Tagged “buying”
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Card scanners and other single-purpose devices
Devices built for one media size do that job well and nothing else. What the narrow feed path buys you, and what strands the machine years later.
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When not to buy a scanner
Most receipt problems are not equipment problems. Four situations where buying hardware makes things worse, and what to do instead.
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What you ship to a scanning service
Outsourcing scanning means handing over the originals and the information on them. What that involves, and what to establish before the envelope goes.
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Buying a scanner second-hand: what to check
The mechanism is usually fine and the software usually isn't. Check driver availability first, wear parts second, and everything else after that.
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Testing a scanner with your own paper
Specification sheets are measured on paper you do not own. A repeatable test batch of your real receipts tells you what a device will actually do.
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The multifunction printer as a receipt scanner
You may already own a feeder and a flatbed. Where an all-in-one printer is genuinely adequate for receipts, and the three places it isn't.
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When the bundled software owns your scans
Hardware often ships with an application that stores scans in its own library. Getting them out later is a different job from scanning them in.
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The driver is the part that expires
Scanner mechanisms outlast their software support by years. What makes a device survive an operating system change, and what strands it.
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Bus power, batteries and the scanner with no computer
How a portable scanner gets its electricity shapes what it can do. Bus power, internal batteries and card-only capture each buy something different.
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Sheetfed, flatbed, or overhead: choosing by the paper you have
The right scanner mechanism is decided by your worst piece of paper, not your average one. What each type handles well, and what defeats it.