By Robin Owens 10 days ago, Scanners
What are the best OCR scanners to buy this year?
If you are making research to select the best scanner for your office, you have probably heard about OCR technology. OCR means Optical Character Recognition.
A scanner with OCR software significantly simplifies the paperwork, as it ensures quality document scanning, which is essential in converting paper documents into digital ones. Nowadays OCR software is powerful, quick, and precise, that is why the OCR handheld scanners are becoming more and more popular.
Imagine that you are in a situation when you need to digitalize a paper book or magazine. It means, that you have to scan the whole book! The task looks rather challenging without special equipment, like an OCR scanner. We have prepared a brief review of the most decent models so that you can select the best OCR scanner for your needs.
Optical scan resolution: 600dpi | Scanning speed: 7.5ppm | Interface: USB | Feeder capacity: 1
⊕ Superior OCR accuracy
⊕ Two-sided scanning
⊕ User-friendly software interface
⊕ No need to use a power cord
⊖ Not fast enough
⊖ High price
⊖ Needs a computer
The first OCR document scanner we have tested is Xerox Duplex Travel Scanner. For some users, this device may seem a bit slow, but it offers a range of significant advantages, which appeal to the majority. With this machine, you will enjoy perfectly precise scanning, even two-sided scanning if necessary. However, the everyday operating cycle of this Travel Scanner is only 100 scans, while some more expensive models offer 500 scans a day. Another good thing about this OCR scanner is that you won’t be confused with complicated controls, as there is only a power button.
To start the machine, you only have to insert a page in the front. The page gets between the scanning sensors and then comes out at the back of the scanner. If you need to scan more than one page, it will take some time.
Optical scan resolution: 1200 dpi | Scanning speed: 176ppm | Interface: USB | Feeder capacity: 120
⊕ High-speed scanning, saving to PDF
⊕ Excellent OCR preciseness
⊕ 10,000-page everyday operating cycle
⊖ Price above average
⊖ Slower than other models in this price range
Visioneer Patriot H80 is a wonderful scanner with OCR software. This machine is faster and scans with more precision, compared with the competitors. Among the sheet-feed document scanners, this device outstands for its superior speed and excellent accuracy. These features make Patriot H80 a perfect choice for small and medium-sized offices if you are ready to pay for the speed.
We should also mention decent scanner produced by Visioneer, the Patriot H60, which may be a good alternative, considering its more affordable price and similar performance.
Optical scan resolution: 600 dpi | Scanning speed: 35 ppm | Interface: USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi | Feeder capacity: 50
⊕ Image-optimization functions
⊕ Universal compatibility
⊕ Adjustable color touch screen
⊕ Extremely precise OCR
⊖ CD disk isn’t provided
Users, who work with Apple devices, highly appreciate the elegant white corps of the Brother ADS-2700W. Its fancy design is supplemented with an LCD screen that is very helpful for controlling the machine.
If you are looking for a light and portable OCR scanner, this one may be your best choice, as it weighs only 5,8 lbs. A lot of students and office workers opt for this model, as it has wireless connection, superior speed, LCD control panel, and long paper scanning support.
Optical scan resolution: 600 dpi | Scanning speed: 25 ppm | Interface: USB | Feeder capacity: 35
⊕ Solid set of software
⊕ Compact and lightweight
⊕ Reasonable price
⊕ Simple installation, quick start
⊖ No wireless or mobile connection
It’s hard to find a person, who has never heard of Xerox, one of the most reliable manufacturers in the digital market. The Xerox Duplex Combo Scanner is a powerful machine, which combines the features of a flatbed and a sheet-feed scanner, supplemented by sophisticated software.
Before you used to scan separate text pages with a sheet feed document device with an ADF, and had to resort to a flatbed for fragile pages, books, or magazines. Now this adventure is over as selecting the Xerox Duplex Combo, you will have a two-in-one scanner with OCR capabilities.
Optical scan resolution: 1200 dpi | Scanning speed: 20 ppm | Interface: USB | Feeder capacity: 50
⊕ Affordable
⊕ Flatbed with 50-sheet ADF
⊕ A full pack of software
⊖ Is not fast enough when scanning to searchable PDF
Another example of a decent combination of a flatbed with a sheet-feed scanner. This OCR document scanner is equipped with an ADF, which ensures quality scanning of piles of papers, as well as thick items or delicate ones.
The software is irreproachable, containing a scan utility and drivers, tools for document management, OCR, and programs for editing photos. The only downside we see is the speed of scanning to searchable PDF, which seems not fast enough. But if you change the color mode in settings, the speed will be higher.
Optical scan resolution: 600 dpi | Scanning speed: 17ppm | Interface: USB | Feeder capacity: 50
⊕ Irreproachable .NET client programming interface
⊕ Works as Document Store
⊕ Excellent recognizing performance
⊖ CD disk is not provided
⊖ No wireless or mobile connection
This OCR scanner is a great device both for home and office use. It can scan up to 17 pages a minute, offers a two-sided scanning and an ADF for 50 sheets of paper. You won’t have to pre-install a set of software to begin scanning to the cloud, e-mail, fax, USB drive, shared folder, or FTP.
