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Best Ocr Scanner For Mac

Best Ocr Scanner For Mac Rating: 3,5/5 829 votes

Top comment 'Works great.Fast Scanner. OCR is working as expected and it was easy to set up and save my own preferences schema.The scanner is able to run on its own battery - which is a plus, I can easily disconnect the power cable from the scanner and move it around when I need to do my scanning (and I scan receipts/bills a lot). Shop for ocr scanners at Best Buy. Find low everyday prices and buy online for delivery or in-store pick-up. Top 10 Best OCR Software for Mac for Easily Converting Images to Text. January 4, 2013, admin, 6 Comments. There are times that you may need to copy or edit texts from a scanned document or a PDF file. Best All-Around: HP Scanjet Enterprise Flow 7500 at Amazon, “A high-volume document and photo scanner, capable of scanning up to 3,000 pages per day.” Best Budget: Canon’s CanoScan LiDE220 at Amazon, “At just under $100, it scans documents and photos and sends them automatically to the cloud.”.

What's the Right Scanner for Your Mac?

The Best Scanners of 2018 Whether you need to scan stacks of family photos, scores of documents, or even just the occasional business card, there's a scanner designed for the task. Here's how to. Like other scanners, a photo scanner is an optical scanner designed to capture information. It then transfers this information to the computer. Unlike a typical printer-scanner combo, however, a photo scanner is specialized and designed to scan photos.

There's no secret ingredient in determining the best scanner for your Apple desktop or laptop, as the factors that make a Mac-friendly model great are, by and large, the same as those that set the best Windows scanners apart from the pack. As with any tech product, prospective buyers look for the ideal combination of performance and features based on their needs, and set it against the price. For a document scanner, common criteria include speed, the ability to scan to various formats, the paper capacity of the automatic document feeder (ADF), optical character recognition (OCR) performance, the ability to scan and read business cards, the presence of a flatbed, the ability to scan over a network, and portability. Among the desired traits for photo scanners are speed, high resolution, the ability to scan slides and film, as well as prints, scan quality, and dust and scratch removal.

For most of these factors, it makes little difference if your scanner is connected to a PC or a Mac. But there is one area in which Mac users are at a distinct disadvantage, and that is in software. As popular as Apple computers have become, Mac users are underserved when it comes to scanners and some other peripherals. As a Mac owner myself, I'm keenly aware that it's still largely a Windows world out there.

Get the Right Driver

In order for a scanner to work at all with a Mac, it has to have a macOS driver. Beyond that, the software that's usually bundled with a scanner may or may not be Mac-compatible. Most recent photo scanners can work with Macs. Photo scanners often just come with drivers and a scan utility, leaving it to the user to provide a photo-editing program. Popular choices, including Photoshop Elements and Photoshop CC, are available in both Windows- and Mac-compatible versions.

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It's All in the Software

Fewer document scanners are Mac compatible, and some are only partially so. Most document scanners (with the exception of some high-end models) come with a software suite that includes, at the minimum, document management, OCR, and business-card programs. A good bundled software package for a scanner intended for both operating systems should include a full suite of both Windows and Mac programs. However, it's not uncommon that an otherwise Mac-friendly scanner will be missing parts of the suite. You can buy the programs separately if they're even available, but that's an extra expense that you'll have to factor into your costs.

Statistically, there are far fewer Mac-friendly scanners than there are, say, printers, though their numbers are growing. It may take a bit more hunting to find the perfect scanner for your Mac than it would for a Windows-compatible model, but we've come across some excellent choices, which we present below. For more on what to look for when choosing a scanner, check out our scanner buying guide. And if you're in the market for a model specifically for photos, see our list of the best photo scanners.

Best Scanners for Mac Featured in This Roundup:

  • Canon CanoScan LiDE 400 Review


    MSRP: $89.99

    Pros: Vibrant photo scans. Excellent software bundle. Comes with kickstand for upright positioning. Very simple to use.

    Cons: Lacks mobile device and wireless support. Could be more accurate when scanning serif fonts.

