OCR scanning

I've got a 4foot high stack of papers, reports, notes, etc. that has accumulated over my college and graduate school career.

I could probably whittle it down to 3 ft if I tried but I would like to keep most of these documents.

Does anyone know of a place that can scan all the pages into searchable pdf's? how much should something like this cost?

I've googled it, of course, and found prices that vary greatly and also variation in shipping costs, so I was hoping someone on here would have experience with this.

Some pages are double spaced computer print out, others are double sided, some are double-sided photocopies of a book.

I actually deal with several service companies in midtown on pretty much a weekly basis and they put seachable pdfs on disc - the main companies we use are Skyline and Ikon. I don't have to worry about cost since it's for work, but I've sent out boxes of documents and gotten them back in the morning. There are plenty here in the city so you shouldn't have to pay shipping costs, just drop it off. Computer print outs, double-sided, legal size, letter size, they can scan anything.

any idea how much they cost?

say, for a standard size bankers box worth of stuff?

whynot_31 wrote: any idea how much they cost?

say, for a standard size bankers box worth of stuff?

I think it may be by the page - not exactly sure what we pay. But those guys deal with the big midtown companies and are gonna be more expensive. I've got to think there are digital imaging services with more competitve prices that are reliable, most likely even in Brooklyn. I'll dig around and see what I can find. I have a bunch of paper I want to get rid of as well, but may just come in on the weekend and use an industrial scanner at work. Scanning party!

If you find anything, can you post about it here? I'm interested in this as well.

Ok, well I'm kind of surprised at the lack of lower end digital imaging services here in NY, at least that I could find. Seems like most of them cater to industries that can pay through the nose. I found almost nothing in Brooklyn. A lot of the places seem to be charging 10 - 12 cents a page which is a LOT for the common man. I do know that Fed Ex Office (formerly Kinkos) has machines where you could do it yourself for considerably less. Seems like a market niche that has yet to be explored. Will post again if I find any new info.

we have a copier that autofeeds and then emails you the pdf or tiff file.
...good, but not good enough.

I'd like to hand the boxes to someone, staples and all, and have them hand me back a CD-ROM, one that would allow the individual articles to be searched and/or all the instances of a term on the entire disk.

...this will likely cost too much, and I am not patient enough to feed that thing the various articles. The boxes will continue to live in the closet as a result.

...unless I can get Mougar to do it.

We actually have an in-house digital imaging department that was set up last year so this is a big thing now. Policy is if a digital image of a document exists, the paper should be destroyed. This would be a great idea for a business for some fledgling entrepeneur, one that caters to small business and the masses.

My office scanner sounds similar to whynot's but it will do OCR too.

Mougar wrote: My office scanner sounds similar to whynot's but it will do OCR too.

So does mine. Maybe we can start a business at one of our offices. You can do the scanning and I'll guard the door.

we can just give them to Mougar to take to work.

whynot_31 wrote: we can just give them to Mougar to take to work.

Negative, I mostly work at work and don't have time to do more.

...might be time to sic Ana on Mougar again.

Diy - buy a fujitsu scansnap, which churns out searchable pdfs at an alarming rate of speed. $400 or so. One foot may take you an hour?

dailyheights wrote: Diy - buy a fujitsu scansnap, which churns out searchable pdfs at an alarming rate of speed. $400 or so. One foot may take you an hour?

Really? Awesome. I guess that's why you are a demi-god and we are your lowly serfs.

VoodooNYC wrote: [quote=dailyheights]Diy - buy a fujitsu scansnap, which churns out searchable pdfs at an alarming rate of speed. $400 or so. One foot may take you an hour?

Really? Awesome. I guess that's why you are a demi-god and we are your lowly serfs.

anyone wanna chip in on one, or something?

It's exactly $400 on Amazon and free Prime shipping. Also excellent reviews. This is very very tempting.

which model are you looking at?

The S510 looks to be a bit faster and holds more pages in the ADF.

It's also on ebay for like $120
http://shop.ebay.com/items/__Fujitsu-ScanSnap-S510_W0QQQ5ftrkparmsZ72Q253A1234Q257C66Q253A2Q257C65Q253A12Q257C39Q253A1QQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQ_sopZ15QQ_scZ1

I'm looking at the S510.

http://www.amazon.com/ScanSnap-S510M-Instant-Sheet-Fed-Scanner/dp/B000WJCX18/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=office-products&qid=1235144937&sr=8-2

Those $120 bids will go up significantly over the next three days. Probably not worth the trouble.

i wonder if this $50 mail in rebate can be taken on the one at Amazon.

http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/computing/peripherals/scanners/rebates.html

If you decide to buy it lemme know. If you're comfortable with it, I'd rather give you a few dollars to use it rather than spend ~$350 on one myself. It's a recession ya know.

