Cavb.org is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

Best Scanners For Macs For Home Use Of 2024

Brandon Forder
  Apr 23, 2024 6:36 PM

The quality of a scanner is always the first concern when trying to find the best scanner for Windows or Mac. You want something that has the best possible features and functions.

If you then consider cost, you will have located the optimal scanner for your needs. The catch is, however, that there is one!

Although most scanners are Windows-compatible, not all are Apple-friendly. Here are the top five scanners for Mac, chosen from among the few that are up to par.


Compare Products

Last update on 2024-04-23 / Affiliate links / Images, Product Titles, and Product Highlights from Amazon Product Advertising API


Buying Guide

Compatibility with Mac

It's a must-have feature for any Mac user looking for a scanner. Now more than ever, you can get a document scanner that works with both Windows and Mac computers, thanks to the wide availability of cross-platform software.

Scanning Speed

A document scanner's speed can be expressed in two ways: pages per minute and pictures per minute. Paper refers to a sheet containing images on both sides, while a page might have either blank or printed sides.

Variations in scanning time are possible depending on factors such as paper size, resolution settings, and whether you opt for a grayscale, black-and-white, or color scan.

Finding a scanner with a faster scanning speed is essential if you need to scan a lot of paper.

Duty Cycle

The duty cycle indicates the maximum number of pages per day that a scanner can handle before overheating or breaking down.

In most cases, a duty cycle of 500 pages per day is adequate for home and light-volume office use. However, if you are searching for much more scanned papers, you may wish to buy on a heavy-duty cycle scanner.

So the scanner doesn’t wear down early, or the system won’t overheat.

Ultrasonic Double-Feed Detection

It is another crucial feature to look into a document scanner. If the feature detects that you are trying to feed many pages at once, it will sound an alarm.

Because of the need, more and more scanner makers are including this function into their products.

Scan Enhancement Functions 

The most up-to-date capabilities of the scanners allow for instantaneous optimization of the scan for maximum clarity and readability, revealing even the finest of details. Automatic image processing, auto dolor detection, page size detection, picture rotation, background removal, and deskew and rotation are only a few of the most often used capabilities of scan enhancement.

Connectivity Options

The portable scanners can connect to the internet through USB, Ethernet, or WiFi. Almost all scanners have USB ports because USB is the industry standard for connectivity. The USB connector makes it possible to link the scanner to computers, tablets, and smartphones.

The WiFi capability enhances the device's usefulness by enabling direct scanning to cloud services or for attachment to emails. What's more, you're not confined by physical cords. You should take advantage of the scanner's portability by purchasing one that has both USB and WiFi capabilities.

Duplex Scanning

A duplex scanner is a scanner that can scan both sides of a paper at once. Unfortunately, not all scanners support duplex scanning and only allow you to scan one side of a document at a time. This means you can skip around and find a scanner that has everything you need and can scan documents quickly.

Price

The pricing factor might make it easier for you to choose and filter out many possibilities in the list. You can utilize portable scanners for everything, even if you're on a tight budget. Otherwise, pick the most functional and feature-rich option for both your home and workplace needs.

Warranty

The portable scanners can be broken or malfunction for other reasons. The warranty will cover your money if such an occurrence occurs. The scanner with the longest warranty length is the most obvious choice, however we recommend getting a scanner with at least a 1-year warranty.


FAQS

How do you open a scanner on a Mac?

If you’ve never used a scanner for Mac, click the Apple menu > System Preferences and find the specific tab there. The window will show a list of devices on the left where you should see the name and model of yours. You can either directly click it or, in some cases, use the Scan button over on the right as a preamble.

Are different connectivity types essential?

Having a variety of connection choices for your document scanner is helpful because your needs will vary. If you want to scan to your mobile device or don't want to be tethered to a computer, you can find a growing variety of scanners that feature Wi-Fi capability. Wi-Fi connectivity is convenient, but it's not required for use in a properly connected home office.

Which is the most common type of scanner?

A flatbed scanner is the most common sort of scanner, as it's often much easier to insert documents. Some scanners, especially portable ones, call for the document to be fed in manually, which might be difficult to perform without causing damage to the original. Find the approach that fits your plans the best. A removable lid can be beneficial if you plan on scanning huge documents such as books.

What is document indexing?

If you want to quickly and easily locate a certain document for your own purposes, indexing can help you do so by attaching information about it (called metadata).

Certain identifiers are recorded throughout the scanning process so that users can search for documents based on those recorded characteristics (or "tags"). By assigning identifiers (name, contact info, invoice number, date) to documents, indexing facilitates their future retrieval and use. Without indexing, there’s no order. Indexing is the digital analogue of labeling, filing, and retrieving documents by their respective labels within a certain filing cabinet drawer (in a labeled filing cabinet). Only, document indexing is lot faster, far more precise, and applies to digital files in your document management software (stored in the Cloud) (stored in the Cloud).

Should I OCR my documents?

McKinsey reports that "employees spend 1.8 hours per day" finding and accumulating information, which amounts to 9.3 hours per week on average. Put another way, businesses recruit 5 people but only 4 show up to work; the fifth is off searching for answers, but not generating any value.”

Therefore, it is recommended that you OCR your files. Without optical character recognition (OCR), your digitized documents aren't searchable, putting you back in the same predicament as when your staff couldn't locate paper files. Now you won’t be able to find your digital docs either. Outsourcing to a scanning service like RDS includes optical character recognition (OCR). We wouldn't have it any other way than during the scanning procedure. All of the paperwork your staff uses should be easily accessible and searchable.


Conclusion

In our list of the best scanners document or images, we have concentrated on the machines that give great quality with performance. The most important criteria for selecting a scanner is the quality of its output.

On top of that, the buying guide would point you in the direction of the features you should examine before making a final decision and buying the item.


4
1 ratings