Very Quick
"There were so many glitches that the scanner often would not scan, or one needed to go though repetitive steps like opening the software, putting in a document to be scanned, close the software and reopen it, and then, maybe, just maybe, it would scan."
"Pro tip: if you're on Windows and you want to use Windows Search to look for text in PDF you need to go download Adobe's PDF iFilter app and install it on every computer that needs to search the PDFs, not just the server or workstation where the PDFs reside."
"I would say that if 1) your needs are simple enough, and 2) you do not have an established scanning workflow, and 3) you want the best scan/PDF quality you can buy for home/small home office use, this device is definitely worth looking at (though it may still be over-the-top for a typical home user."
"For some reason the software recommends having the scanner connected via USB cable when setting up the wireless, and everything appeared fine and working after the wireless setup was done with the cable connected, but as soon as I unplugged the scanner and moved it to the location where I want it to be the software was able to detect the scanner but was saying that it does not support wireless functioning."
"With one button convenience it auto feeds muti-size documents with ease while scanning both sides of documents in a flash and simultaneously evaluates and performs adjustments for each page size as it's scanned."
"But when they focus on canned answers and buck-passing, you know that there is a systemic problem in that company and from that point forward, you should consider a different company to do business with."
"It always jammed, always needed babysitting, couldn't handle more than 5 pages at a time, the scan quality was atrocious, edges of the paper were always cut off even though it was supposed to scan a full page (at whatever size we had specified)."
Fujitsu ScanSnap iX500 Color Duplex Desk Scanner Mac PC (Click to Compare Deals)
Quick
"It took a LONG time to find how to contact Fujitsu support and much longer (6 days) to get a reply about whether they would provide a current version of software included in the ScanSnap iX500 bundle... It arbitrarily enters a title for what was scanned, which is unlikely to be useful in most cases -unless you ONLY care about when you scanned something, and not what is in it... There were so many glitches that the scanner often would not scan, or one needed to go though repetitive steps like opening the software, putting in a document to be scanned, close the software and reopen it, and then, maybe, just maybe, it would scan."
"* I cannot say enough great things about this scanner, so i will jump into the finer points: 1... The scanning engine even knows how to look for ink/toner bleed through from one side of a page to the other and contrast it out... Pro tip: if you're on Windows and you want to use Windows Search to look for text in PDF you need to go download Adobe's PDF iFilter app and install it on every computer that needs to search the PDFs, not just the server or workstation where the PDFs reside."
"You have to do a lot of searching to find any place where Fujitsu expressly admits this; I found it buried inside the online FAQs, and even then it was more an omission from the list of TWAIN-/WIA-compliant scanners than an outright admission that this device does not have it... I would say that if 1) your needs are simple enough, and 2) you do not have an established scanning workflow, and 3) you want the best scan/PDF quality you can buy for home/small home office use, this device is definitely worth looking at (though it may still be over-the-top for a typical home user. On the other hand, if 1) you need/want to work directly within Adobe or Nuance or other software packages, 2) you have an established scanning workflow with one of those aforementioned packages (or even the OS-provided scanning pack-in application), 3) you expect to use this scanner as a normal system device and be able to use it from any OS- or application package depending on need-at-the-moment, this device is NOT what you are looking for."
"The functionality was fine if you used the proprietary software for organizing things, but once they stopped supporting it to push people to use their cloud service I found the scanner substandard when scanning documents directly to PDFs (because you had to pick a file name each time you scanned a new group of documents). I had heard good reviews of the scansnap ix500, and with the piles of paper I needed to scan piling up I decided to try it out even though I didn't like the sound of it being a device that didn't support the TWAIN thing (background on me: I'm middle aged, so even though I don't work in IT I do consider myself reasonably savvy with electronics because I've spent most of my life having to use computers)... For some reason the software recommends having the scanner connected via USB cable when setting up the wireless, and everything appeared fine and working after the wireless setup was done with the cable connected, but as soon as I unplugged the scanner and moved it to the location where I want it to be the software was able to detect the scanner but was saying that it does not support wireless functioning."
