Fujitsu ScanSnap PA03603-B005 S1300 Instant PDF Sheet-Fed Mobile Scanner

Awesome scanner….paperless here I come
Ok, I am a pretty critical person by nature and I work in IT, so I’m trained to find faults (and fix them). I bought this scanner as a Xmas preset for my house (ok, for myself), and I love it. The setup is easy, software works great and the best part is that everything is scanned into PDF, not some custom format that only that software understands.The scanning is fast and thorough. It is a bit faster when you use the electrical plus versus the 2 x USB connectors (just something to know). It works with both types of setups though.I setup a dedicated folder to act as a the repository for all of the scans. Then I setup multiple virtual file cabinets off that root. For instance, I have cabinets for Financial, Household and Receipts & Packing Slips. I scan the statement, letter, bill or receipt in and it goes to the root. I then rename it with a single click and name it for the store/item, date and ammount (if there is one). (i.e. Kohl’s 2011-12-30 126.38) It automatically adds the PDF to the end for association. Then you drag the PDF image to the folder that you have created. (Note, you can have any number of sub-folders under the cabinets for orgainzation)Also, I did have trouble getting my default windows search to find the items that were OCR’d. It would find file names, but not content within. I had to install a full version of Adobe Acrobat (Acrobat X) and then switch the search option to use Adobe to utilize the full search feature. Once that was done, I was truly impressed. I searched for the word “slippers” and it found the itemized receipt from Macy’s on which we had purchased slippers. You have no idea how difficult it has been to try and organize receipts to where we can find something later on. This will solve that problem (and some). Now, after the receipt is scanned, I file it under the month it was purchased. Now I can search for a receipt, figure out the date, then search a small section of receipts to find what I need. Wow. After a year or two, I’ll just shred everything as it ages. Goodbye stacks of miscellaneous receipts!The second (and more difficult portion) was determining how to back this stuff up securely. If I’m going to shred account statements after scanning them in, I have to make sure it’s backed up and that it’s secure. I settled on a two step process. First, I backup the scansnap folder that has all the scans using a free tool (Fbackup) to a second machine that is on my home network. (You could back it up to a folder on your one machine too). This backup is compressed and encrypted with a complex password of my choosing. Then, I use an online backup tool from SOS online backup. This program takes my backup file and automatically copies it up to their cloud-based storage. This is also encypted and password protected (with a different complex password). Now, I have my stuff in a digital, searchable, standard PDF format, and it’s backed up locally and on the cloud with double-password security. I love it!Be careful of some of the other online video reviews of people just scanning directly to Evernote or other online storage options. If your password is compromised, that person will have full access to EVERYTHING you scan in. If you go this route, please do not scan in bank statements or anything else with an account number. It’s not worth the trouble when something goes bad. I did setup Evernote and got it working with the Scansnap, so I know it works. However, I like having the standard PDF format in a folder structure you can just browse through and I wanted an extra layer of security on my confidential stuff.If you are looking for a good, fast, compact scanner, this one is it. I couldn’t be happier with it and the overall solution.

very good scanner, but one shortcoming
I was wary about purchasing a stand alone scanner since i have more than one printer which will also scan documents to file. I purchased the Fujitsu 1300 for its ease to scan and speed, and was very pleased with it in those respects. It was a breeze to install on my Apple MacPro, and i loved both its speed and its ability to scan both sides of a document at the same time.I am disappointment in two minor aspects: the first is that the software does not permit multiple individual document scans without stopping and giving the earlier document a title. This seems stupid to me since the software allows you to set a default filing location for the scanned document, and also the software give the scan a default title [which the used can set]. But when you fail to stop after each scan, identify the scanned document and save it, the software deletes the earlier scan, replacing it with the second.I realize my Mac OS software does permit me to remove pages from a pdf file and create separate documents from those pages, but this is an nunecessary step that the scanner software could avoid by simply holding each separate documents in a temp file or by automatically saving it with the assigned title and allow you to scan a second, third or more individual documents without the time wasting necessity to stop after each scan.My second problem with the scanner is one which time might prove is not totally the scanner’s problem but mine, and that it, often on multiple page scans, the last page or last two pages will not feed correctly into the scanner. Time might prove that this is a result of cheap copy paper, but the scanner guides also appear to need improvement to avoid this.Still, after only one month of use, i find it a quality, fast and reliable scanner.