If there is one thing I am happy about in 2013, it is that I don’t have to answer[1] the question “When is Fujitsu coming out with a replacement for the ScanSnap S1500?” anymore. That is because today they have announced the ScanSnap iX500, their new desktop document scanner.
Fujitsu hooked me up with a review unit, so let’s check it out.
One iX500 To Rule Them All
Like their last two scanners, the personal S1300i and the portable S1100, Fujitsu has done away with the separate Mac and Windows models. There is now just one black model that works on both Windows and the Mac.
This simplifies things greatly for those that are trying to decide which model to get, but it does have some software implications that I will get into below.
Speed
The first difference between the iX500 and its predecessors is speed. It scans at 25 pages per minute, as opposed to the S1500’s 20ppm and the S1300i’s 12ppm.
They’ve moved much of the processing to a new chip that they call the GI Processor, and most importantly (for me, anyways), they’ve moved OCR processing to a parallel process which means it starts while the scanning is occurring. This means no more long waits for documents to be made searchable after you finish scanning.
I’ve scanned large-ish documents and having been in the ScanSnap ecosystem since 2008 (using the S300M, S1300, and S1300i), I was in shock how fast both the scanning and processing was.
More on OCR in a bit.
Wireless Scanning
This is the feature of the ScanSnap iX500 that is probably going to get the most press.
You 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 computer, and your computer was the one doing the communicating.
The iX500 has a Wi-Fi chip built-in (the aforementioned GI Processor), and can communicate directly with an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, or Android device.
There is a Wi-Fi switch at the back of the scanner, and there is a light at the front of the scanner that lets you know when you are connected.
When you install the ScanSnap software on your computer, it asks you if you want to set the iX500 up on your wireless network, and steps you through getting it set up. Once you’ve done that, you can totally cut the computer out of the equation.
I made a video that shows how it works. The video shows scanning to an iPad, but it is the same deal with any other iOS or Android device. Click here to watch it on YouTube.
As it stands right now, wi-fi scanning only works scanning to an iOS or Android device. It would be cool if they made it so that you could scan to a computer too, but that is not how it works right now.
Background OCR
As I mentioned earlier, the ScanSnap iX500 ships with software that makes OCR much faster. However, for Mac users, there is an extra enhancement.
Windows users have always been able to have background OCR using ScanSnap Organizer. You could scan to the Organizer software and let it do its thing while you keep scanning or working.
Since ScanSnap Organizer is Windows only, Mac users have been out of luck unless we did some wacky background OCR hacks.
The iX500 ships with the Mac Searchable PDF Converter. I’ll have another post about that as I play with it, but basically it does what the name says: it lets you scan to a folder and have OCR run in the background when the computer is idle.
Software
The iX500 comes with some some software enhancements and some (cough) changes.
Enhanced Quick Menu
I am not personally a Quick Menu user, but it is definitely helpful for newer or less tech-savvy users. The first change they made is to make the Quick Menu try to detect what type of document you are scanning. For example, I threw in a business card and it helpfully suggested CardMinder.
You can also control the order that Quick Menu entries appear in, and you can now add your own applications to the Quick Menu which is pretty cool. Hit the gear icon to do this.
CardMinder for Mac
Speaking of CardMinder, the Mac version of CardMinder is now the business card application that ships with the iX500. I don’t have much to say about this as I am not a big bizcard guy. If you’d like me to do a post about this and dig in further, leave a note in the comments.
Bundled Software
The ScanSnap iX500 comes with the following software:
- ScanSnap Organizer (Windows)
- CardMinder (Windows, Mac)
- ABBYY FineReader for ScanSnap (Windows, Mac)
- Acrobat X Standard (Windows)
- ABBYY FineReader Express (Mac)
It also comes with the cloud scanning abilities that have been added to the ScanSnap line over the past few years: Scan To Evernote, Dropbox, SugarSync, Google Docs, Sharepoint, etc.
Perceptive Mac readers will notice something right away: the ScanSnap iX500 does not ship with a Mac version of Adobe Acrobat. I always wondered how Fujitsu would handle this when they inevitably moved to a hybrid desktop ScanSnap, and now we know.
I can definitely see some Mac users getting cranky about this, so it will be interesting to see what the reaction will be. The line with the desktop ScanSnaps was always “Sure they are a bit expensive, but they come with a full version of Acrobat. That’s $300 right there!” Now for Mac users at least, that is no longer true.
If you are a Mac user and want something Acrobat-y for much less money, you might want to check out PDFPen.
Paper Management
In addition to the speed and wireless scanning enhancements, Fujitsu has made some improvements to paper handling with the ScanSnap iX500.
They’ve replaced the pad assembly with brake rollers. Apparently this is something they brought in from the higher-level scanners. I certainly didn’t have any paper feed issues in my tests.
