Fujitsu just sent me the brand-new ScanSnap S1500, a major revision its popular line of document scanners. I bought my old Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 in early 2006, when I made the switch to a paperless law office. Since then, I have been recommending it to everyone.
The new S1500 is better-looking, faster, comes with updated software, and sticks to the ScanSnap formula: efficient and easy to use. For solo practitioners or small offices, a ScanSnap (or a few of them) is still the best option.
Here is what I think of the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 after spending an afternoon playing with it.
S1500 Form Factor
The S1500 (and S1500M for Mac) is a major update to the form factor. As you can see from the picture, this iteration of the ScanSnap is sleeker and more modern-looking. I like the new look.
As I note in the video, below, the S1500 does seem slightly taller, but the new “catch tray” is my only complaint (well, besides the fact that Fujitsu does not support Linux). It seems decidedly flimsier than the tray on my old scanner. I think it will probably hold up pretty well, but as you can see in the video, it does have quite a lot of give to it.
Fujitsu ScanSnap Bundled Software
Like all Fujitsu ScanSnap scanners, the new model comes bundled with Adobe Acrobat Standard 9 (PC) and Adobe Acrobat Professional 8 (Mac). For a paperless office, Acrobat is not strictly necessary, but it is very useful. Plus, Acrobat Standard is a $300 piece of software, while Acrobat Professional for Mac is normally $500, making the $459 (ScanSnap on Amazon) a pretty good deal.
The ScanSnap Manager is a useful scanning utility. I have it set to automatically detect color and double-sided pages, recognize text on the first page (for speed), and simply ask me where to save the file. It makes scanning quick and easy.
For, for scanning a stack of photos I had lying around, I just set the ScanSnap Manager to automatically name and save each photo to my pictures directory. I plowed through a few shoeboxes in about a half hour.
The scanner also comes with a few other bits of software, including a PDF organizer and a business card utility. I don’t use any of those, though, so I cannot comment on them.
S1500 Scanning
What really matters, of course, is how well the thing scans.
The S1500 is significantly faster than my old ScanSnap. As you can see in the video that follows, scanning five pages took 20 seconds on the old scanner, or about 15 ppm. The new scanner did the same pages with the same settings in only 15 seconds, making it about 20 ppm, a significant improvement.
Fujitsu ScanSnap scanners are meant to simplify scanning. They scan both sides of the page at the same time, and automatically detect double-sided pages and different sizes of paper, and the bundled software can automatically recognize the text in the documents.
All it takes to scan a stack of paper is a press of the big, blue button. This is especially useful for big stacks of discovery production. I just hit the button and let the scanner do the work.
In several years with my S510, the scanner would occasionally pick up two sheets at a time, so it pays to keep an eye on the scanner. It looks like the pick assembly is similar on the S1500, so I will keep an eye on it, just in case.
Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 in action
Here is a short video showing the relative speed of the S510 and the new S1500, along with a side-by-side look at the two scanners:
Conclusion
Like I said in the video clip, the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 is a great upgrade. It feels like the same scanner as my old S510, just better. And since I had no complaints, and lots of good things to say about my old scanner, that is a very good thing.
Update: Since the comments have gotten so long, I summed up the questions in a FAQ. Please read it first if you have any questions.
Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500 | Amazon
Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500M (for Mac) | Amazon
Sam Glover is a business and consumer rights lawyer and the creator of Lawyerist.
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Dear Sam:
I’m a regular reader of your blog. Thanks for your review of the ScanSnap S1500. I’m an immigration lawyer, and I need to scan a lot of passports. Can the S1500 do that without mangling them?
Thanks for reading!
I don’t think a passport would fit through the auto feeder. I can do drivers’ licenses without much trouble, but it is not designed for anything much thicker than that.
I will give it a try today, though, and post the result.
Sam–
Thanks for the information. It’s not clear from the post if you purchased the scanner or whether Fujitsu provided it to you for free. It makes a difference to me (and maybe others) if you clarify that.
Thanks!
Sorry, I meant to give that away with the first sentence. Fujitsu sent me the scanner to review. I was thrilled to get it, since I have owned a ScanSnap (that I purchased) for the last three years, and I frequently recommend them to anyone who will listen.
We are hoping the makers of the NeatDesk scanner will send us a test unit, as well, so we can compare the two. It seems to be the main competitor, but I have never had a chance to use it.
Optical recognition software. Does it come with any?
