Scanners
Choosing a Scanner
Recommended Scanners for OMR software
Scanners for Mac Users
When scanning forms that will be read using Optical Mark Recognition software, the image produced must be sharp and clear so that the barcodes can be properly recognized and read, and the hand marks in checkboxes can be accurately detected. A decent document scanner for scanning OMR forms is of great significance to ensure a high rate of accuracy is achieved when the forms are recognized by the OMR software.
Flatbed scanners and Multi-Function Centers (MFC)'s can be used with FormReturn - but many of these lower-end systems have issues with image accuracy, particularly blurring, image distortion and other issues. The simple rule with scanners used with software OMR and OCR systems is "you get what you pay for" - in other words the cheapest option isn't necessarily the best when you require quality.
Scanning your returned forms at a resolution of between 200 and 300 DPI (depending on the quality of the images your scanner puts out) will mean less space will be taken up storing the images on your computer which means faster form processing in FormReturn. Whenever possible, DON'T SAVE IMAGES AS A JPG (JPEG) FILE. This format is intended for photos and produces artefacts, reducing your image quality. Preferably save as a PNG or TIF image (Group 6 preferably).
Choosing a Document Scanner
There are many manufacturers of document scanners and some can scan at speeds of up to 80 pages per minute but most average at around 20 to 50 pages per minute. Some important features to look for when selecting a document scanner are speed, duty cycle (the number of pages the scanner is rated to process in a day) and paper-handling. Duplex operation is another feature of some scanners which means it can scan both sides of a double sided document.
When handling large volumes of forms, automatic document feeders that can often hold between 50 to 500 sheets of paper, for a low to medium cost machine, and will be more efficient and time saving than a flat bed scanner.
For testing FormReturn, we use an Epson WorkForce Pro GT-S50. At 25ppm with a 75 sheet paper tray, this scanner has an excellent set of features and works well with Windows and Mac. There is also a GT-S80 that does 40ppm.
Document Scanner Brands
We recommend looking at the following brands:
Epson - Windows & lots of Mac compatibility:
http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/SmallBusiness/Scanners.do?BV_UseBVCookie=yes
Fujitsu - Windows & some Mac compatibility:
http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/peripherals/scanners/
Canon - Some good high speed/large paper handling scanners:
http://www.usa.canon.com/opd/controller?act=OPDCategoryIndexAct&fcategoryid=2204
Panasonic - We test our forms on a Panafax DX-600 which has been very reliable. They also make good document scanners.
http://www.panasonic.com/Business/office/cat_scanners.asp
Kodak - Make a lot of large production scanners:
http://graphics.kodak.com/docimaging/US/en/Products/Document_Scanners/index.htm
Xerox - Popular document scanner manufacturer:
http://www.xeroxscanners.com/en/us/
Avision - A Taiwainese document scanner manufacturer, cost competitive and popular in Asia and Australia:
http://www.avision.com/usa/products/docs.html
Scanners for Mac Users
Unlike Windows users, Macintosh users may find themselves searching for a scanner that is compatible with their system. There are only a limited number of document scanners made for Mac, but this is starting to change. For your convenience we have listed some scanners and ways to get your scanner to work with FormReturn.
To start with, we think the best scanner for FormReturn is the Epson WorkForce Pro GT-S50. This scanner includes TWAIN drivers for Mac and Windows (apparently Linux support is provided by a third party called Avasys). The Epson scan software that comes with it is excellent and allows for fine-grained control over image and scanner settings as well as color dropout control. The Epson event manager software also ties in very nicely with FormReturn's folder monitor (though launching of the software takes around 20 seconds). We are using this scanner for the development of the TWAIN program for FormReturn (coming soon). A video review of this scanner working with FormReturn will also be coming soon. If you are looking for something faster, try the Epson WorkForce Pro GT-S80 (40ppm).
Another top rating Mac scanner is the Fujitsu ScanSnap 1500M, however, it has been reported that this scanner will only save as PDF or JPEG. Though you can still scan images as JPEG, a JPEG file will not provide the best quality image (but should still work at the right size/settings). We are currently waiting results from people testing this scanner with TWAIN SANE to see if this scanner can also support TIFF and PNG via Apple Image Capture and TWAIN (using the TWAIN SANE libraries). For more information about TWAIN SANE, visit: http://www.ellert.se/twain-sane/
The Canon DR-2010M (and it's bigger brother, the DR-2510M) are also Mac compatible scanners that includes TWAIN drivers and can scan up to 1500 pages per day. It is currently available in the USA and Europe. You can also use the Canon DR-2010C and DR-2050C scanners (available in most countries) with Mac, as long as you download the Mac drivers for them from the Canon website. The Canon P-150 (a portable document scanner) also has Mac/Windows and TWAIN support.
Many scanners that aren't mac compatible (because they don't have mac drivers) can still work. The TWAIN SANE project currently has complete support for 333 scanners (via the SANE project libraries). For a list of SANE compatible scanners, visit: http://www.sane-project.org/sane-mfgs.html
To use a scanner once TWAIN SANE has been installed and your computer has been rebooted, go to your Applications folder and click on Image Capture once your scanner is hooked up and turned on. Please let us know if your scanner works well with TWAIN SANE and we'll add it to the list! http://www.ellert.se/twain-sane/
The other option for Mac users is to use a "Network Document Scanner" or "Network Scanner" - these machines scan images to a network file share or send images via email.
