paperless-ngx/docs/scanners.rst

.. _scanners:

***********************
Scanner recommendations
***********************

As Paperless operates by watching a folder for new files, doesn't care what
scanner you use, but sometimes finding a scanner that will write to an FTP,
NFS, or SMB server can be difficult.  This page is here to help you find one
that works right for you based on recommendations from other Paperless users.

Physical scanners
=================

+---------+-------------------+-----+------+-----+----------+------+----------+----------------+
| Brand   | Model             | Supports                                      | Recommended By |
+---------+-------------------+-----+------+-----+----------+------+----------+----------------+
|         |                   | FTP | SFTP | NFS | SMB      | SMTP | API [1]_ |                |
+=========+===================+=====+======+=====+==========+======+==========+================+
| Brother | `ADS-1700W`_      | yes | yes  |     | yes      | yes  |          |`holzhannes`_   |
+---------+-------------------+-----+------+-----+----------+------+----------+----------------+
| Brother | `ADS-1600W`_      | yes |      |     | yes      | yes  |          |`holzhannes`_   |
+---------+-------------------+-----+------+-----+----------+------+----------+----------------+
| Brother | `ADS-1500W`_      | yes |      |     | yes      | yes  |          |`danielquinn`_  |
+---------+-------------------+-----+------+-----+----------+------+----------+----------------+
| Brother | `ADS-1100W`_      | yes |      |     |          |      |          |`ytzelf`_       |
+---------+-------------------+-----+------+-----+----------+------+----------+----------------+
| Brother | `ADS-2800W`_      | yes | yes  |     | yes      | yes  |          |`philpagel`_    |
+---------+-------------------+-----+------+-----+----------+------+----------+----------------+
| Brother | `MFC-J6930DW`_    | yes |      |     |          |      |          |`ayounggun`_    |
+---------+-------------------+-----+------+-----+----------+------+----------+----------------+
| Brother | `MFC-L5850DW`_    | yes |      |     |          | yes  |          |`holzhannes`_   |
+---------+-------------------+-----+------+-----+----------+------+----------+----------------+
| Brother | `MFC-L2750DW`_    | yes |      |     | yes      | yes  |          |`muued`_        |
+---------+-------------------+-----+------+-----+----------+------+----------+----------------+
| Brother | `MFC-J5910DW`_    | yes |      |     |          |      |          |`bmsleight`_    |
+---------+-------------------+-----+------+-----+----------+------+----------+----------------+
| Brother | `MFC-8950DW`_     | yes |      |     | yes      | yes  |          |`philpagel`_    |
+---------+-------------------+-----+------+-----+----------+------+----------+----------------+
| Brother | `MFC-9142CDN`_    | yes |      |     | yes      |      |          |`REOLDEV`_      |
+---------+-------------------+-----+------+-----+----------+------+----------+----------------+
| Canon   | `Maxify MB 5350`_ |     |      |     | yes [2]_ | yes  |          |`eingemaischt`_ |
+---------+-------------------+-----+------+-----+----------+------+----------+----------------+
| Fujitsu | `ix500`_          | yes |      |     | yes      |      |          |`eonist`_       |
+---------+-------------------+-----+------+-----+----------+------+----------+----------------+
| Epson   | `ES-580W`_        | yes |      |     | yes      | yes  |          |`fignew`_       |
+---------+-------------------+-----+------+-----+----------+------+----------+----------------+
| Epson   | `WF-7710DWF`_     | yes |      |     | yes      |      |          |`Skylinar`_     |
+---------+-------------------+-----+------+-----+----------+------+----------+----------------+
| Fujitsu | `S1300i`_         | yes |      |     | yes      |      |          |`jonaswinkler`_ |
+---------+-------------------+-----+------+-----+----------+------+----------+----------------+
| Doxie   | `Q2`_             |     |      |     |          |      | yes      |`Unkn0wnCat`_   |
+---------+-------------------+-----+------+-----+----------+------+----------+----------------+

.. _MFC-L5850DW: https://www.brother-usa.com/products/mfcl5850dw
.. _MFC-L2750DW: https://www.brother.de/drucker/laserdrucker/mfc-l2750dw
.. _ADS-1700W: https://www.brother-usa.com/products/ads1700w
.. _ADS-1600W: https://www.brother-usa.com/products/ads1600w
.. _ADS-1500W: https://www.brother.ca/en/p/ads1500w
.. _ADS-1100W: https://support.brother.com/g/b/downloadtop.aspx?c=fr&lang=fr&prod=ads1100w_eu_as_cn
.. _ADS-2800W: https://www.brother-usa.com/products/ads2800w
.. _Maxify MB 5350: https://www.canon.de/printers/inkjet/maxify/maxify_mb5350/specification.html
.. _MFC-J6930DW: https://www.brother.ca/en/p/MFCJ6930DW
.. _MFC-J5910DW: https://www.brother.co.uk/printers/inkjet-printers/mfcj5910dw
.. _MFC-8950DW: https://www.brother-usa.com/products/mfc8950dw
.. _MFC-9142CDN: https://www.brother.co.uk/printers/laser-printers/mfc9140cdn
.. _ES-580W: https://epson.com/Support/Scanners/ES-Series/Epson-WorkForce-ES-580W/s/SPT_B11B258201
.. _WF-7710DWF: https://www.epson.de/en/products/printers/inkjet-printers/for-home/workforce-wf-7710dwf
.. _ix500: http://www.fujitsu.com/us/products/computing/peripheral/scanners/scansnap/ix500/
.. _S1300i: https://www.fujitsu.com/global/products/computing/peripheral/scanners/soho/s1300i/
.. _Q2: https://www.getdoxie.com/product/doxie-q/

