ScanSnap Connect Lets You Scan To Your iPad or iPhone

ScanSnap Connect Lets You Scan To Your iPad or iPhone

ScanSnap Connect LogoIn the past, a common knock against the Fujitsu ScanSnap was that once you bought the scanner, you were stuck with the software. Sure there would be operating system updates, but you would have to buy a new scanner to get new software goodies.

In recent versions of their software, Fujitsu has really started to address this. Once they added the ability to do online updates, it has really improved the situation. The recent smooth OS X Lion upgrade and addition of Google Docs scanning are two examples of this.

This week, Fujitsu has released[1] their largest online update yet: the addition of new cloud services, and their first iPhone and iPad apps.

Over the next few posts, I am going to be going through some of the new updates, starting with the new Scan To Mobile functionality.

Get The Update

Before you do anything, you are going to need to update your ScanSnap Manager software. Fortunately, this is pretty easy.

Right-click on the ScanSnap icon in your Dock (for Mac users) or System Tray (for Windows Users), go to Help and then Online Update.

ScanSnap Online Update
ScanSnap Online Update

Before I ran it, I had Mac software version 3.2 L20. Afterwards I was on 3.2 L41. For the Scan To Mobile functionality, you need to be on at least 3.2L31 for Mac or 5.1L30 for Windows.

Set Up Scan To Mobile

Before using Scan To Mobile, you have to set it up with a password. The easiest way to do this is to run it first and set it up.

On the Mac, go to Applications > ScanSnap > Scan To Mobile. On Windows, go to the equivalent program through your Start Menu. Run Scan To Mobile.

Scan To Mobile Finder
Scan To Mobile Finder

First time you run it, it gives you a popup with instructions. Read it and hit OK.

Then you need to give it a password.

ScanSnap Mobile Password
ScanSnap Mobile Password

There are a few options here worth mentioning. The first is Start up “Scan To Mobile” when you log in. Despite what you see in the screenshot, I decided to turn this off. The reason why is because if I am going to start my scan from ScanSnap Manager, it will start up the program anyways. No need to have something running in the background if I am not using it.[2]

The second option is Wait until the Send button is clicked. By checking this, it will allow you to batch up your scans before sending them to your mobile device. For our purposes we will leave this off, but you can enable it later if you want to.

When you hit OK, it puts an item up in your Menu Bar (or, I assume, System Tray on Windows). It is yellow because we are not currently connected to a mobile device. That will change color when we are.

ScanSnap Mobile Menu Bar
ScanSnap Mobile Menu Bar

In the windows that pops up, you can see the Scan To Mobile application is waiting for a connection.[3]

ScanSnap Mobile Waiting For Connection
ScanSnap Mobile Waiting For Connection

Set Up Mobile Device

As I mentioned earlier, Fujitsu has released a free iOS app for iPad and iPhone: ScanSnap Connect. Install it on your mobile device of choice.

Once you have installed ScanSnap Connect, fire up the app. If you are on the same Wi-Fi network as your computer, you should be prompted to enter the password for ScanSnap Scan To Mobile that you set up earlier.

ScanSnap Connect Password
ScanSnap Connect Password

If you want to see your connections, you can hit the drop-down in the Connect To field. You can see my Untitled computer there with a checkmark.

ScanSnap Connect Computers
ScanSnap Connect Computers

Back on the computer, now that I have fired up the app and put in my password, my iPad shows up.

ScanSnap Connect iPad There
ScanSnap Connect iPad There

Scanning

There are a number of ways that you can scan to your iOS device, but I will take you through setting up a ScanSnap Manager profile.

First you want to right-click on the ScanSnap icon in your Dock or System Tray and choose Settings or Scan Button Settings.

Hit the Profile dropdown box and choose Add Profile.

On the Application tab in the Application drop-down, choose the new Scan To Mobile application.

ScanSnap Scan To Mobile
ScanSnap Scan To Mobile

This is what your Application tab will look like:

ScanSnap Application Tab
ScanSnap Application Tab

Set up the rest of the tabs in your ScanSnap Manager profile however you would normally do it.

Make sure ScanSnap Connect is started on the mobile device, and hit the Scan button on the scanner.

It will show the received scan on the iOS device, and then you will see that it has sent on the computer.

