Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 Review
March 9, 2010
I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a review copy of a Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300, so I thought I’d write up my initial impressions and show some of the new stuff that DocumentSnap readers might find interesting.
As of this writing I have only installed it on Mac OSX, but as I wrote in my initial ScanSnap S1300 announcement post, the S1300 is a “hybrid scanner” which just means it comes with everything you need both for Windows and Mac. Maybe later I’ll do a Windows review too.
Mobile Form Factor
I have to be honest, even though I am a longtime user of the ScanSnap S300M, I have never used it in a mobile situation. I like the mobile ScanSnaps because they take up such a small amount of space, and I personally don’t need the higher speed and capacity of the ScanSnap S1500 and S1500M.
You can see from this side by side shot that the size and shape of the S1300 is basically the same as the S300 series.
All that being said, the S1300 comes with mobile features such as USB power, so you can use it without having to plug into a wall outlet (though if you use it this way you need two USB ports – one for the data connection and one for power).
Installation
Installation was very easy. Just put in the CD, install the software, and then plug in the scanner. Fujitsu does a good job of making it extremely fast from unboxing to scanning.
One really nice surprise was that when I installed the S1300 software, it automatically upgraded all my profiles I had with the S300M. I was not expecting that at all!
Long Document Scanning
The ScanSnap S1300 lets you scan long receipts and documents (finally!), a subject in which I have complained about before. To do long document scanning, just put the document in and hold down the blue power key for 3 seconds. Once it starts blinking, its in long document mode. See the video below for a demo.
Auto Quality
If you have small documents, you can have it automatically detect them and up the quality. This was a feature introduced with the S1500 series and is now on the mobile scanners.
Searchable PDFs
One limitation that the S300M had is that it did not come with OCR software to make searchable PDFs. The S1300 comes with it built in for both Macs and PCs.
You can choose on a profile basis whether you want the document to be searchable, and (similar to the S1500 series), you can have it detect highlighted text on a document and save the PDF with searchable keywords. Pretty cool.
Speed And Capacity
Obviously, the S1300 is not going to be as fast as its cousins the S1500 and S1500M. If speed and capacity are your main criteria, you will want to go for the higher model. However, if 8 pages per minute (double sided don’t forget!) is OK for you, and you don’t need to hold more than 10 pages at the time, the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 is a great scanner in a very small and portable package.
Since I know some people like videos, here is a video where I show the ScanSnap S1300, some of its new features, and some of the software that comes with it.
Have you tried the ScanSnap S1300 yet? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Fujitsu Releases Cross-Platform ScanSnap S1300 .. Yeah!
February 10, 2010
Well, it’s official – the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 has been announced and much like Eddie Murphy, it is coming to America.
You might remember a while ago I saw it on Amazon Japan and posted about it. Well, now no need to wait for it to come to the US. It’s announced. I don’t see it on online stores yet, but I will update when I see it.
I will have a full review coming very soon, but lets get the important stuff out of the way:
- Yes, it is a replacement for the S300 and S300M. The 300 series is dead. Long live the 1300!
- Notice there is no 1300M. This is intentional – for the first time, Fujitsu is releasing what they call a “hybrid” – a device that includes everything for both Mac and PC.
Form Factor of S300 With Features Of S1500
The S1300 takes some of the features of the ScanSnap S1500 like:
- Long Documents: This is huge and you might recall me complaining about it before with the S300M. It will now scan receipts etc. up to 34 inches long
- Searchable Keywords: You can now mark with a highlighter and embed searchable keywords in a document
- Auto Quality: You can choose Auto for Image Quality and if you scan a small document, it will adjust automatically
- More Profiles: You can now set up 20 profiles instead of the previous limit of 12
- Searchable PDFs On The Mac: Yes!!!!!!!!!! This was the biggest limitation of the S300M. The ScanSnap S1300 will now make PDFs searchable out of the box.
Software Included
Fujitsu has included most of the software you’d expect with some extras for Mac users over the S300M. It doesn’t come with Acrobat like it’s big cousins the S1500 and S1500M.