By scanning a document I am giving up my ability to use my tactile memory to find information. I would need the ability to search the text to go paperless.
Second note. I purchased a Brother MFC-7840W for $239. It lets me scan multiple documents at once, print, fax from a USB, ethernet or 802.11 connection. The scanner has an autofeed and a flatbed option if one needs to scan a passport or a a stack of papers. It did not come with OCR software (Mac).
The PC version comes with ABBY FineReader. I do not use it, as the ScanSnap Manager uses Acrobat’s built-in OCR.
If you do go paperless, that does not mean you have to give up all paper. Print it out, if you want to or need to.
The problem with most multifunctions is that they will not scan duplex. I think the Brother may, though. If it works for you, go with it.
Also, a Fujitsu consultant assures me that the ScanSnap can handle a passport. I haven’t tried it yet, though, since my passport is buried somewhere at home.
My ScanSnap for Mac came with ABBY. It seems to work about the same as the Acrobat OCR; I tend not to use the ABBY because then I have to wait for it to finish OCR before I scan the next document, and typically I scan a series of docs one after another. If I OCR a large document using Acrobat, I can do other things while it’s doing its thing.
Plus, even though I love 2 sided scanning, occasionally ScanSnap will pick up a page as two-sided that really isn’t, such as if ink from the front side bled to the back. So, I have to open the doc in Acrobat to get rid of any extra pages anyway.
One hidden benefit of Acrobat OCR (maybe others) that few people seem to mention: it will straighten pages that have been fed slightly crooked through the scanner. Helps when forwarding documents to others that you want to look professional.
does the new one handle wider pages than that s510? i have trouble scanning some magazine pages on my s510 that are a bit too wide
No, it has the same size document feeder. It goes to about 9″ wide, I think, just like the old one.
I just got my s510m and can return it to amazon to get the new one, but I’m trying to figure out if it really is that much better than the s510m, enough to warrant an extra $81. Besides speed and looks, what is different? Does it autocorrect for crooked papers better? Does it better handle a stack of multiple sizes of pages? What’s different?
The only differences I notice are speed, looks, and the newer version of Adobe Acrobat.
I think the faster scanning is worth something extra, as is the newer software. On balance, I would probably get the S1500, but I think you will be good either way.
Does it work with Ubuntu? If so, do all the features work (i.e., duplex scanning). If not do you have a recommended duplex scanner for Ubuntu users?
Yes, it works fine with Ubuntu (read this caveat). I don’t like any of the Linux scanning utilities, though, so I use the ScanSnap Manager in Windows running in VirtualBox.
Sam, would you mind providing some comment on using the ScanSnap scanner when running Ubuntu. I’m trying to move away from Windows and at the same time I want to buy the S1500. How do you handle this ?
Thanks in advance for your comments
I think I answered that in the comment right above you. The best Ubuntu scanning utility, in my opinion, is Gscan2PDF. It’s decent, but still nowhere near the push-button convenience of the ScanSnap Manager.
For me, scanning is Ubuntu’s main weak spot for business. It is compatible with just about everything out there; but there are no good, simple utilities to manage the hardware. I end up running Windows in VirtualBox for the ScanSnap Manager and Acrobat.
Thanks much for the quick answer. Sorry I missed the Q&A above. I started reading from the top down and didn’t get all the way to the bottom. Just jumped to the comment box assuming I had a unique question.
Thanks again
Sam–Thanks for following up on the passport issue.
any suggestions on mac software to go with the scanner that will archive the digital documents for easy retrieval.
Computers are built to organize documents, and they have been built that way since the beginning of computers. Software for this purpose is just redundant, and does not really enhance the built-in options.
Indexed search was once a good reason to use add-on document management software. But if you have a Mac, Spotlight works better than any of those.
The ability to tag and categorize documents in other ways is about the only thing left. That can be useful for certain document-intensive cases, but it probably does not make sense to do it for every case. For that, you might want to try DEVONthink. Merlin Mann likes it, anyway.
The software that comes with the ScanSnap, in addition to having a pretty friendly file-naming interface, also allows the user to customize the default name assigned to each scan (the default is a series of numbers that reflect the date and time of the scan). In the ScanSnap menu, go to “Settings,” “Save” then “File Name Format.”
Also, when scanning multiple documents for the same client or matter, if you are using a unique file name that has to be typed in for each scan, the “history” button will show you the last 10 documents you named. You can choose a similar name and then only edit part of it, instead of repeatedly typing the whole thing.
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