Portable Scanner
Mobile scanners are a great way for you to file your paperwork at the home or office. Most of these devices have software that allows you to identify and save important data from papers such as business cards, documents and receipts. These scanners can then organize the information for you. You can actually search for these documents by keyword. There are all kinds of scanners that include pen scanners, receipts scanners, card scanners and your traditional desktop scanners. Portable scanners, which can weigh as lightly as 2 or 3 ounces, bring customers the convenience of being able to do their scanning outside of the home or office. Some have even made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for their abilities!
There are many capabilities to consider when purchasing a portable scanner, including size and weight, the highest resolution it can scan and whether that an produce color or greyscale images. Whether the scanner can scan an entire page or only a line of text factors in as well, and you may want a scanner that can scan large images or images on nontraditional surfaces. How long it takes your charger to scan matters as well.
Be sure to know what kind of batteries your portable scanner requires. If it is a lithium ion rechargeable battery, be sure to find a charger. A universal car charger is best, and find out how long it will take your portable scanner to recharge. Also look for portable scanners that can act independently of your personal computer. Accessories including a carrying case, software, and a USB cable also will be necessary. Many of these things come with the scanner.
Many of these devices use of parsing technology and optical character recognition (OCR) to save key data points such as time, date, dollar amounts and vendors on receipts. On business cards, these scanners can save name, contact information and official title. These documents are often available in PDF format.
Scanning receipts are a great way to keep accounting records, produce tax reports and preserve information for tax season. Scanning business cards is useful in that you don't have to keep up with easy to lose small pieces of paper. Instead, you can create a searchable database that can even be exported to Outlook. Business and personal documents can be scanned in and turned into searchable PDF files, thus creating a digital filing system.
Popular and notable portable scanner devices include:
- The Neat Mobile Scanner can scan any kind of paper as needed. The USB-powered device can produce images of up to 6-- dots per inch, and the device is 10.8 X 1.6 X1.3 inches and weighs 10.6 ounces.
- The Planon DocuPen R700 is a batter-operated handheld scanner that can store up to 100 pages and takes 4 to 8 seconds a page to do so. The device scans a full page width as opposed to specific pieces of text. The device comes with a leather case, USB cable, software and a guide. The DocuPen RC805 is another popular model, and it scans images at 100 to 400 dpi in color or black and white, also in 4 to 8 seconds. Expandable memory available.
- The CardScan Executive can scan up to 30 cards a minute. More than a business card scanner, this device is considered a filing system for your business contacts. Features include drag and drop, quick search, one-click e-mail, organization, easy labeling, sync-up to e-mail programs such as Outook and security safeguards to protect your data. A de-dupe feature parses out duplicate contact information entries. The program launches as soon as you insert a card.