They also made it so that the ScanSnap can handle heavier paper and even plastic cards. I threw in my REI card and it fed it through easily.
There is a new setting for bleed through detection, if you have paper that might be susceptible to that sort of thing.
Availability
So far, I don’t see the ScanSnap iX500 on any of the online shopping sites, but I will update it when it is available. The suggested retail price is $495.
It looks like the iX500 is showing up on Amazon now. At the time of writing this it doesn’t have a picture yet, but it is sold by Amazon, so it seems to be legit.
Like all ScanSnaps, the iX500 does not support TWAIN, so if you think you need it, give the ScanSnap Folder functionality a look. If that still does not meet your needs, you will probably need to look elsewhere.
However, if you’ve been holding out for an S1500 replacement, now you have one. This is the fastest consumer level ScanSnap they’ve released, and the wireless scanning works well. They’ve added features while still making it fast and easy to use. I really like it.
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Or more accurately, not answer since I had no idea. ↩
No related posts.
Sounds great. Is there any chance that the new software will be available to owners of previous scanners, such as S1500M?
Great question. I asked Fujitsu that too, and they said no because some of it apparently relies on the new chip in the iX500. I'd wait and see though,who knows?
Brooks,
Great review – very helpful! As a Mac user, what are the implications of Adobe Acrobat not being included? What can it do that Mac Preview can not? Thanks, Dave
Well, I personally have never owned Acrobat and I've never really missed it. Preview can do almost everything you need nowadays, and for those extra things I have been able to use PDFPen. Having said that, I don't do anything super complex, so for those lawyer-y workflows maybe some of them would miss Acrobat (I don't think David Sparks would agree with that though).
Could you create searchable PDF's on a Mac with the bundled software?
You sure can. You can scan to a searchable PDF of course, but they've also included ABBYY FineReader Express which can create searchable PDFs.
I ordered the S1500M from Amazon yesterday evening after giving up waiting for this event. I wanted it for the tax season. Amazon told me to refuse tomorrow's delivery. I'd already installed the software and everything! Now, the wait for availability!
Thanks for the great review Brooks! Hopefully this is the next step towards fully wireless scanner (to computer as you mentioned).
…and, ditto the great review, Brooks! Tough question to you however. In your opinion, is the iX500 a big enough upgrade to the S1500M to warrant the wait and likely $80 up-price. Most scans will be searchable PDFs. 20ppm is fast enough and I'll not be scanning more than 100 pages/month after a 2-3 month flurry. Price is not a real issue and I've got a Mac.
Hmmm. I think if price is not a real issue (since who knows if the Amazon price will end up being any higher), I think I would wait for the iX500. The S1500 came out in 2009, and eventually it will get dropped from software updates like the S300/S510 line has. Might as well go with the latest hardware if you have the ability to do so.
BUT, the S1500 is still great, so if you find a good deal you can't go wrong.
Thank you, Brooks. If I'm not mistaken the S1500M was accompanied with Adobe Acrobat 9, correct? However, the iX500 has no Acrobat version whatsoever?
Yes, the S1500M shipped with Acrobat 9, but the iX500 only comes with Acrobat X for Windows. No Mac version.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. The wifi feature is killer!!
Very excited about this new scanner.
Thanks Spicer. It's pretty neat.
"They also made it so that the ScanSnap can handle heavier paper and even plastic cards. I threw in my REI card and it fed it through easily."
Just fyi, Brooks, the iX500 homepage (via the link in your review) has a model-comparison features/specs chart in which "Plastic Card Scanning" is not checked for this model. Among consumer models it's checked for the S1100 but not the S1300i or iX500.
Thanks as always.
Hm interesting! I have a doc from them here touting it and showing a picture of them doing it. I'll have to see what is up with that. Thanks for catching that.
So it doesn't come with Acrobat for the Mac but if you already own Acrobat, will it work with Acrobat?
I don't see why not Christi. You can add whatever application you'd like into ScanSnap Manager so it should work exactly the same.
Because Fujitsu is only licensed to bundle Acrobat Standard X…….Acrobat does not make a Standard version for MAC only professional…. Not Fujitsu's fault.
Could you ask Fujitsu if they plan to add wifi -> Mac support in a future update? That would be a killer feature, and something I would definitely upgrade for – not wasting a USB port on the scanner and also allowing it to be placed somewhere other than my already crowded desk.
I have a galaxy note II. will it work with it’s own wi-fi hotspot, or do I have to be set up on a separate wireless network?
Hm, good question. I'd imagine the scanner wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a normal router and a hotspot, it's just wifi to it. But, I haven't tried.