You can select the quality you need between the offered options of 200-600DPI. It is very easy to control the device with the help of an LCD screen. Optimal scanning performance is guaranteed by the system of preventing crooked pages and automatic blank page removal. The optical character recognition (OCR) ensures the searchability of the PDF documents, detecting both printed and handwritten text.
Optical scan resolution: 600 dpi | Scanning speed: 35 ppm | Interface: USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi | Feeder capacity: 50
⊕ Reasonable maintenance costs
⊕ Irreproachable print quality
⊕ Broad paper capacity
⊕ Smooth and comfortable ADF
⊖ Not as fast as competitors
If monochrome printing is what you are looking for, Epson WorkForce Pro WF-M5799 will be the best OCR scanner. This machine fully satisfies the needs of small and medium-sized offices.
Although it is monochrome, the most reasonable maintenance costs and superior quality make this model a very good choice from a long-term perspective. The majority of laser printers require more investments than their inkjet competitors.
Optical scan resolution: 600dpi | Scanning speed: 30ppm | Interface: USB, Wi-Fi | Feeder capacity: 50
⊕ Great OCR preciseness
⊕ User-friendly
⊕ Universal compatibility
⊖ No Ethernet
Choosing between OCR handheld scanners for home or a small office, pay attention to the Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1500. You will appreciate its quick and accurate performance and the most user-friendly software. The device is equipped with a 50-sheet ADF, designed for the page length from the normal 11 inches to the long 118,1 inches.
Thanks to this special feature, you will be able to scan the longest document without any problem. Although it is possible to find a scanner with a wider range of features, or a more attractive price, a lot of users still opt for this Fujitsu model.
Optical scan resolution: 275 dpi | Scanning speed: 30 ppm | Interface: USB | Feeder capacity: 1
⊕ Reasonably-priced
⊕ Damaged pages are corrected automatically
⊕ Quick scanning
⊖ You should learn how to use the software
⊖ Keep away from light
This OCR document scanner with fancy matte-black color appeals to many users. The scanner is composed of a base and a vertical pillar with an arm, containing lights and the scan unit. Its dimensions are 15,4x8,7x14,8 inches, and the weight is 3,3 pounds.
The model is equipped with extra lights unlike its predecessor. Also, there is a small display on the top, which enables you to see the picture of the scanned object. CZUR ET16 Plus offers a standard area of scanning, sized 11,5x16,5 inches, and a resolution of 250DPI.
| Image | Name | Features | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Xerox XTS-D
Our choice |
CHECK PRICE → | |
 |
Visioneer Patriot H80
Professional |
CHECK PRICE → | |
 |
Brother ADS-2700W
Budget |
CHECK PRICE → |
All the OCR handheld scanners may be grouped into two categories: text input and data input. The text input machines are mainly used for scanning the whole documents, as they can scan large packs of documents. Concerning the data input machines, they perform great when it is necessary to scan repetitive data in a document and do some formatting.
The optical resolution is a very important characteristic of an OCR scanner. It is measured in DPI (dots per inch) and shows how many pixels a scanner can capture. Usually, it is considered that the higher the DPI number, the better the device. Be aware that the majority of scanners allow you to set the preferable DPI. Select the one with the highest resolution.
The color depth or bit depth shows how much information a scanner can capture in one pixel. The higher the depth is, the better the color gradations will be recorded. So, a high color depth means that a machine can record and store large files precisely. A 24-bit OCR document scanner ensures superior performance and is absolutely great for office use, although you should know that some models offer a color depth of 48 bits.
Dynamic range is also called density range or optical density (OD). This feature shows how good a scanner records a variety of tones. Many machines have a logarithmic scale from 0 to 4. 0 means an excellent white, 4 stands for irreproachable black. In general terms, density range shows the brightest and the darkest recordings captured by your OCR scanner. Scanners for common use may have no dynamic range ratings. Nevertheless, we recommend choosing the model with an OD rating of about 3.0.
Scanning speed is one more important feature to consider, while you are choosing the best OCR scanner. If you are going to use a machine to scan large piles of documents regularly, the speed really matters. But if you are not planning to do so, and only will make a scan or two occasionally, this characteristic shouldn’t be decisive for you.
Most of the modern scanners are provided with USB or SCSI. We recommend to consider the speed and efficiency of data and image transfer, check the connection interface to make sure it is easy and comfortable to use.
Turning your paper document flow into a digital one is a challenging task, so it is important to select a scanner wisely. Modern scanners are high-tech and are provided with sophisticated software. Thanks to the Optical Character Recognition technology, scanners now have better performance. An OCR scanner will not only provide you with the quality picture of a document but will make it editable, which simplifies the process of digitizing.
But be careful to select the office machine that best corresponds to your needs. Pay attention to the specifications and the functions of a scanner, select the proper qualities to feel satisfied using the machine.
Yes. There is a FreeOCR for Windows, which also works for the majority of TWAIN scanners, opens scanned PDF documents, TIFF images, and other common image formats. This software is powered by the latest Tesseract OCR engine (v.3.01)
We recommend using Easy Screen OCR, relying on a cloud-based engine with Google-powered recognition. But check if you can provide a stable Internet connection to ensure the smooth work of this software.
Yes. Windows 10 has its preinstalled OCR software, which may be used by all native applications, for example, the Photo Scan application.
