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marc.garcia

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 26, 2010
131
2
Hello,

for several months I've been delighted with the tools that I had picked out for managing my paperless workflow. To my bitter surprise, OfficeDrop ScanDrop has recently started to crash on my and I suspect it may be due to a recent upgrade to 10.8.4.

Now, I have two points I would like to rise.

1. Does anybody know of any other software for post-processing scanned documents, with which I can rotate pages scaned upside down, remove non-desired pages, break down a chuck of scanned pages into multiple documents, Evernote integration, etc.

2. To what extend Apple can be accused of scam if, regardless of my multiple notifications, they still sell one app https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scandrop/id412518240?mt=12 which has no developer support at all, and which may be not compatible with their latest stable OS??
Elaborating more on this point, to what extend must they make sure the apps which are published on the store work ok (similar to the way the iOS App Store works)?

I would love to read your thoughts on whichever or both of the two topics.

Thanks a lot in advance,
 

MisterMe

macrumors G4
Jul 17, 2002
10,709
69
USA
Caveat emptor--buyer beware. For ScanDrop, Apple is the distributor/retailer. Apple is not the developer. You will notice that the very first customer review on the page that you linked to says that the product is no longer supported by its developer. Clicking on the developer's website link takes you to a new company.

You have abandonware. Welcome to the club. Abandonware is compatible with your system as long as your system is compatible with it. You have exactly the same choice as everyone else who uses abandonware. Stick with the system that is compatible with your abandonware or find a different application that is actively supported by its developer.

There are other applications from developers that we actually heard tell of that do what ScanDrop does and do it better.
 

onekerato

macrumors regular
Jun 6, 2011
222
1
1. Does anybody know of any other software for post-processing scanned documents, with which I can rotate pages scaned upside down, remove non-desired pages, break down a chuck of scanned pages into multiple documents, Evernote integration, etc.

Preview.app can rotate pages (CMD R shortcut, twice)

Preview.app can remove non-desired pages - select in thumbnail view, hit delete

Preview.app can extract a subset of scanned pages into another PDF - select pages in thumbnail view, drag into Finder to create a new PDF

Evernote integration - use an AppleScript to send selected PDF in Finder to a new note in Evernote (example here: http://dev.evernote.com/documentation/local/chapters/mac.php)
 

flynz4

macrumors 68040
Aug 9, 2009
3,242
126
Portland, OR
Hello,

for several months I've been delighted with the tools that I had picked out for managing my paperless workflow. To my bitter surprise, OfficeDrop ScanDrop has recently started to crash on my and I suspect it may be due to a recent upgrade to 10.8.4.

Now, I have two points I would like to rise.

1. Does anybody know of any other software for post-processing scanned documents, with which I can rotate pages scaned upside down, remove non-desired pages, break down a chuck of scanned pages into multiple documents, Evernote integration, etc.

2. To what extend Apple can be accused of scam if, regardless of my multiple notifications, they still sell one app https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scandrop/id412518240?mt=12 which has no developer support at all, and which may be not compatible with their latest stable OS??
Elaborating more on this point, to what extend must they make sure the apps which are published on the store work ok (similar to the way the iOS App Store works)?

I would love to read your thoughts on whichever or both of the two topics.

Thanks a lot in advance,

The gold standard of a paperless office is the Fujitsu ScanSnap scanner... along with DevonThink Pro Office.

The ScanSnap is amazing. It automatically does everything you mentioned about post processing including, blank page removal, auto rotate, full duplex (both sides at once), auto size detection, auto straighten any crooked scans, etc. It is just plain amazing. If I had a different sheet fed scanner... I would sell it and buy a Fujitsu.

I don't have time to discuss the virtues of Devon Think Pro Office. Search and you will see lots of testimonials. One key thing is that it will perform OCR on input... and your entire database will be searchable using DTPO's artificial intelligence engine.

/Jim
 

marc.garcia

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 26, 2010
131
2
The gold standard of a paperless office is the Fujitsu ScanSnap scanner... along with DevonThink Pro Office.

The ScanSnap is amazing. It automatically does everything you mentioned about post processing including, blank page removal, auto rotate, full duplex (both sides at once), auto size detection, auto straighten any crooked scans, etc. It is just plain amazing. If I had a different sheet fed scanner... I would sell it and buy a Fujitsu.

I don't have time to discuss the virtues of Devon Think Pro Office. Search and you will see lots of testimonials. One key thing is that it will perform OCR on input... and your entire database will be searchable using DTPO's artificial intelligence engine.

/Jim

Hello there, I own a ScanSnap S1500 and I'm extremely happy with it. It does everything you said but sometimes (credit card receipts) it mistakenly thinks that they are two sided when they are not... I would definitely get rid of any other scanner if it wasn't a ScanSnap. ScanDrop fitted nicely in my workflow as I could plough through large chunks of papers, and it allowed me to organise them once they were all scanned. How do you go about this? Fujitsu does not ship any cool software for that, do they?

