Scansnap profile

[Al from WS 0]

I have an S1500 which comes with predefined EN profiles. Part of the profile includes an "Image saving folder" and I have setup a path.

When I scan a dcoument, a copy goes to the "Image saving folder" and EN seems to further process the file and store it in EN.

Do I need to save the file in the "Image saving folder"?

My thoughts are

Pros- backup copy of pdf's and jpeg's

if I left EN, all files are already exported

Cons- requires 2x the diskspace

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

I have an S1500 which comes with predefined EN profiles. Part of the profile includes an "Image saving folder" and I have setup a path.

When I scan a dcoument, a copy goes to the "Image saving folder" and EN seems to further process the file and store it in EN.

Do I need to save the file in the "Image saving folder"?

My thoughts are

Pros- backup copy of pdf's and jpeg's

if I left EN, all files are already exported

Cons- requires 2x the diskspace

hello. i have all of my scanned stuff sent to one folder. before i load them into evernote, i make sure i have named them (see this post for details http://www.princeton.edu/~cmayo/minimalistorganization.html) and done ocr on them. once they are in evernote, i delete the files. why?

i used to keep copies of the file in one location and copies in evernote, but i realized that as long as i am backing up my evernote database regularly (highly recommended) it is all there already. if you are using a mac, then you are lucky, because evernote's database is accessible to spotlight, and you can actually search for these files anytime, whether you are in evernote or not.

[Al from WS 0]

Hi GM-

Thanks for the response. I'm new to EN and trying to establish a workflow. Now I select the EN profile for the scanner, and scan the document. Since the scanner profile knows the application is EN, the scanned file is processed and added to EN. It does give me a chance to rename during the process. OCR is one of the profile options.

I am working on a Mac. The scanner came with Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro. I've read other discussions about optimizing pdf with Adobe, but not sure of the benefit. I'm not sure if I have OCR software or if it is part of Adobe or EN. I can easily change the scanner porfile to pdf which would eliminate the EN processing, but not sure how to process the pdf's into EN.

Can you provide more detail about your workflow?

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

Hi GM-

Thanks for the response. I'm new to EN and trying to establish a workflow. Now I select the EN profile for the scanner, and scan the document. Since the scanner profile knows the application is EN, the scanned file is processed and added to EN. It does give me a chance to rename during the process. OCR is one of the profile options.

I am working on a Mac. The scanner came with Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro. I've read other discussions about optimizing pdf with Adobe, but not sure of the benefit. I'm not sure if I have OCR software or if it is part of Adobe or EN. I can easily change the scanner porfile to pdf which would eliminate the EN processing, but not sure how to process the pdf's into EN.

Can you provide more detail about your workflow?

Hi. As I understand it, Adobe Acrobat Pro 9 is bundled into the ScanSnap software and only works in a limited fashion with PDFs produced through the ScanSnap scanner. For most people, this is fine. However, in my case, I scan using various devices, and I sometimes need finer control over the process.

Basically, I have five steps: scan, ocr, name, drag, trash. On the ScanSnap I scan into a folder I have called ScanSnap. I usually do this in batches, so I end up with maybe ten or twenty PDFs. Then, I open up each PDF, perform OCR, and save it with a new name (see previous link). Finally, I drag these files into Evernote. Because I don't use notebooks or tags (see http://www.princeton.edu/~cmayo/evernote-organization.html), that's all I have to do with Evernote. I toss the PDFs in the trash after I have synced.

Regular people without mulitple languages in documents (I sometimes have Japanese, Chinese, English, or Portuguese) can probably just do three steps: scan/ocr/name, drag, trash. I would definitely use ScanSnap to OCR, because the results will be immediate (Evernote takes a little time -- no one knows how much), the results will be searchable with Spotlight on your Mac (actually, I use HoudahSpot for my searches), and you can be sure the OCR will occur (Evernote will not OCR some PDFs https://support.evernote.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=591&hitOffset=297+269+215+204+199+87+54+38+27+23+9&docID=12656). I think there is a setting where you can scan directly into EN, so you could conceivably reduce this to two steps: scan -> trash.

As for optimization, this is usually unnecessary. I only do it if I have files larger than 50mb, and in these cases, I always keep a copy of the original somewhere, because there is some degredation involved. I bet there is free software out there that can do this, but I use Adobe Acrobat Pro 10 (purchased separately).

As an addendum, published works (books, journal articles, and other "sources") are an exception to this workflow. I do save these separately before putting the files into evernote. This is because I am digitizing my dead-tree-book library, and I would like to have those all in one place. It makes research easier. Otherwise, anything else (bills, handwritten notes, handouts, pamphlets, etc.) all get scanned, put into Evernote, and tossed away.

[jbenson2 2,147]

I used to keep the 2nd PDF copy but after building up a huge amount of them, I decided to delete all the ones that were created in 2011 or before.

Why?

1.) I never used them

2.) They are easier to find in Evernote

3.) I backup up the Evernote .exb file regularly. (for Windows)

4.) I let ScanSnap do the OCR, so I don't need to rely on Evernote's OCR (I can pull the PDF + it is still OCR'd)

5.) Evernote's new ability to rename files means I can name them once they are in Evernote.

6.) Saves a lot of disk space

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

I used to keep the 2nd PDF copy but after building up a huge amount of them, I decided to delete all the ones that were created in 2011 or before.

Why?

1.) I never used them

2.) They are easier to find in Evernote

3.) I backup up the Evernote .exb file regularly. (for Windows)

4.) I let ScanSnap do the OCR, so I don't need to rely on Evernote's OCR (I can pull the PDF + it is still OCR'd)

5.) Evernote's new ability to rename files means I can name them once they are in Evernote.

6.) Saves a lot of disk space

#5 is a big deal. It may change my workflow. I don't know yet, but at least I know I have the option to change the file name later. By the way, if you intend to use the filename attribute to search for things while in Evernote (it is an advanced search function), you'll be helping yourself out a lot by standardizing your naming practices.

[Al from WS 0]

jbenson2 & GM-

Thanks, that was great input. I'm one step closer to going paperless.

[GrumpyMonkey 4,319]

jbenson2 & GM-

Thanks, that was great input. I'm one step closer to going paperless.

glad we could help. good luck!