Questions from new user to Evernote and ScanSnap

[DYP 0]

I am new to both Evernote and Scansnap and trying to make sure I get started correctly as I prepare to scan all my documents into Evernote.  Goal for me, as many others, is to finally relieve my office of clutter which consists of piles of documents. 

 

I am using a Mac and SnapScan S1300i.

 

1.  I've read from different sources that I should turn off (uncheck) the option under ScanSnap to "Convert to Searchable PDF" since Evernote will do this automatically in the backend.  Some sources say I should have this option turned on.  Which is correct?

 

 

2.  I am assuming that for speed sake, I will be scanning in different documents at the same time in a single batch.  If I choose "Scan to Evernote (Documents)", it seems to create a single PDF containing all the different documents.  Scanning in the next batch creates another PDF with multiple documents.  Is this how Evernote/ScanSnap works?   I guess I was expecting to be able to go through a process separate documents once scanned in. Is this not the case?

 

Thank you.  Please let me know if I need to clarify my questions since I'm eager to get this started.

 

David

 

 

 

 

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

1) This depends. The difference is whether the PDF is an image of text, or if it is actual text. The difference is that actual text can be selected, highlighted, etc in a conventional PDF viewer. Its contents are also searchable in other applications. With image of text PDFs on the other hand, the text cannot be selected or highlighted. 

 

Both types of PDFs are searchable in Evernote (premium). The downside to "Convert to searchable PDF" is that it slows the process down considerably. Either way it is searchable in Evernote (premium). It may also be the case that another software package (e.g., Adobe Acrobat) may be better or more accurate at performing this task than the scansnap software. 

 

2) Someone with experience with that specific scanner might have to chime in. As far as I know this is a scanner/scansnap software thing, not so much an Evernote thing, since the Evernote application isn't responsible for the operation of the scanner. 

 

Scanners cannot tell if two pages belong to the same document or not (because scanners are dumb and do not know the contents of the page and whether those contents are related to the contents it is about to scan next). As such most scanners offer two settings: 1) Each page is its own document 2) Every page is part of the same document. 

 

It sounds like you want each page to be its own document. This should be something you can change in the scansnap software. 

[gazumped 11,667]

I've processed quite a few documents through a ScanSnap S1500 and Windows,  but the basic principles are pretty much the same.  I prefer to scan to a folder on my hard drive because I can then name my files properly according to my own system - this reflects in the note name when the document is eventually imported.  I don't scan to searchable PDF,  but I do OCR my own files in batches in that folder to be searchable.  It saves time when I'm scanning to do this in bulk,  and I know the job's done.  I scan one document to a file - I have a ScanSnap Manager app sitting on my desktop that offers that sort of option.

[bduncan 49]

1) I personally recommend turning it on. That way the PDF will be searchable even if you decide to take it out of Evernote. There is no "right" answer though.

2) Scott is right. You can either have the ScanSnap set up to either scan everything in one PDF (so in that case, some people scan one document at a time), or you can have it set up to create a new PDF every x pages. What I personally do is have different ScanSnap Manager Profiles set up for the type of document I am scanning (everything in one PDF, stack of single sided documents, stack of double sided documents), but again there is no right way.