"With one button convenience it auto feeds muti-size documents with ease while scanning both sides of documents in a flash and simultaneously evaluates and performs adjustments for each page size as it's scanned... This is lightening fast and much quicker than a flatbed scanner but documents have to be flat as they feed through scanner and don't lie flat on top of a scanner bed... I now have "paperless" offices and got rid of all but one small file cabinet."
"Fujitsu tech support has finally even acknowledged that this scanner is not designed for quality photo scanning... When something doesn't work right, you need to know that the company that sells the product is willing to make an effort to help resolve the issue. But when they focus on canned answers and buck-passing, you know that there is a systemic problem in that company and from that point forward, you should consider a different company to do business with."
"* (This review written by a legal assistant) - We were previously using a Brother all-in-one printer scanner for our office scanning needs, which was a COMPLETE nightmare. It always jammed, always needed babysitting, couldn't handle more than 5 pages at a time, the scan quality was atrocious, edges of the paper were always cut off even though it was supposed to scan a full page (at whatever size we had specified)... Supposedly wireless capable, many times the scans wouldn't show up on my machine, and I'd have to repeat the process multiple times before it worked."
Less Quick
"It took a LONG time to find how to contact Fujitsu support and much longer (6 days) to get a reply about whether they would provide a current version of software included in the ScanSnap iX500 bundle... As I had researched scanners and thought this would be best for my needs, that was quite disappointing, to say the least. I think I must be crazy to keep a Fujitsu product under the circumstances, but I did not want to go through all the research required to find another scanner... I have not tested all the software at this point, but can say this much so far: The ScanSnap software does not do well regarding any sorting, beyond separating documents from receipts, for example. It arbitrarily enters a title for what was scanned, which is unlikely to be useful in most cases -unless you ONLY care about when you scanned something, and not what is in it... There were so many glitches that the scanner often would not scan, or one needed to go though repetitive steps like opening the software, putting in a document to be scanned, close the software and reopen it, and then, maybe, just maybe, it would scan... As I say, I have not evaluated all of the software options available for the ScanSnap iX500, and hopefully will come up with something more effective than I ve found."
"* I cannot say enough great things about this scanner, so i will jump into the finer points: 1... The scanning engine even knows how to look for ink/toner bleed through from one side of a page to the other and contrast it out... The eject button and fold out top is designed well enough that it's easy to gently blow out particles and carefully clean the top and bottom scan heads... Pro tip: if you're on Windows and you want to use Windows Search to look for text in PDF you need to go download Adobe's PDF iFilter app and install it on every computer that needs to search the PDFs, not just the server or workstation where the PDFs reside... In order to do this, I had to turn off all the "quick button" features and change the app to scan to application: save to a folder... Wi-fi should be one of the awesome features of this unit, but it's painful to setup because of the stupid software... I demo'd it before some scanning/archiving company tried to bid us $10,000 to do our scanning work for us and their demo system did far worse than this little scanner."
"C) Included ScanSnap Manager software is klunky to use, user interface looks like it was designed in the early '90s D) Intermediate and advanced users may struggle with default settings until they get them just right (target scan directories, document categories, etc... And don't get me started on being able to scan just about everything I threw at it, from tiny little thermal paper receipt scraps to lengthy double-sided financial documents, this scanner just scanned and scanned and scanned and gave me almost zero issues... There was a little effort getting ScanSnap manager to organize files the way I wanted them, but that, too, was ultimately customizable... No matter which way I wound up using this scanner, I became very comfortable with each scan knowing that the scanner did what was needed and my scans were captured in the best way possible... You have to do a lot of searching to find any place where Fujitsu expressly admits this; I found it buried inside the online FAQs, and even then it was more an omission from the list of TWAIN-/WIA-compliant scanners than an outright admission that this device does not have it... I would say that if 1) your needs are simple enough, and 2) you do not have an established scanning workflow, and 3) you want the best scan/PDF quality you can buy for home/small home office use, this device is definitely worth looking at (though it may still be over-the-top for a typical home user. On the other hand, if 1) you need/want to work directly within Adobe or Nuance or other software packages, 2) you have an established scanning workflow with one of those aforementioned packages (or even the OS-provided scanning pack-in application), 3) you expect to use this scanner as a normal system device and be able to use it from any OS- or application package depending on need-at-the-moment, this device is NOT what you are looking for."
