- Scan and translate your PDF with just one app! Try out the best OCR Scanner for Mac! Choose whether to translate the extracted text with the app’s built-in translator or share it as you please!
- Smartphone and Tablet Integration. Scanners like the Vupoint Magic Wand and the WorldPenScan X will hook up to mobile devices via WiFi. Pen scanners are a fast way to lift text from a page which can be stored in services like Dropbox for use across all your devices, or to share immediately on social media.
Turn the OCR Function On to Convert Scanned PDF to Text on Mac Once you uploaded the file, turn the OCR function on, set the output format as Text, also choose the page range, document language before PDF to Text conversion on mac.
If you have a scanner or a printer with a scanner, you may not need any special software to scan an image.
Before you scan, you need to open your scanner. Then, follow the instructions for either a document-feeding scanner or a flatbed scanner.
Note: The following options might not be available for your scanner. If these instructions differ from what you see onscreen, refer to the documentation that came with the app you’re using.
Open your scanner
- Connect your scanner to your Mac, plug it in, and turn it on.
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Printers & Scanners.
- Select your scanner in the list at the left, then click Open Scanner on the right.If your scanner is also a printer, you may need to click Scan on the right before you can click Open Scanner.If you don’t see an Open Scanner button, you may need to set up your scanner, or check the documentation that came with your scanner to see how to perform scans.
Scan with a document-feeding scanner
With a scanner that has an automatic document feeder, you can scan several pages at once. The same settings are used for all the pages in the feeder. If pages need different settings (for example, some are grayscale and some are color), scan them in different groups.
- Place the pages in the scanner’s document feeder.
- Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Printers & Scanners.
- Select your scanner in the list at the left, then click Open Scanner on the right.If your scanner is also a printer, you may need to click Scan on the right before you can click Open Scanner.If you don’t see an Open Scanner button, you may need to set up your scanner, or check the documentation that came with your scanner to see how to perform scans.
- Select Use Document Feeder.
- Set scanning options. You may need to click Show Details to see all the available options. You can choose any of the following:
- Choose the type of image being scanned: Use the Kind pop-up menu.Choose Text for black-and-white images with high contrast, such as a document; choose Black & White for grayscale images; and choose Color for color images.
- Scan both sides of a page: Select Duplex.
- Choose a size for the scanned item: Use the Size pop-up menu.
- Choose where to save the scanned items: Use the Scan To pop-up menu.If you choose a folder, the items are stored in that folder. If you choose an app, the items are opened with that app.
- Adjust the colors or exposure of the scanned image: Choose Manual from the Image Correction pop-up menu, then adjust the controls.If you don’t see the image correction controls, scroll down or make the Scanner window taller.
- Click Scan.The scanner scans the pages one at a time.
Scan with a flatbed scanner
With a flatbed scanner, you can scan multiple smaller images at once, store each image in its own file, and straighten any images that were crooked on the bed during scanning.
- Place the items on the scanner bed.If you want to save each item in its own file, make sure there’s empty space between each item on the scanner bed. If you scan an image that has lots of white space, the scanner may import it as more than one scanned image.
- Jedit for mac text difference synchronization. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Printers & Scanners.
- Select your scanner in the list at the left, then click Open Scanner on the right.If your scanner is also a printer, you may need to click Scan on the right before you can click Open Scanner.If you don’t see an Open Scanner button, you may need to set up your scanner, or check the documentation that came with your scanner to see how to perform scans.
- Deselect Use Document Feeder, if that option is present.
- Choose where to save the scanned items from the Scan To pop-up menu.If you choose a folder, the items are stored in that folder. If you choose an app, the items are opened with that app.
- Choose the size of the image or document you’re scanning from theSize pop-up menu.You can choose a standard paper size or one of the following:
- Detect Separate Images: Store each item in its own file and straighten crooked items.
- Detect Enclosing Box: Include all the items on the scanner bed in one image that’s just big enough to include them all. Crooked items aren’t straightened.
- Click Scan.A preliminary scan determines what items are on the scanner bed. An additional scan is performed for each file that’s created.
In most cases, the scanned files are saved on your computer. To find out the exact location where the files are saved, or how to choose another location, see your scanner documentation. Also see your scanner documentation for information about how to save scanned files in specific file formats to send or transfer to others.
See alsoSet up a scanner to use with MacSolve scanning problems on MacCombine PDFs in Preview on Mac
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What they Offer
There are as many uses for handheld document scanners as there are people. Anyone who is studying in a public or college libraries can save themselves the trouble of queuing for a photocopier and, of course, you can use your scans to get editable text from the printed page into a word processor -- saving a massive amount of time.
Other uses include scanning text from old books and magazines, recipes, comic books, retro fashion, public and church records. The list is endless. How to stop receiving text notifications for phone on my mac. This data can be an invaluable resource when compiled in digital form (beware of copyright laws, though, if you intend to publish!).
Any business that needs to copy records of any kind on the move, or in peoples' homes, will get great benefits.
What Kinds of Handheld Scanner are Available?
Some hand held scanners are purely for capturing text and deliver text files which can be edited. These look like pens and they 'read' a line at a time.
Other devices, like the 'VuPoint Magic Wand', below, will copy everything on the page, including images.
Full-page handheld scanners will never be as quick as their desktop brothers but with a little practice, they give good results. And, of course, there are a thousand and one places where you can never take a full-sized scanner.
What Kind do You Need?
Pen scanners are great for lifting sections of text from any document and beat using a desktop scanner at home for simple quotations.
Wand scanners will take whole pages including images. If you do not want everything on the page, they can be a slow way of saving snippets.
Smartphone and Tablet Integration
Scanners like the Vupoint Magic Wand and the WorldPenScan X will hook up to mobile devices via WiFi.