    Bottom Line: The entry-level Canon CanoScan LiDE 400 is a software-rich flatbed photo scanner that also handles text documents with ease.

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  • Epson DS-870 Review


    MSRP: $799.00

    Pros: Fast scanning and saving to searchable PDF. Huge volume and capacity for the price. Highly accurate.

    Cons: Networking is an add-on. No wireless or mobile connectivity.

    Bottom Line: The highly capable Epson WorkForce DS-870 is a fast, no frills high-volume scanner ideal for heavy-duty scanning and document-archiving environments.

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  • Epson DS-80W Wireless Portable Document Scanner Review


    MSRP: $169.00

    Pros: Fast scanning. Accurate OCR. Light and small. Easy to use.

    Cons: Lacks ADF.

    Bottom Line: The Epson DS-80W is a fast and accurate single-sheet-feed portable document scanner ideally suited for scanning short jobs to your laptop or smartphone on the road.

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  • Epson FastFoto FF-680W Review


    MSRP: $599.99

    Pros: Quickly scans stacks of photo prints. Decent as a document scanner. Scans to searchable PDF. Solid OCR performance.

    Cons: Somewhat pricey. Slower at photo scanning than its predecessor.

    Bottom Line: The Epson FastFoto FF-680W is a sheet-feed desktop scanner that excels at scanning stacks of snapshots while doing a credible job at document scanning.

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  • HP ScanJet Enterprise Flow N9120 fn2 Document Scanner Review


    MSRP: $3999.99

    Pros: Fast. Can scan up to tabloid-size paper from either flatbed or ADF. Connects by Ethernet or USB.

    Cons: Large and heavy. A major investment.

    Bottom Line: The HP ScanJet Enterprise Flow N9120 fn2 Document Scanner offers an excellent mix of features and performance for offices that do a high volume of scanning.

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  • HP ScanJet Pro 3000 s3 Sheet-Feed Scanner Review


    MSRP: $429.99

    Pros: Excellent speed and accuracy for the price. Well-rounded software bundle, including document and business-card archiving software. High daily duty cycle.

    Cons: Primary scanning utility is slow.

    Bottom Line: The moderately priced HP ScanJet Pro 3000 delivers excellent speed and respectable accuracy, as well as an inclusive software bundle, making it a good value.

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  • Fujitsu ScanSnap iX100 (2019) Review


    MSRP: $229.00

    Pros: Accurate OCR. Fast. Robust software bundle. Versatile connectivity options, including mobile. Reasonable price.

    Cons: Lacks single-pass auto-duplexing.

    Bottom Line: The Fujitsu ScanSnap iX100 is a fast and feature-packed manual-feed document scanner designed for light-duty data capture on the road.

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  • Panasonic KV-N1028X Review


    MSRP: $1495.00

    Pros: Superb OCR accuracy. Customizable touch screen. Comprehensive software. Competitive speed when scanning to image files and searchable PDF. Wired and wireless networking, including Wi-Fi Direct. Three-year warranty.

    Cons: Individual workstation licenses sold separately. A bit pricey.

    Bottom Line: The Panasonic KV-N1028X is a snappy and exceptionally accurate networkable document scanner, designed primarily for enterprise environments.

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Our editors independently research, test, and recommend the best products; you can learn more about our review process here. We may receive commissions on purchases made from our chosen links.

The Rundown

  • Most Popular:Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 at Amazon, “Scans everyday documents like business cards, receipts, and handwritten notes.”
  • Best All-Around: Epson Perfection V550 at Amazon, “With rapid scanning and no warm-up time, the flatbed device pays heed to your busy schedule.”
  • Best Budget:Canon’s CanoScan LiDE220 at Amazon, “At just under $100, it scans documents and photos and sends them automatically to the cloud.”
  • Best for Film:Epson’s Perfection V370 at Amazon, “Use bundled adapters to scan film or slides, or scan regular photos up to 13 x 19 inches.”
  • Best for Mobility:Visioneer RoadWarrior 4D Mobile Scanner at Amazon, “OneTouch software can send the scanned document in various formats to multiple locations.”
  • Best for Business Cards: Ambir DP667 Card Scanner at Amazon, “The size of a stapler, it can efficiently scan documents ranging from business cards to those measuring up to 4 x 10 inches — all at 600 dpi.”
  • Runner-Up, Mobile: IRISCan Book 5 Wi-Fi Mobile Scanner at Amazon, “Scan your documents into JPEG, PDF, and multipage PDF formats and send them to your mobile devices or PC.”