As long as the Scanner and your Android/iphone/ipad or whatever phone are on the same wireless subnets it will work……
Thanks for the great reviews of all the ScanSnaps; I just got the S1500 for Christmas, got software installed, and have begun playing around with it. I'm not sure if possible to swap it now; we purchased on 12/19. Though price tag was high, not a huge difference for the newer model. Not concerned about speed. Wifi is definitely appealing, but would be better if it worked with pc. What do you think about whether to try & swap for the newer model (if even possible now)? Thanks again for all the great info!
Thanks Brooks!
I purchased the S1500 from Costco a few months back but haven't taken it out of the box yet. I think I'll return it and get the new one, though I'll probably have to purchase it from another source, as I'm guessing Costco will get it later rather than sooner. (I just like their return policy.)
Best regards,
John
Hi me again! Actually I was one of those who asked when the new one would be out. Since Costco won't have it, I'm sure, how about getting your link up so people can purchase through this website?
Thanks for the great review Brooks. I am a Mac user and have two unmet wishes with this product. I have not got a Doc scanner because am out of room on desktop. Would like one that works to Mac via wifi, not just iOS devices. Also as a longtime acrobat user, would like to see Fujitsu ship a Mac version of Acrobat with scanner, can't use a pc version. Will probably wait awhile to see if Fuji addresses those issues before springing for it.
I been thinking about the Wi-Fi to Mac thing, and I really doubt Fujitsu is going to do it. The reason I think that is because I would imagine that they would be afraid of it cannibalizing sales of their network scanners, or might reduce the sales to offices. So, I would be very surprised if they end up adding the ability to scan to a Mac.As for Acrobat, I'm not sure what is going happen there, but again I will be surprised if they added it. It sounds like a licensing nightmare.But, this is all my conjecture. Who knows!
Why do you say it would be a licensing nightmare for them to supply Acrobat for Mac, when they already supply it for PC? How is it any different?
Well, again this is 100% me speaking. I have no first-hand knowledge, but now that there is only one model, what are they going to do? Ship both the Mac and Windows versions in the box? That would (I assume) become very expensive. There are ways around that of course, but it just sounds like a hassle.
Fujitsu is only licensed to bundle the Standard version of Acrobat …..there is only a Pro version made for MACS……not fujitsu's fault.
Thanks for your review Brook.
I have a question about the OCR I hope you can answer. I currently have a ScanSnap S510 that I run with Windows 7. The scanner is pretty old now but still performs like a champ. The one thing that annoys me though is the way SnanSnap Manager performs OCR. I use Evernote to manage all my scanned PDF documents but if I scan directly into Evernote the PDF is not OCR'd by the ScanSnap software. Because of this I have to scan to ScanSnap Organiser, wait for OCR to occur on the PDF documents and THEN send the files into Evernote which I find quite frustrating.
Which the new GI processor in the iX500, is that what is performing the OCR or is it still performed by the SnapSnap software on the computer?
I hope the GI processor does all the OCR and PDF conversion so you have a OCR'd PDF as soon as it shows up on you PC or Mac but I can't find if this is that case or not. Can you enlighten me?
Thanks
You can definitely OCR the PDF before it sends it to Evernote. You don't have to do the ScanSnap Organizer dance.
Great to hear! I might consider the upgrade then.
I'm a new user and just tried the OCR to iPad app – it's very cool. However, because it was a multi-page document and I like to mark them up with Adobe Acrobats iPad reader, I need it to be OCRd before it's sent to the iPad – is there a way to do this?
Brooks, I see that for $100 more, there is a "Deluxe Bundle" version available, but I can not find any information about how exactly that is different.
Can you enlighten us?
Thanks!
With the S1500, the Deluxe Bundle meant inclusion of Rack2 Filer. I bought that recently with the thought it would be my central filing system, but after several trials I'm just scanning to Evernote. It has fewer restrictions and much simpler cross-platform access for pc, phones, etc. via cloud. Were I buying again I'd save the $100.
Very good news about the ix500 OCR going to some form of parallel processing. This is long overdue. Honestly, I was stunned to see my S1500 did OCR in a single thread. It doesn't matter if it's one page, multi-sided, multi-page, or multi-document; My system's i7 barely hits 10% utilization while I wait.
It comes with an extra software, Rack2-Filer Smart V1.0 / Magic Desktop for Windows only……
is it possible to wireless scan from pc? or it's limited to mobile use?
Mobile only I'm afraid. You can only scan to an iOS or android device.
Is it likely they will be able to software upgrade the IX500 to scan wirelessly to a pc or will I need to wait for the next model? I'm not sure the wireless scanning to just mobile devices works for me. Maybe a cheap deal on the 1500 with the mobile app works just as well.
I would be very surprised if they upgraded it to be able to scan wirelessly to a computer, if only because it might cannibalize their larger network scanning business. I have no inside information on that front, just a total guess. I wouldn't hold my breath, anyways!
