Incorrect Paper Size - When Your ScanSnap Hates Your Paper

Yesterday I was in the middle of a scan-a-thon and hit a snag.

I was scanning a receipt for my new sofa (this one, if you are interested), and ScanSnap Manager didn’t like it one little bit. It said “Incorrect Paper Size”. All I could guess was that the receipt was just too long.

I hit Google and couldn’t find much to help me out. I scanned another receipt that was the same width but a bit shorter, and it had no problem at all.

I then thought “OK, if it can’t figure out the size of the receipt, I’ll set it manually”, so I went into ScanSnap Manager and tried to set a custom size to the length and width of the receipt – no dice. ScanSnap Manager didn’t even let me put in the length. It was too long even for that.

The solution I came up with was to fold the receipt in half and then scan it as a double-sided page. It worked out fairly well.. the PDF was in 2 pages instead of 1, but at least I could scan it.

I have no idea if this is a limitation of the ScanSnap or of PDF, but if you run into a similar situation, maybe this will help you out.

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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 18 comments

papersize!! - December 30, 2015 Reply

I’m having this same problem with all paper

scansnap pop up “some documents were output by the maximum width because the paper size could not be detected”

So what can I do if it’s saying all papers’ sizes I scan could not be detected?

Mike - June 15, 2014 Reply

How do you keep it from cutting off the side edge of the receipt?

If, for example, the receipt is 3″ wide, the top of the receipt will scan fine, but if it goes off center during the scan, instead of making the pdf wider, it keeps the pdf at 3″ and the actual receipt in the pdf just runs off the edge, essentially cutting the side off.

Wouldn’t be an issue if long receipts would stay straight, but they’re not doing that either.

Any ideas?

jimthing - February 6, 2012 Reply

34" / 86 cm, is the longest isn't it. That's what they say on their ScanSnap promo videos.

H. Streeter Shining - August 24, 2011 Reply

I've been doing as Matt said since I got my ScanSnap S1300 and it solves the paper size problem. The light on the button will start blinking when it is ready to let up on thee button.

Brooks Duncan - August 24, 2011 Reply

Great, thanks Streeter!

Matt - May 20, 2010 Reply

It might be a new feature, but on my ScanSnap S1300 you can hold down the quick scan button for about 5 seconds to put it into long document mode, allowing it to scan long receipts and such with no problem.

JasonK - July 14, 2009 Reply

Agreed. I wanted to add a motor vehicle sales contract (car purchase) and accompanying documentation and car warranty which were all 8.5" x 24" long (!) and couldn't do it. These docs are very important and I would love to just be able to scan them in like any other doc.

Juan - June 25, 2009 Reply

Same here…couldn't scan long recipts and neither could scan an old EKG I found…that's too bad!

I don't think it is a limitation of PDF…it didn't work in JPEG either. This is a shame…must be a Sofware issue, maybe ifwe write them they can update the drivers/software, etc!

jjhh - May 4, 2009 Reply

this is one of the few weaknesses of the otherwise brilliant scansnap.

Brooks Duncan - May 5, 2009 Reply

Yes I agree. It would be nice if it could handle long receipts. They're not that uncommon. Oh well, we can't have everything I guess.

blarg - May 18, 2009 Reply

Dang it! I came here hoping f'r a fix 🙁
I totally love this thing too & it's pretty dippy that ya can't get around the paper length thing at least to some extent.