Pen scanners are a fast way to lift text from a page which can be stored in services like Dropbox for use across all your devices, or to share immediately on social media.
Whole-page scanners can be slow to use via WiFi.
Good Results?
All handheld scanners have a few quirks, of course, but with a little practice you can scan more or less anything accurately.
The trick is to ensure that the document or image to be scanned is as flat as possible, and then move in a steady way.
If you pause for any reason, hit your elbow against something (or sneeze!), you will get shaky images and text.
Having said that, most people can soon master the tricks and produce quality results every time.
Poor images can be the result of batteries draining down, so it is useful to keep spares with you.
VuPoint scanners have been around forever, it seems. The latest model is the fourth generation and retains many of the attractions of previous incarnations. It also boasts a much larger, than previous, LCD monitor making to easy to see what you are copying.
The data scanned is stored on a micro SD card which might be a disadvantage if reading an SD card is a problem on your computer. The Wolverine Pass 200, below, is USB compatible which is more suitable for some people.
The scanner will handle pages up to 10 inches tall- A4 or standard letter size.
This model uses AA batteries- cheap enough, but if you are going to be using the device a lot, rechargeable batteries are a good option.
VuPoint PDS-ST470PU-VP Compact Portable Wand Scanner
This will be the first choice for many people who have a business use in mind.
The scanner is high resolution (1050 DPI) and the battery is rechargable and long lasting.
Since it dropped in price (you can find them for around eighty dollars), it is a very attractive alternative to the old favorites like the VuPoint Wand.
The micro SD card allows easy transfer of the images that you collect. Optical recognition software makes text editable in Windows PC's.
There is a wireless function but if you want the highest resolution you need to use the SD card.
The Wolverine is one of the newer devices on the market and it has quickly come to be one of the most popular.
It is amazingly lightweight and compact -- the kind of thing you can carry around without even noticing.
Flatbed Scanner For Mac
It has its own processing software so all you need do is transfer jpeg files to your PC via a USB cable, just like a camera. You can input scans to either a Mac or a PC, swiftly.
There is a pair of rollers to make scanning smooth and fast (important if you are scanning big books or many mags).
A simple switch allows you to switch from color to black and white.
It also comes at a good price and feels solid in the hand.
Wolverine PASS200 Handheld Portable Documents, Books and Photo Scanner
SVP has given real thought to what people do with these devices and come up with a winner.
It can be used as a straight, handheld scanner or in the same way that you use a standard mobile scanner (like the Brother DS Mobile described below). Once the wand is docked, pages can be fed through automatically for copying.
There is a built in alarm to remind you to scan at a speed it can cope with - a useful feature to save on distortion.
A display indicates battery life and how much data storage remains.
Data can be transferred to a PC via an SD card or USB.
It is well priced, at around $100.
Pen scanners are often used for instant translations as well as capturing sections of text.
This is one of the older pen scanners but it has consistently delivered what people want over the years and still sells well. https://insightvale.weebly.com/how-to-sync-mac-with-iphone-for-text.html.
It needs to be connected to a PC by its USB cable, which is a limitation. On the plus side it will never need a new battery!
Almost all languages are supported and it is quick in operation. Draw the pen across any line at the sort of speed you would highlight text and it will capture everything to your hard drive.
There are some kinds of text that will defeat it- very ornate or ancient fonts can come out garbled. Sometimes, underlined words can be a problem too. Despite these drawbacks, most normal books and documents are easy to scan.
This offers a similar level of performance to the Etaco and also needs to be connected to a PC by USB. The advantage is that it will scan small images and recognize lines for tables etc. It is exceptionally quick, too- better than 3 inches a second. The text will appear on your screen instantly.
This pen hooks up through Bluetooth with Windows PC's, Macs, Android and iOS devices.
Some people have problems hooking up with certain devices, as is the case with all Bluetooth devices, but it is much easier than earlier iterations like the original PenPower WorldPenScan BT.
If you reckon you are reasonably tech savvy, you might like to risk it! They are various guides to aid you when pairing is not instantaneous.
It is very good indeed for lifting short sections of text and integrates especially well with Evernote. You can edit the data collected in Windows Office apps, iWork, email and even browsers.
Best Photo Scanners For Mac
PenPower WorldPenScan X (iOS/Android/Mac/Windows)
Ok, this is not a handheld scanner. It is worth mentioning though, as a reminder that there are other kinds of portable scanners.
This will not work directly with books, of course, but it will turn photocopies of books into editable text. It will also digitize letters and other documents a lot faster than any handheld.
Text Scanner For Pc That Works With Excel
- Thanks for great article. Looking for any updates now that a full year has passed, especially for pdf to text - MAC based - pen styled OCRs.Cheers.
- This is a great and very useful article. I have been looking for a scanner like this for quite some time to try and clean up the clutter in my office.
- Looks very convenient!! But I still think it's a little bit useless! Like me, I’m a writer and need a scanner can scan book faster and easier, like erasing fingerprint and flatten the book page line automatically, also I need a scanner that has good appearance. So my friend recommend me a CZUR smart scanner , which is the best scanner than anything I used before, personally thought. It has multiple functions, including all functions and criteria you mentioned, also looks nice, like a lamp. Most important, it could wifi stored on any smartphone, easy carry and read. I like it.
- I use Docs Matter. It is a professional optical character recognition (OCR) document scanning application. I am also using it. Its main feature is to scan the document you have, and use the built-in OCR engine to retrieve text from document after scanning. You can modify and save recognition results after the OCR engine finished its work.
- I came across your hub as been looking for a document scanner like these for a while, was an interesting read but in the end I found its possible to use your phone (iphone) as a document scanner as theres quite a few decent apps for under $2 that do it :)