.. _ayounggun: https://github.com/ayounggun
.. _bmsleight: https://github.com/bmsleight
.. _danielquinn: https://github.com/danielquinn
.. _eonist: https://github.com/eonist
.. _fignew: https://github.com/fignew
.. _holzhannes: https://github.com/holzhannes
.. _jonaswinkler: https://github.com/jonaswinkler
.. _REOLDEV: https://github.com/REOLDEV
.. _Skylinar: https://github.com/Skylinar
.. _ytzelf: https://github.com/ytzelf
.. _Unkn0wnCat: https://github.com/Unkn0wnCat
.. _muued: https://github.com/muued
.. _philpagel: https://github.com/philpagel
.. _eingemaischt: https://github.com/eingemaischt

.. [1] Scanners with API Integration allow to push scanned documents directly to :ref:`Paperless API <api-file_uploads>`, sometimes referred to as Webhook or Document POST.
.. [2] Canon Multi Function Printers show strange behavior over SMB. They close and reopen the file after every page. It's recommended to tune the
       :ref:`polling <configuration-polling>` configuration values for your scanner. The scanner timeout is 3 minutes, so ``180`` is a good starting point.

Mobile phone software
=====================

You can use your phone to "scan" documents. The regular camera app will work, but may have too low contrast for OCR to work well. Apps specifically for scanning are recommended.

+-----------------------------+----------------+-----+-----+-----+-------+--------+------------------+
| Name                        | OS             | Supports                         | Recommended By   |
+-----------------------------+----------------+-----+-----+-----+-------+--------+------------------+
|                             |                | FTP | NFS | SMB | Email | WebDAV |                  |
+=============================+================+=====+=====+=====+=======+========+==================+
| `Office Lens`_              | Android        | ?   | ?   | ?   | ?     | ?      | `jonaswinkler`_  |
+-----------------------------+----------------+-----+-----+-----+-------+--------+------------------+
| `Genius Scan`_              | Android        | yes | no  | yes | yes   | yes    | `hannahswain`_   |
+-----------------------------+----------------+-----+-----+-----+-------+--------+------------------+
| `OpenScan`_                 | Android        | no  | no  | no  | no    | no     | `benjaminfrank`_ |
+-----------------------------+----------------+-----+-----+-----+-------+--------+------------------+
| `OCR Scanner - QuickScan`_  | iOS            | no  | no  | no  | no    | yes    | `holzhannes`_    |
+-----------------------------+----------------+-----+-----+-----+-------+--------+------------------+

On Android, you can use these applications in combination with one of the :ref:`Paperless-ngx compatible apps <usage-mobile_upload>` to "Share" the documents produced by these scanner apps with paperless. On iOS, you can share the scanned documents via iOS-Sharing to other mail, WebDav or FTP apps.

There is also an iOS Shortcut that allows you to directly upload text, PDF and image documents available here: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/d234abc0885040129d9d75fa45fe1154
Please note this only works for documents downloaded to iCloud / the device, in other words not directly from a URL.

.. _Office Lens: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.office.officelens
.. _Genius Scan: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.thegrizzlylabs.geniusscan.free
.. _OCR Scanner - QuickScan: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/quickscan-scanner-text-ocr/id1513790291
.. _OpenScan: https://github.com/Ethereal-Developers-Inc/OpenScan

.. _hannahswain: https://github.com/hannahswain
.. _benjaminfrank: https://github.com/benjaminfrank

API Scanning Setup
==================

This sections contains information on how to set up scanners to post directly to :ref:`Paperless API <api-file_uploads>`.

Doxie Q2
--------

This part assumes your Doxie is connected to WiFi and you know its IP.

1. Open your Doxie web UI by navigating to its IP address
2. Navigate to Options -> Webhook
3. Set the *URL* to ``https://[your-paperless-ngx-instance]/api/documents/post_document/``
4. Set the *File Parameter Name* to ``document``
5. Add the username and password to the respective fields (Consider creating a user just for your Doxie)
6. Click *Submit* at the bottom of the page

Congrats, you can now scan directly from your Doxie to your Paperless-ngx instance!