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| > The Practice > Technology |
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| DocuPen Scans Full Pages, but It Takes Practice |
| by
Joel P. Bruckenstein
| 05-05-04 |
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As regular readers of my columns are no doubt aware, I am a tireless advocate of paperless office technologies and virtual office tools, so when I heard about a new product from Planon System Solutions called the DocuPen Handheld Scanner, I just had to try one out.
Planon claims that DocuPen ($199) is the "smallest full-page portable scanner" available, and I'd have to agree. The unit measures only eight inches by a half inch and weighs about two ounces. It has the look and feel of a windshield wiper blade, although it is less than half the length of a typical one.
The system includes the "pen scanner," a leatherette carrying case, cables for connecting the unit to your PC, the DocuPen software, and PaperPort SE software version 8.0.
Here's how it works: After pushing a button at the top of the pen to activate the scanning mechanism, the user simply rolls the pen across a page of paper to scan it. The scanner operates on four "button" batteries, and it stores images in flash memory, so there is no immediate need to have a computer present for scanning.
According to Planon, the scanner can store up to 100 pages in its flash memory. According to the manual, under "normal" conditions, battery life should be about 200 pages in the standard resolution mode (100 dpi) or 100 pages in the high resolution mode (200 dpi).
When you are ready to transfer you scanned images to your computer, you simply attach one end of the provided cable to the DocuPen, plug the other end into the computer, and follow the prompts to download the images to the DocuPen application. From there, the images can be moved to PaperPort. Once in PaperPort, images can be converted to text (OCR) or moved to other applications.
Appeal of the DocuPen should be self evident. Those carrying around this little unobtrusive device can scan documents, graphics, notes, business cards, and illustrations while on the road, alleviating the need for much paper and lightening one's load.
In theory, the whole process sounds simple and intuitive, but in practice, things did not go quite as smoothly as I would have liked. The first problem I encountered was the scanning process itself: Scanning effectively takes practice. Scanning requires a smooth, flat, clean surface. Glass tables and desks worked fine for me, but surfaces with even small imperfections did not. If you pass the DocuPen over a page too slowly or too fast, it does not scan correctly. Proper scans require a constant, steady stroke. There are little lights on the unit that are supposed to warn you when your speed is off, but as a practical matter, whenever I experienced a warning, I had to start the scan over.
Setting up the software should not present a challenge to anyone who follows the short set of directions in the manual. Instructions differ based on computer and operating system. Older systems will require a serial cable; newer systems can use a USB cable (both included).
I only encountered one potential pitfall when installing the software: The USB cable cannot be plugged in, or the program may not work properly. The manual documents this point well, but I'm sure some users will fail to disconnect the cable anyway. Once the DocuPen software is installed, PaperPort SE is loaded. (The PaperPort installation is optional with older operating systems, but it is required for Windows XP.)
After loading the required software on one of my computers, I plugged the cable into my PC, selected DocuPen as the active scanner, and downloaded some images into the DocuPen software. Here, I was able to view all images, and select the one's that I wanted to move into PaperPort.
While this procedure worked just fine, it felt a bit uncomfortable. There were a number of reasons for this, I think. First, all of the images in the flash memory download as one file to the software, so if you've created more than a few scans, the process can take a while. Once downloaded, users can view thumbnails of the scans, and select the ones they want to move to PaperPort, but I found the thumbnails too small to work with, which meant that I had to download everything to PaperPort and work from there.
Then there's the issue of PaperPort itself. Unlike the current version 9.0, which allows users to select Adobe PDF as the default file format, users of 8.0 must contend themselves with the PaperPort MAX file format. (Files can be stored in other formats such as TIFF and JPEG, but these formats cannot be manipulated much from within PaperPort.)
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Joel P. Bruckenstein, publisher of T3: The Newsletter, is the industry's expert on applied technology for financial professionals. In addition to his monthly columns, Bruckenstein consults with companies large and small to help them achieve higher returns on their technology investment. For more information of Bruckenstein's consulting services, or to have him speak at your upcoming event, please visit www.joelbruckenstein.com.
The author is not an employee of Morningstar, Inc. The views expressed in this article are the author's. They do not necessarily reflect the views of Morningstar. |
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