Home | Appendix

Quick links: |  | Using a ScanSnap Scanner Using an Unsupported Scanner Importing Existing Files with OCR

|  |  | Capturing Paper (Other Options)

DEVONthink works with the Fujitsu ScanSnap, ExactCode ExactScan, and other scanners that are not directly supported. PRO In addition, you can add already scanned pages to your DEVONthink database and manually convert them to searchable PDFs. Using a ScanSnap Scanner DEVONthink recognizes scans sent to it from the Fujitsu ScanSnap Home application or the older ScanSnap Manager software. To send scans automatically to your databases, simply add DEVONthink to ScanSnap Home or ScanSnap Manager as the application to use for opening completed scans. The scanner app will send the created PDFs to DEVONthink which in turn will import the document. PRO ScanSnap's scanning software can provide already OCR'd PDFs. However, if you don't enable this option, DEVONthink can perform the OCR on the incoming scans if you've enabled Preferences > OCR > Convert Incoming Scans. Using an Unsupported Scanner You can also capture paper using an unsupported scanner and import the finished scans into DEVONthink. To do this, use the scan application that came with your scanner or a third-party scan application. Check the scan application's preferences and look out for an option that allows you to open the finished scan with another application, e.g., an image editor. Change the default application for the scan to DEVONthink. PRO DEVONthink knows the identifiers of many scan applications and will convert the incoming scan to a searchable PDF if possible. If DEVONthink does not recognize your scan application, please create a Zip archive of the application and send it to us so that we can add its identifier to a future release of DEVONthink.
Note: In the settings for the scanning application you're using, it is best to leave the default location for the output path, often `~/Pictures`. Do not set the path to DEVONthink's Global Inbox, as this can lead to errors when DEVONthink tries to import a scan that is not completed yet.
PRO Importing Existing Files with OCR If you already have an archive of documents that have been scanned without OCR, or if you cannot use the capture function for whatever reason, you can import image files while applying OCR. To import an image file while applying OCR, choose File > Import > Image with OCR. Click the Options button to choose the output format and whether to send the original to the system trash after importing. The image will be processed with DEVONthink's OCR engine and be imported to the database in the format chosen. If you have enabled Searchable PDF: Set metadata after text recognition in the OCR preferences, DEVONthink will show the metadata entry window when the OCR process is completed (before the file is actually imported to the database). The date of the created document is set to the date of the original file. Thus, for archival purposes, the searchable document is identical to the original one. The modification date is set to the current date and time to reflect the addition of the searchable text layer. If you're importing a PDF, any keywords in the original file are retained and used as tags.