PC and Mac:
- ABBYY FineReader for ScanSnap: Does OCR and makes PDFs searchable
- ScanSnap Manager: The main software for the scanner which controls the 1 button operation and enables all the profiles.
PC only:
- ScanSnap Organizer 4.1: Document manager
- CardMinder 4.1: Business card scanning/extraction
- Scan To Functions: Allows you to scan to a folder, email, printer, SharePoint, etc.
Mac only:
- Scan To Functions: Can scan to the usual stuff but also to iPhoto or iDisk
- CardIris 3.6: Business card scanning/extraction
Additional Specs
From a tech perspective, the S1300 is pretty similar to the 300 series.
It scans 8 pages per minute and will hold up to 10 pages, it has auto deskew/orientation, blank page detection, and can (of course) be powered by USB.
It is very very slightly bigger than the 300 series (11.18 x 3.9 x 3.03 in. for the S1300 vs. 11.18 x 3.74 x 3.03 in. for the S300) and is the same weight (3.08 lb.)
As I said, I will be posting my review very soon, but on paper anyways the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 looks like a great upgrade to the 300 series, especially for Mac users (adding searchable PDF is killer!).
What do you think? Anything you are particularly excited about or wish was there? Sound off in the comments.
How To Create Searchable PDFs With The ScanSnap S300M
February 2, 2010
So you read all this great stuff about how the Fujitsu ScanSnap is awesome and creates searchable PDFs, and you’re on a Mac and want a portable scanner, so you drop the cash on a ScanSnap S300M.
Then you get it home and find out – wait a minute – the S300M doesn’t come with OCR software! If you’ve been there (and I have), hopefully this post will help you out, as I get a lot of questions about this.
Mail-In Rebate
Your local Fujitsu website may provide a mail-in rebate for OCR software if you purchase the S300M. At the time of this writing, the US Fujitsu websites has a mail-in rebate for a free copy of ReadIris OCR software
The rebate is at http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/peripherals/scanners/rebates.html . Check if your country has something similar.
Acrobat
While the S300M doesn’t come with Adobe Acrobat, if you have a copy of it laying around, or have access to it, you can use the ScanSnap with it. Here is an example of how I use the S300M with Acrobat 8.
Evernote
Evernote Premium allows users to upload PDFs and they will be automatically OCR’ed and made searchable.
DevonThink
If you use a program like Devonthink Pro Office to manage your documents, they will be made searchable.
NeatWorks
NeatWorks is a software that is bundled with the NeatDesk scanner, but it can be purchased on its own. See this post for how to use NeatWorks with the Fujitsu ScanSnap.
These are some ideas for how to make searchable PDFs with the ScanSnap S300M. Do you have any others? Leave a message in the comments.
Video: Is the ScanSnap Dangerous?
December 3, 2009
This guy’s seems to be!
What Is The ScanSnap S1300?
December 1, 2009
Update: The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300 has been released in the US! See this post for details.
OK, well, this is pretty hot. It looks like Fujitsu in Japan has a new ScanSnap cooking up called the ScanSnap S1300.
Basically, it looks like the love child of the ScanSnap S1500 and the S300, with the “M” versions as godparents.
Its compatible with Windows 7 and Mac OSX Snow Leopard out of the box. It has similar specs to the S300 – it’s 8 pages per minute and holds 10 sheets.
Not sure when it will be released in North America but it was released on November 21, 2009 in Japan. Here’s a link to it on Amazon Japan. The price over there is 25,901 Yen which is about $300 USD.
Details (in English anyways) are pretty scarce but here is a video (WMV unfortunately) that shows it in action. It’s in Japanese of course, but you will get the idea. Here’s Fujitsu Japan’s page about it too.
What do you think of the S1300? Obviously I’ll post more info as it becomes available.
Getting Your Paper Ready To Scan
November 26, 2009
Photo by ricardodiaz11
Even the best scanners or copiers with document feeders can jam or pick up double sheets sometimes. Aside from picking a great scanner, there are some things you can do with the paper to get it ready to scan.
