their benefits. If you want your scanner to be compatible with all the applications its important to make sure it they have a TWAIN compliant driver. There are several manufacturers that have created scanners to work only with specific software that they provide a good example is Fujitsu’s ScanSnap line of scanners. Although most Fujitsu scanners are TWAIN the ScanSnap line is not compatible with other software. We are approached by many companies who would like to integrate our software but do not have TWAIN hardware. It is always unfortunate to tell them they need to purchase new scanners if they would like to digitize their documents.
To sum up, ADF Scanners also known as Sheet Fed Scanners are a powerful productivity tool for your office. The hardware does not take up too much space and bundled with the right software for your business needs can save you an incredible amount of time and money.