Our Top Picks

Best ocr scanner for mac

Most Popular: Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 Document Scanner

5

The FujitsuScanSnap iX500 Document Scanner scans everyday documents like business cards, A4 and A3 paper sizes, receipts, and handwritten notes. It comes with a slew of productivity software for optical character recognition, or OCR, and it exports documents quickly to virtually any modern device or cloud service you can think of. And like one or two other scanners on this list, it includes Wi-Fi connectivity.

It comes with its own application software designed to store and categorize every document that you scan. The scanner’s software is ScanSnap, a program with an intuitive menu for easy access to files, quick cloud service exporting, receipt extraction that transfers to CSV files for easy tax filing, as well as a business card database compatible with Excel, Outlook, and Salesforce.

Curious about how these products function? Learn all about how scanners work.

Best All-Around: Epson Perfection V550

Whether you work in an office or are looking for something for personal organization use, the Epson Perfection V550 is versatile and reliable, capable of scanning both high-quality images and documents. With rapid scanning and no warm-up time, the flatbed device pays heed to your busy schedule. ABBYY FineReader Spring Plus OCR turns your documents into editable text and also allows you to send the scan to your printer, email it, or save it in the image format of your choice. However, keep in mind that if you’re looking to scan a large number of documents, it does lack an automatic document feeder.

As a photo scanner, the V550 offers a strong performance, able to scan 35mm slides, negatives, and film, with digital ICE technology automatically removing any dust or scratches, and Easy Photo Fix helping restore the look of faded images. Multiple photos can be scanned at once thanks to auto-edge detection that will crop and individually save each file. Expect dynamic, high-quality images with 6400 dpi optical resolution that supports enlargements up to 17 x 22 inches.

Looking for something that can print documents? Check out our roundup of the best all-in-one printers.

Best Budget: Canon CanoScan LiDE220

At just under $100 at Amazon, Canon’s CanoScan LiDE220 Photo and Document Scanner is affordable. It scans your documents and photos and sends them automatically to your cloud-based services, such as Evernote and Dropbox. An Auto Scan Mode feature detects the sizing and adjusts settings automatically while scanning, saving you time from having to setup each scan manually.

The CanoScan LiDE220's maximum dpi is 4800 x 4800 with a 48-bit color depth with over 281 trillion possible colors. That's relatively high, but high-end photo scanners, such as Epson's $1,000 Perfection V850 Pro Photo Scanner, can go much higher, as high as 6,400dpi and beyond. Its impressive speed allows a letter-sized document to be scanned in 10 seconds. Accessible buttons on the device make for quick activation for scans, copies, exporting to cloud services or saving as a PDF on your computer’s hard drive.

It’s compatible with both Windows and Mac operating systems and it comes with a one-year warranty, as well as one-year of toll-free technical phone support.

You may also like to read the reviews for our picks of the best photo, business, and laser printers for under $100. Best karaoke player for windows.

Best for Film: Epson's Perfection V370 Photo Scanner

There are many things to consider when buying a scanner for digitizing 35mm film and slides. You can buy a dedicated film and slide scanner or a high-resolution photo scanner with the ability to also scan film and slides, typically with some kind of adapter for use with a flatbed platen. Oh yes, and we should add there's also the inexpensive and the high-end.

We've chosen the Perfection V370 because not only can you use the bundled adapters to scan film or slides, but you can also scan any regular photo up to 13 x 19 inches, as well as documents, as long as you don't mind scanning them one page at a time, without the aid of an automatic document feeder.