I haven't looked into Devon Think, but I'm a convinced Evernote Pro user which also performs OCR of non searchable pdf documents. I would be interested to hear why you think DTPO beats Evernote Pro if you care to share, but I imagine I could look that up too.

Thanks a lot for your time :)

----------

Caveat emptor--buyer beware. For ScanDrop, Apple is the distributor/retailer. Apple is not the developer.
Yes, they do not develop the product, but they make some profit by selling it, don't they? Aren't they co-responsible if they advertise it on their Store? I made a reference to the iOS App Store. What happens in that case when your device is not compatible with the app they are selling? you cannot install the software unless you upgrade your device... if the Mac App Store is similar to the iOS App Store, why are they selling something it won't work with their latest most stable OS???

You will notice that the very first customer review on the page that you linked to says that the product is no longer supported by its developer. Clicking on the developer's website link takes you to a new company.
Yep, I realised that after I created this post. Another poor soul is also having a hard time...

You have abandonware. Welcome to the club. Abandonware is compatible with your system as long as your system is compatible with it. You have exactly the same choice as everyone else who uses abandonware. Stick with the system that is compatible with your abandonware or find a different application that is actively supported by its developer.

There are other applications from developers that we actually heard tell of that do what ScanDrop does and do it better.
Care to share? I would be very thankful!!

----------

Preview.app can rotate pages (CMD R shortcut, twice)

Preview.app can remove non-desired pages - select in thumbnail view, hit delete

Preview.app can extract a subset of scanned pages into another PDF - select pages in thumbnail view, drag into Finder to create a new PDF

Evernote integration - use an AppleScript to send selected PDF in Finder to a new note in Evernote (example here: http://dev.evernote.com/documentation/local/chapters/mac.php)
Thanks a lot for your brief but yet concise response. Those are the features I used to use the most with ScanDrop so those are great news indeed.
 

flynz4

macrumors 68040
Aug 9, 2009
3,242
126
Portland, OR
I haven't looked into Devon Think, but I'm a convinced Evernote Pro user which also performs OCR of non searchable pdf documents. I would be interested to hear why you think DTPO beats Evernote Pro if you care to share, but I imagine I could look that up too.

DevonThink Pro Office (DTPO) will create a new ScanSnap profile... and by default, all items scanned will go directly into DTPO. From there... the artificial intelligence of DTPO kicks in. I do not use every DTPO feature ... but I'll describe one small feature.

I created a hierarchy of nested folders for all paper that I choose to scan. For example: In the House folder... I'll have folders for utilities, mortgage, home repairs, etc. Under utilities, I'll have folders for: Gas, Electricity, Water, etc.

I initially created those when I started using DTPO as I scanned the first bill (or whatever). After a while... it remains "mostly static".

As you start using DTPO... it's artificial intelligence "knows" where things should be filed. I might wait till I have 100+ items in my inbox before I decide to catch up in my filing... and once I start filing, it just takes a few minutes to blow through all 100 documents. Lets say the top item in my inbox is an electric bill. DTPO shows the image... but it also shows a list of possible folders where it should be filed... along with relevance bars. The top choice (longest bar) is almost always the right one. You just click and the item is filed... and then the next document is the inbox is displayed along with relevance bars. You can file documents away almost as fast as you can click your mouse.

As you use it more... it gets better and better. For example... we have two Toyota Prius' that are the same year and model. At first, DTPO might give ambiguous suggestions... but over time, it was smart enough to figure out that they had different VIN numbers... so now it almost always suggests the correct folder. Similarly... my wife and I have the same primary care physician. DTPO figures it out.

You can also let DTPO auto-file if you want. I have not done that. Partially, because it is fun to see how good it is. ;)

/Jim
 

juandanielserra

macrumors newbie
Sep 1, 2008
16
1
marc.garcia : I hear you!

My scandrop started crashing as well whenever I scan anything that is 2 or more pages (it still handles 1-page docs perfectly). As you, I could not reach developers. I've tried to fix the issue by unisntalling, removing folders, etc. but have had no luck so far.

Neither have I had any luck finding a replacement. The workflow was perfect for me, as the scans I do either go to evernote or go to some local folder, and ScanDrop did this beautifully.

I have been looking for a replacement and are now on the trial of DevonThink Pro Office because everyone else seems to be in love with it. Me...well, learning curve IS steep, and I don't really know how to start, as it apparently does everything.

flynz4, your descriptions seems about right as it sounds simple enough. Can the groups you refer too be automatically mirrored to a folder structure? I need this because my workflow involves folder sharing and syncing using sugarsync, so I really need those folders, files and structure!

Also...Fujitsu has this page with some (all?) the software that supports the scansnap. I have taken a look at some of them and some seem overkill for what I need, some are just a way to edit the pdf after scan and seem a little bit limited. Maybe another set of eyes can help in finding something?

http://scansnapcommunity.com/marketplace/

Have a great day!

Juan
 
Last edited:

marc.garcia

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 26, 2010
131
2
DevonThink Pro Office (DTPO) will create a new ScanSnap profile... and by default, all items scanned will go directly into DTPO. From there... the artificial intelligence of DTPO kicks in. I do not use every DTPO feature ... but I'll describe one small feature.