Our friends over at the ScanSnap Community site have posted a primer on what to do with your paper to keep your ScanSnap scanning in tip-top shape. Of course, this would apply to any document feeder equipment.
You watched the video on how to clean your ScanSnap. You saw how to change the consumables. But you still experience occasional double feeds. Believe it or not, you could be causing the problem!
Preparing your paper for scanning is just as important as keeping your ScanSnap clean, so we created this short three step primer on paper prep.
So, do you have any tricks other than “The Fan”, “The Taper”, or “The Wrinkle”? Let us know in the comments.
Fujitsu ScanSnap Update For Mac OSX Snow Leopard Now Available
November 13, 2009
Just got notified from Fujitsu so I am posting now. I haven’t tried it yet so I am sure there will be updates later.
Fujitsu announces ScanSnap Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard Update for ScanSnap S1500M, S300M, S510M, and S500M.
Updating select ScanSnap models listed above is a two part process. The first update restores features associated with ScanSnap Manager and the second update restores features assciated with FineReader for ScanSnap.
Note: These updates are for compatibility with Snow Leopard only. If you are using an earlier Mac OS, do not install these updates.
The updates are available here. Good luck and please let us know how your installation goes.
Update #1 Nov 14/09: Some users are reporting that the patch won’t install because it is saying “…could not be installed on this computer because the target ScanSnap Manager is not installed”, even when it is. User Bob in the comments below reports:
Make sure your old ScanSnap Manager folder is at the root level in your Applications folder – otherwise the updater will not see it and give you that error message.
Thanks Bob!
Update #2 Nov 14/09: As others have mentioned, so far only the ScanSnap Manager portion has been fixed, not the FineReader OCR part. Looks like that will still be coming. From Fujitsu’s website:
Step 7: The download for FineReader for ScanSnap update to Snow Leopard will be hosted by ABBYY but is not yet available. If you have already subscribed to be notified by Fujitsu regarding the Snow Leopard updates, an email will be sent to you when it is posted.
Please click on the following link to be notified by email when the Snow Leopard update for FineReader is available for ScanSnap S1500M and S510M.
https://www-s.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/peripherals/scanners/sl_form.html
So, if you are still waiting for the FineReader update, you can sign up for notification from Fujitsu by clicking the link, or, of course, stay tuned here.
Update #3 Nov 19/09: The ABBYY FineReader for ScanSnap Snow Leopard Update is now available.
Video: Use Quick Menu With The Fujitsu ScanSnap
October 27, 2009
A few of my posts have discussed how to disable the Quick Menu in ScanSnap Manager. Well, recently Fujitsu posted a good video on all the features of the Quick Menu and how to use it.
How do you roll? Quick Menu on or off? Sound off in the comments.
Video: Scanning A Book With the ScanSnap
September 10, 2009
We all know that a desktop scanner like the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 or S1500M is good for scanning a whole bunch of documents, but how about scanning an actual book?
Came across this video from Japan (I think) where the guy used a heavy duty paper cutter (like this one?) to cut the spine off a book and then ran it through his ScanSnap.
If only I had room for a paper cutter…
How about you, does anyone out their use their ScanSnap or other scanner to scan in books?
ABBYY Finereader And Snow Leopard – File Not Created With ScanSnap
August 31, 2009
One issue with the Fujitsu ScanSnap and OSX 10.6 Snow Leopard that I forgot to mention the other day is the ABBYY FineReader that comes bundled with it.
When scanning with the version of Finereader that ships with the ScanSnap S510M and S1500M, you may get an error message like “File not created with ScanSnap”.
This is a known issue and according to this bulletin from Fujitsu Support, it will be fixed “within 2009″.
Fujitsu has assured me that they’re working on it, so hopefully we’re not talking December 31 here!
I personally do not use FineReader.. anyone have any workarounds for the Snow Leopard issue that they use? Leave a note in the comments.
Update: Thanks to reader Spike in the comments for the tip, ABBYY has released a version of FineReader Express Edition that supports Snow Leopard. More info here.
Update #2 Nov 19/09: The ABBYY FineReader for ScanSnap Snow Leopard Update is now available.
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