Thursday, November 1, 2018

FUJITSU ScanSnap ix500 Scanner


FUJITSU ScanSnap ix500 ~ A Document & Photo Scanner….

© 2018 BOB SKIDMORE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

BOB SKIDMORE

CORRESPONDENT




Scanners have been around since the invention of the PC and Macintosh computers in the early eighties. The most common design is what’s referred to as a flatbed. It gets its name from the design that emulates a rectangular flat box. Certainly flatbeds have served us well, but newer designs offer distinct advantages for many routine-scanning tasks.

The FUJITSU ScanSnap ix500 is one of many compact, multi-purpose scanners on the market that interfaces with MAC or Windows platforms. You’ve probably seen it, or similar models used at front desks in various offices you visit. Its compact design permits it to be neatly positioned on a desk, or small workspace and with a couple of quick flips becomes active. It can be hard-wired via a USB connection, or used with its built-in wi-fi connection that permits scanning directly to an iOS, Android or Kindle Fire mobile devices, without even turning on the computer.

FUJITSU ScanSnap ix500 Unopened

When opened by the two-step process it activates itself and alerts the computer that a document(s) are about to be scanned. It has the ability to scan in either a pdf or up to a 600dpi JPEG format, or both simultaneously. This must be selected in the settings folder prior to scanning. Unless you change this setting all future scans will be scanned in the same format(s). Opening the scanner, adjusting the paper guide to accommodate the original document size and placing the document(s) in the document tray followed by depressing the blue SCAN button completes the scanning process. Once the scanning is complete a QUICK MENU box will appear on your computer screen asking where you wish to send the scan and it’s customizable too. Once that’s selected the scanning process is complete having taken literally seconds. (25 double sided pages per minute with a 50-page automatic feeder capability)

Graphic below shows Quick Menu for the Windows platform


(TIP: The angled documents tray adjusts for anything from 8.5x11” documents to business card and receipt sizes. The ix500 can automatically skip blank pages, detect size, orientation, color, incorporates bleed-thru correction and optimizes contrast.)

The Fujitsu ix500 is a feature-packed workhorse that’s well worth the investment! It includes ScanSnap Receipt & CardMinder software that allows you to easily scan, save and extract payment information from your receipts. It categorizes expenses through relevant keywords, tallies up totals within the software application, and exports relevant information into Excel. CardMinder collects and manages business card contacts allowing you to extract relevant information into editable fields, add notes or reference information by your contact, and export data into external applications such as Outlook and Salesforce. It does a great job scanning photos too and runs circles around its NEAT competitor. Neat, by the way, no longer supports the stand-alone storage concept. They’ve replaced it with their own mandatory cloud-based server at a costly monthly fee. Yes, it’s the only way it will work.  Sad when a company thinks more about a revenue stream than to support its loyal customer base. That’s certainly not Fujitsu’s philosophy based on what I’ve experienced!

(NOTE: This article was based on using the MAC platform and a USB hard wire connection.)

MSRP: $495.00

GADGETEER’s RATING: ★★★★★

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Graphic credits: Google Images & Manufacturer

Bob Skidmore is a freelance writer, who may be contacted at bob.thegadgeteer.skidmore@gmail.com, or followed at twitter.com/bskidmore for the latest gadget industry news. He does not represent, or endorse any of the products he reviews and his opinions are solely his points of view and not those of the manufacturer, or any legal resource. The manufacturer generally supplies products and press releases at no cost for the articles and no other compensation is received. THE GADGETEER is highly selective as to products he feels worthy of review so as not to waste the reader’s time, thus the reason for many superior ratings.
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