Why Get a Scanner?
There are many reasons why you might want to invest in a scanner. Maybe you want to digitize your old photos so you can share them with friends, maybe you need to scan contracts and other documents for your small business, or maybe you’re going the whole hog and building a digital filing system to cut down on the amount of paper files you have to keep. Whatever you reason a scanner can be one of the most useful tools you can buy for your home or office.
What are Desktop Scanners
A desktop scanner is the name used for a scanner that sits on your desktop, as opposed to a small bar code type scanner. There are two main designs of desktop scanner, each better at a different role:
Flat bed Scanners
These look like small photocopying machines with a flat glass screen and a hinged lid above. The document to be scanned is placed face down on the glass and the lid closed. There are many manufactuers of this kind of scanner including all the large printer manufacturers with Canon’s CanoScan range being particularly popular.
Feeder Desktop Scanners
This kind of scanner has a feeder like a fax machine. You feed in the documents at the top (such as receipts, invoices, business cards, documents) and they scan through the machine and are passed out at the bottom. This kind of scanner is perfect for organising large quantities of documents and is often bundled with some kind of digital file system software. One of the most popular makes of this kind of desktop scanner is NeatDesk.