ScanSnap Document Sent
ScanSnap Document Sent
ScanSnap Connect iOS There
ScanSnap Connect iOS There

Documents On The Mobile Device

On your iPhone or iPad, you can tap the little arrow on the right to view the PDF or JPG in the ScanSnap Connect application, or if you tap the name, you can (probably more usefully) send it to another application that handles PDFs.

ScanSnap Connect Send To
ScanSnap Connect Send To

Other Options

If you just use the Quick Menu, there is now a Scan To Mobile option that you can use without having to set up a profile.

Also, if you use Windows, you can initiate the mobile scan using ScanSnap Organizer or Rack2-Filer.

Supported Devices

According to Fujitsu, this will all only work on the ScanSnap S1500, the ScanSnap S1500M, the ScanSnap S1300, or the ScanSnap S1100.

As far as mobile devices go, it works on the iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod Touch 3rd and 4th Gen. I assume it works on the iPhone 4S as well, but they don’t mention it.

Unfortunately, no mention of Android devices, but hopefully that will come someday?

All-in-all, this is an interesting update. Of course there are many ways to get your documents onto your iPhone or iPad, but I can see this being handy if I just want to send a quick scan without doing the Dropbox / GoodReader dance.

How about you, have you tried this out? What do you think?


  1. In North America anyways. It has been out for quite a while in Japan.  ↩

  2. If anyone knows a reason why this is not a good idea, let me know in the comments.  ↩

  3. I haven’t been able to figure out why my computer is named Untitled, but oh well. If you know how to change this, please leave a comment.  ↩

About the Author

Brooks Duncan helps individuals and small businesses go paperless. He's been an accountant, a software developer, a manager in a very large corporation, and has run DocumentSnap since 2008. You can find Brooks on Twitter at @documentsnap or @brooksduncan. Thanks for stopping by.

Leave a Reply 13 comments

Alan - May 11, 2013 Reply

So there is no way to plug your scanner directly to your iPad and scan to it?

    Brooks Duncan - May 11, 2013 Reply

    Not that I am aware of.

    Estella - September 22, 2017 Reply

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Martha - April 10, 2013 Reply

Great post!

Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 Review | Tips To Learn How To Go Paperless | DocumentSnap Paperless Blog - January 7, 2013 Reply

[…] have been able to use your ScanSnap with the ScanSnap Connect mobile app for quite some time, but it was indirect – the scanner needed to be plugged in to your […]

Software Review – ScanSnap S1300i And Friends | Tips To Learn How To Go Paperless | DocumentSnap Paperless Blog - July 23, 2012 Reply

[…] you install the app on your Android device, it works basically the same as the iOS apps. See my earlier post on using ScanSnap Connect to scan to iOS for how that all […]

Introducing the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1300i – and Win One! | Tips To Learn How To Go Paperless | DocumentSnap Paperless Blog - June 22, 2012 Reply

[…] asks, yes the scanner does need to be plugged into your computer. It works the same as the existing Scan To Mobile functionality. […]

shefi - October 28, 2011 Reply

ScanSnap N1800 (in Japan only?) comes with built-in cloud capability. http://scansnap.fujitsu.com/jp/product/n1800/func

    Brooks Duncan - October 28, 2011 Reply

    Yeah, I haven't written about the N1800 yet but it has a lot of this stuff built into the scanner itself. Thanks.

ScanSnap Update Embraces The Cloud | Tips To Learn How To Go Paperless | DocumentSnap Paperless Blog - October 27, 2011 Reply

[…] Earlier in the week, I wrote about the Fujitsu ScanSnap getting new Scan To Mobile functionality. […]

Doug Warren - October 26, 2011 Reply

To change your computer name on Mac OS X, select "Sharing" under "Internet & Wireless" from "System Preferences". Your "Computer Name" is displayed there, and you can change it with the "Edit…" button.

    Brooks Duncan - October 26, 2011 Reply

    OK, that is really weird. I was just about to reply and say that my computer has a name so that can't be it, but I went to check and somehow the name is gone. I have no idea what happened there. Thanks Doug!

Mike Martina - October 25, 2011 Reply

Slight correction. On the Mac you run the Scan to Mobile (comm) app when setting it up. Thanks for this great information. Seems to work fine on my iPad2.

Mike

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