The
Visioneer PaperPort
Vx provides a solution to an age-old problem eliminating paper in one's
office. I have bought numerous computer products over the years, and they
were just that, a product designed to do a job or specific task. Thanks
to the included software, the PaperPort Vx is much more than just a scanner
for me, it has become an office solution.
PaperPort Vx was a breeze to install and start using. I simply plugged the included cable into my serial port, plugged in the power cord, and installed the software. Everything else was handled by the installation program. I have both Ami Pro and Word as my word processors and Excel as my spreadsheet. The installation program found all three on my system and installed its automatic link for them. PaperPort Vx's installation program placed icons for these three software packages at the bottom of the PaperPort Vx desktop. The installation software also installed icons for Microsoft's Paint and WordPad in addition to icons for the included OmniPage Lite, CardScan SE and the bundled Copier software.
The scanner has almost a zero footprint since it only measures 12.25" wide by 2.5" deep by 3.5" high. It can be placed between the keyboard and monitor. Scanned documents can be set to feed out of the front of the scanner or to the rear for heavy card-stock paper. PaperPort Vx is quick with a typical page taking about 6 seconds. Their Paper-drivenTM technology scans the page, launches the PaperPort Vx software and places the scanned document on the PaperPort Vx desktop. From here, you can convert the graphics image you have just made using the included optical character recognition software (OCR) into a document readable by your word processor or spreadsheet (Excel only). The file can also be sent to Microsoft Paint, the included business card conversion software, CardScan, or any one of the other 20+ supported applications. Sending the file to one of these applications is as easy as selecting the file with one's mouse and dragging it to the icon at the bottom of the PaperPort Vx desktop for that specific application.
Visioneer claims that the PaperPort Vx offers "the most readable scanned images ever." This is accomplished using their SharpPageTM technology. They say that this makes all text readable whether it is on screen, faxed, e-mailed, or printed to others.
Photographs are scanned in with up to 256 shades of gray. Visioneer states that "with the exclusive Visioneer Image Processing (VIPer) chip, all files are small - even photos!"
The scanned file can also be sent directly to one's printer to be printed. Likewise, Windows applications can print directly to the PaperPort Vx t or it can print to your computer's fax/modem. To do this, one merely drags a scanned document to the printer or fax icon on the Link bar of the PaperPort Vx desktop.
PaperPort Vx is very easy to use. Tasks such as filing, faxing, copying, and editing are quick and easy. Scanned documents may have intuitive names, organized in stacks, filed in build-in file folders, and easily retrieved using a variety of search options. You also have the ability to set up your own custom file folder names.
Included with PaperPort Vx is Caere OmniPage Lite OCR software. When one drags a scanned document to the word processor or spreadsheet icon, OmniPage Lite converts the document and then launches the word processor or spreadsheet program automatically. This feature works remarkably well and is very slick. In my view, if this were the only thing that PaperPort Vx does, it would be worth having. I believe their claims about their SharpPageTM technology. I have scanned a number of documents and I customarily get 99% or better accuracy rate after they are converted into Word or Excel using the included OCR software. This includes everything from a copy of a newspaper article, a photocopied document, as well as an original document printed on my laser printer. The accuracy of the document after scanning and converting it with OCR software was starting.
PaperPort Vx also includes Corex CardScan SE business card reader. This allows a user to scan business card and drag them to the CardScan icon. CardScan automatically reads the scanned business card, converts them to text, recognizes such information as name, title, address, and phone numbers (including e-mail address and fax number). It then converts them into it's own card file. I tried this feature on a number of different business cards and was generally pleased with how accurate it read the business cards. The accuracy rate was no where near as good as it was for scanning in documents, but business cards are a much bigger challenge since they frequently include logos, etc. This feature is a big time-saver for getting data into your computer database, Personal Information Manager (PIM), or Contact Manager. The full upgradable version of CardScan includes conversion software to the major PIM or contact manager software packages. It is available direct from Corex $39.95. The full version includes DDE links to most of the contact manager and PIM software packages.
I found Visioneer's PaperPort Vx to be a well designed and thought-out
product. Visioneer has just introduced a keyboard with PaperPort Vx incorporated
into it that sells for about $350.00. Thanks to PaperPort Vx, I am looking
forward to eliminating my paper filing system with a computer based filing
system. The street price on PaperPort Vx is about $299.00. Visioneer phone
number is (800) 787-7007.