Ocr

Best for Mobility: Visioneer RoadWarrior 4D Duplex Mobile Color Scanner

The Visioneer RoadWarrior 4D Duplex Mobile Color Scanner is 11.5 inches long, 2.6 inches wide, 1.6 inches tall, and it weighs a slight 1.1 pounds. Compared to most laptops most of us carry around with us, it's quite small and light.

It's smart enough to recognize what you're scanning and capable of capturing color, grayscale and monochrome scans. A OneTouch software feature can send the scanned document in various formats to multiple locations, such as your hard drive, an email, the cloud. If the page is double-sided, the single-pass scanner scans both sides simultaneously. At the press of a button, the scanner will take your data and format it into a searchable PDF file.

Scanned documents are set to your choice of cloud-based storage applications like Evernote, SugarSync, Google Docs, Salesforce Chatter and Dropbox, among others. It also comes with some of the best OCR and document management software from Nuance, including Nuance OmniPage Pro and Nuance PaperPort, respectively.

Best for Business Cards: Ambir DP667 Card Scanner

Lightweight and easy to transport, the Ambir DP667 is a business’ new best friend. The size of a stapler, it can efficiently scan documents ranging from business cards to those measuring up to 4 x 10 inches — all at 600 dpi. It can accommodate other items including driver’s licenses, embossed cards, photos, and insurance cards, and it can convert receipts into PDFs, making it an efficient option for professionals ranging from hospital administrators to security experts to service organizations. Fully powered by USB, the scanner does not require additional batteries or an AC power adapter, making it convenient for those working on the go.

Runner-Up, Mobile: IRISCan Book 5 Wi-Fi Mobile Scanner

This tiny scanner is packed with power, allowing you to take care of business on the go. With the IRIScan Book 5 Wi-Fi, you’re able to scan your documents into JPEG, PDF, and multipage PDF formats and send them to your mobile devices or PC. Need to make changes? The IRIScan Book 5 can make text editable. Unlike other mobile scanners, this one is dragged over what you’re scanning, rather than having pages fed through it, making it optimal for copying something from a magazine or book. It comes with a 4GB microSD card and has mini USB ports for charging and transferring data. While the battery only lasts about 100 scans, it can be charged while it’s scanning a document. According to the company, it can scan a black-and-white document in one second, and a color document in two. A 1.5-inch color screen lets you immediately preview your scans, and you can customize your resolution up to from 300 up to 1200 DPI.

Also check out our list of the best photo scanner apps for mobile devices.

Best Ocr Scanner For Documents

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How We Tested

Best Ocr Scanning Software For Mac

Our reviewers spent five hours testing a popular document scanner. We asked them to consider the most important features when using this scanner — from its speed to its footprint — and we've outlined them here so that you, too, know what to look for when shopping.

What to Look for in a Document and Photo Scanner

Best Ocr Software For Mac

Media type - Think about how you plan to use your scanner. Some are great at scanning photos, while others excel at creating pristine copies of letters and other documents. Higher-end units include adjustable sliders or even separate bays to handle more difficult documents like laminated identification cards.

Ocr Software For Mac

Scan speed - If you scan a lot of documents — or if you have boxes of old photos you need to digitize — then scan speed is a huge concern. Look at how many pages a scanner can handle per minute, but also keep in mind that scanners with automatic document feeders help speed up the process and free you from the necessity of manually placing each item in the scanner. Best alternative to microsoft word for mac.

Cloud support - Some document and photo scanners are capable of scanning and uploading directly to the cloud. If you want easy access to your scanned files, look for a scanner that supports Google Drive, Dropbox, or whatever cloud service you use.

Best Ocr Scanner For Small Business

Test Results: Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 Document Scanner (Most Popular)

5

Free Ocr Program For Mac

What We Don't Like

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  • Complex accompanying software

This scanner earned rave reviews from our testers for its fast speed and convenience. “You can scan to your computer and phone wirelessly,” one reviewer noted, “and it comes with useful software to sort your documents.” The only thing our testers didn’t love was the complexity of the accompanying software: “Maybe I just need to spend more time with it to be familiar with the features,” one tester said, “but it can be a bit of a handful.”