"The functionality was fine if you used the proprietary software for organizing things, but once they stopped supporting it to push people to use their cloud service I found the scanner substandard when scanning documents directly to PDFs (because you had to pick a file name each time you scanned a new group of documents). I had heard good reviews of the scansnap ix500, and with the piles of paper I needed to scan piling up I decided to try it out even though I didn't like the sound of it being a device that didn't support the TWAIN thing (background on me: I'm middle aged, so even though I don't work in IT I do consider myself reasonably savvy with electronics because I've spent most of my life having to use computers). In the interim I bought a new cheap printer at Costco that also has scanning capability on the recommendation of a friend (EPSON Workforce WF-3640) and I felt the printer was doing a decent job (despite the headaches of setting it up) and almost returned the ScanSnap before I opened it... It is faster than the printer scanning at 50 dpi resolution, the resolution of the PDF files is excellent, and it duplex scans at a speed that is similar to what is advertised (I haven't clocked it but I scan stacks of 50 sheets of paper each and it doesn't take longer than 70 seconds in my estimation)... The only issue I have had with the scanner is that it is supposed to be able to scan wirelessly to a computer, and I have been unsuccessful doing this despite correct setup with the directions included. For some reason the software recommends having the scanner connected via USB cable when setting up the wireless, and everything appeared fine and working after the wireless setup was done with the cable connected, but as soon as I unplugged the scanner and moved it to the location where I want it to be the software was able to detect the scanner but was saying that it does not support wireless functioning. I cleared a spot off on my computer desk for it and once I saw how awesome a job it was doing I didn't care so much about the wireless not working."
"My previous scanner purchase wasn't wireless and though this is more convenient, I love them both. With one button convenience it auto feeds muti-size documents with ease while scanning both sides of documents in a flash and simultaneously evaluates and performs adjustments for each page size as it's scanned... This is lightening fast and much quicker than a flatbed scanner but documents have to be flat as they feed through scanner and don't lie flat on top of a scanner bed. It will scan irregular sized documents and those as small as 2" or protect photos by using carrier sheet included with product... I've scanned up to 50 pages in one batch and then combined batches for unlimited pages within a single large file. I now have "paperless" offices and got rid of all but one small file cabinet... It's simple to use and documents can be created as searchable PDFs which are quick to retrieve for future reference."
"Seems to handle a small stack of photos pretty well without getting jammed or crooked... Fujitsu tech support has finally even acknowledged that this scanner is not designed for quality photo scanning... That's how you know that there are major problems with their support staff. If they needed to transfer my case to a different department, they can do that and not make me have to keep hunting down different departments for help. They need to learn how to carry the problem to a resolution instead of focusing on getting the customer passed-off to someone else. When something doesn't work right, you need to know that the company that sells the product is willing to make an effort to help resolve the issue. But when they focus on canned answers and buck-passing, you know that there is a systemic problem in that company and from that point forward, you should consider a different company to do business with."
"* (This review written by a legal assistant) - We were previously using a Brother all-in-one printer scanner for our office scanning needs, which was a COMPLETE nightmare. It always jammed, always needed babysitting, couldn't handle more than 5 pages at a time, the scan quality was atrocious, edges of the paper were always cut off even though it was supposed to scan a full page (at whatever size we had specified)... Supposedly wireless capable, many times the scans wouldn't show up on my machine, and I'd have to repeat the process multiple times before it worked... We've probably scanned thousands of pages with it (and even accidentally forgot to take a few staples out) and it is still chugging along with no problems. We have it set up to scan wirelessly to my desktop, or you can by-pass the local machine and scan directly to the ScanSnap app, which is also super handy. I use the app to "scan" things that can't fit through the ScanSnap, like CDs, oversized documents, etc... I couldn't recommend this scanner more, whether for office use, or for your personal space (if you need to digitize and clean up a lifetime of hoarded personal documents)."