Thanks for the rebate! I am seriously considering it - I would love to not be drowning in paper anymore. I may wait a day or two and keep an eye on the ebay bidding and if it goes over $300 just buy from Amazon with free two day shipping. Would be happy to let you use it (and maybe even Why).

VoodooNYC wrote: Thanks for the rebate! I am seriously considering it - I would love to not be drowning in paper anymore. I may wait a day or two and keep an eye on the ebay bidding and if it goes over $300 just buy from Amazon with free two day shipping. Would be happy to let you use it (and maybe even Why).

I'm thinking of getting one too. I already have a wirelessly-networked HP all-in-one that's great, but the document feeder and dual-sided scanning really makes the Fujitsu one a killer device. They even make a Mac version. I just don't have space for it to be out all the time. I guess I'd have to have a major scanning session and then put it my storage area in the basement or resell it.

Carnivore wrote: I'm thinking of getting one too. I already have a wirelessly-networked HP all-in-one that's great, but the document feeder and dual-sided scanning really makes the Fujitsu one a killer device. They even make a Mac version. I just don't have space for it to be out all the time. I guess I'd have to have a major scanning session and then put it my storage area in the basement or resell it.

I probably have the same wireless HP as you - I love it - but this thing looks incredible. I didn't even realize it comes with Adobe Acrobat Professional (version 8, but still) - which on it's own is $300 - $400. This is a no-brainer for me. Ordering now. Thanks dailyheights.

Carni: Also it's not that big. As this guy says "It's the size of a football and a workhorse" - would fit on top of that flatbed HP scanner/printer you won't be using anymore (the scanner, anyway). Mine comes on Wednesday. Will let you know how I like it.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B000WJCX18/ref=cm_cmu_pg_setImg?ie=UTF8&totalImages=2&pageSize=7&sort=rating&currentImagePage=0&currentImagePageOffset=1&currentImageID=20391361&action=setImg&page=0

VoodooNYC wrote: I'm looking at the S510.

http://www.amazon.com/ScanSnap-S510M-Instant-Sheet-Fed-Scanner/dp/B000WJCX18/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=office-products&qid=1235144937&sr=8-2

Those $120 bids will go up significantly over the next three days. Probably not worth the trouble.

They all ended at $335. You would have saved $15 bucks by waiting. But for $15 i'd rather have a new one, so, yeah.

Well crap. Just received my Scansnap from Amazon and they sent me the Mac version instead of the PC (I ordered correctly). Now I have to go through the return/exchange hassle. Argh.

VoodooNYC wrote: Well crap. Just received my Scansnap from Amazon and they sent me the Mac version instead of the PC (I ordered correctly). Now I have to go through the return/exchange hassle. Argh.

Hah! That's the one I would want. But I'm still considering it and waiting to hear what you think of yours first.

Hooked it up today, and first impressions are that this is an astounding machine. So fast! I would say one page in about 2 seconds. Also tried photos and it worked great (seen some complaints about jamming but I had no problem). Right now it's scanning both front and back and I can't figure out how to scan just front, but that's just a setting issue on my part. I haven't done any real heavy duty scanning yet, but I am lovin' this thing.

Oh and Carni, it truly is about the size of a football and completely folds up. It's about L-12" by W-6".

And ScanSnap? Waaaaay better than SlapChop.

VoodooNYC wrote: Hooked it up today, and first impressions are that this is an astounding machine. So fast! I would say one page in about 2 seconds. Also tried photos and it worked great (seen some complaints about jamming but I had no problem). Right now it's scanning both front and back and I can't figure out how to scan just front, but that's just a setting issue on my part. I haven't done any real heavy duty scanning yet, but I am lovin' this thing.

Oh and Carni, it truly is about the size of a football and completely folds up. It's about L-12" by W-6".

And ScanSnap? Waaaaay better than SlapChop.

so, when can i trade you a 6 pack of beer for access to your scanner?

vidro3 wrote: so, when can i trade you a 6 pack of beer for access to your scanner?

A six pack? Who do ya think I am, Beaver?

VoodooNYC wrote: [quote=vidro3]so, when can i trade you a 6 pack of beer for access to your scanner?

A six pack? Who do ya think I am, Beaver?

You're not as cute as I am. :P