There are many scanning apps on the market. We analyze their features and which needs they best suit.
James Bond used to carry a high-resolution camera hidden in his pocket to capture secret documents that once existed only in science fiction. But now that we all have high-quality cameras, it’s possible to take, scan, and save important photos and documents wherever we go. Even if you’re not 007. Here are the key features you should look for in a mobile scanning app to ensure your documents are properly stored and don’t pile up in disarray.
Operating Systems
One of the first things you should look for when choosing a mobile scanning app is its compatibility with your phone. It’s surprising how many scanning apps are only compatible with Android or iOS. However, many of the best scanning apps, such as Adobe Scan, Microsoft Office Lens, Genius Scan, and ScanBot, are compatible with both iOS and Android.
Price
You probably won’t have to pay a lot of money for any mobile scanning app, but prices range from free to around $8 per month. Evernote Scannable and Adobe Scan are free. There are free scanner options, with basic features free, but additional features are paid. CamScanner and Tiny Scanner are free, while Genius Scan, ScanBot, and Scanner Pro cost between $5 and $8 per month, with no free options.
Scanning Speed
If you’re going to be using your mobile scanner app to capture a lot of documents for work or scan images, the number of milliseconds it takes to scan an item can make a big difference. Evernote Scannable is probably the fastest mobile scanner app on the market, even faster than the online image capture tool. It quickly recognizes, scans, crops, and saves anything you choose.
Genius Scan is a basic portable scanner without many standout features, but what it does, it does well and quickly. It quickly recognizes the document, aligns the edges, and that’s it – no need to click.
Easy to Use
Once you download your scanner app, you won’t want to waste time setting it up. An intuitive and easy-to-use app is essential, whether you’re tracking expenses or working on work projects. Scanbot is a good option for those who want to download an app, install it, and start using it. Its interface is simple and intuitive, so you won’t need to resort to instructions to figure out what to do. What’s more, the automatic setup is very effective, so you won’t need to use manual mode. Another easy-to-use alternative is CamScanner. It features an intuitive interface and smart automatic settings that require virtually no adjustments.
Clarity of Text
If you’re just scanning receipts to track expenses, text quality won’t be a big deal. However, if you need to edit and save text for work purposes, you’ll want a mobile scanner app with strong OCR (optical character recognition) capabilities. When it comes to capturing contracts for signature and archiving, you want the clearest and most legible version possible. Scanner Pro excels at providing high-quality text capture. It can correct text distortion caused by curved pages, whiteboard reflections, and folded or wrinkled paper. Scanner Pro’s optical character recognition (OCR) is extremely effective at creating legible and editable text.
Another good option for legible documents is Microsoft Office Lens. It excels at creating clear, legible documents in PDF or JPG format, and can quickly and easily convert them to editable .doc format. Office Lens cleans up documents, cards, and photos, as well as blurring backgrounds. It’s effective at straightening photos and pages scanned at an angle, and can handle text on whiteboards, though it doesn’t fix curved pages.
While Turbo Scan is a simple, portable scanner that doesn’t offer many extra features, it stands out for its excellent image quality. It’s a shame it doesn’t include optical character recognition (OCR), but if you want to save clear, secure images of notes, business cards, documents, or whiteboard text, it gets the job done. Even in low light or with blurry text, Turbo Scan produces the best possible image.
Storage Options
When you scan your documents, it’s helpful to have options for saving and sharing them. Google Drive offers a clear advantage: you can save your images directly to Drive and share them with any of your Google contacts from there. This greatly increases productivity and makes it easy to access your scanned files from any device. You can also send them via email or Dropbox.
Both Scanner Pro and Scanbot offer a wide range of storage and sharing options. Scanbot offers Google Drive, Box, Dropbox, iCloud Free, and even Yandex.Disk as storage options for your scanned documents. Scanner Pro works with Box, Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, iCloud, Microsoft OneDrive, OneNote, and even any WebDAV server.
Securit
You may not be as protective of confidential documents as James Bond, but you still need peace of mind knowing that contracts, confidential documents, and sensitive information are protected from hackers or unauthorized authors. CamScanner lets you add password protection and an expiration date when you send a link to a scanned document. Genius Scan adds an extra layer of protection by allowing you to encrypt your scanned document as a PDF. Scanbot and Tiny Scanner also let you protect PDF files with a password or passcode.
Features
In addition to these features, various mobile scanning apps offer a number of additional features that can be useful, fun, or unnecessary depending on your needs. One example is the ability to save documents as JPEG and PDF files, which is offered by many apps, including Tiny Scanner and Evernote Scannable. This has the advantage that JPEG files are easier to edit than PDF files. Microsoft Office Lens even lets you save text in .doc format and quickly export it to OneNote, Word, and PowerPoint for further editing.
Built-in cloud printing is an additional feature offered by CamScanner. This allows you to tag, edit, and annotate a document within the app and send it directly to print without the need for any other software. Like Tiny Scanner and Genius Scan, CamScanner also includes a fax feature so you can fax your documents directly from the app.
Genius Scan offers custom invoice add-ons, including integration with Expensify to automatically extract information from scanned receipts and store it in your expense tracking app. You can also get the Genius Scan Sign app, which lets you sign scanned contracts right in the app without having to edit or modify the text.
Evernote Scannable connects to LinkedIn. It can recognize business cards and extract contact information as you scan, then link it to a person’s LinkedIn profile, making it easy to connect with new contacts.
Finally, the convenient tagging, organizing, and annotating feature for scanned documents makes it easy to manage and retrieve them when you need them. Scanbot allows users to easily mark up, annotate, and draw on their scanned documents so you can save your responses in the same place as the original document.
Scan and Save in One
Whether you’re tracking expenses, storing work documents, or even working in secret, you can find a mobile scanning app that scans, saves, and protects your documents without damaging them.