I agree with BrooksD's comment. Fujitsu is know for their retardedness in this respect. I.e. Never releasing newer software/updates for legacy model scanners and not supporting TWAIN and only being able to connect the scanner to one computer at a time by USB.
Hardwarewise they make greate scanners. But when they come to software and support they well and truly suck.
Welllllllllll in their defence, they've improved quite a bit in this regard lately. Since implementing their Online Update functionality, they've been pretty good about releasing new features to existing scanners.
"Existing" may be the painful part. I ordered my S1500 January 7. (I know, never order near the start of big shows.) Received it well after the announcement. What do you think of my chances for software updates? (hint: Fujitsu's S1500 page listed it as "no longer available" January 8.)
Ah well, if it survives long enough to finish my archive boxes that will have justified the cost..
Well, you'll definitely get updates for new operating systems etc for a long time, so you shouldn't have to worry about that. Also, like I said, they're pretty good about releasing new features to existing scanners, as long as the scanners can handle it.
But, this is all just me guessing. I have zero inside knowledge.
Thanks for the replies – I need the pc to use scansnap and OCR the documents rather than to store the documents on so I think this means I don't really need the newer machine.
Do you need a wifi connection to the Mac/PC if the scanner will scan straight to Dropbox etc. Surely Dropbox would push it to all devices connected to that account?
Liked the review especially the part about no Twain. I bought a scanner with Twain about 10 years ago and never really did get the hang of it. I have about 5000 photos I want to put on the computer as JPEGs – would this be a suitable device or could you recommend something else? I have no business needs, basically might even sell it after downloading all the photos.
If all you want to do is load your documents into the input tray, press a button on the scanner and create PDF's or JPG's at blazing speeds… without opening software ect….this is the scanner.
Hye,
What the differences between "Scan to Evernote (Note)" and "Scan to Evernote (Document)" in the Quick Menu. PDF or JPEG note?!
Thx
If you pick NOTE it saves it as a JPG…..if you choose DOCUMENT it saves it as a PDF…….
Here is a nice link with an explanation:
http://scansnapcommunity.com/tips-tricks/8039-how…
Thanks for the reviews and recommendation. Got the iX500 yesterday and it's pretty great hardware. ScanSnap Organizer isn't so great though. It amazes me that it can't–or won't–combine imported pdfs (like the e-mailed invoice) with scans (the check that paid the invoice).
Yeah, the fact that ScanSnap Organizer only works with ScanSnap-scanned PDFs is a big limitation. I can only guess it is some licensing restriction with ABBYY FineReader or something. Not ideal.
Thanks for all the helpful information. I will probably buy one, but I may wait a bit to see if Best Buy or Costco get it just for ease of return or warranty option in case anything goes wrong with it.
Cool. I heard that in the US the ScanSnap is online-only, but given that I am in Canada I don't actually know.
my network will not permit the use of USB ports. There for the use of the ScanSnap with my galaxy note II phone as a wifi hotspot would be critical to the purchase. Is there anyway to find out if that will function since I do not have a wifi router in my office?
Unfortunately, it needs access to a wi-fi network. It doesn't create its own. So you'd need to either have a wireless network of some sort, of you'd need permission to access a USB port.
I plan on using Paperport for my document organizer……anyone see an issue? I want to go paperless for 2013.
I have exactly the same question. Basically, should I use Paperport 14 which i already own, but have not used extensively yet, or is Evernote better? Or should I use both for different types of information storage. I could do with knowing which is better and the benefits/limitations of each system before I embark on my going paperless project. Any thoughts would really be appreciated.
Is the ix500 suitable for scanning stacks of photos?
I can say that the software for the iX500 DOES work with the S1300 (would imagine it does with the 1500 as well).
You can download it here: http://www.fujitsu.com/global/support/computing/p…
Thanks staze!
What can we do to inspired Fujitsu to Mac lovers the same software as PC folks? At the very least, the quick menu organizer.
What would be a good alternatives- for the organizer, you mentioned an alternative to adobe acrobat and for filler 2?
The closest thing to ScanSnap Organizer on the Mac is probably Yep. Worth a trial.
I have the Scansnap ix500 and love the feed speed. But, if a page gets jammed, I have to remove all the pages from the scan slot to free the jam. When I do this, the window on the laptop screen does not let me continue with the same scanning folder. It wants me to send what was scanned before the jam to its own location, then begin a new scan job with the pages left. Help?
Can the iX500 software take a non-OCR PDF file and convert it to a PDF-OCR file?
On the Mac, in my extremely brief test the included FineReader Express will work on non-ScanSnap PDFs.
On Windows, the included Adobe Acrobat will OCR PDFs, yes.
I have a stack of photos. Can I just put them in the feeder like ordinary paper/business cards? Nowhere in the operators manual or in any documentation I've seen has this been demonstrated. Any attention to this is appreciated in advance.