I created a hierarchy of nested folders for all paper that I choose to scan. For example: In the House folder... I'll have folders for utilities, mortgage, home repairs, etc. Under utilities, I'll have folders for: Gas, Electricity, Water, etc.

I initially created those when I started using DTPO as I scanned the first bill (or whatever). After a while... it remains "mostly static".

As you start using DTPO... it's artificial intelligence "knows" where things should be filed. I might wait till I have 100+ items in my inbox before I decide to catch up in my filing... and once I start filing, it just takes a few minutes to blow through all 100 documents. Lets say the top item in my inbox is an electric bill. DTPO shows the image... but it also shows a list of possible folders where it should be filed... along with relevance bars. The top choice (longest bar) is almost always the right one. You just click and the item is filed... and then the next document is the inbox is displayed along with relevance bars. You can file documents away almost as fast as you can click your mouse.

As you use it more... it gets better and better. For example... we have two Toyota Prius' that are the same year and model. At first, DTPO might give ambiguous suggestions... but over time, it was smart enough to figure out that they had different VIN numbers... so now it almost always suggests the correct folder. Similarly... my wife and I have the same primary care physician. DTPO figures it out.

You can also let DTPO auto-file if you want. I have not done that. Partially, because it is fun to see how good it is. ;)

/Jim

I really appreciate the description provided. DTPO sounds like a good idea. I'll see if I can find sometime this summer to look into it.

After reading your post, I have the feeling that DTPO is more an alternative to Evernote than to ScanDrop, am I wrong?

Truth is that considering DTPO at this moment sounds like a lot of hassle as I have somewhat 1500 notes in Evernote already. Do you use Evernote as well? If so, would you mind if I PM you? I would be interested to hear how you use both applications, and specially how you go about accessing your notes on the go.

Thanks for bringing up DTPO!! :)
 

marc.garcia

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 26, 2010
131
2
Thanks a lot for your brief but yet concise response. Those are the features I used to use the most with ScanDrop so those are great news indeed.
Hi again,
I can confirm that worked just fine. I was able to do some simple editing on the scanned chunk of mixed papers I fed my ScanSnap. I must say, however, that I feel the whole process was too clunky and I miss ScanSnap a lot. Yet, apple continues to sell it on their Mac App Store. If I purchased the product right now, and found it didn't work, I would get pretty annoyed
 

flynz4

macrumors 68040
Aug 9, 2009
3,242
126
Portland, OR
flynz4, your descriptions seems about right as it sounds simple enough. Can the groups you refer too be automatically mirrored to a folder structure? I need this because my workflow involves folder sharing and syncing using sugarsync, so I really need those folders, files and structure!

I also share our document database with my wife. I have DTPO installed on both of our machines. DTPO has a "sync" feature where multiple machines can sync their databases together. I have our set to do it hourly. Either of us can open and use DTPO on our own machine... and we each have 100% of the documents local. Any changes made on either machine replicate over to the other.

I personally do not do any sharing beyond that.

I really appreciate the description provided. DTPO sounds like a good idea. I'll see if I can find sometime this summer to look into it.

After reading your post, I have the feeling that DTPO is more an alternative to Evernote than to ScanDrop, am I wrong?

Truth is that considering DTPO at this moment sounds like a lot of hassle as I have somewhat 1500 notes in Evernote already. Do you use Evernote as well? If so, would you mind if I PM you? I would be interested to hear how you use both applications, and specially how you go about accessing your notes on the go.

Thanks for bringing up DTPO!! :)

I used Evernote for a while (That is the one with the green elephant right?). I originally bought it so that I could share my motes across my iMac, MBA, iPad, and iPhone. I found it to be a clunky program and I eventually deleted it from all of my machines.

Hi again,
I can confirm that worked just fine. I was able to do some simple editing on the scanned chunk of mixed papers I fed my ScanSnap. I must say, however, that I feel the whole process was too clunky and I miss ScanSnap a lot. Yet, apple continues to sell it on their Mac App Store. If I purchased the product right now, and found it didn't work, I would get pretty annoyed

I am confused. Apple doesn't sell ScanSnap on the MAS... it is a piece of hardware, not an application. Are you talking about ScanSnap or ScanDrop?

/Jim
 

marc.garcia

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 26, 2010
131
2
I am confused. Apple doesn't sell ScanSnap on the MAS... it is a piece of hardware, not an application. Are you talking about ScanSnap or ScanDrop?
Jim, sorry that it has taken me this long to answer. I had totally forgot about it :(

I'm on Mac OS 10.8.5 now and ScanDrop seems to be working fine. Do give it a try and see if it works now for you too...

It is a relieve because I don't need to revert to Preview.app and fumble around with it hoping not to modify my workflow too much... But at the same time I'm concerned because OSX 10.9 is around the corner and I fear ScanDrop may again crash on it.

And yes, I was referring to ScanDrop earlier :)
 
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